Findings
Section 1: Finding the Power of Choice and Story in Class One
Building Intrinsic Motivation through Reading Workshop
In August, I joined the 8th grade team and began my first experience co-teaching at High Tech Middle. I knew I wanted to conduct research on reading in relation to motivation, purpose, and peer relationships. I wasn’t at all sure how I would go about it so I started where I felt the most comfortable. The third week of school I brought in 5 moving boxes of novels and spread them out on two tables before class started. I was planning to implement my previous version of Reading Workshop and I wanted to see the students’ reactions to the piles of books. Would they get excited? Moan and groan? Be indifferent? To my delight, they walked in and immediately ran to the tables. Students crowded around and picked up book after book. Turning them over. Leafing through them. Noticing titles they had already read or wanted to read. This was exactly the reaction I wanted. I hoped to create a buzz of excitement around Reading Workshop and this was a great start. |
In an open ended Reading Survey given the first week of school, I asked students how they felt about reading and themselves as readers? After evaluating responses I categorized students into three groups: those who liked to read, somewhat liked to read, and didn’t like to read. Keeping in mind, students had not specifically self-selected into these categories, I still wanted baseline data to get an overall picture of this classes’ feelings about reading. I put responses like, “I like to read and I am a strong reader,” into the “like to read” category. “I don’t like reading but sometimes I do,” into the “somewhat” category. I added responses like, “I don’t like reading. I would rather someone read to me,” into the “don’t like to read” category. Although this was not exact data, I saw that 41% of students did not seem to enjoy reading. Seeing that almost half of the class didn’t like to read was a reason to start a workshop style of reading. By offering autonomy and a focus on enjoyment I hoped to build intrinsic motivation to read.
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After the excitement over the boxes of books died down, I introduced Reading Workshop to the class by discussing how to find a good book. We listed different strategies and students were encouraged to choose one or two books that day. I also explained the norms of Reading Workshop: to read silently so all students can get into the “reading zone” and to only read books you enjoy. Finally, students had a chance to start reading their books.
The first weeks of Reading Workshop went as it normally does. Most students were completely engrossed in their books and a few were faking it. In the past, I relied on my observations and hunches that this practice was raising the level of reading enjoyment. This year as part of my action research, I needed to gather data to see if this strategy did in fact affect motivation.
The first weeks of Reading Workshop went as it normally does. Most students were completely engrossed in their books and a few were faking it. In the past, I relied on my observations and hunches that this practice was raising the level of reading enjoyment. This year as part of my action research, I needed to gather data to see if this strategy did in fact affect motivation.
Two weeks after starting Reading Workshop, I gave a survey to all students asking various questions about reading (see appendix ____). I was especially interested in how students felt about Reading Workshop and why. I found that students were enjoying Reading Workshop, especially when compared to feelings about reading before this year.
When I asked “why” students felt the way they did about Reading Workshop I noticed that students who loved or liked to read wrote comments about the classroom environment, book choice, and words like “fun” or “enjoyment” that indicated intrinsic motivation to read. |
Classroom environment
· I like reading in silence.
· Because I can sit and relax with a good book.
· It calms me down.
Book choice
· Because I get to read a book that I really like.
· Because I found an amazing book.
· Love to read. Love my book.
Intrinsic motivation
· It’s fun and gives us time to relax and enjoy a good book.
· Because it’s fun.
Students who wrote, “it’s o.k.” responses pointed to classroom environment and book choice also, but in an undesirable way. They also reflected on personal challenges with reading.
Classroom environment
· It’s too quiet.
· Silence.
Book choice
· I want a larger variety of books.
· Boring unless you have a good book.
Reading challenges
· I still have to let it grow on me. I’m not used to reading as often.
· It’s hard to read and understand at the same time.
· I feel I’m too slow and can’t get a good idea about what the book’s trying to show.
The three students who wrote, “hate it” expressed boredom or negative feelings toward reading in general.
· Because there’s nothing to do. You just have to read or write. What’s the difference?
· Because I don’t like reading.
· Because I don’t wanna read for a whole period.
Hearing students’ responses confirmed that book choice and the quiet, relaxing environment I try to build are important to students. I also noticed that many students who marked “love it” or “like it” stated reasons that related to intrinsic motivation, or an internal reason to read such as “it’s fun.” For those that didn’t like to read, I noticed that book choice and enjoyment were the main factors. It seemed like students may not enjoy reading because they wanted to do something, not just sit still and read.
Reading Workshop continued for the next month with the same results; most students were in what Atwell would call “the reading zone” define(____) and a few still didn’t want to read. I had the same nagging thoughts in the back of my head that I have every year. How can I guide those few hold outs to books they might enjoy and is enjoyment enough? Students were reading but weren’t discussing or writing about them so I wondered how deeply they were thinking about the messages in the books. I could assign reading response journals or have students formally discuss their books but like always, that felt inauthentic to me. The purpose for these activities seemed to be for the teacher or for a grade, not for a purpose higher than our classroom. I was hesitant to assign a generic book project either. I was looking for a genuine reason to read and interact with the book.
I also looked for a genuine reason for students to discuss books together. During the month I offered various book sets to thinking that reading together with friends might lead to higher motivation to read. Other than two girls, no one else took me up on my offer. On the reading workshop survey mentioned above, I asked what would make reading more enjoyable and then listed a number of possibilities. I fully expected “reading with friends” or “discussing a book with friends” to be a popular choice. To my surprise, it was not.
· I like reading in silence.
· Because I can sit and relax with a good book.
· It calms me down.
Book choice
· Because I get to read a book that I really like.
