As the Director of Programs & Operations for BookBreak, I’m often asked “how many author talks should a school show in order to have the biggest impact on students?” My answer to this question is simple — as many as possible! As a school librarian for over two decades, I have seen the impact of author talks on my students. Nothing inspires students more than hearing from the authors themselves.
That said, BookBreak has a new live author talk for each grade level every month, plus past event recordings and other author videos. Many of our educators share a BookBreak author talk every week with their students but we understand that may not be possible for many teachers and librarians given how packed their curriculum can be.
Minimum Recommended Author Talks for Students Per Year
So, if you’re looking for the most impact with the least amount of class time, then we recommend showing every student at least four author talks per year. This works out to one per quarter or two each Fall and two each Spring. This gives your students multiple chances to connect with authors and maintain the excitement, enthusiasm, and interest that follow after author talks.
Let me explain in five key points:
- Based on conversations with educators and internal research, the positive impact of an author event on student interest in reading and writing lasts between one and four months on average. While some students will have a lifetime impact from a single talk, others will be energized right afterward but will need additional author talk opportunities to maintain and increase that excitement. The graph below shows an example of this in terms of average daily reading minutes by month. The light blue line represents one author talk for the year in October where daily reading rates increase dramatically and then level off after a few months to slightly above what they were before the author event. The dark blue line shows the same October talk followed by events in December, February, and April, which result in higher reading rates throughout the school year:
2. When at least four Author Talks a year are shown in classrooms, the average daily reading doesn’t have the chance to drop off as it does with fewer author talks a year. Simply put, author talks inspire students to read which has a huge impact on academic success. According to research by Nagy and Herman, students who read 20 minutes a day score in the 90th percentile on reading tests while students drop down to the 50th percentile when they read ten minutes a day and the 10th percentile if they read only one minute per day.
3. It’s essential for students to “see themselves on the shelves” in a positive way. Additionally, diverse authors can be a window into other experiences, which help students develop more empathy. As BookBreak is committed to having diverse authors, showing at least four author talks a year makes it possible for students to hear from authors who are like them. Additionally, seeing an author who looks like them talk about how they became an author can be one of the most motivating educational experiences for a child. Most students have never met an author and don’t realize that they can create stories of their own. This is especially poignant from authors who share that they were not strong readers when they were in school.
4. Authors are the best people in the world to talk about why someone should read their book. Multiple author talks from authors of different genres gives students the impetus to read outside of their normal comfort zone. It opens up a whole new world for them! At least four author talks a year are four different opportunities for students to hear about books they may not have picked up otherwise.
5. And, lastly, author talks are a key component of a robust ELA curriculum and support a larger culture of reading at a school. It’s critical to have a strong culture of reading, and having at least four author events with their corresponding activities is enough to make them a cornerstone of the student experience. Some schools take it a step further and show a BookBreak author every month and combine that with our supporting materials like the lower school mini lessons or the “Would You Read It?” series for middle school.
Author talks are not the only way to build an excited community of readers, but with BookBreak in your toolbelt, they may be one of the easiest. Tie this in with some of our other suggestions, such as, our How To Motivate Kids To Read More blog post for a multi-pronged approach to building a culture of reading. We know that schools are fighting an uphill battle to get funding for books and other key resources.
We are grateful for your interest in BookBreak and hope you will use it to its full potential. Everyone wins when students are inspired to read more.
Stay Tuned…more to come