Cure Unmotivated Readers for Summer
We know the benefits of reading and try to make reading a fun experience for learners. Fun experiences are rarely dreaded experiences. So, why can’t this be true for young readers as well?
School breaks that become reading breaks wreak havoc on learners. It’s easy to forget that summer learning loss makes returning to school quite challenging, especially for unmotivated readers. Click here to learn about the Summer Intensive.
Though unequivocal differences exist, adults and children learn in similar ways. Both groups experience motivation to learn. Whereas adults are more extrinsically (externally) motivated by responsibility to family and career, young readers are almost entirely driven by intrinsic motivators like curiosity and fun.
Internal motivation is rooted in the personal WHY that drives our actions. This articles explores approaches to identifying and cultivating intrinsic motivation to read this summer.
collaborative Goals with focus
Setting SMART goals in collaboration with readers is one way to promote intrinsic motivation. Though attempts to effect an individual’s motivation to read may sound like a futile endeavor, studying human nature and reading milestones helps us equip learners to do the heavy lifting.
Bringing your student's reading goals into focus is well worth the effort. Get to know the individual. Learn her interests. Learn what drives him to take meaningful action. This information motivates students to choose texts.
Consider the following scenario…
Jeremy is an unmotivated reader. Jeremy’s low motivation to read impacts his grades. Concerned about his performance, Jeremy’s parents and educators work together to realize his reading goals.
The counselor reviews the data and reports reading performance is low.
The parent receives the feedback and comments on how well Jeremy reads at home.
The teacher addresses the communication gap by explaining differences between fluency and comprehension.
They invite Jeremy to join the conversation and learn about his interest in cars and preference for hands-on activities.
The focus turns to encouraging Jeremy to read a book closer to the upper limit of his zone of proximal development (ZPD). Together, a new performance goal is set to answer two prepared comprehension questions and define one new vocabulary word of his choice each week day after reading one section of Car Science.
Notice the team did not buy an expensive new intervention curriculum or return the student to an online reading catalogue. The more effective approach involves setting a collaborative reading goal with the student and taking tangible action that equips the student to realize the goal (i.e., ordering a paperback book that Jeremy can touch, providing a couple comprehension questions to the parent in advance, helping the school track vocabulary development).
To facilitate intrinsic motivation, these three criteria are integral.
Involve the student.
Ensure goals are not too easy and not too hard (within the ZPD).
Take timely and tangible action that is aligned with the hierarchal goal system.
reading goals within zpd
Learners are more likely to take ownership of a project if they have a say in how it unfolds. This first criteria is straightforward. However, we don't want to release children to their own devices without providing supports.
Guidance with setting goals should be data-driven. That's to say, parents and educators want to examine performance data and set a goal that's neither too hard nor too easy. Human nature prompts us to avoid overly difficult and ridiculously easy tasks. The brain wants to solve a problem or resolve inconsistencies. As such, goal attainment should be probable, yet uncertain (within the zone of proximal development) in order to achieve optimal levels of intrinsic motivation.
We're also hard-wired for immediate gratification. Since development of reading skill is a life-long process, we increase intrinsic motivation to read by emphasizing the short-term. An ideal approach leverages hierarchical goal systems to demonstrate how short-term tasks relate to a long-term goal. In this way, children visualize how puzzle pieces fit together to form the bigger picture.
Fun goals with readers
Jeremy's explicit reading goals are to build vocabulary and improve comprehension. These are long-term goals. Let's transform the second goal into one that makes learning fun: improve comprehension.
Again, we need input from Jeremy. He may have little to offer initially. Don't fret. Do your research. Ask Jeremy to offer feedback on what’s worked and not worked in class; observe his behavior in class; ask about his behavior at home for clues about activities that hold his attention over the long-term.
Let's say Jeremy likes drawing or computer activities, so you challenge him to make comic strips that summarize each section of Car Science. With this approach, Jeremy looks forward to reading about an enjoyable topic and drawing comic strips or generating them online. Verbal checks for understanding are less intimidating; the lessons learned are more memorable.
Conversations about learning and performance goals are invaluable; these conversations along with their timely and tangible byproducts are inextricably linked to the outcomes we desire.
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