Sarah McClure-September Blog #2- The Pleasure Principle-By Nancie Atwell
I enjoyed reading The Pleasure Principle and found myself mentally nodding my head in agreement as I read. I truly believe that creating lifelong learners through a love of reading is the end goal. Growing students as readers in turn grows them in every academic area. Student choice in reading material is such a huge part of this. When students embrace reading, and view time spent reading as a treasure to look forward to, we have success. The more students read, the more they will learn. Increase in comprehension, understanding of story elements, increased vocabulary, etc. will become a natural effect when more time is spent in immersive reading. It is my hope as a reading to teacher to foster a love of books in my students. My desire is for them to be intrinsically motivated to stretch themselves increasingly throughout the year with novel choice, subject matter, complex plots, and non-fiction selections. There were a couple of concrete takeaways from this article that I plan to implement in my classroom. I would like to have students add a section to their journals in which they keep lists of favorite authors, genres, books, and characters. I would also like to hold informal book talks periodically with partners and small groups to give students an opportunity to share their enthusiasm over their books with their peers. I found the section No Tests, No Ice Cream Parties to be interesting. On our grade level we have found great success in offering a 9 weeks incentive for reaching individual reading goals. While I agree that we are working towards intrinsic motivation, I think there is also a place for a meaningful incentive in this circumstance. Students who come to us at the beginning of the school year saying that they do not like to read and that they will never reach the goal, reach it time and time again. At first the motivation for these students comes from making it to our grade level incentive, the "Pajama Rama", at the end of the nine weeks. As the students work hard to reach this goal however, often times I see a shift take place. Before they know it the same students who had said they do not like to read, are now seeking out recommendations, asking me to bring books from home, making multiple trips to the library weekly, and excitedly telling me about the books that they are reading. The motivation has now become intrinsic as students are not only meeting their goals but enthusiastically exceeding them!
I enjoyed reading The Pleasure Principle and found myself mentally nodding my head in agreement as I read. I truly believe that creating lifelong learners through a love of reading is the end goal. Growing students as readers in turn grows them in every academic area. Student choice in reading material is such a huge part of this. When students embrace reading, and view time spent reading as a treasure to look forward to, we have success. The more students read, the more they will learn. Increase in comprehension, understanding of story elements, increased vocabulary, etc. will become a natural effect when more time is spent in immersive reading. It is my hope as a reading to teacher to foster a love of books in my students. My desire is for them to be intrinsically motivated to stretch themselves increasingly throughout the year with novel choice, subject matter, complex plots, and non-fiction selections. There were a couple of concrete takeaways from this article that I plan to implement in my classroom. I would like to have students add a section to their journals in which they keep lists of favorite authors, genres, books, and characters. I would also like to hold informal book talks periodically with partners and small groups to give students an opportunity to share their enthusiasm over their books with their peers. I found the section No Tests, No Ice Cream Parties to be interesting. On our grade level we have found great success in offering a 9 weeks incentive for reaching individual reading goals. While I agree that we are working towards intrinsic motivation, I think there is also a place for a meaningful incentive in this circumstance. Students who come to us at the beginning of the school year saying that they do not like to read and that they will never reach the goal, reach it time and time again. At first the motivation for these students comes from making it to our grade level incentive, the "Pajama Rama", at the end of the nine weeks. As the students work hard to reach this goal however, often times I see a shift take place. Before they know it the same students who had said they do not like to read, are now seeking out recommendations, asking me to bring books from home, making multiple trips to the library weekly, and excitedly telling me about the books that they are reading. The motivation has now become intrinsic as students are not only meeting their goals but enthusiastically exceeding them!
I like how wisely the teachers on your grade level have used incentives. They are not necessarily a bad thing. We often need some type of incitement to try something new. Because of your wise decisions you get to enjoy children come to love reading as much as you do!
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the gradual release of extrinsic to intrinsic motivation your grade level advocates to help meet students where they are and get them started reading but move them towards a sincere joy for reading, wanting to share with their peers, and wanting to write book reviews. I love how you want to have students add a section in their reader's notebooks for their favorite books. I also want to encourage you to begin your book talks you want to start. I have found those to be a powerful motivator for students' intrinsic motivation. I model the first few and then begin having students lead them so they can share their favorite books as well. Thanks, Dawn