Motivating the Struggling Reader

Teachers.Net Chat September 30, 1998 Motivating the Struggling Reader

Kathleen - Mezim, are you here for the meeting about motivating struggling readers in grades 9-12? (I hope) :-)
Mezim - I have been trying several ways to motivate students, but they don't seem effective.
Mezim - yes
Kathleen - Mezim, what subject/s do you teach?
Mezim - English grade 10
Kathy/5/IA - I'm sure it get tougher to motivate HS students to read. I teach 5th.
Mezim - Well, many elementary strategies work in high school. What do you do?
Kathleen - Mezim, throw out something you tried that didn't work, maybe we can brainstorm (while we wait for others to log on)
Kathleen - by throw out, I mean post it for discussion here)
Mezim - I have tried spirit reading, circle reading in class
Kathy/5/IA - I have been using Literature Circles in my 5th grade classrooms. I find if I can get kids to read a novel, they start to get hooked - to maybe a genre or author.
Kathy/5/IA - What is spirit reading? Haven't heard of that.
Kathleen - Wouldn't writing being a good strategy to motivate practice with reading..class newsletter, school newspaper, letters of complaint
Mezim - I'm familiar with those. How hard is it to teach students roles in each group?
Mezim - Spirit reading..students read while the spirit moves them, and stop when they feel like it
Mezim - They must complete sentences and can't speak between readers
Kathy/5/IA - I'm teaching the Jobs right now to my kids. I take it one job at a time. We are using the stories in our "basal". My kids are catching on real well.
Mezim - My problem is that students never complete homework
Mezim - I teach in the block, so they have to come prepared to class. I can't afford to lose them for 84 minutes
Kathy/5/IA - I try to give the kids some class time to do the reading. But they do need to do some at home. Our Lit. Circles meet on Mon.Wed.Fri. Reading and Mini lessons are on Tues.Thurs.
Kathy/5/IA - Hi lael! We are discussing ways to motivate HS readers.
Kathy/5/IA - What grade do you teach, Lael?
Kathy/5/IA - I've been pleased with my kids so far this year. Haven't had too many late assignments. A real change!!
Kathy/5/IA - What other types of strategies do you use?
Mezim - I have a plethora of late assignments. How do you ensure work completion?
Mezim - I use the jigsaw method to answer questions from reading
Kathy/5/IA - I started a "discipline" strategy that has worked so far called Strikes. They get a strike card for not following rules, not completing homework, forgetting things in other classes, etc... When they get 3 strikes - a note goes home. 9 strikes and a parent/teacher/student conference is set up.
Mezim - good idea, I think I'll try that
Kathy/5/IA - Jigsawing works well for a lot of things. I use it in science, too.
Kathy/5/IA - Many are "afraid" to take a note home, though I have 2 gentlemen close to a conference! They can't get the hang of bringing their assignments in.
Kathy/5/IA - I also require my students to read at home for at least 20 min. a night 5 nights a week.
lael - I teach high school credit retrieval, so I have students making up English 9-12
Mezim - Kathy, that's a good idea, but very hard to do in an alternate block system
Kathleen - WEll, it's good to see more people coming in:-) That should help with the brainstorming...just jump in we'll use an open chat format
Kathy/5/IA - I just purchased Nancie Atwell's 2nd edition to In the Middle. Haven't really gotten a chance to read it, but she has a lot of good ideas! 70% of the book is suppose to be new.
lvan/8/CT - I really like Atwell's ideas, and in a utopia they might work really well. I get frustrated because when you have a "curriculum" to "cover" (shudder) you can't always do what you think is best for kids.
lael - I tend to have very reluctant readers, often with low skills. I encourage kids to use books on tape and follow along in a text. I also keep a supply of colored overlays for those who find it difficult to deal with a white background, especially under fluorescent lights. Those are technical rather than motivational things, but they do help some of my kids get over the hump.
lvan/8/CT - It's difficult to motivate reluctant readers when you have to teach a lot of wonderful literature that isn't really suited to their needs.
Kathy/5/IA - Do you find a lot of kids have trouble with the lighting? Our old counselor was trained to diagonosis kids that had that difficulty.
lvan/8/CT - lael - I never heard of kids having trouble with the white background. I wonder if that could be part of the problem with some of our kids?
Kathy/5/IA - I agree, Ivan. I love using trade books and other forms of literature. We are currently looking at new basals. I rather use tradebooks than another basal.
Kathy/5/IA - I forget what it's called - the difficulty to read with a white background.
lvan/8/CT - I finally convinced our literature committee to take a look at what we are teaching. I'm hoping that we'll start looking at more high-interest books.
Kathy/5/IA - I hope it works for you, Ivan. I'm really not sure what to expect here. The lower grades want a balanced literacy approach, but the upper grades want basals and worksheets!
lvan/8/CT - What are some other ideas for motivating kids to read? I head tapes (and I love to use them with my "strugglers").
lvan/8/CT - Yuck, Kathy - it's the opposite here. Lower grades want basals - upper grades want "literature".
Kathy/5/IA - Maybe I'll move to CT!
lvan/8/CT - You'd be welcome, Kathy!
Mezim - Focus on authentic assessments
Kathleen - Last week someone brought up using jokes, comedy to motivate struggling readers to pick up reading materials. Maybe they could do a stand-up comedy routine, requiring them to read jokes to memorize.
lvan/8/CT - I agree, Mezim.
