Increase Motivation for Reading through Choice

Increase Motivation for Reading through Choice When the headlines report  that  the overall average reading score of 8th students in 2015 declined in comparison to the previous assessment in 2013, there was a chorus of educators who  most likely responded: But...they just dont want to read! The report released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is considered a benchmark on the academic progress of an estimated  60 million secondary students  attending private and public middle and high schools in the United States. The most recent statistics on these students indicate that there is a significant drop in reading proficiency levels in grades 7-12. For example, only 34 percent of 8th graders (2015) scored at or above proficient levels on the, the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment. This NAEP data also shows a disturbing trend, with reading scores of eighth graders across demographic groups declining from 2013 to 2015. The report confirms what secondary teachers have been saying anecdotally, that  both high and low achieving students are often unmotivated to read. This lack of motivation has been also explored as a cultural problem in David Denbys New Yorker article, Do Teens Read Seriously Anymore?  and illustrated in an  infographic created by Common Sense Media  (2014) titled  Children, Teens and Reading. Perhaps it is no surprise to researchers that the decline in reading proficiency coincides with a decline with student autonomy or choice in reading materials. That decline in choice is created by an increase in teacher control of reading materials at the higher grade levels.   TheyWere Once Readers In the elementary grades, students are given the opportunity to develop a sense of autonomy in reading choice; they are allowed and encouraged to independently select books to read. There is explicit instruction in making good choices in lessons that explain how to judge a   just right book using questions such as: Are there more than five words on a page you don’t know?Are you confused about what is happening in most of this book? This autonomy contributes to the growth of a reader. According to J.T.  Guthrie, et al, in the research brief Reading Motivation and Reading Comprehension Growth in the Later Elementary Years, (2007)  published in  Contemporary Educational Psychology: Children who valued choosing their own books subsequently developed elaborate strategies for selecting books and reported being more intrinsically motivated readers. By giving their students a choice of reading materials in the early grades, elementary teachers increase academic independence and motivation.   However, in most school systems, a students choice of reading material lessens as he or she moves up to the middle and high school grades. Assessment and Standards are Factors By the time a student moves into the middle grades, the  emphasis is on on discipline specific reading materials, as seen in the recommendation by the English Language Arts (ELA) Common Core State Standards in  Literacy  (Key Design Considerations) . This recommendation has resulted in an increase in the reading percentage of nonfiction or informational texts in all disciplines, not just ELA: By grade 8, reading materials should be 45% literary fiction and 55% informational texts;By the time students graduate, reading materials should be 30% literary fiction and 70% informational texts.   These same education researchers,  Guthrie et al, have also published an e-book (2012)  Motivation, achievement, and Classroom Contexts for Information Book Reading, to  document their pursuit of what motivates students to read and what classroom contexts best promote motivation. They note in their e-book that because schools are seeing an increase in educational accountability at different levels and there are a variety of  reading materials are assigned in all subject areas so that teachers can take formal and frequent evaluations of their students. Much of this reading material used for accountability, however, is dull: Middle school students overwhelmingly describe the information texts they read in science classes as boring, irrelevant, and difficult to understand- hardly a recipe for positive motivation to read this material. The researchers who argue for student autonomy agree that  student interest in reading independently (for fun) diminishes  when teachers overly control reading topics or materials. This is especially true for low achieving students. Researcher  Carol Gordon noted  that for this population of adolescents, student attitude is another factor. She explains: Since low-achievers typically do not read voluntarily outside of school, most of their reading is mandated. These students express anger and defiance, as indicated by survey data. In many cases, low achievers don’t really hate to read- they hate to be told what to read. Paradoxically, low-achieving students are the population that would benefit the most from an increase in voluntary reading. To counter the recent drops in reading proficiency, educators need to stop telling students, high and low-achieving, what to read so that students can develop develop ownership over their reading choices. Choice Motivates Students to Read One of the best ways to move beyond assigning all reading is for teachers to provide time in the academic day for voluntary reading of texts for extended periods of time. There may be objections to the use of already dedicated academic time, but the research indicates that time spent reading in school improves academic performance. This is true even for the light or fun reading of young adult literature.  