How Can Teachers Motivate Reluctant Readers

Abstract

Motivating students to read is an important aspect of being an elementary reading teacher. Five second graders and their teacher were involved in the original work that this article is based on. Through classroom observations and one-on-one interviews, this research showed the importance of motivating reluctant readers. This article focuses on one student (Ben) in particular and his struggles with reading motivation. Through this lens of motivating reluctant readers, this article proceeds to share ideas of how classroom teachers can motivate reluctant readers in the classroom setting. Teachers can do a variety of things to motivate theirstudents to read. One of the first things teachers need to do is get to know their students. Teachers also need to utilize a variety of motivating reading experiences to help motivate students as well as create an engaging and open literacy environment. A final way teachers can motivate their students to read is to implement motivating and relevant classroom activities. Utilizing these ideas to motivate readers will hopefully work to create lifelong learners.