It’s often hard to get students to read a novel
because nowadays, there is Google, spark notes, and movies that students claim
give them the same experience. Getting students to read is usually a battle as
they start to doze off or day dream instead of remaining engaged. So how can we
as educators help students engage with a text? We must be prepared to work with reluctant and
disinterested readers.
In an article titled “How to Engage ALL Kids in
Reading,” Dr. Katherine McKnight speaks about her colleague who taught the
lowest level readers in the 6th grade
and managed to get her students to look forward to reading. Dr. McKnight states
“we must provide books that will peak interest in all readers” and she provides
a lot of tips for choosing the right book. We need to find books that are
“written clearly without long confusing sentences and sophisticated language”
(McKnight). As English majors, we get excited about novels that we’ve read but
we forget that it doesn’t meet our students’ reading level. We might enjoy the
sophisticated language that some books offer but our students can find this
quality confusing, hard to read, and end up disliking books. Instead, it’s best
to start with a book that is appropriate to their reading level and slowly work
up toward higher level books.
Dr. McKnight also advises teachers
to do the following: “choose literature that explores the lives of other
teenagers, make sure humor is present, the characters are realistic and the
reader can relate to them, and the plot should be interesting and appealing to
young adult readers” (1). These are great tips in choosing the right book for
our students, but engaging reading strategies need to also be present during
the reading.
In “Instructional Strategies Motivate
and Engage Students in Deeper Learning,” Tom Dewing states that “teachers can
improve students’ reading and writing skills by getting them to read for
meaning” (2). Dewing gives an example of a strategy that could be used to help
students read for meaning. He states that first, teachers should “give students
a list of agree or disagree statements about the assigned text, then ask students
to preview the statements. Afterwards, begin reading and then ask students to
indicate whether they agree or disagree. Lastly, have students justify their
agree/disagree positions by citing appropriate evidence from the text” (2). This is a great way for students to form a
connection with their own personal thought to a reading. By having students
cite the text, it can help students build good research skills for future use.
Choosing the right text is the first
part in helping students start to read, but reading strategies are going to
keep students engaged.
Works Cited
Dewing, Tom. "Help More Students Become College
and Career Ready by Successfully Engaging Them in Reading Complex Texts in
Science, Social Studies, Mathematics and Career/Technical Classes." Instructional
Strategies Motivate and Engage Students in Deeper Learning. Atlanta. 2013.
1-2. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.
McKnight, Katherine. "How to Engage ALL Kids in
Reading." TeachHUB. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.
