Brown-Stategies that Motivate Readers

      I teach in a title one school in a rural area. My students are in stage one of reading. They are young and still forming an attitude toward reading. These students can develop a positive reading attitude by having a literature rich classroom that contains literature across the curriculum and on multiple topics and genres that will develop an interest to read. Motivational activities in the classroom include, charting AR points, partner reading, a daily teacher read- aloud, books of interest, and early childhood book reports and graphic organizers that are cute and grade appropriate.  One that my students love to do at the beginning of the year is a dog shaped graphic organizer that students complete with author, title, characters, beginning/end , and drawing their favorite part. This activity helps motivate my students to read Biscuit and Clifford books that are designed for beginning readers. I also create a spot for these reports to go in the hallway outside our classroom. The students get a sense of pride seeing their work displayed for all to see.

     Children at this age and stage in reading can develop a love for reading in a literature rich classroom with the teacher interacting through different activities that engage and motivate all students to read. Our research indicated the positive effect on children that see other adults model a love for reading. Even preschool children that have parents interacting with them relating to book reads and questioning obtain a positive attitude toward reading. Younger students do have more interaction with adults through reading than older students. As a child grows their positive reading attitude drops. This is seen throughout the school and in surveys. Many mothers will also tell how their children loved to read at one time but they cannot get them to read as they got older. Motivation and interest is the key to getting students to read at any age.

    Our survey results of elementary age children revealed many results that did not surprise me with the students I teach. Disadvantaged children own fewer books and have parents that do not interact in reading activities with their children compared to families that were higher in economic status. Students that were academically high achieving read more. Girls enjoy reading for pleasure more than boys. They also read more fiction. Parents feel that technology has a negative effect on the time their children spend reading. After many years of teaching, a teacher would not be surprised by any of these results. The results do reinforce the notion that a teacher needs to do all they can to ensure that ALL students become readers, whether for pleasure or to complete an assignment.