Building Confident Readers: Creating a Classroom Where Every Reader Can Grow

My project, Building Confident Readers, is about doing exactly what the title suggests—helping build confidence in young readers. The purpose of this grant is to help students feel comfortable, confident, and successful in their reading. In a classroom of twenty students, it can be challenging to build confidence in every child when all students are at different reading levels. The items included in this grant will help support students at all reading levels and provide opportunities for each student to grow in their confidence and ability as a reader.

A research study evaluating the effectiveness of reading aloud and utilizing self-checks to improve fluency from 2020, done at the University of Wisconsin, shows that the WPM count increased within the six weeks, and comprehension grew to 100% on all students. In this same study, when students were given the opportunity to self-reflect, every student increased their confidence level each week. Students will be impacted based on many things. For the students who are gaining reading confidence, whisper phones, Leapfrog learning pens/books, and firsthand CVC word learning games are included in this grant. Reading aloud to yourself has been shown repeatedly to improve reading fluency. Being read aloud to has been shown to be effective in motivating and enhancing students’ desire to read independently, as shown in a 1999 study done by Kean University.

In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the second thing that needs to be met is safety and security. This is where items such as noise-canceling headphones and rocker chairs come into the grant. For students to develop self-esteem, they must have their other needs met first. My priority as a teacher is to build a safe place for my students to be comfortable. If you ask students to sit at a desk all day in a chaotic classroom, they will become stagnant in learning. Flexible seating options and removing the extra noise can help engage students in their reading. In a 2024 research study done by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, it showed that for students to have an active learning space, comfort and engagement were number one in what students need.

Instruction will be enhanced by gathering the love for reading in all students. When you give equity to the students in your classroom, not only are you building them up individually, but you are helping your classroom grow. As a district, we stress the need to differentiate learning, and as we continue to grow in this goal, we also need to put into the classrooms those who can implement this day to day.

The reason that I am so passionate about this project is that, within my first year of teaching, I was able to see how comfort and confidence help students flourish. My first time giving a DIBELS test to a student, she scored 6 WPM. I was told by her previous teacher that she is a strong reader, so getting this kind of score was odd to me. I pulled her aside and asked if something was bothering her. She had told me that she did not feel confident reading aloud to me. This was crushing to hear; her confidence stood in the way of her full potential. I had made it my goal to build her reading confidence. When she took the DIBELS test this winter, her scores went up to 46 WPM, and her NWEA score went up 17 points. She has also increased her participation in aloud reading in small groups. Seeing how her confidence grew inspired me to research more about how confidence affects young readers. I want to see progress in reading confidence in more of my students and target students based on their needs in reading.

(Spring 2026 NEA Grant)