A Case Study to Find Out What Motivates Third Grade Students to Want to Read

Kathleen Cruea

The School of Education and Allied Professions UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON Dayton, Ohio April 2006

Background A Look at Motivating Factors for Readers

When a child is not motivated to open a book, the child fails to see the beauty and imagination that comes to life when reading a great book. When children read, they activate their capacity for imagination, for creative and critical thinking, and for empathy (Gambrell 1999, p. 10).

Action Research Question

How does one motivate third grade readers? Knowing how to best facilitate to each student is needed to aid in motivating students to enjoy and love reading.

 What Teachers Can Learn About Reading Motivation Through Conversations With Children by Edmunds and Bauserman (2006) state that,

What others have to say about MOTIVATION!

Research over the past twenty years demonstrated that students motivation is a primary concern of many teachers, and numerous classroom teachers acknowledge that lack of motivation is at the root of many problems they face in teaching. (p.414)

 Any person that a child sees who is excited about reading is a key motivator. TEACHERS, PARENTS, FRIENDS, OTHER ROLE MODELS Gambrell states, Your enthusiasm will be contagious (2004).

Who are the key motivators?

Participants and Setting

The research took place at Our Lady of the Rosary Elementary School, which is an urban, Catholic School on the outskirts of downtown Dayton, Ohio.
It has been a thriving Catholic School for over 100 years. Currently there are 177 students enrolled at Our Lady of the Rosary. Over 50% of the students are on free or reduced lunches. The main participants that are discussed in this research are the nineteen third graders that attend Our Lady of the Rosary.

Data Collection
Parent Surveys Observational Protocol through daily journal entries by the teacher. Elementary Reading Attitudes Surveys Dear Time (Drop Everything and Read)

Parent Survey
1. Do you read to your child at home? Yes No 2. If yes, how many days per week do you read to your child? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3. Please list the three most recent books that you have read to your child. 1.___________________________________________________________ 2.___________________________________________________________ 3.___________________________________________________________ 4. Does your child read to himself/herself at home? Yes No 5. Please list the three most recent books that your child has read at home. 1.___________________________________________________________ 2.___________________________________________________________ 3.___________________________________________________________ 6. How many trips to the library do you take in a month? 1-2 3-4 5-6 6 or more 7. Overall, would you say that your child a. gets excited about reading b. feels okay about reading c. somewhat dislikes reading d. does not like to read 8. What do you think might help your child enjoy reading more? __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

Parent Surveys
(Each teacher will receive a copy)

~ The parent surveys helped me to see more vividly whether the child reads or not at home. ~It would be a great tool to use at the beginning of the year to better get to know your individual student and parent reading habits.

Get Parents Involved!

Getting parents involved in the reading process will be another motivating factor that I will implement next year. Through the surveys and through what parents have shared with me, I found that four parents that I talked to during conferences on Thursday, March 16, 2006, do not place a high emphasis on reading at home, simply due to time restraints. Parent A even stated during a conference, I have three children at home, two who are under the age of three. I do not have time, with work and keeping the house clean, to sit down and read to child B. With this in mind I will implement a night of reading each quarter where families can come and read together. These nights will include books and brownies, poetry reading, favorite Christmas books and hot cocoa, and summer fun reading where we will read outside. Hopefully these events will allow for some time for children to see their most influential role models enjoying reading.

Observational Protocol
When observing on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 at 9:30 -10:00 during library time I took note of what children did when picking a book. All 17 of the children that I observed, picked the book of choice by looking at the cover. Only 4 children looked inside of the book to see if the book had pictures. The Happiest Garfield was picked by all children to show what they feel like when they have finished a book. The children seemed to laugh more and show more enthusiasm about reading when choosing ones own book.

Elementary Reading Attitude Surveys Completed by the students

The results from the reading
attitude surveys are as follows.

Children were asked a series of questions. They pointed to the picture of the Garfield that best represented how they felt.

