Continuing on this week’s theme of motivation, I found a great article on the Reading Rockets site (www.readingrockets.org) about motivation. Specifically, the article focuses on motivating older students who are poor readers. We are learning, and research shows, that better students read more. For teachers, strong readers are easy to keep motivated. These students already love to read and I have found they usually have no problem finding numerous books they want to read. The challenge for us is to find a way to reach those kids who struggle to read and therefore are not as likely to find books that interest them. How do we help them to find books that are at their reading level and that are interesting to them?
The article highlights a significant problem for struggling older elementary students. These students must find books that are at a reading level appropriate for them but that will not be considered babyish by themselves or their peers. In other words, the books must have simple vocabulary and shorter sentences but should also contain plots that are interesting for a 10,11 or 12 year old reader. A third grade struggling reader does not want to read a book about bunnies and butterflies. The reader will be bored by the pictures and the plot. The authors use a term, “high interest/low vocabulary” or "hi/lo" texts to describe books appropriate for struggling older readers. Rog and Kropp provide a list of supports that can be provided to struggling readers so the text will be interesting and with an appropriate readability index.
“These supports include:
- A compelling storyline and credible characters
- Topics and issues with which readers can make personal or emotional connections
- Supportive formatting that includes illustrations and appropriate text placement on the page (hyphenation is a problem for reluctant readers, line spacing is more important than type size, some type faces are more easily readable than others)
- Careful introduction and reinforcement of difficult vocabulary and concepts (no difficult word should be used only once, and every difficult word should be presented in such a way as to be sure its meaning is clear)
- Straightforward plot development (avoiding flashbacks, time shifts, and confusing changes in point of view)
- Simple sentence structures (the subject and predicate must be physically close to each other; subordinate clauses should follow the main clause, or be clearly set off by commas)”
To help these struggling readers find reading material that is of interest to them, we, as teachers, need to broaden our scope of materials. Our class libraries should include lots of non-fiction texts, magazines, newspapers, even comic books. I have noticed in my first grade class that the boys tend to gravitate toward my non-fiction books. I have lots of books about animals, space, science and they seem to love these. My low readers tend to pick these books during our D.E.A.R. time.
Common sense tells us that when a reader is interested in a topic, he or she will be more motivated to continue reading. This is especially true for struggling readers. Teachers should make an effort to include hi/lo texts in their libraries. Rog and Kropp provide a list of motivating factors for students. I found it interesting that the last item on the list was “TV tie-in or promotion.” Children are more likely to select a book based on peer recommendations or interest in a topic. Teachers should consider making a class list of favorite books. Kids will be motivated to read a book if other children say it is cool or a good book. Another option would be to start a book club for struggling readers in the third, fourth, and fifth grade. This will give them a chance to see what other students are reading and to get new ideas for books.
It may take a little more effort, but if we can help older readers find reading materials that are interesting and appropriate for them, the pay off will be great.
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Thank you for your comment. I too am interested in motivating struggling readers. I find it particularly important to provide students with a rich class library and offering them choices. While I am not in a classroom, I feel that the more autonomous children feel, the more motivated they may be to perform. Perhaps teachers can encourage groups of 4-5 students to get together and choose a book to read and discuss. This may encourage the students to share ideas they may never have thought about and ask questions that provide deep discussions about the author’s intent and affect those strategies have on the reader. This article in the New York Times was particularly interesting and offered opinions on both sides of this issue: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/books/30reading.html
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of having a book club in the classroom. Students not only get to read the "hottest" book recommended by their friends but also get to discuss it with their peers in class as part of reading development.
ReplyDeleteIn addiction to have students getting a book from the class library, teachers can also schedule a time with school librarian for students to check out books they are interested in. By presenting them with a larger collection and giving them choices, teachers provide students an opportunity to explore the topic they desire to know more.