Inspiring Readers to be Successful

Interest in Reading

• How do I help students identify and read books that are interesting to them?
• How can I help students link their learning experiences to books in a new way?
• How can I use my students’ cultural backgrounds and experiences as a platform to develop their interest and curiosities for reading?
• What do I know about my students’ reading interests?
• How can I learn more about my students’ reading interests?

Mastery Goals

• How do I help students focus on big, conceptual ideas for their reading and learning?
• Are students exposed to a range of fiction and nonfiction books that reflect the theme under study?
• To what extent are reading strategies embedded in content instruction, as opposed to being taught in isolation?
• How are English-language learners’ and struggling readers afforded opportunities to develop expertise on a topic through reading?
• How do I link English-language learners’ vocabulary learning to their conceptual learning in a theme?

Control and Choice

• How can I add choice menus to different aspects of literacy instruction?
• How often do I let students choose books to read on their own?
• How are literacy activities planned and structured so that students have opportunities to choose subtopics within a theme or overall unit?
• How many book choices are students afforded in relation to a topic that they need to research?
• Are all students’ voices honored in my class, irrespective of their language or knowledge status?
• What opportunities do English-language learners and struggling readers have to share and display their new understandings?
• What are all the meaningful choices that I give students?

Social Interaction

• To what extent does the climate in my classroom reflect a true collaborative environment?
• How are open discussions structured so that the majority of students can paticipate?
• How often do I ensure that English-language learners and struggling readers are afforded opportunities to collaborate as equal partners with other students in the class in literacy projects?
• How can book clubs and other types of independent reading activities be organized so that students feel accepted in the classroom?
• How do I show my students they are important to me?

Self-Efficacy

• How do I help my students establish initial confidence in reading?
• How do I help students develop self-efficacy in their use of specific reading strategies?
• How are texts and reading strategies aligned so English-language learners and struggling readers can develop oral fluency, develop vocabulary, and build knowledge from text?
• To what extent is the feedback provided to different students in my classroom contingent on the specific task they have at hand? How does this feedback help them become aware of their strengths and improve their weaknesses?
• How are literacy activities arranged so students can see their own progress?
• How often do my students form their own goals for reading?

Inspiring Reading Success: Interest and Motivation in an Age of High-Stakes Testing, edited by Rosalie Fink and S. Jay Samuels. © 2008 by the International Reading Association. May be copied for classroom use.

Fluency is best developed through assisted and repeated readings of texts. Certain texts are better used for performance than others. By using these texts to develop and increase fluency we are providing and engaging and authentic way to get students interested in fluency instruction. Artistic texts intended for artistic uses such as poetry, song, rhetoric, plays, and such are an ideal approach for teaching fluency.

Assessing Reading Fluency - a PDF document by Dr. Timothy Rasinski, including the Multidimensional Rubric for Assessing the Prosodic Features of Reading Fluency

A Handbook of Effective Instruction in Literacy- this resource offers information on fluency that provides a brief overview of effective literacy instructional practices

Here is a video clip of a classroom engaged in explicit fluency practice.

1.  Belonging

     – build a community and family at the start of the school year

     – provide students mentors

     – encourage consultations and collaborations among students

     – learn and use each student’s strengths

2.  Meaningfulness

     – explain and make relevant the value of what is taught

     – explain the process of learning

     – guide goal orientation

     – make learning interesting and fun

3.  Competence

     – provide appropriate level of challenge along with support

     – share personal expereiences using strategies (Language Experience Approach)

     – explain and scaffold the assigned tasks

     – provide immediate and constant feedback

     – focus on big ideas

4.  Autonomy

     – analyze student behaviors from the student’s perspective; review the Antecedent and Behavior

     – allow students to have a say in establishing rights and responsibilities

     – monitor students’ progress as compared to themselves (cooperative vs. competitive classroom)

     – effectively teach, model, and guide problem-solving strategies (cognitive and metacognitive)

     – provide differentiated opportunities for students to complete assignments (consider multiple intelligences)

     – invite students’ questions and ideas

     – encourage student initiative

     – give students choices within limits

     – put students in charge of determining how to meet learning goals (student led conferences)

Inspiring Reading Success: Interest and Motivation in an Age of High-Stakes Testing, edited by Rosalie Fink and S. Jay Samuels. © 2008 by the International Reading Association.