· Because I found an amazing book.
· Love to read. Love my book.
Intrinsic motivation
· It’s fun and gives us time to relax and enjoy a good book.
· Because it’s fun.
Students who wrote, “it’s o.k.” responses pointed to classroom environment and book choice also, but in an undesirable way. They also reflected on personal challenges with reading.
Classroom environment
· It’s too quiet.
· Silence.
Book choice
· I want a larger variety of books.
· Boring unless you have a good book.
Reading challenges
· I still have to let it grow on me. I’m not used to reading as often.
· It’s hard to read and understand at the same time.
· I feel I’m too slow and can’t get a good idea about what the book’s trying to show.
The three students who wrote, “hate it” expressed boredom or negative feelings toward reading in general.
· Because there’s nothing to do. You just have to read or write. What’s the difference?
· Because I don’t like reading.
· Because I don’t wanna read for a whole period.
Hearing students’ responses confirmed that book choice and the quiet, relaxing environment I try to build are important to students. I also noticed that many students who marked “love it” or “like it” stated reasons that related to intrinsic motivation, or an internal reason to read such as “it’s fun.” For those that didn’t like to read, I noticed that book choice and enjoyment were the main factors. It seemed like students may not enjoy reading because they wanted to do something, not just sit still and read.
Reading Workshop continued for the next month with the same results; most students were in what Atwell would call “the reading zone” define(____) and a few still didn’t want to read. I had the same nagging thoughts in the back of my head that I have every year. How can I guide those few hold outs to books they might enjoy and is enjoyment enough? Students were reading but weren’t discussing or writing about them so I wondered how deeply they were thinking about the messages in the books. I could assign reading response journals or have students formally discuss their books but like always, that felt inauthentic to me. The purpose for these activities seemed to be for the teacher or for a grade, not for a purpose higher than our classroom. I was hesitant to assign a generic book project either. I was looking for a genuine reason to read and interact with the book.
I also looked for a genuine reason for students to discuss books together. During the month I offered various book sets to thinking that reading together with friends might lead to higher motivation to read. Other than two girls, no one else took me up on my offer. On the reading workshop survey mentioned above, I asked what would make reading more enjoyable and then listed a number of possibilities. I fully expected “reading with friends” or “discussing a book with friends” to be a popular choice. To my surprise, it was not.
When I began the year, I thought peer relationships, or, working with others, was going to be the easiest part of my research. Of course students would want to work with and read with others, I thought. Middle school students are naturally social and love any chance they can get to work with their friends. I was shocked when the data showed me that this wasn’t the case for reading.
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Less than 40% of the class wanted to read the same book as a friend and only 34% wanted to discuss the book with friends. I wondered why. Did students see reading as more of an individual experience? Did talking mean having to think harder about the book? Were students lacking confidence in reading skills and didn’t want that to show in front of others? This class wanted to talk to each other all the time so why didn’t they want to talk to each other about stories? Later I would find that under certain formal and informal structures, students did enjoy talking about their books. They just didn’t want to stop and talk as they read a good book.
Discussing books with others is important for a number of reasons. Discussions build the communication and critical thinking skills Wagner states are needed today (2002). By sharing and defending opinions, students will use higher critical thinking skills and can come to deeper understandings about books and the messages in them. I just wasn’t seeing this happening in the individualized workshop style of reading. I observed structures that seemed to be promoting motivation like a quiet relaxing environment and individual book choice but by using only Reading Workshop structures, I felt my students were missing the collaboration needed to move into deeper thinking about books. They were reading for enjoyment but still not doing anything with the messages that books could be teaching them.
Attempting to Add Collaboration and Deeper Thinking with Book Groups
As I thought about and discussed the various positives and negatives of Reading Workshop with my co-teacher, we decided to give book groups a try. I had read about literature circles, book groups, and book clubs before and had only attempted them once. I remembered them being fun. The students enjoyed the books for the most part but the logistics were tricky. What happens when a student doesn’t read their part or reads ahead? How can a teacher be sure that students are really talking about the book? This year, I had the unique opportunity to be in a class with another teacher so we took advantage of it. We chose three books to offer students. Unwind, by Neal Shusterman (2007), Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson (1999), and Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen (2001). We chose these three because they each had a connection to a theme we were exploring in writing and history, “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” I originally planned to read with the Speak group but after presenting the three books to the class and tallying their choices, I realized that the Unwind group was much larger. I switched to that group and my co-teacher planned to read with the Touching Spirit Bear group. The Speak group would read independently.
Our book groups did not follow the traditional definition. Usually, book groups have a small group of students who take on various roles such as facilitator, questioner, etc. Together they chose what to read, when to read and what to discuss within their group. The teacher’s role is to monitor but not participate. Our groups were more like a mini version of whole class reading. In the two teacher-led groups we read the book out loud and stopped to discuss as students wanted to. In one class, the Speak group decided to take turns reading out loud. In the other class they chose to silently read on their own. For my research, I focused on the Speak and Unwind groups only and did not collect data on the Touching Spirit Bear group.
My original goal for these book groups was to study the collaborative nature of reading together. What affect did reading together have on motivation and deeper thinking? I was also curious how unengaged readers felt about listening to the book versus reading it themselves. Would this raise their interest in the story? Would they be more willing to discuss the book in this setting? I also wondered which was more important, the physical act of reading something or the thinking involved in interacting with the text after it is read.
