Reading as its own Reward

Addition: Since its inception, I have since renamed this program "Read and Bead."  Take a peek at the Read and Bead landing page for more information including research, a webinar, and an FAQ.

Last summer our Library tried something new and went primarily prizeless (visit The Benefits of Beads) and instead substituting a highly personalized approach to allowing kids to be proud of their reading and look forward to visiting the Library.

But... What ARE the benefits?  Why would this work for me?

Just because something works in one Library does not always mean it will be a universal solution.  There are plenty of factors that account for community differences, but going prizeless can have multiple benefits that can translate to your community and make it well worth a try:

Save time

Selecting prizes and ensuring that you have something for every grade level can be exhausting, stressful, and/or time consuming (depending on your level of investment, diversity of interests and ages for your group, etc.).  The popularity of some Disney characters may be fleeting.  Kids may not be as into those mustache erasers as you though they would be (or they are too into them and you run out!).  And grand prizes always leave someone out!  All of this you have to provide on a limited budget, of course, which leads us to...

Save money

Beads are inexpensive pieces of molded plastic that won't go out of style because they have so many functions in crafts and really just let kids be creative.  Those Guardians of the Galaxy key chains may be collecting dust in a few years, but beads can always be re-purposed by you or the patron.  For comparison, the average price per participant went down from an estimated $1.50 to $0.53 the year we transitioned.  We you're dealing with 400+ kids, the difference adds up quickly.

Save the environment

Go green!  Landfills have enough to worry about without small trinkets from Summer Reading Programs, quickly broken or forgotten and suddenly just in the way.  The EPA has plenty of great suggestions for thinking green and shopping smart is on that list for a reason.  The Library can set a good example by not being wasteful and not putting emphasis on the tangible rewards of reading, but the internal changes and the general excitement of young readers.  Which, of course, leads to one of the biggest reasons this project was a success...

Increase motivation, excitement, and word-of-mouth

The greatest part was how excited kids would get.  No matter how much reading was "a lot" to them, they could still build their necklace and have fun.  Our young patrons wore their necklaces all summer and not just in the Library.  This lead to a lot of the following conversations:

Small, adorable child: I want to join the Summer Reading Program!

Me or other Staff Member: That's great!  We love that you came to visit!

Small, adorable child: This is so fun!  My friend had his tag and beads and I really, really wanted one too!

Families out and about in the community saw the evidence of the Library making a difference.  Parents raved about how their kids really looked forward to reading now.  We also had a lot of caregivers praise the system for its sneaky way of working math into Summer Reading as well (so we've got STEM covered if you need to broaden your horizons as well).

Okay, so where's your research?

Research in behavioral and psychological science suggest that rewards as motivation is more harmful than beneficial, extending well beyond the Summer Reading Program.  But we only have so much power as Librarians and can only control what we offer.

We need to support Intrinsic Motivation!  In this case, we mean "reading for the love of reading."  When Abby the Librarian began her summer prize revamp, she cited the reasoning that intrinsic motivation is more effective in creating life-long readers that extrinsic motivation.

When extrinsic motivation is implemented, kids can get excited.  They may jump up and down at the chance to win the Minecraft pick-axe or the Doctor Who scarf, but those who are already struggling readers may see this as just another chance to fail.  Additionally, the long-term effects of promoting extrinsic motivation can lead to kids believing low standards have been set for them and will not attempt to reach their potential or better themselves OR send the message that reading is so terrible that no one would do it without a bribe (i.e. reward).

Great!  How can I start?

Your exact supplies will depend on how you want to enact the project, but our basics were as follows:

• Bead organizer: We went with the Sterilite Divided Case* (SchoolLife* also has a storage case now) and purchased an additional 6-part divider to have beads on one side and tags/chains on the other.

Kids spent a lot of time carefully selecting their beads.

• Tags and chains: SchoolLife* allows you to personalize brag tag designs with your own wording.  We elected to add our Library's name!  The tags are very sturdy plastic and held up very well.  We had some chains break, but we had extras on hand.

  

  One of four designs we chose!

• Beads: We had five "levels" of reading time and, thus five types of beads kids could select and exchange.  All of these can be found online or in a local craft store:      
• 15 minutes = Solid color beads
• 30 minutes  = Sparkly beads
• 1 hour = Shiny beads
• 2 hours = Glow-in-the-Dark beads
• 4 hours = Shaped beads (sports balls and animals)

• Logging Sheets: We have ours donated to us by the state from the official CSLP store, but these can be created and personalized by your staff or borrowed from one of the many free places online.  We encourage our kids to log in whatever way they choose: coloring bubbles per 15 minutes read or writing time in the bubbles works really well for younger vs. older kids.

• Prizes? This last part is really up to you.  We've spent most of this entry reviewing the inherent evils of prizes, but we are enhancing this with one final touch... BOOKS!  Each child who participates in the SRP will get to select a book to take home and keep "forever and ever."  Reading is still, in this essence, its own reward.

Our Director will be happy to get back the 6 shelves
of storage space at the end of SRP.

 And that's it!  You're ready to start your "prizeless" Summer Reading Program.  I hope your kids, caregivers, and staff love it as much as we did.


*I am not affiliated with these companies.  Please always use the products and sites that best suit your library!