As I work in a mid-level Language Arts classroom for my practicum, I am being faced with the question: How do we engage readers. My cooperating teacher have found multiple ways in which to engage readers which I feel are effective.
One way that she engaaes readers is by giving the students choice to choose whichever novel they would like to read. Right now, students are reading books from the author, Gary Paulsen. In order to do a author study, students had to choose a Gary Paulsen book, and rea a book. The teacher has multiple books that can be delightful to at least one reader in the classroom. By giving students this choice, students motivation to read grew tremendously and they were more engage in the reading.
Additionally, educators must find ways to personally connect reading to students lives. A few weeks ago, we had a librarian come into our classroom explaining the importance of having reading that personally connect with students. I certainly believe that this is true because ttraders look forward to reading material that they can relate to. Can you imagine how much beter literacy would be once we begin to implement text with meaning for our students.
Now that I already gave you two ways to engagte readers, I want you to comment by adding some more ideas of how educators can engage readers. By doing this, we will have a list of professional methods for our future classrooms.
Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI think another way to engage students in reading is by figuring out who they are as a person. Find out what each student likes to do in their free time. Do they play sports, a musical instrument, do they love video games, etc. After a teacher knows the students, they can find books that contain certain themes or character personality traits that the student would enjoy. If a teacher knows the students personal life and their home life, it is much easier figuring out what they can relate to and the students will enjoy reading books that are applicable to their lives.