An interesting development happened right away. I originally advertised the Unwind group as being an independent reading choice and some students were disappointed that I had changed it to teacher-led without telling them. I hadn’t thought about that difference being a reason they initially chose Unwind. They were very vocal about wanting to read at their own pace. I could understand their feelings but at the same time, wanted them to be in a group setting in order to discuss the book. At a crossroads, I decided to allow students within the Unwind group to choose whether to read with me or on their own. I thought I could still facilitate enough conversation to make the experience collaborative but logistically, this was tough. Students were very intrigued by the book and wanted to read ahead. This was fine in theory but made it hard to discuss with a group. For the independent readers, book discussions became hard to manage and seemed “tacked on” and artificial.
For the readers that stayed with me, however, discussions came naturally. The group felt very strongly that they wanted to “just keep reading” but would still stop to clarify, pose questions to the group, and debate ideas. These discussions would frustrate some who wanted to see what would happen next but I noticed that they helped the group critically think at higher levels. They were interacting with the text more than the others by asking open-ended questions and debating the actions taken by characters. I tried not to control those conversations and just stopped reading when a group member made a comment. Sometimes the conversation continued and sometimes it stopped but I noticed that it went where the students needed it to go. They were guiding the discussion, not me. I wasn’t posing questions; they were on a “need to know” or “need to get my opinion out there” basis.
After a month of book groups, I gave a survey to find out how students felt about this reading method and about their books. I wanted data from both classes, TOG and PBW, to see if there was any difference from class to class. To me, the structure of the groups seemed the same in both classes but I analyzed the data sets separately to see if I was missing any differences.
Did you enjoy your book group?
When I first read these responses it seemed like students enjoyed the format of book groups. After reading their answers to “why,” however, I realized that I might not have asked exactly the right question. I wanted to see how students felt about the structure of book groups but I think the question led them to answer how they felt about the people in their groups. On student marked that he liked his group and wrote, “Because they don’t goof around while we are reading.” Reading answers like these helped me see what qualities students wanted in members of the group but I was looking for how they experienced the structure of the group.
Discussing books with others is important for a number of reasons. Discussions build the communication and critical thinking skills Wagner states are needed today (2002). By sharing and defending opinions, students will use higher critical thinking skills and can come to deeper understandings about books and the messages in them. I just wasn’t seeing this happening in the individualized workshop style of reading. I observed structures that seemed to be promoting motivation like a quiet relaxing environment and individual book choice but by using only Reading Workshop structures, I felt my students were missing the collaboration needed to move into deeper thinking about books. They were reading for enjoyment but still not doing anything with the messages that books could be teaching them.
Attempting to Add Collaboration and Deeper Thinking with Book Groups
As I thought about and discussed the various positives and negatives of Reading Workshop with my co-teacher, we decided to give book groups a try. I had read about literature circles, book groups, and book clubs before and had only attempted them once. I remembered them being fun. The students enjoyed the books for the most part but the logistics were tricky. What happens when a student doesn’t read their part or reads ahead? How can a teacher be sure that students are really talking about the book? This year, I had the unique opportunity to be in a class with another teacher so we took advantage of it. We chose three books to offer students. Unwind, by Neal Shusterman (2007), Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson (1999), and Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen (2001). We chose these three because they each had a connection to a theme we were exploring in writing and history, “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” I originally planned to read with the Speak group but after presenting the three books to the class and tallying their choices, I realized that the Unwind group was much larger. I switched to that group and my co-teacher planned to read with the Touching Spirit Bear group. The Speak group would read independently.
Our book groups did not follow the traditional definition. Usually, book groups have a small group of students who take on various roles such as facilitator, questioner, etc. Together they chose what to read, when to read and what to discuss within their group. The teacher’s role is to monitor but not participate. Our groups were more like a mini version of whole class reading. In the two teacher-led groups we read the book out loud and stopped to discuss as students wanted to. In one class, the Speak group decided to take turns reading out loud. In the other class they chose to silently read on their own. For my research, I focused on the Speak and Unwind groups only and did not collect data on the Touching Spirit Bear group.
My original goal for these book groups was to study the collaborative nature of reading together. What affect did reading together have on motivation and deeper thinking? I was also curious how unengaged readers felt about listening to the book versus reading it themselves. Would this raise their interest in the story? Would they be more willing to discuss the book in this setting? I also wondered which was more important, the physical act of reading something or the thinking involved in interacting with the text after it is read.
An interesting development happened right away. I originally advertised the Unwind group as being an independent reading choice and some students were disappointed that I had changed it to teacher-led without telling them. I hadn’t thought about that difference being a reason they initially chose Unwind. They were very vocal about wanting to read at their own pace. I could understand their feelings but at the same time, wanted them to be in a group setting in order to discuss the book. At a crossroads, I decided to allow students within the Unwind group to choose whether to read with me or on their own. I thought I could still facilitate enough conversation to make the experience collaborative but logistically, this was tough. Students were very intrigued by the book and wanted to read ahead. This was fine in theory but made it hard to discuss with a group. For the independent readers, book discussions became hard to manage and seemed “tacked on” and artificial.
For the readers that stayed with me, however, discussions came naturally. The group felt very strongly that they wanted to “just keep reading” but would still stop to clarify, pose questions to the group, and debate ideas. These discussions would frustrate some who wanted to see what would happen next but I noticed that they helped the group critically think at higher levels. They were interacting with the text more than the others by asking open-ended questions and debating the actions taken by characters. I tried not to control those conversations and just stopped reading when a group member made a comment. Sometimes the conversation continued and sometimes it stopped but I noticed that it went where the students needed it to go. They were guiding the discussion, not me. I wasn’t posing questions; they were on a “need to know” or “need to get my opinion out there” basis.
