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Motivational activities are integral to training of undergraduate teacher candidates at Harris-Stowe State University. Betty teaches content area reading classes to elementary teacher candidates, so these activities are pivotal in her instruction. Bill teaches content area reading classes to middle and secondary teacher candidates. Teacher candidates in our classes participate in unit design projects in which they develop an introductory activity, resources, a rationale, and objectives and assessments, while meeting state and content area standards. Thus, our closing recommendation is to engage in careful unit and lesson planning. This planning can integrate knowledge and skills offered by parents while encouraging children to exercise choice and engage in purposeful, investigative dialogue about the content of the text they read and strategies they use to overcome challenges they might encounter. Through careful planning teachers, and teacher candidates, can purposely foster among children the motivation that results in a lifelong habit of being a reader.
From both community reading programs, the lesson learned is that motivation to read is enhanced when children experience modeled reading aloud and have an opportunity to self-select a book for personal ownership.
Reference
Wencel, K.R., & Wigseld, A. D. (Eds). 2009. The Handbook of Motivation at School. New York: N.Y: Rutledge.
Dr. Kerns and Dr. Walls are both assistant professors of reading at Harris Stowe State Univeristiy. Dr. Walls was recently selected as Educator of the Year at Harris Stowe State University..
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Read and Feed Book grants provide books for distribution to children in schools/ school districts which qualify for Title I Feed assistance, as documented and approved by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Read and Feed Book Grant applicants must be members of the International Literacy Association, the Missouri State Council of the IRA/ILA, and a local council in Missouri.
If you would like to apply for a Read and Feed Book Grant, please contact the Grant Chairperson, Jodi Rozbicki at
or use the link below:
Missouri
Read and Feed
Link to
Read and Feed Application