Motivating Low Performing Adolescent Readers.

Motivating Low Performing Adolescent Readers.


In my continuing curiosity on students lacking motivation in reading. I discovered through reading several articles that use of a wide variety of teaching materials and teaching techniques help provide for differences in students' ability to learn. Supplementary materials like newspapers, magazines, games, films, and audio and video tapes offer additional ways for students to acquire information. Any medium which stimulates students' interests and involvement is worthy of consideration.

By asking students to complete projects at the end of their reading assignments may enable students to derive a purpose for reading. This is particularly successful when students are exploring subjects that are of interest to them. It is suggested that projects or oral presentations may also provide a chance for students to collaborate with others. Group work may reduce the apprehension poor readers frequently experience and motivate them to use language socially and purposefully(Collins and Decker 2010).

Some students have developed an indifferent attitude towards learning. By the time they get to the secondary school, that negativism or indifference is pretty well embedded (Kos, 1991). It is important for us educators to work on these behaviors that surround the act of reading. I am almost 99.9 percent certain(qualitatively speaking of course) that all teachers want students to achieve in the classroom. In order to achieve this shouldn't we create contexts which promote success. It takes patience and forbearance to establish an atmosphere of trust that will encourage risk-taking on the part of the low performing student.
In summing up my thoughts today I'll leave you readers with this one last strategy. The only way to improve reading skills is to read! Yes people it will work.....

Collins,. Decker, N. (2010) Motivating Low Performing Adolescent Readers. ERIC Digest.

Motivating Adolescent Readers

In the Article “Motivating Adolescent Readers by Dr. Michael W. Smith” one of the first recommendations stated is that teachers provide “direct, explicit comprehension instruction” (Biancarosa & Snow, 2006, p. 4). The article states that teachers tend to assign work and then assess students on the basis of how well they do it. The article talks about another study of the literate lives of adolescent boys both in and out of school (Smith & Wilhelm 2002). This study found that the assign-and-assess approach is indeed prevalent. The researchers stated that only one student talked about a teacher who provided the kind of explicit instruction Reading Next calls for. These were some of the comments of the student: “I haven’t started reading until this year pretty much. ... I have been starting novels this year because Mrs. X kinda like assigns the homework and this is the only time it’s really been due so I’ve been reading pretty good novels now and I like John Steinbeck and stuff. A lot of novels like that get to me and Mrs. X’s been kinda showing me the road and the path. I kinda thought reading was dumb, but now I’m kinda getting more into it.

As I read this I reflected on my role as a Father and instructor. As I read this I thought about the pleasure this student finally obtained from reading. I know I need to change my approach to motivate especially the boys in the classes I teach. I'm thinking to my self is it any wonder some of the children are so miserable. They can't sit still and listen. I wonder if it is because while they were younger some adult didn't take the time to read to them......

Writing

Writing facilitates learning by motivating students to explore, clarify and think deeply about ideas and concepts they encounter in reading according to Vacca and Vacca 2010. It is important that students understand that they need to concentrate on both content as well as the mechanics of their written work. This especially so if they are being prepared to be academically successful at a written exam.
These are some writing sites that students,teachers and parents can take a look at:

Difficulty planning/organizing Assignment Calculator http://www.lib.umn.edu/help/calculator/
The tasks associated with a (An innovative tool to break a large project into manageable daily tasks) research project
So You Have to... http://www.ri.net/schools/East_Greenwich/research.html (A teacher created web site with step by step guidance and resources)
Difficulty getting ideas on Inspiration, Kidspiration http://www.inspiration.com
Paper to get started (Graphic orgnizers provide a great way to brainstorm and organize)
Graphic organizers http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/ (Ready to reproduce graphic organizers)
Difficulty in the process of PixWriter http://www.slatersoftware.com/pixwriter.htm l
Composing written work (A word processor designed for emerging readers and writers)
Scholastic Keys http://www.tomsnyder.com (Provides developmental and cognitive access to Microsoft Word)
Co:Writer http://www.donjohnston.com (A predictive word processor)
iDictate http://www.idictate.com (A dictation service; dictate over the phone, receive draft via email)
Now I hope you make use of some of these ...

Importance of previous knowledge

During the holidays so far I have had to baby sit nephews and nieces. In retrospect I think its my families' way of saving sitter fees(Only joking here).They have been a handful ALL the time. I have however found that there is power in setting a mood to engage their interest outside of carrying them to a park or pool an letting them run/play free. Take for instance I want to keep them quite I make up a game . I say we will play the silent game. Then I ask a question like if they know a mouse. I ask them to be as quite as a mouse and state that who ever does this the best will win the game. Boom! They all get quite. Beside the one time the youngest in the set asked D(this is what she calls me) What's a mouse? Thus my thoughts today on previous knowledge.

