Stamina is harder than ever for middle schoolers, and independent reading often feels like an uphill climb. In this episode, you’ll learn how reading sprints, short, focused bursts of reading, can help students strengthen attention, build confidence, and develop the endurance they need for longer texts.

In this episode, we’ll explore different ways to bring reading sprints into your classroom, whether it’s starting class with a quick warm-up, building community through partner shares, or helping students discover new favorites with short genre previews. We’ll also talk through common challenges like restlessness and fake reading, and how to keep students genuinely engaged as they build stamina.

Read more in the show notes. 

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Resources you may find helpful:

• Building Reading Stamina
• Finding Just Right Books
• Independent Reading Challenges

Related episodes and blog posts: 

• How to Build Reading Stamina (Episode #57)
• Helping Students Find Just Right Books (Episode #44)
• How to Keep Independent Reading Alive with a Required Curriculum 
• How to Build Independent Reading Routines in Secondary ELA (Episode #31)

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