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Voices from the Field:
Motivating Your Students to Read
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| In this weekly column, teachers share their ideas, opinions, and stories. |
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| K.J. Wagner is a middle school teacher. In this column she shares her ideas for motivating students to read. |
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| Read Aloud Every Day |
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- Most children, of any age, enjoy being read to. While you are reading, really "get into" the book. Use different voices for each of the characters. Be dramatic! Circle the room. Gesture. Pace. Make appropriate faces in appropriate places. (And don’t be afraid to do this even if you teach middle or high school. Older students also enjoy seeing their teacher "perform.")
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- You don’t always have to wait until story time to read. If there is a lull in the day, if the students are restless, or if you are unable to complete a planned activity, grab a great book and begin reading to the students.
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| Provide Real Reasons to Read |
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- For example: Ask the children if they would like to learn how to perform a magic trick. When they reply in the affirmative (and they will), tell them that you just happened to have a whole book about magic tricks. Proceed to read how to perform a simple trick and the allow students to perform the trick.
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- Model curiosity. Pretend to be stumped by a question you want answered. Allow students to watch as you find the answer—in a book of course!
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| Make Reading Fun! |
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- If possible, allow students to stretch out on a rug to read.
- Supply popcorn and paperbacks and spend an hour with a book.
- Read poetry. A lot.
- Read books containing jokes and riddles.
- Display interesting children's magazines around the room.
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| Race Into Reading |
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- Have a "book race" in your classroom. Make a poster with a small car at the starting line. As the students complete books, move the car ahead.
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| Think Aloud and Ask Questions as You Read to Students |
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- Occasionally stop and ask: I wonder what will happen next? I wonder how they did that? Encourage students to respond. By asking thoughtful questions of the students, you allow them to become active participants in the process rather then passive listeners.
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| Begin a Series |
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- Read aloud to students the first book in an age-appropriate series. When finished, do a brief "book talk" about the remaining books in the series. If you do not have time to read an entire book, read portions of the book (one or two of the most exciting or interesting parts) and then give an overview of the remainder of the book.
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| Encourage Students to Produce and Publish Their Own Writing for Peers to Read |
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- Students of all ages love to read work their peers have written. In my eighth-grade classroom, I kept a binder titled A Plethora of Poetry. When a student wrote a poem, I would exclaim how wonderful it was, ask for a copy, and then put it in the binder. It was the most popular "book" in the classroom that year. (Indeed, next-year’s students also enjoyed reading the poems, and asked, on their own, if they could add to the book.)
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| Finally . . . |
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- Play books on tape.
- Invite guest readers into your classroom.
- Read plays aloud.
- Invest in irresistible books!
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©2006 Education Oasis™ http://www.educationoasis.com |
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