Kathleen Davidson TE 807 Borsheim-Black Final Project Write Up August 5, 2012

Student Choices and How it Can Affect Student Motivation with Reading

Background Like most young English teachers I went into the teaching field combining my passion for literature with my desire to help kids improve. I thought that when I entered the classroom I would be able to share this love of literature with my students and they would be as engrossed in books as I was when I was in high school. Over the last three years I have worked in three different areas with three very different sets of students. My first teaching experience was working under a mentor teacher before my intern teaching year in the Urban Immersion Fellowship program through Michigan State University. When I was in the classroom I began just with observations and then was able to start planning lessons and teaching those lessons to my students. When I was observing my mentor teacher, I noticed that he didnt really have the students read in class; he would have the students watch the film that matched the required reading instead. When I asked him about this, he explained that most students werent at the reading level required for the class so they it would be easier for them to just watch the film. When he wasnt in the classroom the students would complain about the fact that they never read anything. When it came time for me to start teaching lessons I started with smaller readings and noticed that some of the students were really engaged with the text and worked hard. I felt really accomplished.

After that experience, I knew that when I entered a suburban area school for my intern teaching and first year of teaching, it would be easy to engage students with the readings. I thought they would be anxious to ready just like the urban area students were. I was wrong. When we read the assigned texts for class, students would complain about the texts and constantly ask why they had to read them. I would give explanations for how the text could still apply to their lives today but without engaging with the text, they couldnt see these connections. I found that my experience during my second year of teaching in a rural school district was very similar to my experience during my intern teaching year and my first year of teaching. I taught British literature, just like I taught during my first year of teaching, and the students were constantly frustrated with the texts. Every time we started a new text, the students put up a fight and were very reluctant to do the assigned readings. I know that this doesnt have to be the case when it comes to reading in the classroom. I know that some students want to read; I saw it in my first classroom experience with the students in the urban area. The difference I saw between the classrooms was that in the urban area they werent allowed to read so they were excited when they were allowed to read and in the suburban and rural area they are forced to read which makes them reluctant. I believe that this means that I need to find a way to make the reading in the classroom more of a choice for my students in order for them to engage with the text. As a result of these revelations, I knew that I wanted to look further into choice reading in the classroom and how that can affect student engagement and motivation. While I look at choice reading, I also want to look at the idea of changing the current way I address the curriculum to see if changing the way I teach would also affect student motivation with reading.

Wonderings/Questions Why are students reluctant to do assigned readings? Would students be more motivated to read the current texts in the curriculum if I changed the way in which I teach the curriculum? What new ideas can I bring to the current curriculum to make sure students are more motivated to read it? What are some ways that I can give my students choices when reading for class? If students are given time in class where they can choose whatever they want to read, will they find books that they enjoy and keep up with reading instead of doing other things? If students are given sustained silent reading time in class where they can choose their own books, will they still be interested in the novels we are reading in class? Would students be interested in using text sets rather than being given assigned texts? If students are given text sets, would they be more engaged in the reading?

Data Collection/Data Analysis I began my data collection by doing a reading survey to evaluate students reading opinions. I gave the survey to students in my English three class. English three is the third required English class at the high school level. Students in this class either in 10th or 11th grade. See Appendix A for the student reading survey. After drawing some conclusions from the survey I knew that in order to go further into this inquiry I needed to interview students to get deeper insight into their reading opinions and

