'Annoying but Helpful…': Action Research Examining Secondary Students' Active Reading of Assigned Texts

Despite the value of reading, research documents declining reading rates among American adolescents - a decline that exacerbates student dropout rates and academic performance. As a high school English teacher in a public, regional, suburban school, increasing the number of students who deeply read the assigned texts for class has been a career-long focus. Therefore, one of my goals for the 2021-2022 school year was to promote better reading practices among my students using a note-per-pages assignment and to reflect on the results via a teacher research study design. Findings indicate that while certainly not a fail-proof assignment without its flaws, the note-per-pages assignment as the focus of this action research did increase the overall number of students reading the assigned texts and that more students reported feeling the assignment was helpful to their reading practices as the school year progressed. Implications regarding student engagement in and ownership of the reading process, class reading culture, and involving students in the action research process are included.