Ask the Experts
Expert: Dr. Penny Oldfather

During the month of February, visitors to the Web site sent in questions to our expert. Read the summarzied Q&A below.

Topic: Motivating Readers

About Our Expert:
Professor Oldfather received her Ph.D. from The Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, California. She teaches courses on teaching/learning processes, early childhood curriculum, motivation, and qualitative research methodology. Her research interests include qualitative research on student motivation, constructivism in teaching and teacher education, and issues of student voice in research methodology. Professor Oldfather has served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Literacy Research. She has been a participant in the Republic of Georgia with the Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking Project, an international effort initiated by the International Reading Association and the Open Society Institute.

Read the questions and answers below.

Question 1:
Hello,
I am a RIF Coordinator for three schools, and I serve as the site leader for one of them also. My school has a grade range of 4th through 8th grades. Many students are Spanish-speaking only and many are at risk students. My dilemma is usually finding motivational activities that will encompass the wide range of students. Any suggestions?

Thanks So Much!

Shawn Gallegos
Lake County School Libraries RIF Programs
Leadville, Colorado

Reply to Question 1:
Dear Shawn,

You have a wonderful challenge and opportunity to support students' motivations in your role as RIF coordinator. Of course, many factors are involved in motivation, but it seems that a particular challenge that you have identified is how to work with the wide range of unique needs of your students. Therefore, I am focusing on a particular approach, which has to do with how you might structure activities to meet individual needs more fully.

My recommendation is that you consider using a multi-task structure. Adopt a role as a "guide on the side," rather than a "sage on the stage." If you attempt to have everyone doing the same thing at the same time it is extremely difficult to meet diverse needs. If, on the other hand, you can "decentralize" your classroom structures, for at least part of your instructional time, you will be able to provide differentiated learning opportunities. You will also be free to give attention to individual students or to work with small groups, while other students are engaged with literacy activities. For example, some students might be doing buddy reading or literature circles. Some might be involved in learning centers that relate to reading or writing. Simultaneously, you can have reading conferences with individual students, discussing what they are reading, assessing their comprehension and de-coding skills, asking them thought-provoking questions about their reading, and/or suggesting books or other reading materials that you feel might fit their interests and abilities.

Reading conferences allow you to know your students' needs and abilities more thoroughly, and to establish deeper relationships with your students. Based on what you are learning about students' needs in the reading conferences, you can organize ad hoc skill groups to address those needs. It is not essential, but it is helpful to have assistance from a paraprofessional, from parents, or senior citizens to implement this format. Kindergarten teachers often have skills in structuring multi-task classrooms - and you might visit an excellent kindergarten to see this in action.

In order to achieve a multitask classroom, you need to establish clear expectations, routines, classroom processes. Students need to know very clearly how to obtain materials, how to ask appropriately for help from their classmates, how not to interrupt you. Non-verbal signals can be helpful to minimize interruptions. During reading time, for example, a student who encounters an unfamiliar word can be provided with various strategies:

1. first, to try to sound out the word and use context clues independent;
2. to ask a friend, or a specially-designated child who is word monitor of the day; and
3. if all else fails, to stand on the teacher's left side, and silently and unobtrusively point to the unknown word, at which point, the teacher may give assistance, by saying the word, without breaking the flow with another student to whom he/she is working.

There are many benefits of multi-task classroom structure:

1. Constructive social interactions are encouraged and have many benefits to students' learning and motivation All students (and particularly those who are learning a new language) can benefit by talking with each other about books.
2. Students are able to work on tasks and at a pace that is appropriate to their interests and abilities — so motivations of students of all abilities are more likely to be supported.
3. Teachers have an opportunity to develop deeper and more positive relationships, which can make an enormous difference in students' engagement in literacy.
4. Many discipline concerns are minimized. When the teacher is at the front of the room and everyone is supposed to be quiet and listening to him/her, it is very noticeable (and disruptive) if a student makes a comment to another child. The teacher generally corrects the student and this can sometimes create a "ripple" effect, and other students may misbehave. For those who misbehave in order to seek attention, the teacher-centered format unfortunately provides a perfect audience, that may reinforce the inappropriate behavior. In a multitask learning environment, such an audience is not so available, and students' are less likely to seek attention in that way.

I have only scratched the surface in answering your question, as there are so many factors that make a difference in students motivations. For example, your sensitivity and responsiveness to students' diverse cultures are likely to be of crucial importance in engaging them in meaningful literacy activities. I hope that these suggestions can be a starting point in trying to meet students' diverse needs.
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Question 2:
I have an eight-year-old third grader that reads very well, but doesn't put forth a great effort to excel in reading. Most times she has to be told to read, and when she does, she doesn't seem to retain the content. When asked questions such as "tell me what chapter 1 was about," she struggles and tends to respond with some details, but rarely the summary or big picture.

How can we help her to want to read, and as importantly, retain the information?

Thanks,
Jeff Blackburn

Reply to Question 2:
Dear Jeff,
Based on your description, several possibilities occur to me. (Bear in mind that it is difficult to assess these problems with only a little bit of information). One possibility is that she is thinking of reading as calling the words correctly. That is, she may be able to decode words quite well, and read them aloud accurately, but she may not be understanding reading as an act of sense-making. This may be a result of an emphasis in school on calling words correctly, instead of really thinking about the richness of the ideas in her reading.

