Giving Student Choice to Increase Motivation
As students shift into adolescence, motivation for reading and writing decreases. Students are less interested in reading and writing as sanctioned by the school and the assignment are reduced to a chore to be done just to receive a grade. Other students struggle with their comprehension of the assignments, but this does not mean that the students have poor literacy. Outside of the classroom, these students are participating in activities that prove they are highly literate.
Many students cannot get passed the routine of the assignment and do not enjoy the material that they are to read or write. According to Irvin, Meltzer, and Dukes in Taking Action on Adolescent Literacy, students often find the material too irrelevant to their experiences and the material lacks enough information to make sense to the reader. When faced with material of the same difficulty, but the student finds the material interesting, they will put forth the effort to understand the material (2007). According to the article,
“Engagement with learning is essential, because it is engagement that leads to sustained interaction and practice. Coaching, instruction, and feedback become critical to ensure that students develop good habits and increase their proficiency. Increased competence typically leads to motivation to engage further, generating a cycle of engagement and developing competence that supports improved student achievement.” (2007, para. 8).
Teaching students who are already intrigued by the material leads to better attention, better participation, and better learning. It is not fair to say that some students do not like to read or write and “that is just the way it is”. When students find the material captivating, the student can refine his or her own literacy skills. In the blog “We are Teachers” Chase Mielke argues against the use of teaching classic novels. He argues that these books are now irrelevant to adolescence and that there is no way a 21st century teen can relate to Ahab from Moby Dick in his pursuit to catch a whale, but perhaps the student can relate to Quentin Jacobsen from Paper Towns with his equally exciting journey to get the girl. Mielke also suggests reading the contemporary before the classic to spark the interest of the students (2015).
Students should not be stuck with the notion that they are not literate. Literacy should not be limited to the written word. Literacy skills include reading, writing, listening, and thinking (2007). In the book Just Girls by Margaret J. Finders, she documents the way that some of the 7th grade girls demonstrate literacy outside of the classroom. The girls use graffiti on the bathroom walls as a way to communicate with each other. The messages were anonymous and straight to the point. Finders says
“Consciously and deliberately the queens used print to not only document their roles as normal, rule breaking teenagers, but here they wrote to create a physical distance, which… allows a writer… to wrestle with her thoughts, to work and re-work her formulation of projection or transformation of experience” (1996, p. 70).
It is undeniable that the students are demonstrating literacy, even if it is in an unconventional way.
Suzanne Plaut, the author of The Right to Literacy in Secondary Schools, stresses the difference between reading an assignment and understanding an assignment. It is important to focus on the skills used in an assignment than the information the student acquires from the text. Rather than focusing on being a better or faster reader, students should focus on improving particular skills in reading. Plaut recommends practicing the skills with text chosen by the individual students. The easiest way to practice or improve on a weak area would be with text that is exciting and relevant to the reader (2009). In The Complex World of Adolescent Literacy by Moje, Overby, Tysvaer, and Morris, they refer to the “reading cycle”. In the reading cycle, the more the student reads, the larger his or her vocabulary knowledge becomes the increase in vocabulary leads to an increase in reading ability which then motivates the student to read more. It all begins with students having the interest and desire to read.
Literacy is not limited to reading and writing as sanctioned by the school but also other ways the adolescent is interested in using reading, writing, listening, and thinking. Bringing literature that interests the student in to the classroom makes for a more engaged student, which allows for better learning to take place.
Finders, M. J. (1997). Just girls: Hidden literacies and life in junior high. New York: Teachers College Press.
Irvin, J. L. (2007). Chapter 1. Student Motivation, Engagement, and Achievement. Retrieved July 09, 2016, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/107034/chapters/Student-Motivation,-Engagement,-and-Achievement.aspx
Mielke, C. (2015). 6 Books to Read Instead of (or in Addition to) the Classic Novel. Retrieved July 8, 2016, from http://www.weareteachers.com/blogs/post/2015/08/21/6-books-to-read-instead-of-(or-in-addition-to)-the-classic-novel
Moje, E. B., Overby, M., Tysvaer, N., & Morris, K. (2008, March 21). The Complex World of Adolescent Literacy: Myths, Motivations, and Mysteries. Harvard Educational Review, 781.
Plaut, S. (2009). The right to literacy in secondary schools: Creating a culture of thinking. New York: Teachers College Press.
