"Reading Can't Be Fun" - Motivating Children to Read

When I was a child, I found a joy in reading and still do to this day. I always had a book in my hand. That isn't because I was told that I had to read things and was forced to. The reason that I read for pleasure and enjoyed it is because my teachers, especially, motivated me to enjoy reading and view it as fun.

Extrinsic motivation is a good strategy when starting to try engage students to read, but after awhile they may not want to work as hard. Stickers, pencils, and praise may not be a good motivation strategy for some children, especially as they grow older. Intrinsic motivation is a great strategy that teachers should incorporate into their everyday lessons. 

Children find joy in challenges, especially. I know that when I was a child and a teacher introduced a "game" where they would be teams or even you against everyone, I would try to do the best I could so that I could win, and I actually enjoyed and remembered these tasks the most. Challenges in the classroom should be achievable, they shouldn't be too hard, but they shouldn't be too easy. We don't want the children to get to be uninterested, but we don't want them to become frustrated. Scaffolding will help students to engage in the activity correctly and gives the teacher a chance to show what the students should be doing. Challenges and games are what all children look forward to in the classroom! Who doesn't love a little competition? 

Children should be given choices in what they read. If you give a child a book, they will read it, but there may be no joy if there is no interest. Children should be able to choose from different genres in the classroom, as well as be able to check out books and take them home if they wish to. Teachers should also be reading books to children in the classroom. When I was in elementary school, my teachers had big rugs in their classrooms. We would sit on the big rug and the teacher would sit in a big chair and read to us. That was a pleasant and relaxing environment to be in. All teachers should have a reading area where they read to the students that is inviting and exciting. Children should also be able to have reading areas that are comforting when they do independent or partner reading. 

A few different ways to make reading interesting are:

- Choral reading

- Use puppets or props

- Chalk talks (storyteller draws story while telling it) 

- Digital techniques (videotaping the students and letting them watch it) 

- Incorporating sound

- Felt boards and magnetic boards with characters
What technique do you find most interesting and would like to try? 

One issue I would like to address is using technology in the classroom. In this day and age technology is big and exciting for children. When I was younger, we would read a book and then take a short test over the book on the computer. This is how you reached a certain number of books that were supposed to be read throughout the semester. Students today are known as digital natives and teachers are known as digital immigrants in this generation, because of the fact that so much new technology has developed in the last ten years. Children can use electronic books, computer software, tablets, digital whiteboards, various internet websites, and the teacher of a classroom can even make a website that houses classroom announcements, newsletters, and other things. How will you incorporate technology into your classroom?

There are so many ways that teachers can make reading enjoyable for students. If teachers do not use different techniques in the classroom and make reading something to look forward to rather than only having reading for tests, homework, and things that don't seem fun then children will not understand the importance of reading. When I read, I feel as though I am taken to a different world. I enjoy reading for pleasure and for information. My teachers promoted motivation for reading when I was a child and when I am a teacher I will foster a literacy-friendly atmosphere that motivates the students in my classroom. Although some of them may come in with the mindset that reading can't be fun, they will leave with the mindset that reading IS fun!
Now that you see that there are so many ways in motivating children to read, which ones do you think would be most fun to try?