After a month of book groups, I gave a survey to find out how students felt about this reading method and about their books. I wanted data from both classes, TOG and PBW, to see if there was any difference from class to class. To me, the structure of the groups seemed the same in both classes but I analyzed the data sets separately to see if I was missing any differences.
Did you enjoy your book group?
When I first read these responses it seemed like students enjoyed the format of book groups. After reading their answers to “why,” however, I realized that I might not have asked exactly the right question. I wanted to see how students felt about the structure of book groups but I think the question led them to answer how they felt about the people in their groups. On student marked that he liked his group and wrote, “Because they don’t goof around while we are reading.” Reading answers like these helped me see what qualities students wanted in members of the group but I was looking for how they experienced the structure of the group.
When I looked closer at the responses of students who enjoyed their group, I noticed they wrote comments about the reading environment and structure, book choice, and their peers. Out of the 25 total students who marked “yes,” 19 of them made comments about their peers. 12 of those reflected on the collaborative effect of the book group while the other seven mentioned specific behaviors of group members.
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Collaboration
· I enjoy book group because we get different perspectives or views of what other people think about it.
· I like being able to discuss the book with others
· My friends get to experience the same things I do so it makes it more fun
Reading environment and structure
· I’m reading on my own so its peaceful
· Because the teacher reads out loud
Book choice
· I loved the book
· Because it was a good book, very interesting
By reading these comments, I saw that collaboration, choice in structure and book choice seemed to help students enjoy reading more. These themes repeated in student comments throughout my research and ultimately affected intrinsic motivation to read the most.
Eight students did not enjoy their groups. I was particularly interested in the Unwind (TOG) group who read independently since they had five students out of six who didn’t enjoy their group. Comments like, “I was reading independently” caused me to think my poorly worded question caused their responses to be inconsistent with the rest of the class. This group read independently, but seemed to think of their official book group as the group I read to out loud and therefore marked that they did not enjoy it.
Three other students did not enjoy their book club. One student, John, referred to the reading journals I started with all book groups. He didn’t like the book groups because, “I don’t have any questions about my book and I don’t want to write them down." I wanted to capture their questions and deep thinking in these journals but this idea fizzled out as the groups got going. The students didn’t see them as purposeful and honestly, neither did I.
A second student, Wes, didn’t enjoy book groups because, “…everyone talked and it distracted me from the book.” This student was in my small group. He was the one who usually got us back to the book as discussions ran long. These answers reminded me that assignments and discussions needed to be purposeful.
· I enjoy book group because we get different perspectives or views of what other people think about it.
· I like being able to discuss the book with others
· My friends get to experience the same things I do so it makes it more fun
Reading environment and structure
· I’m reading on my own so its peaceful
· Because the teacher reads out loud
Book choice
· I loved the book
· Because it was a good book, very interesting
By reading these comments, I saw that collaboration, choice in structure and book choice seemed to help students enjoy reading more. These themes repeated in student comments throughout my research and ultimately affected intrinsic motivation to read the most.
Eight students did not enjoy their groups. I was particularly interested in the Unwind (TOG) group who read independently since they had five students out of six who didn’t enjoy their group. Comments like, “I was reading independently” caused me to think my poorly worded question caused their responses to be inconsistent with the rest of the class. This group read independently, but seemed to think of their official book group as the group I read to out loud and therefore marked that they did not enjoy it.
Three other students did not enjoy their book club. One student, John, referred to the reading journals I started with all book groups. He didn’t like the book groups because, “I don’t have any questions about my book and I don’t want to write them down." I wanted to capture their questions and deep thinking in these journals but this idea fizzled out as the groups got going. The students didn’t see them as purposeful and honestly, neither did I.
A second student, Wes, didn’t enjoy book groups because, “…everyone talked and it distracted me from the book.” This student was in my small group. He was the one who usually got us back to the book as discussions ran long. These answers reminded me that assignments and discussions needed to be purposeful.
Did you enjoy the book?
All but one student enjoyed the book. When asked why, the Speak group answered about relating to the main character. “I enjoy it because it has to do with a middle school life and different people go through different things in their middle school life and you can connect with some.” Students in the Unwind group also liked the characters and the action-packed plot. “It always keeps me wanting more.” Some appreciated the unique way it was written. “I like how every chapter comes from a different perspective. It makes the book even more interesting.” |
Students were motivated to read by a good book. They wanted action packed books with relatable characters. This was evident by the number of times I walked into the building in the morning and had a student seek me out to talk about the part they had just read. I could tell that there was an overall excitement about the books we were reading together. As some of the comments stated, the fact that students were reading the same books as their friends gave them someone to talk to about the book. “I like to read the same book as my friends so we can bond over it.” I noticed this bonding happening both formally in class and out of class time. By reading the same book, we were all in this together.
What would have made your book group better?
When I asked the open-ended question, “What would have made your book group better?” students in the Speak groups wanted more choice in who they read with and which book they read. They wanted more discussion time but no extra assignments. One student wrote that she didn’t like, “doing summaries and finding connections with life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” When a student finished the book, I had them write a journal response connecting it to the theme. This is what a few students said they didn’t enjoy about book groups. This task was purposeful to me but not to the students. The theme of freedom in each book had the potential to be bigger than our classroom and ourselves but at the time, I didn’t see that. We could have planned projects or actions that educated girls about protecting themselves (a theme in Speak) or about human rights (a theme in Unwind.) I believe this would have led to more purposeful reading.
Like the Speak groups, the independent Unwind groups did not like the journal writing. They also made comments about pace and group discussions. They wanted to read, “faster and less talking.” This was interesting because they read alone. I did set aside time for them to discuss but management was very hard because they were all on different pages. I tried to match up students on similar pages but this became impossible at times. I felt like I was forcing collaboration and deep thinking.
