How do you effectively teach reading and writing skills and make it fun?
As I read the assigned reading I could not help but ask myself the question above. How is it possible to teach my future students how to read and write and make it interesting at the same time? The task seems a little overwhelming but the authors of Classrooms That Work: They Can All Read and Write, Cunningham and Allington, give many examples of effective teaching methods.
As an elementary school student, I was turned off to reading in the fourth grade because of reading program that awarded prizes for achieving reading goals. I completely agree with Cunningham and Allington that reading programs often have the best intentions in mind for their students but the focus is placed on prizes and goals rather than reading. Reading should be a reward within itself and there has to be a way to motivate children to want to read other than winning shirts and pizza parties.
That leads me to my question. How do teachers make teaching reading and writing effective and fun? Cunningham and Allington researched classrooms to discover what worked in classrooms and what made classrooms successful. Out of everything that was mentioned, I was most surprised at integrating reading and writing into science and social studies. My elementary school hardly dedicated time to science and social studies because they wanted to improve the efficiency in reading and writing. I never thought that integrating reading and writing into every subject is actually key to improving skills across the board. I like the alternate view better than cutting out science and social studies completely. I believe that often reading and writing are forced into their own subject when in reality they are a significant part of every subject. I will strive as a teacher to use this method and integrate reading and writing into every aspect of my daily routine.
Food for Thought
As I reflect on the readings I am still curious for other opinions. What are some other methods to increase reading and writing opportunities in the classroom? What are some fun ways to motivate children to read without extrinsic motivations such as t-shirts and pizza parties?
I think that in order to get children to read and write with their own intrinsic interest in mind is to make books that interest them available. A child who likes history would be much more enthused about a historical fiction about the Titanic rather than reading the Harry Potter series in order to get a pizza party. I think it is important to set up good reading habits in the elementary school years and I agree that integrating reading techniques into other subjects such as science and social studies can be very beneficial to the student's overall grasp of the reading concept.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Elizabeth. In order to steer kids away from being motivated by extrinsic rewards, we need to find ways to motivate them intrinsically. This means we have to get kids excited, and the only way they're going to be excited is if they are reading something that really interests them. Thats why the topics covered in the first couple chapters were so important with regards to finding the right genre for students. By reading different genres to students we can help them find their niche and in time they will look forward to reading their favorite book every day. Then it won't seem as daunting when they have to read books about history or science!
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