Gordon explains that the  practice of free voluntary reading is not only conducive to reading motivation, [but] it actually works better than direct instruction. She cites Stephen Krashens work (2004) with 54 students, with 51 of those students who scored higher on reading tests than similar students given traditional skill-based reading instruction. Another compelling  argument for providing time in the school day to reading practice is the comparison  to the practice necessary one needs to do in order to become proficient at a sport; the increased number of practice hours increases performance. Even 10 minutes a day of reading can have dramatic effects by simply exposing students to multiple texts text. Researcher  M.J. Adams (2006) developed a data breakdown that illustrates how ten minutes of daily book reading in middle school will increase a student’s exposure to print by about 700,000 words each year. This exposure surpasses the amount of reading currently done by the same grade level students who are performing at the 70th percentile.   To facilitate student voluntary reading, students need access to reading materials that allow for their choice of reading materials. Independent reading libraries in classrooms can help students generate a sense of agency. Students can discover and share authors, explore topics in the  genres that appeal to them, and improve their reading habits. Create Independent Classroom Libraries The publisher Scholastic produced a report, Kids Family Reading Report (5th edition, 2014) As a publisher of children and young adult literature, Scholastic has a vested interest in increasing the number of readers across the country. In their research based on student polling, they found that in populations aged 12-17,  78% of frequent readers who read books for fun 5-7 times per week are provided time and choice in contrast to the 24% of the infrequent readers who are not provided time or choice. Scholastic also noted that choice for adolescents requires easy access to a wide range of interesting texts. One of their recommendations was that school districts must begin to put money into texts and   allocate funds for high-interest books. They recommend that independent reading libraries should be developed with student input as the critical resource for increasing reading proficiency. Another proponent for independent reading is   Penny Kittle,  an  English teacher and literacy coach at Kennett High School in North Conway, New Hampshire. She has written  Book Love.  a popular guide to helping secondary students read independently. In this guide,  Kittle offers strategies to help teachers, particularly English Language Arts teachers, to increase the volume of what students read and to deepen student thinking about what they read. She offers advice on how to build up those classroom libraries including  grant writing   or applications to  Donor’s Choose  or  The Book Love Foundation. Asking for multiple copies of texts from book clubs and going to warehouse, garage, and library sales are also great ways to grow the classroom libraries. Developing a good relationship with the school library is also important, and students should be encourages to recommend texts for purchase. Finally, teachers can look for the numerous options available wi th e-texts. Choice: ADesired Option The research concludes that there are millions of students who do not have the rudimentary reading skills that are needed to locate relevant information or make simple inferences. Without the necessary literacy skills for college or career, students may be retained in school or drop out of high school.   The consequences for underdeveloped literacy to the student and to the economic welfare of the country can mean the collective loss of billions of dollars in wages and earnings over a lifetime. Secondary educators need to guide students to associate reading with enjoyment and a worthwhile activity by offering choice. This association can result in making reading a desired option; to make students want to read. The benefits of allowing and encouraging students to make choices about reading will last beyond   school careers and throughout their lives.

Definition and Examples of Text Messaging

Definition and Examples of Text Messaging Texting is the process of sending and receiving brief written messages using a cellular (mobile) phone. Also called text messaging, mobile messaging, short mail, point-to-point short-message service, and Short Message Service (SMS). â€Å"Texting isn’t written language,†says linguist John McWhorter. It much more closely resembles the kind of language we’ve had for so many more years: spoken language (quoted by Michael C. Copeland in Wired, March 1, 2013).According to Heather Kelly of CNN, Six billion text messages are sent every day in the United States, ... and over 2.2 trillion are sent a year. Globally, 8.6 trillion text messages are sent each year, according to Portio Research. Example: When Birdy texted again, I was only a mile from Glades City, and the junkyard owned by Harris Spooner, so I was feeling tense and alone on this dark country road, until I read her message:On way home, no luck. Will call when reception better. Sorry!!! ☠ºI felt like saying Yippee! a word Ive never used, and my spirits, which had been low, rebounded. ... So I left a message, then replied to her text: Am near Glade City exit, how about glass of wine? Where U? As I hit Send, I noticed car lights behind me and was relieved when I saw that it was an eighteen-wheeler.