In the groups reading Unwind with me, discussions felt more natural. We talked when we needed to. Members asked questions, they got answered. Someone was outraged by an event, we responded and moved on. This group was happier with the structure of book groups but the largest concern was the pace. We discussed often and reading out loud was slower than reading silently so this group felt behind and some students felt frustrated.
What would have made your book group better?
When I asked the open-ended question, “What would have made your book group better?” students in the Speak groups wanted more choice in who they read with and which book they read. They wanted more discussion time but no extra assignments. One student wrote that she didn’t like, “doing summaries and finding connections with life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” When a student finished the book, I had them write a journal response connecting it to the theme. This is what a few students said they didn’t enjoy about book groups. This task was purposeful to me but not to the students. The theme of freedom in each book had the potential to be bigger than our classroom and ourselves but at the time, I didn’t see that. We could have planned projects or actions that educated girls about protecting themselves (a theme in Speak) or about human rights (a theme in Unwind.) I believe this would have led to more purposeful reading.
Like the Speak groups, the independent Unwind groups did not like the journal writing. They also made comments about pace and group discussions. They wanted to read, “faster and less talking.” This was interesting because they read alone. I did set aside time for them to discuss but management was very hard because they were all on different pages. I tried to match up students on similar pages but this became impossible at times. I felt like I was forcing collaboration and deep thinking.
In the groups reading Unwind with me, discussions felt more natural. We talked when we needed to. Members asked questions, they got answered. Someone was outraged by an event, we responded and moved on. This group was happier with the structure of book groups but the largest concern was the pace. We discussed often and reading out loud was slower than reading silently so this group felt behind and some students felt frustrated.
Are you enjoying book groups more or less than reading workshop?
By looking at the graph by book group, I can see that students chose the reading structure that worked best for them. Those that wanted to read and discuss with others, chose to read with me. Those that wanted more choice in pace, chose to read independently. It was fascinating to see the class almost evenly split between the two activities. I also felt split between the two. Again, comments centered on book choice, pace, and discussions with peers. Students who liked book groups liked reading and discussing books with others and thought they read faster with a group. Students that liked book groups and reading workshop liked discussing but also wanted choice to read at their own pace and chose books. “It’s nice to talk to someone about the book I’m reading but I can’t read at my own pace.” The group that liked reading workshop better liked reading independently and wanted to choose their own books. The following quote explains one student’s feelings, “Because reading workshop is a time when I can just read by myself for a long period of time without having to stop and talk about it.” Having the class split in half like this left me wondering how to offer a structure that worked for everyone. Some needed to read in a quiet independent setting while others need to read in a group. How could I meet all needs? |
Do you think being in a book group helped you understand the book better?
Looking at the data, I saw that the groups who read with me thought being in a book group helped them understand better. Two students stated that having it read aloud helped them understand it. Everyone else, 17 students, said group members helped with understanding. Most wrote about having questions about the book or being confused such as, “because we would talk about stuff we found confusing.” Four students added that their peer’s opinions and perspectives helped their understanding. “Everyone shared their view on the book.” |
These students seemed to have a different definition of “understanding,” implying that understanding isn’t a right or wrong answer. It means coming to your own decision of what the book means after hearing others’ opinions. These comments made me think of a new purpose for discussion. Not just to “understand” or comprehend, but to open up our minds to our own interpretations of the messages in the book.
Those who didn’t think their group helped them understand the book mostly stated that they understood the book on their own. “I understood the book the whole time and talking only took away from time to read.” Some felt like the group held them back from understanding because of the slow pace or because they were confused by hearing parts they hadn’t read yet.
Thinking back to our book group time, I realized that the groups that read independently did not talk together often. For the most part, they all read silently and separately and then discussed only when I asked them to. Because I was busy reading to the other group, I rarely stopped them to formally have them discuss. They probably really didn’t understand the book better because of their book group! I expected them to naturally want to talk to their friends about the book but that didn’t really happen unless I pushed it. Maybe the ones that like to discuss purposely chose to read with me for that reason and students who don’t like to discuss chose to read independently.
Overall takeaways:
By giving this survey I learned that students want choices in how they read, what they read, and who they read with. Reading workshop offered many choices such as choosing one’s own books, pace and environment. My workshop structure did not offer the choice to read with others. Book groups offered collaboration but limited choice in books and pace. I wondered how to offer autonomy in reading and at the same time help students go deeper into the book’s messages through authentic collaboration and purposeful assignments.
Mario: Intrinsic motivation and the power of story
The realization that students become motivated to read when they get sucked into a good story shouldn’t have been a surprise to me. I kept looking for different reasons, however. I wondered how peers affected motivation and how different activities related to reading raised or lowered motivation. After trying many different strategies, a short conversation with one student in particular helped me see the simple truth in the power of a good story.
I became interested in Mario in particular because of his obvious disinterest in school. He is a cheerful eight grader but would be much happier socializing and joking around than “doing work.” He is very active and likes to move. During most projects or activities he could be found visiting groups around the classroom. During silent reading or writing, he usually played with something or texted in a corner with friends. Mario scored below proficient on his last language arts STAR test but responded positively to most survey questions about reading at the beginning of the year. When asked to write why he likes or dislikes reading at home, in groups, or during reading workshop, Mario mostly gave vague answers. “Because it’s fun. Because I don’t mind it. Because it’s interesting and crazy.” I got the impression that he tries to slide by, unnoticed. I wondered if he really felt positively about reading or if he’s just learned to answer in the way he thinks the teacher wants to hear.