A child’s self-perception of their ability will affect how they attack a task. In the attribution theory, children experience affective reactions to success or failure and will try to understand their performance outcomes by placing them in one of four categories which are linked to specific emotions: effort (lack of effort and guilt), innate ability (lack of ability and pity), luck (whether good or bad), and other factors such as being liked or disliked by the teacher. If a struggling readers percieves little or no improvement despite great effort, they may view their shortcomings as a lack of innate ability at that point the student may not try harder believing it will end in failure. Educators are a factor as well, an angry teacher due to failure would let the student know the teacher believed they put in little effort. A teacher who shows a failing student pity would suggest they believe the student incapable of or not having the ability to handle such a task. As teachers, we need to maintain our expectations for success and let the students know that effort can compensate for learning difficulties. We need to model effective cognitive and metacognitive skills, such as oganization and planning.

The self-efficacy theory suggests we have the power to produce our desired effects. For our students who know what they need to do in order to be successful, however they do not do what is necessary would suggest there is a gap between their knowledge and achievement. This is influenced by their achievement beliefs, effort, and teacher feedback. As teachers, by enhancing our student’s self-efficacy we could scaffold those needed cognitive strategies such as, study techniques and self-regulation to foster higher achievement.

Students have a desire to appear capable versus incapable of achievement. Young students are happy with mastery of a task, however older students believe the harder they have to work, the dumber they must be. Having a competitive versus cooperative classroom can greatly influence your student’s beliefs about effort and ability. In the competitive classroom where rewards and acclommations are reserved for the highest achieving students, you will see more concern from your students regarding their ability. This can foster the ego involved student who is focused on how they are doing compared to others and even more concerned with showing their ability to others. These students are also more focused on tangible rewards such as grades and test scores versus the intangible process of learning. In a cooperative classroom students become task involved, are focused on the process of learning, and are intrinsically engaged in learning. The cooperative classroom works well with your struggling reader where you as the teacher can show your students their is value in setbacks and difficulties that are inherent in becoming a proficient reader. The teacher has the most influence on making students’ beliefs on learning adaptive versus unchanging.  

Resources for Adults:

Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scales (PALS) - assessment tool/manual in PDF detailing information about scale development and use for teachers to examine children’s motivational goal orientations, includes five student scales:

1. Personal Achievement Goal Orientations
2. Perceptions of Teacher’s Goals
3. Perception of Classroom Goal Structures
4. Academic-Related Perceptions, Beliefs, and Strategies
5. Perceptions of Parents, Home Life, and Neighborhood

Useful questionnaires - a variety of questionnaires that researchers and teachers can use to examine the ways students approach classroom learning

Support Children’s reading – recent information for parents about how they can support their child’s reading; variety of user-friendly articles by experts on topics such as organization and time management, how to help your child manage their homework, and managing relationships between home and school

U. S. Department of Education - research findings and practical tips for parents and teachers working with students who have a low motivation level, factors that foster and stop or slow down motivation, and how to improve motivation

Motivating young children - helpful tips for parents on how to improve motivation, strategies for managing student frustration and making learning interesting 

Resources for Children: the sites below provide engaging academic activities to foster interest in improving vocabulary, literacy, and phonics

PBS Kids Between the Lions

Random House

Reading Rainbow

Sesame Street Workshop

There are three approaches that can be considered when discussing student motivation to achieve reading success.  The theories are attribution theory, self-efficacy theory, and goal theory.

Attribution Theory states that our achievement-motivated behavior is driven by our need to understand the reasons for our successes and failures.  There are four main categories of attributions:  effort, innate ability, luck, and other external factors (i.e. being liked or disliked by the teacher).  For example, when a student is presented with a poor grade on a test, he realizes that he did not put enough time into studying.  Lack of effort is the main factor, and the student will likely feel guilty and study harder on the next test.  If that same student had the perception that his poor grade was a result of him not being smart enough, then it is likely that the student will feel incompetent and ashamed.  This attribution to innate ability may lead the student to not invest the time in studying.

