I often notice in the early weeks of first grade, that students have a hard time reading silently. They often want to spend their ten minutes of silent reading talking or sharing their book with others. In the past, I have dealt with this by walking around the room and watching students as they read. I soon found this to be a waste of teaching time when I could have been pulling guided reading groups back to my desk. I did find that giving students reading partners after ten minutes of reading did help to stop most of their talking because they were able to share with a friend later. It got me wondering though, what would most students want to change about reading in the classroom? What motivates them?

After reading the article, “Creating classroom cultures that foster reading motivation” by Linda B Gambrell, I found some answers that I would like to share. Gambrell found that when she asked students how they would like to change reading in the classroom, they asked for more time, to be read to more often, and to choose their own books. This demonstrates how students really do want to read, but they need a little guidance and more time given by the teacher.  Motivation is the first sign of an engaged reader. If the reader is not motivated, they are not engaged readers. 

I was very interested in the study done in the first grade environment. The study showed Running Start in use and that first graders were much more motivated when they were in a classroom with many different types of print, demonstrations and modeling was done by the teacher, there were discussions about peers, and they were given the choice of what books to pick and when they read these books. The teacher is responsible to picking books that he/she knows her students will enjoy. Students were also given incentives if they met their reading goals. This study was done in different first classrooms with different demographics, and the results showed an increase in interest in reading because of an increase in motivation. Similar results were shown in the third through fifth grade studies using the Motivation to Read Profile.

Here are some tips the article gives us about fostering reading motivation in the classroom.

1.     The teacher must be the reading model for the students. Therefore, the teacher must show enthusiasm and have a love for sharing the experience with students.

2.       A classroom full of books. Books need to fill the classroom. This includes books of different genres.

3.       Choice. Students are allowed to pick their reading material. They will do this based on interest.

4.      Discussions. Students want the opportunity to share and discuss with others. This also peaks interest about books when children share with one another.

5.     Becoming familiar with books. Children like to read books that they are familiar with.

6.     Incentives. Make sure they are reading related: reading with partner/parent or aloud to the class or another audience.

Gambrell, L. B. (1996). Creating Classroom Cultures that Foster Reading Motivation. The Reading Teacher , 14-25.

Creating Classroom Cultures that Foster Reading Motivation