When I looked at work that Mario produced in which he needed to show his comprehension of text, I saw that he would just skim the surface. He showed understanding of a few of the vocabulary words needed but lacked understanding of the whole concept. When asked to analyze a particularly difficult poem, his answers showed frustration and a lack of understanding. He answered, “I don’t know,” for most questions. We spent individual, small group, and whole class time trying to come up with a shared understanding of the poem’s meaning. When asked to explain what part of the process might have been frustrating, Mario answered, “What was frustrating was all the writing.” Consequently, he did not write much.
In contrast to these experiences, I saw Mario extremely engaged in two reading activities later in the year. The first was the book club I mentioned earlier. He chose the book Unwind by Neal Shusterman and initially wanted to read independently. I was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to resist the distractions around him so I asked him to stay in my group. As I read aloud, Mario was very involved in the story. He participated fully in discussions, asking questions, giving his opinion. For a while, we kept a small journal where I asked students to write questions about the story. He only wrote a few but they were on topic and thoughtful. “Why are they going to unwind him (Lev)? Why (is it) such a huge party?” Later, he summarized the story accurately. The summary could have included more detail but showed more effort than I had seen in other assignments. When asked to think deeper and make a connection between the book and the theme of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” he had a harder time. He gave a basic answer, “Because they’re fighting for their liberty and life and happiness by not getting unwound and dying so they run away.”
I could see that Mario’s effort towards thinking and writing increased with the level of engagement in the story. As we read together, day after day, Mario got more involved in the story until finally, one Friday he couldn’t wait for me to read again on Monday. He asked if he could take the book home over the weekend to read ahead. Of course I said yes! He came back on Monday having finished the book. Because others had also read ahead, I had on hand a few copies of the second book in the series and he asked for that book too. As I continued to read to the small group, he separated himself and started book two, Unwholly. This time, he sat quietly, totally engrossed in the story. No fidgeting. No wandering. He was finally in the Reading Zone; completely immersed in the book (Atwell, 2007).
Finding the story in nonfiction
The second activity that caught Mario’s attention was a document-based history lesson designed by Stanford's History Education Group.
“Did Pocahontas save John Smith's life?”
This was the question written on the board as students walked into humanities class. The task for the day was to watch, read, and analyze various sources to see if we, as a class, could come to a conclusion about this question. Together students looked at a timeline showing relevant events, watched a segment of the Disney movie version of the story, and read through two excerpts of John Smith's personal accounts of the events. His two accounts were written at different times, one being after Pocahontas had died. The two primary source documents were written in old English and were difficult to comprehend. To help with this, a second, easier to understand version of each account was also given to students. Lastly, students had a worksheet to fill out guiding them through the various documents and pushing them to analyze why John Smith changed his story about Pocahontas 25 years after he published his first version.
As my co-teacher presented the directions, I was compelled to watch four boys who happened to be in front of me, one being Mario. They typically struggle with reading and often choose to work together but this usually proves to be more distracting than helpful. They each received copies of the four documents (two different versions of John Smith's story and two modified versions) and the corresponding worksheet. As I watched, I could clearly see that they did not understand the format of the four different documents and how they corresponded to the worksheet. I waited for a bit to see if they would figure it out. They all appeared to read the documents but still couldn't make sense of them.
I sat with the group and physically pointed out how the structure worked and how all of the parts related to each other. Mario immediately understood and then went to work completing the worksheet. He also helped to guide the boy to his right through the questions. Once again, while Mario would normally not be engaged, today he showed true understanding of the text. He was even able to go above basic understanding of the text and inferred why John Smith might have changed his story 25 years after writing his first account.
When I asked him later why he was so engaged in this lesson he mentioned that he was curious why John Smith would lie. This seemed to be a true inquiry for him. Mario really wanted to know the answer to the essential question; did Pocahontas save John Smith's life and he wanted to know why. Mario was intrinsically motivated to read and understand at a deeper level. He was not motivated by a grade but by his internal curiosity.
What Mario taught me about designing deeper reading opportunities
As I continued to talk to Mario, the conversation turned to our reading groups and the book Unwind. When I asked what made him interested in the book he talked about liking the premise and action. He also liked the fact that I read it with them. I think this got him interested in the story enough to make him want to finish it faster. He told me that reading a good book is very important to him. I get the impression that he has to be "sucked into" a book before being interested enough to read it independently. My observations showed that when interested he is intrinsically motivated to keep reading. He was interested in both the Pocahontas lesson and Unwind because there was mystery, action, and suspense. He wanted to find out the answers so badly that he didn’t check out. He stayed engaged was interacting with the text and thinking at higher level.
Looking at the revised Bloom’s taxonomy chart specifically for the history lesson, Mario was analyzing by comparing and contrasting the different viewpoints. He was evaluating each source to determine which seemed more accurate. Finally he was creating new knowledge by synthesizing information across texts in order to come to his own conclusions. While reading Unwind with our small group he was also using higher order thinking skills by asking insightful questions and analyzing and evaluating the character’s actions. This made me wonder, is this attraction to mystery and suspense universal. Is this the key to motivation for all students?
Mario also seems to be very socially motivated. He wanted to read Unwind and Unwholly with two other friends and I saw him trying to help his friend during the Pocahontas lesson. When he was off task, he was being social. I wondered how I could harness this social energy and turn it into a positive attribute instead of a hindrance to learning. Unfortunately, I was about to switch classrooms and would no longer be working with Mario.