(Randy Wayne White, Deceived. Penguin, 2013) Myths About Texting All the popular beliefs about texting are wrong, or at least debatable. Its graphic distinctiveness is not a totally new phenomenon. Nor is its use restricted to the young generation. There is increasing evidence that it helps rather than hinders literacy. And only a very tiny part of the language uses its distinctive orthography.   (David Crystal, Txtng: the Gr8 Db8. Oxford University Press, 2008) Texting and Instant Messaging [A]bbreviations, acronyms, and emoticons are less prevalent in American college student IM [Instant Messaging] conversations than suggested by the popular press. To move beyond media hyperbole regarding text messaging, we need corpus-based analyses of texting.Judging from our sample, American college-student text messaging and IM differed in several interesting ways. Text messages were consistently longer and contained more sentences, probably resulting from both cost factors and the tendency for IM conversations to be chunked into sequences of short messages. Text messages contained many more abbreviations than IMs, but even the number in texting was small.   (Naomi Baron, Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World. Oxford University Press, 2008) A Good Text A good text, a well-timed text, a text that expresses some bullet of revelation, some reminder of love, some thoughtful association or ball-busting paraphrase of what we agree on reconnects us when that is all we ever wantedconnectionin the midst of the chattering, indifferent cloud of humanity.(Tom Chiarella, Rule No. 991: It Is Entirely Possible to Write a Good Text Message. Esquire, May 2015)   Teenagers and Texting In the United States, 75% of teenagers text, sending an average of 60 texts a day. According to Pew Internet research, texting is teens most common form of communication, beating out phone conversations, social networks, and old-fashioned face-to-face conversations.   (Heather Kelly, OMG, the Text Message Turns 20. But Has SMS Peaked? CNN, December 3, 2012) For teenagers now, . . . texting has been largely superseded by instant messagingas Stephanie Lipman, a 17-year-old Londoner, explains. I did text for a while, but instant messaging is so much better like a constant stream-of-consciousness. You dont have to bother with Hello. How are you? or any of that. You just have this series of conversations with your friends which you can add on to when youre in the mood.   (James Delingpole, Texting Is So Last Year. Daily Telegraph, Jan. 17, 2010) [F]or young people, blogs are work, not play. A 2008 Pew research project found that while 85% of 12 to 17-year-olds engaged in electronic personal communication (including texting, email, instant messaging and commenting on social media), 60% didn’t consider these texts to be writing. Another study in 2013 revealed that teenagers still distinguish between the proper writing they do for school (which may be on blogs) and their informal, social communication.(Mel Campbell, Should We Mourn the End of Blogs? The Guardian, July 17, 2014) Textspeak in the 19th Century This S A, until U I CI pray U 2 X QsAnd do not burn in F E GMy young and wayward muse.Now fare U well, dear K T J,I trust that U R trueWhen this U C, then you can say,A S A I O U.(Final verses of Essay to Miss Catharine Jay in Gleanings From the Harvest-Fields of Literature, Science and Art: A Melange of Excerpta, Curious, Humorous, and Instructive, 2nd ed., collated by Charles Carroll Bombaugh. Baltimore: T. Newton Kurtz, 1860) Predictive Texting Predictive texting is a  program in many cellular (mobile) phones that predicts a complete  word  after a user has typed in just one or two  letters. [Predictive texting] significantly reduces the number of key-presses, but there are costs alongside benefits. An early study (2002) reported that only just over half the participants who had  predictive messaging  actually used it. The others did not use it for a variety of reasons. Some said it slowed them down. Some missed the option to use  abbreviations  (though one can code them in). Some said their system did not offer the right words and found the task of adding new words slow and annoying. (David Crystal,  Txtng: the Gr8 Db8. Oxford University Press, 2008)[W]hile Predictive texting  might be good for the nations  spelling, it is not always easily understood. Try typing he if is cycle, hell in to get his awake and come go to red of and see what happens when the right combination of buttons throws up the wrong words. . . . Researchers might find an intriguing answer for why a kiss often turns out to be on the lips. Are chefs aged? Is it boring to be coping? Is art apt? Is it always good to be home in the hood? Or has everyone gone? And if you try and do something asap why does it often turn out crap?  (I. Hollinghead, Whatever Happened to txt lngwj:)?  The Guardian, Jan. 7, 2006) -  Concern about the widespread infiltration of text messaging conventions into  written English  may ... be misplaced, as predictive texting becomes more common and sophisticated. ... While it seems certain that our accepted notions of standards in  language  will be influenced by electronic forms of  communication, it is very hard to predict in any detail and with any certainty what this impact might be. (A. Hewings and M. Hewings,  Grammar and Context. Routledge, 2005) Alternate Spellings: txting