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There’s a quiet revolution happening at Alta High School—and it starts with 20 minutes of silence.

Not the awkward kind. The good kind. The kind where teenagers are flipping pages, lost in books they chose themselves.

If that sounds improbable, even a little magical, you’re not alone.

“Sometimes I’ll look up and think… wait, they’re all reading?” said English teacher Peggy DeVeny. “And then I don’t say anything because I don’t want to ruin it.”

Like many educators across the country, DeVeny was seeing a troubling trend: students disengaging from reading. Assigning whole-class novels—once a staple—wasn’t landing the way it used to.

So, a few years ago, she tried something different. Instead of telling every student what to read, she gave them a structured choice.

The results were immediate—and surprising.