Abstract:
This project examines the connection between for-pleasure reading and literacy development, as well as trends around non-academic reading skills in schools through the perceptions of educators in Worcester Public Schools. Data was collected through an initial survey and subsequent interviews. This research, coupled with an intervention in the form of a Book Nook built at Columbus Park Elementary School, aims to explore the ability of reading to serve as a transformative experience with the capacity to improve students’ connections to themselves, their community, and the world as a whole. The findings demonstrate the present state of for-pleasure reading in the classroom and educators’ perspectives and beliefs on the teaching of reading, as well as providing actionable methods through which positive student relationships with reading can be built and sustained.