If this is the case, it would be helpful to read to her and to have her read to you and to discuss the ideas together. Ask her predict what might happen next. Ask her to critique the decisions made by characters in stories, ask her to imagine a different outcome. Encourage her to pose questions, to retell the story to evaluate the quality of the writing or to reflect on the information. A resource for you would be the Junior Great Books Program materials, which have excellent examples of the kinds of questions that can help young children engage more deeply with reading.

Being able to summarize an entire chapter in a holistic way, rather than reporting details is a fairly advanced skill. It might be that she is not developmentally ready to do that. To promote that skill, you might engage her in smaller chunks of text (e. g., a paragraph or two). Do this in a playful and fun way, with books that you know she likes, rather than as an academic drill.

One last point: If you daughter becomes more intrinsically motivated to read, she is much more likely to remember the information. To nurture that love of reading, cuddle up and read a bedtime story every night without fail. If she falls in love with one particular book and wants to hear it read over and over — read it over and over. Take her to the library to select books in which she is interested.
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Question 3:
Hi there,
I would like to know what gives children motivation to read or try to read? I have a 5th grader that hates to read and she has problems with phonics. She's great with figures and great when someone is reading for her, but reading becomes a chore for her when it is time to do homework that involves reading (for example word problems, reading a story and then understanding what she read.) She then becomes frustrated. What should I do to help her? I do know that doing the homework for her is not the answer. What programs are out there to help her with this situation?

Any feedback will be welcomed. We are located in South Dekalb county Ga.

Answer 3:
Dear Parent,
I can tell that you and your child have some deep frustrations. You have identified a number of her strengths and this is so important. Additionally, you are seeing that she has difficulty with phonics. Without further assessment it is hard to have very specific answers for what her needs for skill development may be. I suggest that you seek out a reading specialist to do an in-depth assessment of her strengths and needs as a reader. It is very important that your child participates actively in this assessment and that she be part of the process of really seeing what her own strengths are, and also of setting particular goals for areas of improvement. Your daughter may need some special help at school - or you might even be able to find a tutor or tutorial program that would be able to directly address the needs identified by the assessment. I would pursue this as soon as possible. The longer her problems persist, the more significant they will be for her life. Don't hesitate to be an active advocate in the school for your child's education.

In addition to obtaining this help, I urge you to focus on the quest for ideas and meanings in books (or other written material) as you and others work with her, rather than emphasizing only skills such as phonics (although those will also be very important).

Aside from that, I can share with you some key ideas that may be of help in thinking about the impact of all of this to your daughter's motivation.

It is vital that young readers have opportunities to read materials that are at an optimal challenge level. This means that the reading materials are not so difficult that they feel overwhelmed, nor are they so easy that they are boring. Let your daughter make choices about the books she reads - and have conversations with her about those choices in ways that help her reflect on issues of challenge level and interest.

Help your child become aware of the strengths that she has as a reader. A sense of competence essential for students' motivation.

Enjoy literature and reading with your child on a daily basis. We are never too old to enjoy being read to. Since reading independently is not currently a great deal of pleasure to her, do some reading with her. Be sure that she has wonderful books available to read for pleasure. Let her select books — but don't hesitate to give her recommendations and to seek out recommendations from a teacher or librarian who is familiar with your daughter's interests. Consider whether television viewing is interfering with opportunities for reading and consider limiting viewing time.
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Question 4:
Hi-
I am a parent of a fourth grader, second grader, and a teen. What can I do to encourage all of them to read more as a hobby?
Thank you,
Laura from MA

Reply to Question 4:
Dear Laura,
Reading as a hobby is such a wonderful dimension of life — and parents want so much to have their children enjoy books in this way. There are many forces in children's lives that pull them away from reading for pleasure. These include television, friends, dance lessons, soccer, play practice, and even jobs (in the case of teenagers). The challenge is to find a balance. You might think about the way time is structured in your family. Sometimes it seems that everyone is just too busy to stop and take time for the simple and important pleasure of a good book. Is television dominating the scene? Do you need to consider further limits on the amount of TV that your children watch?

Aside from grappling with the issues of time, there are some actions that you might find helpful. Talk with your children about their interests, and find ways to make some enticing books available for them that relate to these interests. If your child has a passion for a particular sport, round up some books that relate. Sometimes good movies are a starting point for pleasure reading - and children will be motivated to read the book. The Harry Potter books are a good example of that phenomenon. Sometimes reading is sparked through travel, and finding books that relate to a particular place you visit on a family vacation can get a child hooked.

Try to provide a text-rich environment for your children. Read books with them. As an adult, I still enjoy sharing a book read aloud with others. Model for your children your own pleasure in books. Initiate informal book talks among your children's friends. Just ask them what they've been reading lately. Most of us are likely to pursue a book recommended by a good friend.

We do know that the more children read, the better readers (and writers) they become. We also know that participating in reading for pleasure is part of being a lifelong learner. Reading provides unlimited opportunity for a rich quality of life.

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