Display – Benefits of Reading

Inspired by the work of Professor Margaret Merga, I wanted to talk to students about the benefits of reading. At one school, I am fortunate to be working with a teacher librarian who has designed a whole year 8 library lessons course around Merga’s research and the benefits of reading. At my other workplace, I placed an infographic about the benefits of reading into this year’s library welcome booklet and created this display, which sits above our student printers, hoping it will catch the eyes of students who may not regularly pick up a book.

I created some simple posters about the various benefits of reading and added a few funny reading memes. Our handy library Cricut machine cut the letters and a volunteer put the display up for me.

The display looked a little plain at first, so I added some book covers around the edge. This really caught the students’ attention and I had two comments about the displayed books within an hour of putting them up. I love the idea of adding the whole book. Not only does it give the spine, which makes it easier to find the book, students can take the time to read the book summary and hopefully be intrigued enough to pick up a copy. It also makes the display a lot brighter. Using the full cover idea came from Hans Price Academy Learning Resource Centre – see their website here.  I love it!!

Before

After