Content+Area+Literacy

== **Encouraging Content Area Literacy**

**FACTORS THAT AFFECT MOTIVATION** ** Certainty – ** When a teacher skillfully arranges for students expectancies to be slightly thwarted, the result can be heightened arousal, attentiveness, and curiosity. Changes in the classroom routine, variations in methods of instruction, and the occasional use of novel approaches and topics are wants of ensuring that student expectancies are not always confirmed. (McKenna & Robinson, pg. 206, 2009)

**Time –** It is more effective to remind students of an upcoming test than to warn them they may not get into college without an understanding of a given unit, lesson, or concept. One of the most effective approaches to motivation is to add positive expectancies when the thinking of students is dominated by undesirable predictions. (McKenna & Robinson, pg. 207, 2009)

 **Desirability –** A teacher’s goal is to o btain high levels of //EXPECTANCY OF SUCCESS AND VALENCE//. When this situation occurs, students will be likely to engage in the behavior. (McKenna & Robinson, pg. 207, 2009)

 **Incentives –** An incentive is any inducement or reward used to encourage a particular behavior. It can be //symbolic//, //material// or //psychological//. (McKenna & Robinson, pg. 207, 2008)

 Here are a few simple guidelines that can make the use of incentives more effective 1. Use a variety of incentives  2. Individualize incentives  3. Don’t use incentives when they’re not needed  4. Provide the incentive as soon as possible after the desired behavior  (McKenna & Robinson, pg. 208, 2009)

**CONSTRUCTING A CONTENT INTEREST INVENTORY**  //**"The total of a students' part experience contributes to an overall attitude toward the subject are in general"**//   //**(Bean & Readence, 1994, cited in McKenna & Robinson, pg. 209, 2009).**//

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">** The Following guidelines can help in constructing a content interest inventory **

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">** - Make a list of interesting subtopics – ** For a history teacher, this could be a list of books and/or movies that might be appealing to the age group in which you are teaching.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">** - Identify materials for each area – ** As a teacher being interested and knowledgeable about the subject topic content will help decided what material students will find interesting to complete.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">** - Add a few blanks at the end of the inventory – ** Allowing students the opportunity for suggestion on inventory can give a teacher an idea of topics that may have not been covered when constructing the inventory.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">** - Word-process the inventory – ** This allows for write-in as well as the ability to remove unpopular topics.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">** - Decided how students will respond – ** The simplest format according to the book is a checklist. Students check the topics they prefer and make no marks next to those they aren’t interested in. (McKenna & Robinson, pg. 210, 2009) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">**CREATE A PRINT-RICH ENVIRONMENT** **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here are a few suggestions to create a print-rich environment in your classroom **  Bring related books to your subjects into the classroom   Consider creating a "branch" library in your classroom. Even the walls of your classroom can encourage literacy as you can line them with dust jackets, posters, mounted articles, and selected student work

**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">GIVE STUDENTS A CHANCE TO READ **  SIMPLY PUT..... **READ** Regardless of if the time is spent reading silently, aloud or a teacher reading to the students, you cannot expect a student to want to read unless you give them the opportunity to read