Strategies
for Motivating the Reluctant Reader
1. Create an atmosphere which nourishes the love of reading:
- decorate using posters
with text to read
- post greeting or note
cards with aphorisms to savour
- write a "quote of the
day" on the blackboard
- establish a "graffiti"
wall (or board) where students can write sayings or words which have caught
their attention
- "Now Read This": piece
of bristol board with rock concert reviews, articles about things happening
to adolescents
- post cartoons or humorous
signs on classroom door, eg. "The light at the end of tunnel is out until
further notice." "Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most." "The
best man for the job is a woman." "Write your complaints in the space below."
(with a tiny little box beneath)
- ask Librarian. to call
publishers for copies of book- posters
- feature a book of the
week in your classroom -- teacher to model at first, then students to take
turns, i.e. allow students choice in what to read
- encourage visits to the
library, both the school's and the public library.
2.
Make Time and Provide Materials for Reading:
- Ensure that there is
a significant amount of time provided on a regular basis during which students
may read independently.
- Read aloud to students
material which may be at a slightly more challenging level for them, but still
within the realm of their interests. Provide a range of materials for students
to read in the classroom: magazines, comic books, cartoon collections, and
books at several different reading levels.
- Borrow collections of
suitable materials, including fiction and non-fiction from the Learning Resource
Centre/Library in the school.
3.
Help them to "connect" to text:
- Use pre-reading
strategies. The teacher must learn very well the texts which he/she
plans to use for whole-class reading, and then extrapolate some idea or experience
through which to involve students in the text. Examining the front cover,
reading the short synopsis on the back cover, and possibly reading the first
page of the novel are often not enough. Think of a collaborative group experience
which will connect students to some of the most interesting ideas or characters
in the text. (See page.)
- Use during-reading strategies.
For example:
- Invite students
to use a response
journal or a reader's journal which they can share with
the teacher or with another student in the class.
- Provide students
with organizers to keep track of information which they discover during
their reading, for example character charts, plot maps or graphs.
- Ask open-ended questions
to encourage lively discussion and prediction.
- Don't burden students
with multiple chapter by chapter questions which focus on content. Concentrate
on key concepts, characters, and developments.
- Engage students in interesting
post-reading strategies which allow them to react: For example: role-plays,
debates, "trials," responsibility pie graphs (group exercise), community research
(small school community or larger community), improvisation around scenes
or situations.
4.
Help students to "appreciate" literary elements:
- Find pictures to illustrate
one of the settings.
- "Collect" interesting
words from the text.
- "Savour the flavour"
of outstanding description -- have students determine, for example, the colours,
shapes, objects described and from whose point of view they are seen. Let
them write travel ads. or brochures for settings.
- Ask students to transform
passages, changing the intent or the audience, eg. a punk or rap version of
a certain scene, a fight scene as described by students for the principal
or vice-principal. This exercise helps them to come to grips with verbs and
descriptors. - have students read certain passages line by line -- each student
reading one line -and then discuss which line was read most appropriately,
with the best tone for the words and message.
- have students "cast"
the novel with members of their class (some caution advised here). This activity
allows a richer level of character appreciation and then choose certain scenes
(with dialogue) to do a dramatic reading.
- assign one minor or marginal
character to each group of students (4 or 5/group) who then re-tell a significant
part of the story from this character's point of view
- Share the major plot
types and themes
with students and have them determine which fits their novel, story, poem,
or drama, along with associated symbols and settings.
Resources
on Motivating Reluctant Readers