The other day, my son asked me why I like to read and his dad doesn’t. Good question! I really didn’t have an answer, other than thinking about the way I grew up. In my childhood, household reading was what we did. Every night before bed, my parents read to me. As I grew older, I was allowed to stay up thirty minutes past my bedtime to read on my own (motivating me even more—who doesn’t want to stay up late?). Reading was simply a habit I developed early on and luckily still enjoy doing today.
Now, as my own household winds down (kids in bed), I find myself heading upstairs to read as my husband heads downstairs to watch TV. What motivates me to want to read? The answer is that I enjoy it.
A few years ago, I read a great article when trying to find strategies to motivate students in classrooms. The article was called Motivating Children Who Don’t Like to Read* by Alan Haskvitz. He comments that, “Motivating a young person to read starts with a good example. And that is the parent. Research has clearly shown that the most important base for a successful student is a mother who conveys a positive attitude about school to her child. Without this role model the chances of a child becoming an avid reader diminish.”
It seems pretty simple, right? But as children get older, it gets harder to compete with sports, after school activities, and friends. So how can books compete? Haskvitz provides some really great ideas in his article, and I think the key idea that he states is to focus on the type of child you are dealing with. There seems to be two types of readers who may choose not to read. My husband is a perfect example of a reluctant reader. He can read just fine, but he chooses not to! He is a reluctant reader in the sense that he is “reluctant” to pursue reading as an enjoyable activity. The second type of reader is one who struggles with reading. We may call this reader a “struggling” reader because he or she finds reading frustrating (which obviously makes the task unenjoyable).
I think technology may be the key for both readers. We are learning quickly that technology is an important part of children growing up in this day and age. I noticed at my children’s school they have been encouraging students to read e-books. The newer e-books now even allow children to interact with the books. Books are not simply a passive event. Students can place sticky notes with comments, circle words they don’t understand, and highlight areas where they have a question. Any of this interactivity could motivate a reluctant or a struggling reader! As much as I love a traditional book in my hands, I really see the motivation technology can provide students, whether they are struggling or simply reluctant to read.
Below are some websites that may provide further support:
Want to have a conversation with your students about their reading? Integrate the Reader’s Response Journal into your Reader’s Workshop.
*If you are no stranger to using Reader’s Response Journals in your classroom, you will still want to check out the links below. They are excellent resources.
Reader’s Response Journals allow students to respond to their reading. It gives them an opportunity to share thoughts, feelings, and questions regarding any element of the story. This could include characters’ actions, events, opinions, and even likes and dislikes about the text. Students can share predictions, parts of the text they find confusing, and connections to personal experiences, other texts, and world events. The best part about student responses is that they can’t be wrong, so students should feel the freedom to take risks in their writing. The teacher isn’t asking students to share information from their reading JUST to see if they actually read the text. The teacher and student are ACTUALLY having a conversation about the text. These written responses between teacher and student are a very important part of understanding the text on a deeper level.
The response to reading is in the format of a friendly letter. Teachers explicitly model how to write a friendly letter including the date, salutation, body, and closing. Teachers should also model in detail the many ways students can respond. Many of these have been previously mentioned above. Students are instructed to summarize what they are reading and then add their responses. Teachers can utilize mini-lessons to teach students about paragraphs, types of salutations and closings, lead sentences, and much more.
There are many resources and websites that provide support in using Reader’s Response Journals. I have listed a few below. The first source is a brief slide show that I have found very helpful. Make sure you check it out! You will be glad you did! Some of the others include guidelines, examples of journal responses, prompts, and rubrics that allow you to assess journal responses.
Reader’s Response Journal: Best Practices
