Synthesis Blog #2

     In this article, Linda Gambrell outlines 7 specific things teachers and educators can do in order to enhance students' motivation to read for pleasure.  Like in the past few chapters in Subjects Matter, Gambrell emphasizes the importance of letting students choose what they want to read when you can.  Logically, students will be more inclined to read things that they are interested in!  She also explains that "students are more motivated to read when they have ample opportunities to engage in sustained reading" (174).  This is the idea of SSR mentioned earlier in the book. 
     And finally, and my personal favorite, Gambrell states that "students are more motivated to read when they have opportunities to socially interact with others about the text they are reading" (175).  This can be done seamlessly with the book clubs addressed in Subjects Matter.  Not only are students able to pick books that interest them, but by talking with other students they are able to have low stakes conversations about what they have read.  In my own experience, I usually prefered to talk with other students rather than have whole class discussions-- which at times can be overwhelming or even chaotic.
     If we can enhance our students intrinsic motivation to read, I assume we (as educators) would see an improvement in student performance across content areas.  A student reading on their own about their interest in outer space can improve their performance in the science class, for example.  As a future math teacher, I can see the advantages of allowing students to have designated reading for pleasure time in my class.




For a good laugh:


Gambrell, L. B. (2011, November). Seven Rules of Engagement: What's Most Important to Know About Motvation to Read. The Reading Teacher, 65(3), 172-178.

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"Love From Your Friend, Hannah" book pitch

Content Area Book Clubs

     I find the idea of a "Content Area Book Club" to be a really cool idea to use like once during a school year.  It is an awesome idea for students to be able to CHOOSE a book in the content area (which automatically makes them want to read it more, because usually they will choose a book that interests them), and then have them discuss it with other classmates.  I am a huge fan of students discussing their work, or in this case their reading, with other classmates rather than as a whole class discussion; as someone who used to get nervous talking in front of the whole class, it is less scary to talk to a small group. 
     Again, like I have noticed in other chapters, I think Math is getting the cold shoulder in the "Content Area Book Club."  I think Social Studies and Science teachers could easily incorporate a book club into their curriculum, but as a future math teacher, I am struggling to think of ONE book, let alone enough to give students multiple choices.  In my opinion, Social Studies especially lends itself to this sort of thing because many history teachers and historians love primary documents.  Adding a novel like The Diary of Anne Frank (which is a primary document) or historical fiction into the curriculum would be a really cool way of mixing in non-textbook reading.      
     I am not opposed to the idea of a Math Book Club; I am just not aware of enough relevant, grade-level, and USEFUL math books to use.  I would not want to add in a book club for the sake of having a book club if I didn't feel like it benefited my students' math skills. 

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Strategy Lesson Reflection

     Aside from those couple of moments of me feeling uncomfortable, I think that the lesson went well.  I expected to get mixed reviews on the strategy itself; it is hard for people who want to just read a text to have to sit and write notes out if they enjoy the text.  This is a strategy that I have always used when reading longer books and novels.  I find it easier to keep up with characters, imagery, and symbolism when I can mark them directly in the text; it also makes it easier to flip back and forth between my notes.

    After doing my Strategy Lesson for "Post-it Response Notes" I have realized how SLOWLY time moves by when you are at the front of the classroom, especially when the class is working on some assignment or reading.  When I gave the text to the class to read, I found myself feeling antsy as I waited for everyone to read it, and I also found it challenging to know how long everyone needed to do the reading.  I circled around a little bit to get a general feel, but as someone who isn't 100% used to being at the front of the class yet, it was an uncomfortable feeling.

     As I spend more and more time at the front of the classroom, I think I will start to get more and more comfortable transitioning from student to teacher. 

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Independent Reading Workshop in Content Areas

     Although I am a huge advocate of the idealistic "lifelong learner" goal, I think this chapter is a little unrealistic in its goal.  Very rarely does a teacher have time to spend, once a week (as suggested in the section that attempts to address the whole "time" issue) to implement a Reading Workshop on a regular basis.  If teachers and students did not have standards to meet and standardized tests to take, I would say "the more reading workshops the better!" 

     However, in an ELA class, I think the idea of a reading workshop is great!  At my high school, one of our summer reading books every year was a "Teacher Seminar Book" where in the spring, students would come to school early one morning in order to sign up for a book club, each headed by a teacher at the school (faculty members included teachers from all content areas, administrators...etc).  After returning to school in the fall, students and their faculty member would have a book club-like discussion about the book.  This summer reading strategy allows students to choose the book they want to read (mentioned many times throughout the book as a huge influence on students) and also it is a low stakes reading workshop because we did not have to write papers, or take a test on the novel; the teacher would assign a grade based on the students' participation in the discussion.  As great as this was as a student, I do not think the benefits of a reading workshop across content areas outweighs the lost time that could be spent covering content area material.

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