Motivation

The way to motivate students to read according to my fifteen year old daughter who struggles with reading fluency is give them something that they are interested in.  She told me," Mom I don't like reading about things that I am not interested in, if you give me a book about tractors I won't read it but if it's about music I will read it". I find this statement to be true even with my struggling first graders. They often choose books about real life topics such as animals, policemen, firemen, and stories about famous people that they are familiar with. My guess is that they can relate to these topics and they want to learn more. First graders are very curious so motivation for them is not as hard as with my teenager. I have found that with her there has to be some sort of pay off to get her to read. To her there must be some meaning and she has to see that it us useful and something that she can use. It is very hard for me being a certified book worm to watch my child not enjoy reading. I have tried through the years to motivate her any way possible but have found that it all really comes back to interest and meaning to her. If she deems it meaningful and sees it as something she can use then she will read it.