Reading Motivation

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Reading Motivation
by Alicia Fallaw 2nd Grade Dobson Elementary
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Background

• I only had a handful of students engaged and
  motivated enough to read independently during SSR
• When I asked why one student was just sitting
  there, he proceeded to tell me he just did not
  like reading and did not feel like reading that
  day.
• Each year I find myself in the same situation
  with a group of students that for the most part
  are not motivated to read.

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What Research Says

• Research suggests having a couch or beanbags for
  students to curl up in and read. One article
  even suggested having an old canoe.
• Reading needs to be given the Wow factor.
• The article discussed the importance of read
  alouds and that you should read aloud to your
  class with the drama of an Oscar winner.
• Another article suggested that allowing students
  to share about books they have read could also be
  a motivator.

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Research Questions

• What strategies work to motivate children to
  read?
• What role does choice and interest play in the
  motivation process?

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Methods

• Participants
• 23 students
• 13 girls 10 boys
• 7 Hispanic, 15 Caucasian, 1 Bi-racial
• 14 of my students are considered at risk due to
  low reading achievement and ability
• 2/3 of our school are free reduced lunch
• 1/3 are Hispanic

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Intervention/Instruction Procedures

• Study was conducted over a 6 week period.
• All 23 students were involved.
• I implemented 6 strategies over the 6 week
  period.

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Free choice during Self Selected Reading take
home reading.

• Students were allowed to read out of any book
  basket.
• They had free choice of the book they took home
  for reading each night.
• My principal really didnt approve of this
  strategy.

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Reading comprehension cubes and spinner

• Cubes spinner ask comprehension questions.
• Students were more motivated to pay attention
  because they knew they would get the opportunity
  to answer questions from the spinner or cubes.

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Going outside to read
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Time For Kids

• The school paid for a subscription for each child
  in my class for one year.
• The first issue was on frogs.
• We went on line and listened to the frog chorus.
• They started checking out books from the library
  about related topics we read about.

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Moonchair

• I drew a childs name randomly each day.
• They were provided additional reading materials
  such as seasonal books.
• They never let me forget to draw a new name each
  day.

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Sharing with the class

• They were sharing with their neighbors
• They begged to get up and share with the class.
• This held them accountable for the information.
• Helped them do better retelling stories to me as
  well.

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Data Collection

• Garfield survey before after
• On task behavior checklist
• Reading conference form
• Anecdotal notes
• Interest survey at the end

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Data Analysis

• Compared pre post Garfield scores
• Created a color coded spreadsheet
• Recreational Pre-test 57 of my class was below
  50ile
• Post-test 39 below 50 ile
• Academic 57 below 50 ile
• Post-test 26 below 50 ile
• Total raw score61 below 50 ile
• Post-test 35 below 50 ile

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Data Analysis Continued

• I Did an analysis on Garfield survey
• The 2 questions that got the most negative
  responses were
• 7 Do you like to read during the summer?
• 8 Would you like to read rather than play?
• I Sorted my notes by what I found in common. I
  found 3 main categories Free choice, Sharing
  with other students, sharing what they learned
  with me.

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Results Reading Motivation Survey
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Results Garfield Survey
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Results What I found out

• Motivation was increased
• Students looked forward to SSR
• I saw an improvement in academic reading scores
  as well
• They enjoyed sharing about the books they had
  read.
• They started checking out books on topics we had
  been studying in class.
• Overall, I went from 61 of my class not liking
  reading down to 35 being below 50 ile.

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Discussion

• I now know that it is the little things that make
  a big difference. (ex. the moonchair)
• My lower level students made the most growth on
  the survey.
• Another teacher changed the way she did take home
  reading because of my study.
• The drawback to free choice was less
  comprehension during SSR conferences.

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Future Direction

• In the future I would like to extend this
  research study to determine the link between
  motivation and comprehension. Comprehension is
  the only negative aspect of the study and I want
  to find a way to have motivation as well as
  comprehension.

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References

• Braxton, Barbara. (2004). Encouraging Students to
  Read for Pleasure. Teacher Librarian, v31, 39-40.
  Retrieved September 12, 2005.
• Cunningham, Patricia and Hall, Dorothy P. A
  Guide to the Four Blocks Literacy Model.
• Hunter, Phyllis. (2004). Classroom Libraries
  Level the Playing Field. Instructor, v113,
  36-40. Retrieved September 12, 2005.
• Joyce, Marilyn. 2003. Fostering Reading through
  Intrinsic Motivation An Action Research Study.
  Knowledge Quest v32 no1, 39-40. Retrieved
  September 12, 2005.
• Kragler, Sherry Nolley, Christine. (1996)
  Student choices book selection strategies of
  fourth graders. Reading Horizons, v36, 354-365.
  Retrieved October 20, 2005.
• McKenna, Michael Kear, Dennis J. (1990)
  Measuring attitude toward reading A new tool for
  teachers. The Reading Teacher, 626-639