Readers think about the topic before reading and call up relevant information and related vocabulary use while reading. The more Background knowledge and prior experiences readers have about a topic the more likely they are to successfully comprehend what they are reading (Zimmermann and Hutchins 2003).

After reading this I asked myself the question How many times do I really activate children's previous knowledge before they actually start to read a passage? I thought and in truth answered not many. The usual excuse being the time alloted to get all the work for all the curriculum areas. Excuses! Excuses! Excuses! What are your thoughts on this??? By the way I did explain what a mouse was to my niece...

Vocabulary Knowledge

Mc Kenna 1995 has indicated that content literacy is achieved by a subset of General content literacy skills, content knowledge and content specific skills. In each of the areas listed understanding vocabulary or the specialized vocabulary of the content area is necessary in order to achieve content literacy.

One of the most enduring findings in reading research is the extent to which students’ vocabulary knowledge relates to their reading comprehension (e.g., Anderson & Freebody, 1981; Baumann, Kame‘enui, & Ash, 2003; Becker, 1977; Davis, 1942; Whipple, 1925). Most recently, the National Reading Panel (2000) concluded that comprehension development cannot be understood without a critical examination of the role played by vocabulary knowledge. Given that students’ success in school and beyond depends in great measure upon their ability to read with comprehension, there is an urgency to providing instruction that equips students with the skills and strategies necessary for lifelong vocabulary development.

It seems that from these two bits of information this word vocabulary seems to be important. Since I have started this programme I have found myself observing various things related to class room instruction. I have observed that we some-times teach vocabulary in isolation from actual reading text that our children are exposed too. I too was very guilty of this. I placed a lot of words in the children's copy books to learn on a weekly basis. I have since then tried tried to highlight new words that the children encounter from various sources related to their classroom instruction.

I believe that I took for granted that I was the only source of words or at least new words the kids were exposed too. I was really wrong about that. I have since started to allow the kids to compile their own word lists(in addition to those we come across in class). If you people reading out there have other strategies feel free to share.....

Effects on student discipline problems and academic performance.

As a result of the SEA results education has been the focus for the past several days. One particular interview involving the President of the National Parents Teachers Association roused my interest in this topic. In a research paper by Luisellia, Putnama, Handlera, Feinberga(2005) it describes many students attending public schools exhibiting discipline problems such as disruptive classroom behavior, vandalism, bullying, and violence. Establishing effective discipline practices is critical to ensure academic success and to provide a safe learning environment. The authors describe the effects of whole-school positive behavior support on discipline problems and academic outcomes of students enrolled in an urban elementary school. The whole-school model was designed through technical assistance consultation with teachers that emphasized: (1) improving instructional methods; (2) formulating behavioral expectations; (3) increasing classroom activity engagement; (4) reinforcing positive performance; and (5) monitoring efficacy through data-based evaluation.

The whole-school intervention was associated with decreased discipline problems (office referrals and school suspensions) over the course of several academic years. Student academic performance, as measured by standardized tests of reading and mathematics skills, improved contemporaneously with intervention.

It is really disheartening to hear the derogatory statements made by individuals of the public who have no idea of what they are saying as it relates to the field of education. Mind you it is this authors view that everybody is entitled to an opinion. However one thinks that an informed opinion would be much more effective rather than an uninformed one. I think we as a nation have to stop blaming everybody else an take responsibility for our children's' behavior. I may be wrong what do you think?




Feinberga, A. B., Handlera, M.W., Luisellia, J.K., Putnama, R.F., Whole-school positive behavior support: effects on student discipline problems and academic performance(2005). Journal Educational Psychology, Volume 25, Issue 2 & 3 April 2005 , pages 183 – 198. doi:10.1080/0144341042000301265

Thoughts on instructional routines

“Cognitive and affective predictors of academic achievement of school children ” a study by C Armitage found that although positive affect did not influence intention directly, it did influence intention stability, the mechanism by which intentions are translated into action. Future educational interventions should therefore influence both cognitive and affective factors to promote sustained motivation. (Armitage, 2008). This statement suggests that taking turns during instructional routines may not negatively affect student’s affective and expressive processes directly or immediately. It will however affect intention stability that would be translated into action at some time (in the present or in the future) which will either motivate or demotivate students. This motivation or drive (according to the online thesaurus) is what enables students to succeed or fail at academics. Even as we trod through this Masters in education programme I’m sure we feel as though we can’t make it at times(especially with respect to the numerous assignments, projects and so on). The drive that comes from within, or maybe the verbal affirmation from our friends/colleagues, is what encourages us to continue. Lets keep this in mind when we interact with our kids....
Bibliography
Armitage, C. J. (2008). Cognitive and affective predictors of academic achievement of schoolchildren. British Journal of Psychology , 99,57-74.