Reveles, Jana

ET-Changing Reading Practices

Morgan, D.H. & Wagner, C.W. (2013). “What’s the catch?”: providing reading choice in a high school classroom. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 56(8), 659-667. DOI: 10.1002/JAAL.193

 

Summary:

The article, What’s the Catch, was written by Denise Morgan, a university researcher, and Chris Wagner, a high school language arts teacher. In this article, the authors discuss a research project that investigated if giving students a chance to self-select their reading material would improve their reading engagement. The investigation was only implemented for three weeks. However, the teacher saw an improvement in the attitudes of the students toward reading long after the investigation was over.

The first part of the article examined other research that has been conducted on students having a choice in their reading materials. The research shows that student choice improves student engagement and can also raise state test scores.

The article goes on to describe how the teacher implemented the change in his classroom instruction. One of the changes was to have conferences each week with his students. Wagner noted that one of the side benefits to having these conferences was getting to know his students better. Wagner noted that having students read books at their level was a great way to differentiate his reading instruction. The article also gives samples of students’ comments from their reading journals.

 

Evaluation:

            This article supports the theory that students will be motivated to read if they are given a choice in their reading materials. The various references throughout the article help to validate this theory. Although the investigation was short, it brought up several positive reasons why students should be allowed to self-select. The article gives teachers and teacher librarians some basic ideas and instructions on how to begin this type of reading program in their schools. It is easy to read and offers other resources to explore. One of those resources is a video by Penny Kittle on the importance of student choices in their reading material.

http://www.pennykittle.net/index.php?page=reading-2011