I did take my learnings for the experience with him to my next research cycle. Mario taught me that book choice is perhaps the most important factor leading to intrinsic motivation to read. Books need to be action packed but have enough substance and mystery to make students want to talk about them. I also saw how purpose and deep thinking build as enjoyment increases. When Mario’s curiosity was peaked, he wanted to think deeply, talk, and interact with text. Lastly, even though surveys led me to believe students didn’t want to talk about books, I could see circumstances where they did. Peer discussion was the vehicle that allowed students to get to deeper thinking, so I needed to design more opportunities for that to happen during the next research cycle.
Factors that affect feelings about reading
Looking back on student data from both models, I saw four themes emerge that were important to students when it came to intrinsic motivation and authentic purpose to read. The elements mentioned most often in both positive and negative ways were pace, book choice, authentic assignments and peer discussions. As I prepared to transition over to the other team of 8th graders, I wondered how to find balance in all of these categories.
Students clearly wanted to read at their own pace. Could I implement some sort of hybrid reading structure where some students read independently while others read in small groups? I wondered how I would manage that. I had struggled to keep all students reading in the last class, even though they claimed to enjoy the book.
I had learned from Mario that book choice was extremely important. Allowing complete freedom to choose books is a great way to build motivation to read but maybe not right away. Maybe I need to choose a great first book and start the book together by reading aloud to students. This may hook them into the story like it did for Mario.
During this first cycle I saw glimpses of authentic purpose for reading, when students were genuinely curious to solve a problem or find out more. I did not, however, find authentic assignments for students to do with the book. All writing felt added on for my benefit. Students didn’t want to write about the book. They did want to talk about it though, just not while reading. I still wondered what structures would give students a real purpose for talking and thinking. I knew projects could provide an authentic purpose. I just didn’t know what that would look like yet.
Those who didn’t think their group helped them understand the book mostly stated that they understood the book on their own. “I understood the book the whole time and talking only took away from time to read.” Some felt like the group held them back from understanding because of the slow pace or because they were confused by hearing parts they hadn’t read yet.
Thinking back to our book group time, I realized that the groups that read independently did not talk together often. For the most part, they all read silently and separately and then discussed only when I asked them to. Because I was busy reading to the other group, I rarely stopped them to formally have them discuss. They probably really didn’t understand the book better because of their book group! I expected them to naturally want to talk to their friends about the book but that didn’t really happen unless I pushed it. Maybe the ones that like to discuss purposely chose to read with me for that reason and students who don’t like to discuss chose to read independently.
Overall takeaways:
By giving this survey I learned that students want choices in how they read, what they read, and who they read with. Reading workshop offered many choices such as choosing one’s own books, pace and environment. My workshop structure did not offer the choice to read with others. Book groups offered collaboration but limited choice in books and pace. I wondered how to offer autonomy in reading and at the same time help students go deeper into the book’s messages through authentic collaboration and purposeful assignments.
Mario: Intrinsic motivation and the power of story
The realization that students become motivated to read when they get sucked into a good story shouldn’t have been a surprise to me. I kept looking for different reasons, however. I wondered how peers affected motivation and how different activities related to reading raised or lowered motivation. After trying many different strategies, a short conversation with one student in particular helped me see the simple truth in the power of a good story.
I became interested in Mario in particular because of his obvious disinterest in school. He is a cheerful eight grader but would be much happier socializing and joking around than “doing work.” He is very active and likes to move. During most projects or activities he could be found visiting groups around the classroom. During silent reading or writing, he usually played with something or texted in a corner with friends. Mario scored below proficient on his last language arts STAR test but responded positively to most survey questions about reading at the beginning of the year. When asked to write why he likes or dislikes reading at home, in groups, or during reading workshop, Mario mostly gave vague answers. “Because it’s fun. Because I don’t mind it. Because it’s interesting and crazy.” I got the impression that he tries to slide by, unnoticed. I wondered if he really felt positively about reading or if he’s just learned to answer in the way he thinks the teacher wants to hear.
When I looked at work that Mario produced in which he needed to show his comprehension of text, I saw that he would just skim the surface. He showed understanding of a few of the vocabulary words needed but lacked understanding of the whole concept. When asked to analyze a particularly difficult poem, his answers showed frustration and a lack of understanding. He answered, “I don’t know,” for most questions. We spent individual, small group, and whole class time trying to come up with a shared understanding of the poem’s meaning. When asked to explain what part of the process might have been frustrating, Mario answered, “What was frustrating was all the writing.” Consequently, he did not write much.
In contrast to these experiences, I saw Mario extremely engaged in two reading activities later in the year. The first was the book club I mentioned earlier. He chose the book Unwind by Neal Shusterman and initially wanted to read independently. I was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to resist the distractions around him so I asked him to stay in my group. As I read aloud, Mario was very involved in the story. He participated fully in discussions, asking questions, giving his opinion. For a while, we kept a small journal where I asked students to write questions about the story. He only wrote a few but they were on topic and thoughtful. “Why are they going to unwind him (Lev)? Why (is it) such a huge party?” Later, he summarized the story accurately. The summary could have included more detail but showed more effort than I had seen in other assignments. When asked to think deeper and make a connection between the book and the theme of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” he had a harder time. He gave a basic answer, “Because they’re fighting for their liberty and life and happiness by not getting unwound and dying so they run away.”