Self-efficacy Theory is the belief that one has the power to produce a desired effect.  Students evaluate their achievement experiences through teacher feedback, achievement beliefs, behavioral factors, etc.  They are constantly evaluating their achievement, and their self-efficacy increases as they advance towards their goal.  Expectations are not just thoughts about the probability of success.  They encompass both an active anticipation of possible outcomes and students’ judgments about whether they have the ability to succeed at the task.  Students who have low expectations and little belief in their ability are more at risk for learned helplessness.  If you would like more information of self-efficacy theory, click here.

 Goal Theory suggests that students’ desire to appear capable (or not look incapable) is what guides achievement behavior.  Young children tend to view ability as mastery, something that can be enhanced with effort.  However, older children shift away from that perspective.  They begin to view ability as limited capacity, and they have the view that the harder they try, the “dumber” they must be.

Teacher’s perceptions of students’ ability has a profound effect on how students view their own achievement.  That is why it is so important that teachers are positive and create an atmosphere of cooperative learning.  They must try to motivate students intrinsically so students don’t develop self-handicapping behaviors.

According to Fischer and Fusaro they wrote this chapter to describe a natural motivational process that promotes development of skills and knowledge of the world and to show how it can be harnessed to help children master the skills that they are supposed to learn in school. The drive to learn is a basic feature of being human. That drive is called epistemic motivation. Epistemic motivation drives people to pursue control and knowledge of events and topics that fascinate and engage them. Someone who is driven to learn will learn everything they can about their special interest, within learning about their interest they would inadvertently learn such things as reading, math, how to organize objects and information, and more.

Once someone finds their interest, the motivation to learn about that subject increases and creates a circular reaction. In a circular reaction the person tries to recreate a situation where they experienced joy and interest. For example, a student who is interested in cars will read manuals, look at car magazines, find information on line, and ask people questions with vehicles they find interesting among other things. Fink interviewed adults with dyslexia and found they learned how to read by immersing themselves in books and texts on the topic of their interest and passion. The alphabet can be more of a barrier to students who are dyslexic. Epistemic motivation can help these students overcome this major barrier by using their intrinsic interests.

Teachers and parents should use the natural process of epistemic motivation to bring about learning in school and home. A rich and active account of learning and motivation is beneficial to all students. Find their area of motivation and interest for example, high school students are interested in socializing with peers, their popularity, sex, music, and a desire to control their own lives.  When a teacher or parent connects their students’ epistemic motivation with what they would like the student to learn, the student will then develop goals that will include what you would like them to learn while allowing them to focus on their interest or passion.

One of the most important factors that affects all kinds of readers is being passionate about something.  There is nothing like passion for a subject to motivate a student to read and find out more on the topic.  For example, when the Harry Potter series came out, young people of all different ages and reading abilities were reading these books!  If a student is motivated enough and has personal interest in the topic, they will work hard to achieve their goal.

In a study done by Rosalie Fink, people from various professional backgrounds who achieved reading fluency later than their peers had one thing in common:  they were all avid readers.  Even though they achieved fluency later than most of their peers or still didn’t read fluently in adult life, they were avid readers from an early age.  How is that possible?  In some cases, they read so much on a specific topic that they deepened their background knowledge to the point that context clues primarily helped them during their reading.  All of the participants from the study went on in life to become very successful and even became leaders in their fields.

There are many barriers to achievement such as homes characterized by poverty, low level of parental education, frequent moves within low income housing to avoid bill collectors, and violent neighborhoods. Children who come from these environments need to be taught resilience in order to be successful. In order for a child to be successful a healthy self-esteem needs to be established. There are some key factors that contribute to the success of stress-resilient children.

1. Mentoring - A mentor can be a parent, relative, teacher, or friend who gives students the ability to overcome hostile environments and situations.

2. Belief System - If a student has a defeatist belief system it will often lead to apathy and a lack of motivation to improve their situations.

A good mentor can help a child develop an internal locus of control where they believe that with hard work and effort they will overcome their adverse situations. Often times these children are from the middle and upper classes. S. Jay Samuels states that research on resilient children shows that the children who surmount their problems and go on to live fulfilling lives are the ones who have an internal locus of control. These children believe that working hard and doing well in school will give them a chance to build a better life.