motivations. I interviewed one student that indicated in her survey that she really enjoyed reading, two students who indicated that they sometimes liked reading, and finally two students who indicated that they did not like reading. The interview questions used can be found in Appendix B. After drawing some conclusions from my surveys and interviews I knew that I needed to look deeper into student choice and motivation and also look into different ways that I could give students choice when reading in the classroom. In order to do this I looked for primary sources through the online database Proquest through Michigan State Universitys library website. Through my hunt I was able to find the article Giving students a voice in the classroom by Schneider that looked at student choice and how that affects student behavior in the classroom. I was also able to find an article and a dissertation regarding different ways to implement choices when reading in the classroom. The first article Text sets in the adult developmental reading classroom: Expanding literacy through diverse readings by Fernandez discussed what text sets are and examples of how to implement these text sets in the classroom. The dissertation Achievement effects of sustained silent reading in a middle school by Sullivan discussed how implementing a sustained silent reading program could improve reading scores and how to implement the sustained silent reading program. After finding two ways to implement choice I knew that I also needed to look at the other side of the argument. I needed to see if the lack of motivation with the required readings was a result of the way I was teaching those readings. For that reason I found the text Engaging readers & writers with inquiry by Wilhelm in order to find ways to change the way I teach these books to see if that would help improve student motivation.

Along with the primary sources I gathered, I also interviewed two teachers from the high school to get their opinion regarding student motivation with reading and how choice may affect that. Those interview questions can be found in Appendix C.

Explanation of Findings The surveys I conducted with my students presented some interesting findings. I found that only five out of 28 students enjoyed reading and 21 out of 28 students sometimes enjoyed reading. What was really surprising to me was that I had two students who indicated that they never enjoyed reading. Of those two students who indicated that they never enjoyed reading, they also indicated that for them reading was a bother and they also indicated that reading was never easy for them. Two more students from the class also indicated that reading was a bother for them and 20 additional students indicated that reading sometimes was a bother for them. From reading these surveys I knew that I needed to look deeper into why students found reading a bother and why they may not enjoy it at times. In order to do that, I interviewed my students. One of the main questions I had when I interviewed these students was regarding their lack of motivation with reading. For that reason I asked when they can remember liking reading and also when they can remember not liking reading. All of the students indicated that they enjoyed reading in elementary school. They have fond memories of authors coming to their school and all of the different books they read through silent reading. When I asked when they could remember disliking reading, most of them indicated that it happened during middle school (four out of five). When I went further into a discussion about this I found that three out of five said that they felt forced into the readings during their English classes. They didnt like that they

didnt have a choice in what they read anymore. The interviews really seemed to support my original idea that student choice is connected to student motivation with reading. When I went further into the interviews I asked students about two of the different ideas I had regarding choice reading that I found through my primary sources in my research. I first asked about whether or not students would like the option of choosing a novel to read from a text set rather than being assigned a novel to read for the unit. All students indicated that they would like this option. One student, Cody*, stated that he would like having more options rather than being forced into reading something. He also stated that he would have more of a connection with a text if he got to choose it and therefore have more motivation to do the work. Another student Bre*, stated that Kids would be more engaged with books because they would be able to pick them. This supported my idea that not only was student choice connected with student motivation with reading, but also that text sets might be a good option when trying to give students choices regarding reading. I also asked students about the other option I found when researching the options with student choice regarding reading in the classroom: sustained silent reading. All of the students interviewed also indicated that this would be a good option to have for reading in the classroom. While all students indicated that they liked this option, two did have concerns regarding it. They told me that when it came to reading, they had a hard time finding books that they enjoyed on their own. This could be one obstacle that I encounter when implementing a sustained silent reading program. After gathering the information from my students regarding choices with reading, I wanted to see if there was any research supporting the idea of choice with reading motivation. I found the article Giving students a voice in the classroom by Schneider. The article discussed student behavior in the classroom. Schneider writes that if students are given a choice inside the

classroom, their behavior will improve. This makes me believe that if students are given a choice regarding reading in the classroom, their attitude or behavior towards reading will improve. Finally, I also wanted to see if my ideas were supported by what my colleagues were seeing in their classrooms. I interviewed two other teachers, Becky* and Ashley* from the English department at my school. I asked them about what they saw regarding student behavior towards the assigned texts. Both of my colleagues indicated that they were seeing the same thing I saw in my classroom; they saw that students were not motivated to do the assigned reading for the class. Becky also stated that if she assigned a reading for them to do at home for homework, 90% would come to class the next day not having it completed. Ashley found similar results in her class. I asked them if they believed implementing a program where students had a choice in what they read in the classroom would help. Both teachers seemed optimistic at the idea. Becky also stated that at a conference she went to this year by Penny Kittle, she presented a similar idea using sustained silent reading. She said that she would be interested in implementing ideas like sustained silent reading the following school year.