Kathleen - Ivan, not eveyone in lower grades in Conn wants basals :-) (I'm in Conn)
Mezim - How about letting students write their own version of a story and read it to the class?
lvan/8/CT - I'm noticing a more positive trend with my kids in the past few years. It seems that more kids claim to "like" reading. Is anyone else seeing that?
Mezim - Kathleen, I am too and I agree
Kathy/5/IA - Getting kids to do "research" on topics that interest them is a good way go get kids to read.
Mezim - no, mine read less
lvan/8/CT - I understand that, Kat and Mezim - I was just reporting on MY district.
Mezim - Kathy, in my school we are working on an interdisciplinary term paper
lvan/8/CT - Mine claim that they enjoy reading in the summer... the rest of the year they just don't have time.
lvan/8/CT - I can identify with that .... :o)
Kathy/5/IA - I just picked up a neat book at Borders Books - called Exploring the US on the Net. I plan to use it in my Tech. classes. Getting the kids to READ on a computer, is reading, TOO!
Mezim - good idea, Kat
Mezim - I mean as a required project.
Kathleen - Yes, I guess the computer could be motivating (right under my nose! literally!)
Kathy/5/IA - It gives Web addresses for each state and questions to answer. I contacted the book company to see if they had others. They are sending me a catalog.
lvan/8/CT - Mezim - We do that. Do you have a theme or focus for the paper? Ours in "Cultural Heritage"
Kathy/5/IA - I know I have read more since getting hooked to the Internet. A different kind of reading, but I'm constantly reading and communicating with writing.
Mezim - Ivan ours is a scientific issue of the kids choosing such as rain forest, acid rain, etc
lvan/8/CT - We do a "children's book" activity with that topic in December.
Kathleen - Ivan, good idea, writing for younger audience, then reading it, perhaps dramatizing it.
Mezim - I just had students do a fairy tale rewrite in the first person. Even my honors kids enjoyed it
Kathy/5/IA - I did a Cinderella project last year where we studied the different versions of Cinderella and they wrote our own.
lvan/8/CT - Yes, Kat. Our audience is third graders, and our students take their books to a third grade classroom and become "teachers" for an afternoon. It is WONDERFUL!!
Kathy/5/IA - I agree with a comment Kathleen made earlier - getting them to write helps their reading.
Mezim - Ivan, I'm doing that in the spring!
Kathleen - Ivan, good for all..your students and the younger kids
Kathy/5/IA - Sounds great, Ivan!
Mezim - Bristol Eastern High
lvan/8/CT - I think the thing I like best about it is that some of our kids are just beginning to think of careers and my "future teachers" get a chance to see what it is like.
Mezim - Who else has motivational strategies?
Kathleen - I always think what a shame that Elem. schools spend a lot of $$ bringing in programs that HS students within a district could put together and perform, learning a whole lot in the process because the production is so motivating
Mezim - I agree. I also think that HS could be done much better if we remember what kids liked in elementary school and continued to use it.
Kathleen - Mezim, that rewrite idea is great!
lvan/8/CT - Ohhh Mezim ... you can say that again!!!! and again!!!!!
Mezim - I have a few authentic type assessments on my web site. You are welcome to use them. The address is: http://members.aol.com/MEZIM/index.html
Kathy/5/IA - In my old school I directed HS plays/musicals. Every other year we did one based on a childrens book - Charolotte's Web, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The elementary kids loved it and the HS kids found that it was a blast to do the show for the kids! Made them real STARS in the eyes of the little ones.
Mezim - What a good idea. I'll have to try that, too
Kathleen - Nice link to Teachers.Net. "Mezim":-)
Kathy/5/IA - Thanks, Mezim - I'll check it out later!
Kathy/5/IA - If I would of had the HS kids in a class we would of read the book and discussed it more. I taught 4th grade at the time. Only had the HS kids after school.
lvan/8/CT - I keep trying to make reading relevant to "real life" (whatever that means for my kids).
Kathy/5/IA - That is so important, Ivan!
lvan/8/CT - The problem is that "real life" keeps changing. It isn't the same for every child.
lvan/8/CT - I also think that it is important for our older students to reconnect with their childhood reading experiences.
Mezim - Don't forget, they have to do that on the CAPT in 10th grade
lvan/8/CT - Right, Mezim -- CAPT is our Connecticut state test for 10th graders.
Kathy/5/IA - So many of the children's picture books are written at higher levels. They are great to use with Upper Elem on up.
lvan/8/CT - I am always amazed when I do my "reading inventories" at the beginning of the year at how many of my students cannot remember being read to until they went to school. How sad.
Kathy/5/IA - I find the same thing, Ivan! It is sad!
Kathy/5/IA - I even try to encourage the parents to read to the kids now when they are in 5th grade. Then need to hear fluent reading. I read to them everyday.
Mezim - I have a book that discusses using picture books to illustrate important points in high school
lvan/8/CT - My wife and I read to our children until they left us ... to go to college. It was a "family time thing" that all of us enjoyed. The girls even took part as they got older.
Kathy/5/IA - Do you remember the title of the book, Mezim? Sound good!
Kathy/5/IA - Wonderful, Ivan!
Kathleen - Goodnight all!