Motivating Your Reader
Tips for Parents
"Farmers and gardeners know you cannot make a plant grow. . . the plant grows itself. What you can do is provide the conditions for growth." - Larry Ferlazzo
Provide Time for your Reader to Read
It's all about consistency. Build habits for your family of readers. Read in the car. Read while you're waiting for the game to start. Read in waiting rooms. Provide variety at home with books that are fun and easy and books that take stamina to finish. Set goals and make reading plans as a family.
Build Intrinsic Motivation
According to "Creating the Conditions for Student Motivation" these components help to build intrinsic motivation for your growing reader:
- Autonomy- give your reader choice over what they get to read
- Competence- make certain your reader has books they can feel successful reading
- Relatedness- make sure your reader has opportunities to make connections and share what they are getting from the reading
- Relevance- make sure your reader has interesting texts that motivate he or she to read more
"Providing students with freedom of choice is one strategy for promoting learner autonomy."- Larry Ferzallo
Access & Talk
Make use of your resources
- your local libary
- your child's school library
- Amazon used books
- e-books
You want to ensure that your reader has access to as many books, as possible. Providing choice is a huge factor to motivating your reader to want to read more. Spend time "book shopping" in the library and talking about what you enjoy and readers and what you don't enjoy.
Have conversations with your reader:
- What are you reading these days? I'm reading...
- How does it feel? I want you to feel good and strong when you read by yourself.
- I had a challenge when I was reading today. I worked through it by...
- Let’s look together at any new books we have for a minute.
- Are there any that feel interesting but not easy--we could read those together.
- Are there any that feel BOTH interesting AND easy--YOU can read those!
Build Your Village!
Share and reach out to others about what you are learning about growing stronger readers. Use social media to your advantage! Share pictures and experiences of how you make reading a positive experience in your household. Twitter, blogging, Facebook, and Instagram and quick ways to spread positive messages to others about reading! Happy posting!