I could see that Mario’s effort towards thinking and writing increased with the level of engagement in the story. As we read together, day after day, Mario got more involved in the story until finally, one Friday he couldn’t wait for me to read again on Monday. He asked if he could take the book home over the weekend to read ahead. Of course I said yes! He came back on Monday having finished the book. Because others had also read ahead, I had on hand a few copies of the second book in the series and he asked for that book too. As I continued to read to the small group, he separated himself and started book two, Unwholly. This time, he sat quietly, totally engrossed in the story. No fidgeting. No wandering. He was finally in the Reading Zone; completely immersed in the book (Atwell, 2007).
Finding the story in nonfiction
The second activity that caught Mario’s attention was a document-based history lesson designed by Stanford's History Education Group.
“Did Pocahontas save John Smith's life?”
This was the question written on the board as students walked into humanities class. The task for the day was to watch, read, and analyze various sources to see if we, as a class, could come to a conclusion about this question. Together students looked at a timeline showing relevant events, watched a segment of the Disney movie version of the story, and read through two excerpts of John Smith's personal accounts of the events. His two accounts were written at different times, one being after Pocahontas had died. The two primary source documents were written in old English and were difficult to comprehend. To help with this, a second, easier to understand version of each account was also given to students. Lastly, students had a worksheet to fill out guiding them through the various documents and pushing them to analyze why John Smith changed his story about Pocahontas 25 years after he published his first version.
As my co-teacher presented the directions, I was compelled to watch four boys who happened to be in front of me, one being Mario. They typically struggle with reading and often choose to work together but this usually proves to be more distracting than helpful. They each received copies of the four documents (two different versions of John Smith's story and two modified versions) and the corresponding worksheet. As I watched, I could clearly see that they did not understand the format of the four different documents and how they corresponded to the worksheet. I waited for a bit to see if they would figure it out. They all appeared to read the documents but still couldn't make sense of them.
I sat with the group and physically pointed out how the structure worked and how all of the parts related to each other. Mario immediately understood and then went to work completing the worksheet. He also helped to guide the boy to his right through the questions. Once again, while Mario would normally not be engaged, today he showed true understanding of the text. He was even able to go above basic understanding of the text and inferred why John Smith might have changed his story 25 years after writing his first account.
When I asked him later why he was so engaged in this lesson he mentioned that he was curious why John Smith would lie. This seemed to be a true inquiry for him. Mario really wanted to know the answer to the essential question; did Pocahontas save John Smith's life and he wanted to know why. Mario was intrinsically motivated to read and understand at a deeper level. He was not motivated by a grade but by his internal curiosity.
What Mario taught me about designing deeper reading opportunities
As I continued to talk to Mario, the conversation turned to our reading groups and the book Unwind. When I asked what made him interested in the book he talked about liking the premise and action. He also liked the fact that I read it with them. I think this got him interested in the story enough to make him want to finish it faster. He told me that reading a good book is very important to him. I get the impression that he has to be "sucked into" a book before being interested enough to read it independently. My observations showed that when interested he is intrinsically motivated to keep reading. He was interested in both the Pocahontas lesson and Unwind because there was mystery, action, and suspense. He wanted to find out the answers so badly that he didn’t check out. He stayed engaged was interacting with the text and thinking at higher level.
Looking at the revised Bloom’s taxonomy chart specifically for the history lesson, Mario was analyzing by comparing and contrasting the different viewpoints. He was evaluating each source to determine which seemed more accurate. Finally he was creating new knowledge by synthesizing information across texts in order to come to his own conclusions. While reading Unwind with our small group he was also using higher order thinking skills by asking insightful questions and analyzing and evaluating the character’s actions. This made me wonder, is this attraction to mystery and suspense universal. Is this the key to motivation for all students?
Mario also seems to be very socially motivated. He wanted to read Unwind and Unwholly with two other friends and I saw him trying to help his friend during the Pocahontas lesson. When he was off task, he was being social. I wondered how I could harness this social energy and turn it into a positive attribute instead of a hindrance to learning. Unfortunately, I was about to switch classrooms and would no longer be working with Mario.
I did take my learnings for the experience with him to my next research cycle. Mario taught me that book choice is perhaps the most important factor leading to intrinsic motivation to read. Books need to be action packed but have enough substance and mystery to make students want to talk about them. I also saw how purpose and deep thinking build as enjoyment increases. When Mario’s curiosity was peaked, he wanted to think deeply, talk, and interact with text. Lastly, even though surveys led me to believe students didn’t want to talk about books, I could see circumstances where they did. Peer discussion was the vehicle that allowed students to get to deeper thinking, so I needed to design more opportunities for that to happen during the next research cycle.
Factors that affect feelings about reading
Looking back on student data from both models, I saw four themes emerge that were important to students when it came to intrinsic motivation and authentic purpose to read. The elements mentioned most often in both positive and negative ways were pace, book choice, authentic assignments and peer discussions. As I prepared to transition over to the other team of 8th graders, I wondered how to find balance in all of these categories.
Students clearly wanted to read at their own pace. Could I implement some sort of hybrid reading structure where some students read independently while others read in small groups? I wondered how I would manage that. I had struggled to keep all students reading in the last class, even though they claimed to enjoy the book.
I had learned from Mario that book choice was extremely important. Allowing complete freedom to choose books is a great way to build motivation to read but maybe not right away. Maybe I need to choose a great first book and start the book together by reading aloud to students. This may hook them into the story like it did for Mario.
During this first cycle I saw glimpses of authentic purpose for reading, when students were genuinely curious to solve a problem or find out more. I did not, however, find authentic assignments for students to do with the book. All writing felt added on for my benefit. Students didn’t want to write about the book. They did want to talk about it though, just not while reading. I still wondered what structures would give students a real purpose for talking and thinking. I knew projects could provide an authentic purpose. I just didn’t know what that would look like yet.