Some children seem to avoid picking up a book if at all possible. They claim "It's too hard!" or "I don't like that book!". And you know what? They probably don't like that book. Child interest in the reading matter is a large part of motivation to read. How many times have you gone to a book store or to the library and hunted for that "just right" book to read? Did you just pick up the first book off the shelf and decide not to look any further? (Unless you were very lucky and that book happened to be one of your interests.) According to an article on www.readingrockets.org, "Choice is widely acknowledged as a method for enhancing motivation. Allowing young children to make even a minimal task choice increased learning from the task and enhanced subsequent interest in the activity (Cordova & Lepper, 1996; Iyengar & Lepper, 1999). Worthy and McKool (1996) found that allowing students to make choices about their reading material increased the likelihood that they would engage more in reading. In addition, Guthrie and Wigfield (2000) suggest that providing genuine student choices increases effort and commitment to reading."The article can be found at http://www.readingrockets.org/article/29624, Reading Motivation: What the Research Says, By: Linda Gambrell and Barbara Marinak (2009). Ask your child questions like "Do you like scary stories? Do you like funny stories?" and so on. Take your child to the library or the book store and pull out some books on different topics. As your child which one they like out of two choices. Then keep changing the choices. Take a moment to look at the first few pages of the book, talking about what is happening in the story and in the pictures. When children are offered a choice of books in topics that interest them, they are more likely to give those books a try.
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AuthorI am a certified reading specialist with a background in speech pathology. I love reading and sharing this passion for learning with students. Archives
September 2016
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