It Starts With Stamina

Testing season is here! Which means it’s the time of year many of us start thinking about reading stamina. And there’s a good reason for that. Standardized testing requires a full day of focus. While the test itself might only run between 90-120 minutes, kids also need to pay attention to important instructions and sometimes even write two tests in a single day. That’s a long time for anyone to stay focussed. Especially kids.

Here to help

Over the next month, we’ll be sharing a series of posts outlining three building blocks educators and parents can use to encourage their kids to build stamina inside and outside of the classroom. Each building block includes activities and resources to keep kids engaged as they build not just stamina, but also confidence.

In a world where distractions are plentiful and focus is rare, stamina is paramount.

What is Reading Stamina? 

Stamina is the ability to do something for a sustained (aka long!) period of time. For students, stamina is key to achieving goals and making progress. It’s huge for boosting confidence as kids see themselves improving as they work to achieve milestones (that’s the growth mindset piece). Since we’re looking at reading stamina specifically this means the ability to read for longer and longer uninterrupted periods of time.

Start soon, read often

But there’s more to it than that. In a world where distractions are plentiful and focus is rare, stamina is paramount. Reading stamina is a precursor to deep work and building it early helps children establish a growth mindset. It takes time, effort, and determination to build. That’s where Dreamscape comes in.

Built that way

Stamina is something that Dreamscape is already designed to help build. It’s one of the ten reasons we do seasons, why we use a streak mechanic in-game, and why there’s an assignment progress tracker in the question passage window. It’s best not to limit stamina to any single environment, type of text or way of reading. It’s useful everywhere. 

Whether you’re gearing up for test prep or looking to build a lifelong ability, check back next week as we take a look at the first building block.