Students often lack confidence in their reading skills, resulting in decreased motivation to read and/or learn. Learn what teachers can do to empower students with the confidence they need to succeed in their reading skills.
Reading is one of the biggest skills kids learn in elementary school, but let’s be real—not every student feels confident about it.
Some struggle with comprehension, some trip over decoding, and others read so fast they have no idea what they just said.
And when kids don’t feel confident? They start avoiding reading like it’s broccoli night at dinner.
The good news?
You can help turn that around! A little confidence boost can make all the difference—helping students actually enjoy reading, stay motivated, and improve their skills along the way.
In fact, research shows that when students feel confident in their reading abilities, they’re more engaged and perform better academically (Schunk & Mullen, 2012).
In this post, we’ll dive into simple, effective strategies to build reading confidence in your students.
Create a Safe and Supportive Environment
One of the most important goals for teachers is to create a safe and supportive environment for their students. This means creating a classroom culture where students feel respected, valued, and encouraged.
When students feel safe and supported, they’re more likely to take risks and try new things. Teachers should explain that it’s okay to make mistakes and that learning is all about trying. Students will begin feeling more comfortable making mistakes as they learn and know they won’t be laughed at.
Promoting a positive mindset about mistakes and learning will help improve reading skills. Students learn to view mistakes as normal steps in learning instead of failures.
You can create a safe and supportive environment by setting clear expectations, providing positive feedback, and celebrating students’ successes.
Use Evidence-Based Instructional Strategies
Evidence-based instructional strategies are vital for helping students build their reading skills.
Evidence-based strategies are teaching methods that have been proven to work. This means they’ve been tested in many classrooms, and there’s research to show that students learn better with these methods. Teachers can use these strategies to help make sure students learn as much as possible and remember what they learned afterward.
For example, you can use decoding and fluency activities to help students improve word recognition and reading speed.
You can also use comprehension strategies, such as prediction, visualization, and questioning, to help students understand and remember what they’ve read.
Students’ engagement is boosted when students work together collaboratively together (Wentzel, 2009). Try having students work with partners or small groups to play games and solve puzzles together. Additionally, hands-on learning can make learning more meaningful and help students remember and recall information they’ve learned (Copperstein and Kocevar-Wiedinger, 2004).
Provide Individualized Feedback and Support
Another way to help your students build confidence in their reading skills is to provide individualized feedback and support.
Specifically, this means taking the time to observe your students’ reading behaviors, identify strengths and weaknesses, and provide specific feedback and support for improvement.
Data and assessment tools should be used to track students’ progress. That data can be used to tailor instruction to students’ individual needs. Providing individualized lessons, feedback, and support that address individual needs will enhance students’ confidence in their reading abilities.
Encourage a Love of Reading
Finally, one of the best ways to give your students confidence in their reading skills is to foster a love of reading. When students enjoy reading, they’re more likely to read independently, practice their skills, and take pride in their accomplishments.
You can boost your students’ love of reading by providing a variety of engaging and relevant reading materials, such as books, magazines, and online resources. You can also model positive reading behaviors, such as reading aloud, discussing books, and sharing your own love of reading.
By creating a safe and supportive environment, using evidence-based instructional strategies, providing individualized feedback and support, and fostering a love of reading, you’ll increase your students’ motivation and confidence.
When students feel confident in their abilities, they’re more likely to enjoy reading, be motivated to learn, and ultimately achieve better academic outcomes. As a teacher, you have the power to build students’ confidence to improve reading skills and set them on a path toward lifelong learning.
What resources can I use in my classroom?
Take Reading Comprehension to the Next Level
Want to dig deeper into what students read? That’s where the real magic happens!
These book and story comprehension pages work with ANY book or story, making them the perfect no-prep tool for reinforcing key skills like summarizing, character analysis, theme, and more.
Whether you’re running a class novel study, small group discussions, or independent reading projects, this resource has everything you need to help students think critically and engage with their reading. Just print and go!
Short Reading Passages to Build Skills
Helping students actually understand what they read (instead of just skimming and guessing) starts with text evidence passages.
These activities get kids to slow down, read closely, and think critically—all while hunting for the details that support the main idea. It’s like a scavenger hunt… but for comprehension skills!
And here’s the best part: it makes your life easier. No more scrambling for last-minute reading activities—these ready-to-go passages save you time while giving your students the practice they need.
As an added bonus, text evidence passages save teachers valuable time when preparing lessons.
Want seasonal reading practice all year long? Grab the BUNDLE of seasonal reading passages at my TPT shop.
Make Reading Fun (and Track Progress Without the Hassle!)
The FREE reading log will immediately download when you click the image
This simple and FREE book log is an easy way to keep track of what students are reading—without adding extra work for you! Just have them jot down the date, book title, and author, then color in the stars to rate the book.
That’s it! No long summaries, no complicated forms—just a quick and visual way to reflect on their reading.
Want to make it more exciting?
Challenge students to read a certain number of books each week or month—maybe five books in a month or two books per week. You can even set a class goal and celebrate when they reach it! Whether they’re racing to fill in their log or taking their time, the goal is to build confidence and encourage a love for reading.
Want to learn more about text evidence and reading instruction?
How to Teach Students to Cite Text Evidence
How to Teach Compare and Contrast Essays
5 Tips to Prep Your Students for State Testing
Written by Jules Rhee, MEd., and a 30-year teaching veteran. Published 4/17/2023; Updated 3/12/2025.
