The Missouri Reader Vol. 36, Issue 1 | Page 29

ENGAGING STRUGGLING READERS USING INQUIRY
PROJECTS
Sandra F. Matson
ay the words ―write‖ or ―research‖ to a
class of my high school struggling readers and
expect loud groans, sighs, and moans resembling
noises one might expect to hear accompanying
some type of physical torture. I knew the most
successful reading assignments in enlisting
student engagement included high interest,
culturally relevant text (Krashen, 2009). So,
how do I incorporate those features into a writing
project? I was excited to find if Inquiry projects
could.
Macrorie (1988) explained the difference
between what he and other researchers call ISearches-not Researches, ―…in which the job is
to search again what someone has already
searched-but original searches in which persons
scratch an itch they feel, one so marvelously itchy
that they begin rubbing a finger tip against it and
the rubbing feels so good that they dig in with a
finger nail. A search is to fulfill a need, not that
the teacher has imagined for them, but one they
feel themselves.‖ This is the type of excitement
and motivation I needed to instill in my students.
However, students who struggle with reading
usually struggle with writing. The feelings they
have about reading and writing usually are about
the same. I was anxious to discover if offering
self-selected topics of high interest could bridge
their insecurities masked by disdain.
Originally the projects were presented to the
students as any topic they wanted to research.
Interestingly, a few of my classes were able to
select topics with this amount of freedom,
butothers seemed lost and were unable to

proceed until I provided more parameters.
Students rarely experience such freedom and
opportunities to construct their learning. This
concept needed to be introduced and discussed in
order for the students to understand how to
respond to these choices. Freire (1993)
introduced
the idea of
Sandra Matson earned her
banking in
masters in Reading
education
Education from Texas
as students
State University in San
who
Marcos Texas. For six
passively
years she has been
receive
working with students
education
who struggle with reading
and
and face academic
knowledge
challenges.
from
educators
without active participation. In this system, the
more compliant and well-behaved the student,
the less successful they will become as
©The Missouri Reader, 36 (1) p. 29