Implications for Practice From the research I have done so far, I have determined that giving students a choice regarding reading would be a good idea to help improve student motivation. The next step would be implementing a plan of action to see if this would work in the classroom. In the fall, I will change the format for three of my Advanced Literature classes. One class will implement the idea of text sets, one class will implement the sustained silent reading idea, and in one classroom I will implement the ideas I found in the Wilhelm text to improve how I teach the current

curriculum. One of my Advanced Literature classes will be the control. I will teach it the same as it has been taught before. Students will be interviewed and surveyed regarding reading at the beginning of the semester and at the end of the semester to see if their motivation and attitude towards reading has changed. This will help me determine if the implemented ideas were a success or not. The following is a plan for how exactly each idea will be implemented: Sustained Silent Reading o Students will be allowed to choose the book that they want to read for sustained silent reading. o Students will do 15 minutes of sustained silent reading every class period. o I will conference with students once every two weeks regarding where they are with the reading and what they might want to read next. o Students will do book talks for the books they are reading for sustained silent reading in order to give other students an idea of what they might want to read next. o Students can also seek help from me or the librarian when searching for a new book to read. Text Sets o When doing the unit in Advanced Literature where students usually would read 1984 by George Orwell, they will be allowed to choose from any one of the following texts to read: 1984 by George Orwell The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury The Giver by Lois Lowry

o The unit will be thematically based so all the writing and readings that go along with the text will be on the theme of utopia/dystopia. o Students will work in literature circles to delve deeper into the reading. New Style of Teaching o I will implement Wilhelms idea of teaching through inquiry with the current curriculum in Advanced Literature.

Reflection on the Inquiry Process As Dana and Yendol-Hoppey indicated, evaluating teacher inquiry can be difficult and sometimes evaluating your own work is even harder. For this reason I broke down my research into all the categories for evaluating teacher research presented in the Dana and Yendol-Hoppey text. Context of Study o I believe that when I presented the background of in inquiry project, I showed how I developed the idea that I wanted to look further into. Even though I did indicate the classroom where I would put the plan into place, the problem I see with my inquiry is that I shouldve given more insight into where I am putting my plan into place at. I am putting my inquiry plan into place at my current district which is located in a rural area of Battle Creek. 99% of our student population is white and many of our students live/work on the farms surrounding our school

district. This might give readers a better idea of whether or not this idea may work in their context as well. Wonderings and Purpose o I believe that the topic I choose to look into is a great topic for English teachers. When talking with other English teachers that I have met and also other English teachers from this teaching class, I have found that many of us are frustrated with students lack of motivation regarding reading. I think that looking further into this idea is great and giving a possible way to change this is something that teachers need. Teacher-Research Design o To be honest, I think that I struggled with this area a little. The biggest obstacle I had for gathering data was that I really didnt have access to many students during the summer. I was lucky that I could get a hold of the five that I did. I think that if I could interview more students, my data would be more reliable. I also had a difficult time finding primary sources that supported my idea of giving students choices with reading. This mean that I had to use articles that talked about student choice even though it wasnt regarding reading. Teacher-Researcher Learning o The biggest struggle I had with presenting what I learned is that my research isnt complete yet. I still need to implement the ideas I have in the fall to draw any credible conclusions regarding my inquiry. Implications for Practice

o I believe that I gave a good idea of what my plan is for the fall for how I plan to implement these ideas. I outlined how exactly each classroom will be changed and also how I will finish gathering my data for my inquiry. I believe that after I implement these ideas and finish collecting data, I could present my findings in a way that would be helpful to other English teachers.