A Case Study to Find Out

What
Motivates Third Grade
Students to Want to Read
Kathleen Cruea

The School of Education and Allied Professions

UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON
Dayton, Ohio
April 2006

Background
A Look at Motivating
Factors for Readers
When a child is not
motivated to open a book,
the child fails to see the
beauty and imagination
that comes to life when
reading a great book.
When children read, they
activate their capacity for
imagination, for creative
and critical thinking, and
for empathy (Gambrell
1999, p. 10).

Action Research
Question
How does one motivate
third grade readers?
Knowing how to best
facilitate to each
student is needed to
aid in motivating
students to enjoy and
love reading.

What others have to

say about MOTIVATION!

What Teachers Can Learn About

Reading Motivation Through
Conversations With Children by
Edmunds and Bauserman (2006)
state that,

Research over the past twenty

years demonstrated that
students motivation is a primary
concern of many teachers, and
numerous classroom teachers
acknowledge that lack of
motivation is at the root of many
problems they face in teaching.
(p.414)

Who are the key

motivators?

Any person that a child

sees who is excited about
reading is a key motivator.
TEACHERS,
PARENTS,
FRIENDS,
OTHER ROLE MODELS
Gambrell states, Your
enthusiasm will be
contagious (2004).

Participants and Setting

The research took place at Our Lady of the
Rosary Elementary School, which is an urban,

Data Collection
Parent Surveys
Observational
Protocol through
daily journal entries
by the teacher.
Elementary Reading
Attitudes Surveys
Dear Time (Drop
Everything and Read)

Parent Survey

1. Do you read to your child at home?

Yes
No
2. If yes, how many days per week do you read to your child?
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
3. Please list the three most recent books that you have read to
your child.
1.___________________________________________________________
2.___________________________________________________________
3.___________________________________________________________
4. Does your child read to himself/herself at home?
Yes
No
5. Please list the three most recent books that your child has
read at home.
1.___________________________________________________________
2.___________________________________________________________
3.___________________________________________________________
6. How many trips to the library do you take in a month?
1-2
3-4
5-6
6 or more
7. Overall, would you say that your child
a. gets excited about reading
b. feels okay about reading
c. somewhat dislikes reading
d. does not like to read
8. What do you think might help your child enjoy reading more?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

Parent Surveys
(Each teacher will receive a copy)

~ The parent surveys helped

me to see more vividly whether
the child reads or not at home.
~It would be a great tool to use
at the beginning of the year to
better get to know your
individual student and parent
reading habits.

Get Parents Involved!

Getting parents involved in the reading

process will be another motivating factor
that I will implement next year.
Through the surveys and through what
parents have shared with me, I found that
four parents that I talked to during
conferences on Thursday, March 16, 2006,
do not place a high emphasis on reading at
home, simply due to time restraints. Parent
A even stated during a conference, I have
three children at home, two who are under
the age of three. I do not have time, with
work and keeping the house clean, to sit
down and read to child B.
With this in mind I will implement a night of
reading each quarter where families can
come and read together. These nights will
include books and brownies, poetry reading,
favorite Christmas books and hot cocoa, and
summer fun reading where we will read
outside. Hopefully these events will allow
for some time for children to see their most
influential role models enjoying reading.

Observational Protocol
When observing on Wednesday,
January 25, 2006 at 9:30 -10:00 during
library time I took note of what children
did when picking a book. All 17 of the
children that I observed, picked the
book of choice by looking at the cover.
Only 4 children looked inside of the
book to see if the book had pictures.
The Happiest Garfield was picked by all
children to show what they feel like
when they have finished a book.
The children seemed to laugh more
and show more enthusiasm about
reading when choosing ones own
book.

Elementary Reading Attitude

Surveys
Completed by the students
The results from the
reading attitude surveys
are as follows.

Children were asked a

series of questions. They
pointed to the picture of
the Garfield that best
represented how they felt.

Results from the Student Responses on the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey
Very upset Garfield

Mildly Upset Garfield

Slightly smiling Garfield

Happiest Garfield

Question
read a book on a
rainy day

read a book in
school during free
time

11

reading for fun at

home

getting a book for a

present

12

spending free time

reading

starting a new book

11

reading during
summer vacation

reading instead of
playing

going to a bookstore

11

reading different
kinds of books

13

teacher asks you

questions about
what you read

reading workbook
pages and
worksheets

10

Very upset Garfield

Question

Mildly Upset Garfield

Slightly smiling Garfield Happiest Garfield

reading in school

13

reading your school

books

11

learning from a book

16

time for reading class

12

stories you read in

reading class

11

read out loud in class

using the dictionary

10

taking a reading test

doing book-it
projects

12

performing plays for

reading class

12

reading groups at
school

12

picking your own

books to read

15

when you have

finished a book

17

DEAR Time
DEAR stands for Drop everything and
read. On occasion I will choose a book for
the children to read. Other days I will allow
the children to read any book of choice. The
following graph depicts two days of DEAR
time.

In the following graph children were asked

three questions. These questions were:
What was the plot of the story?
Identify three characters that were
important to the story?
Did you like the story?
In the graph, day one shows the books that
I chose for the children. Day two depicts the
book that they chose themselves. The chart
shows those children who answered the
separate questions correctly on the graph.

DEAR TIME
This is a graph of what
the children had to say
about the separate
days.

Note. On day one the children read a book that I picked out.
On day two the children read a book that they picked out.

DEAR TIME

It is important to note
that the children are much
more inclined to read when
a book is not forced on
them, and they have the
option to read what they
would prefer. Questioning
children on comprehension
will be more enthusiastic
and thought out when a
child is intrigued by the
books that they are reading.

The interesting factors

that I found were:

Children are more

inclined to read chapter
books that pertain and
connect to what they like.
Being able to provide
these books should be
our utmost priority.
It is important that as the
school year winds down
that I make important
decisions for next year
based on the children
that we will serve.

What Can We Do Right

~Make each child create a wish
list to remember the books
Now?
that they want to check out at
the library over the summer.
Show the parents the list to
hang on the refrigerator.
~Allow children to choose trade
books that connect to them.
~When your classroom is full
of great books and intriguing
reading activities, your
students will get excited
about reading (Gambrell,
2004, p. 11).

What Can We Do Right

Now?
~Tell
the teacher that will
have your children next year
what kinds of books the
children are interested in.
~Give the wish list that will be
sent home to the teacher
next year. On the first day of
school have a book on each
childs desk that you think
they may like for silent
reading.
~Right away the children will
see how much you care and
are fascinated in their
individual lives!

MOST IMPORTANT
FACTOR!
It is important to
meet the needs
of each individual
by connecting
reading to what
they know, thus
making reading a
positive
experience.

References

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