Results from the Student Responses on the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey
Very upset Garfield Mildly Upset Garfield Slightly smiling Garfield Happiest Garfield

Question
read a book on a rainy day read a book in school during free time reading for fun at home getting a book for a present spending free time reading starting a new book reading during summer vacation reading instead of playing going to a bookstore reading different kinds of books

0 0

1 1

9 5

7 11

0 1 0 0 2 2 0 0

3 0 1 1 1 3 0 0

8 4 8 5 8 8 6 4

6 12 8 11 6 4 11 13

teacher asks you questions about what you read

reading workbook pages and worksheets

10

Very upset Garfield

Mildly Upset Garfield

Slightly smiling Garfield Happiest Garfield

Question
reading in school reading your school books learning from a book

0 1 0 0 0 0 1

0 1 0 0 0 2 1

4 4 1 5 6 6 5

13 11 16 12 11 9 10

time for reading class stories you read in reading class read out loud in class using the dictionary

taking a reading test

doing book-it projects performing plays for reading class reading groups at school picking your own books to read when you have finished a book

0
0 0 0 0 0

3
0 3 0 0 0

7
5 2 5 2 0

7
12 12 12 15 17

DEAR Time
DEAR stands for Drop everything and read. On occasion I will choose a book for the children to read. Other days I will allow the children to read any book of choice. The following graph depicts two days of DEAR time. In the following graph children were asked three questions. These questions were: What was the plot of the story? Identify three characters that were important to the story? Did you like the story? In the graph, day one shows the books that I chose for the children. Day two depicts the book that they chose themselves. The chart shows those children who answered the separate questions correctly on the graph.

DEAR TIME
This is a graph of what the children had to say about the separate days.
DEAR Time
20 15 # of children 10 5 0 1st ques. 2nd 3rd ques. ques. Day One Day Two

Correct answers to questions

Note. On day one the children read a book that I picked out. On day two the children read a book that they picked out.

DEAR TIME
It is important to note that the children are much more inclined to read when a book is not forced on them, and they have the option to read what they would prefer. Questioning children on comprehension will be more enthusiastic and thought out when a child is intrigued by the books that they are reading.

 Children are more inclined to read chapter books that pertain and connect to what they like. Being able to provide these books should be our utmost priority. It is important that as the school year winds down that I make important decisions for next year based on the children that we will serve.

The interesting factors that I found were:

What Can We Do Right Now?

~Make each child create a wish list to remember the books that they want to check out at the library over the summer. Show the parents the list to hang on the refrigerator. ~Allow children to choose trade books that connect to them. ~When your classroom is full of great books and intriguing reading activities, your students will get excited about reading (Gambrell, 2004, p. 11).

What Can We Do Right Now?

~Tell the teacher that will have your children next year what kinds of books the children are interested in. ~Give the wish list that will be sent home to the teacher next year. On the first day of school have a book on each childs desk that you think they may like for silent reading. ~Right away the children will see how much you care and are fascinated in their individual lives!

MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR!

It is important to meet the needs of each individual by connecting reading to what they know, thus making reading a positive experience.

References
Barr, R., & Johnson, B. (1991). Teaching reading in elementary classrooms. New York: Longman. Creswell, J. W. (2002, 2005). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice-Hall. Dixon, M. T. (2003). Teaching reading to those who think its impossible to learn. Momentum, 34(4), 54-56. Gambrell, L. (2004). Motivating kids to read. Instructor, 113(5), 10-11. Hubbard, R. S., & Power, B.M. (2003). The art of classroom inquiry: A handbook for teacher-reseachers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. McKenna, M.C. & Kear, D.J. (1990). Measuring attitude toward reading: A new tool for teachers. The Reading Teacher, 43(9), 626-639. McTaggart, J. (2006). Transforming the reluctant reader. Todays Catholic Teacher, 39( 4), 22-23. Nilsen, A.P. (2005). The future of reading. School Library Journal, 51(1), 38-39. Scharer, P.L., Pinnell, G.S., Lyons, C., Fountas, I. (2005). Becoming an engaged reader. Educational Leadership, 63(2), 24-29.