Reading for Real!- Appeal to their interests and Make Real Readers!

Kathy Collins is becoming a new favorite in my teaching toolbox.  Her book, Reading for Real, talks about motivating students to read by putting them in book clubs based on interests.  We all know that learning is not a chore if we are interested in what we are learning about so check out this guide and source for how to run those book clubs in primary grades.  Students really can be in a  book club, even in first grade!  This is a valuable resource for primary and will give intermediate teachers some great ideas to expand upon! 

A New Spin on Differentiating Instruction that Could Help Get You Motivated to Differentiate More Often & in Content Areas

Here is a link to a weekly newsletter that I love to get each week from Choice Literacy.   They offer tidbits that I look forward to each week.  This is not one to use with students directly but something that will get you chuckling and thinking all at the same time.  Check out this article by Kathy Collins for a bit of humor and hidden wisdom!  A Thanksgiving Take on Differentiating Instruction 

Motivation to Learn...What can children teach themselves?

I attended an informal staff meeting today after school.  The topic was rigor in these changing times in education.  I went in thinking about what I knew about rigor, what I was making for dinner, if my son would have his homework done, and if I could get one more post in on my new blog.  I left the meeting with my eyes opened my mind brimming with these ideas of change that I have to implement for my students.  During the meeting we watched a TED talk, which I must say is becoming one of my favorite places to visit to be inspired (motivated) in this difficult profession.  In the clip Sugata Mitra talks of his "Hole In The Wall" project he has been leading where students teach themselves without instruction or education how to use a computer and teach others how to do it.  This leads to the question, "What else can students teach themselves?"  This really makes me think about shifting focus from the typical lecture approach in content areas to exploration and self teaching in the content areas.  One thing that Sugata Mitra states sticks out to me relating to motivation, "Children will learn to do what they want to learn to do."  This is so true.  You will be inspired and wanting to tackle your content areas in new ways after viewing this video.  PLEASE take 17 minutes to change your way of thinking.  Sugata Mitra on The Child Driven Education

Science! It does not have to be so hard!

I think science is the hardest area for me to teach.  I did not understand much of the textbook that I was given to teach from when I first got it.  I was going back often to reread and study ahead for the content I was teaching.  I remember in my first year of teaching, my husband and I had a daily running joke our house..."Honey, do you have your science homework done yet?"  I was studying more than the kids to get the material understood well enough to teach it to students.  This really got me thinking about the skills that I had to be able to give students so that they may be a bit more successful.  Success in content areas will lead to motivation.  There was a supplement to a book that I read early on that got me started with what skills I needed to be able to give my students in order to read and understand the textbook.  Teaching Reading in Science is a free supplement that you can access to give you more schema on how to teach your students valuable skills to be successful in reading their science textbook.  To me, these skills are first and foremost to teaching the material.  If students do not have the tools to succeed, then they often will not.  Start here to guide your teaching in this critical area of instruction. 

Something that I have been thinking about...

I was laying in bed last night thinking about what gets me motivated to read in the content areas.  I do not mind reading social studies now at my age, 28.  I actually enjoy it.  An exciting night with my husband is watching a historical documentary on WWII or Alexander the Great on the History channel (We are a wild couple!).  But at the ages of 10, 11, 12...24, I was not interested at all in content area reading either.  I really had to think deep at what flipped on the switch to enjoy those things rather than dread them.  The thing that got me started enjoying studying history was the fact that I was teaching it and I did not want to be boring my students the way that I used to get bored.  As a new teacher, I knew that I had certain standards to address and a certain curriculum to follow.  As I was figuring out what to do and what to teach, no where in all that technical stuff was this statement, "All social studies instruction must be boring, dry, and uninteresting."  I only found it boring, dry, and uninteresting because of the way that previous history instruction had been provided to me.  I knew that I had to change the way that I taught if I wanted to create a love for the content area I was teaching.  This is what changed my love of social studies.  I was entertained by my own teaching.  Previously, no one attempted to activate my schema.  No one took the time to hook me in before we opened the textbook by telling me a story.  No one gave me an interesting quote to think about.  There were no pictures showing me a battle scene.  There were no short video clips or reenactment scenes to look at.  There were no battle songs to listen to or short pictures books read aloud to me.  I think you get where I am headed here.  We have to get students excited about these items if we want to get them motivated.  They have to see social studies as an exciting part of their day.  No one gets excited when they see a social studies textbook.  There are no statements, "YES!  I cannot wait to be bored to death by my excruciatingly dull social studies textbook!"  You have to supplement the excitement to make the textbook a somewhat enjoyable experience.  Here is a link to a website that may help give you ideas on where to go with your supplementation.  A Book In Time  offers maps, book lists, craft ideas, games, etc to help drum up some excitement to add to the valuable information in your social studies textbook.  Motivation will come to learn from the textbook if you can appeal to students need to be entertained.  I am not sure how many people, especially younger students, are entertained by a lecture where they get little opportunity to discuss.  Give them something to look forward to and the learning and motivation will come!