I was reading Amanda Cyke's blog post about demotivation (I highly recommend it!) and it inspired me to finally write my own experiences when it comes to motivation. Thanks, Amanda!
Within the first 2 months of school "my kids" know the important people in my life. They know who my "Bestie" is at school. They learn all about my husband, Kevin, and my mom and dad. Yes, these people are important to me, but most important is my little sister. My little sister has been my guinea pig since the day I realized I wanted to be a teacher (we're 11 years apart).
But there was a time when I was a constipated, selfish, angst-y teenager. Oooh, I can just see my annoying 17 year old self which is why I probably don't teach high school. Now, to give a little more background I've always been an anime-watching, science-fiction-fantasy-reading, Star-Trekkie nerd. And what is a nerd's favorite past time? Inducting other people into their nerdom! Of course my sister was going to be a nerd: we're all nerds in my family!
Which meant I had to share my love of anime with my baby sister. Here's the thing: I only watched subtitled anime. Which means I had to read the whole show to her. Now, if you know anything about a 6 year old....you'll know that they watch the same show over, and over, and over, and over...you get the point.
So one day, she asked me to read the subtitles to All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuka Nuka for the 100th time. Being a teenager, I told her to read it to herself. She looked at me aghast, and said, "But I'm only 6! I can't read that good!"
"Well, pause it and sound the words out!" and I stomped off. (What a horrid sister, right? :-/)
But she did. By 2nd grade, my little sister could read and comprehend at a level far beyond her age's norm. Why? She wanted to watch her shows!! She was motivated by an intrinsic desire to learn. Where there's a will, there's a way.
You see, sometimes it isn't that a child isn't capable of learning, but rather he or she hasn't found the right motivator. Which brings me to Dee. I love this kid. He was an awesome student, but came into the 5th grade at a 3rd grade reading level. He wanted to read, but had lost all hope of ever reaching his goal. He hated reading.
I sat down with him one day and asked him what he liked. He liked video games and ninjas. I could work with that. I called his mom and told her that I had a plan, but only if she was OK with it. She said that at this point she didn't care WHAT I did if it could get him to read! With her consent, I went to an anime store and bought graphic novels. The main two were Hikaru No Go and Naruto (I asked for her permission because Naruto is rated 13+) .
Now, Hikaru no Go is about a kid who plays the game of Go and Naruto is about a ninja. I chose these two for a reason. Naruto is basically the town clown/idiot and an orphan. He can never do anything right, yet he aspires to be the town's leader. Eventually, through hard work and determination he becomes a great ninja and saves many people. I think Dee felt like Naruto. He wanted to be able to read, but felt like the system thought he was stupid. Hikaru is a young boy who thinks the game of Go is stupid, but with the help of a spirit becomes really good at it. See where I'm going with this?
He read these books like he was breathing air. He loved them. One day I asked a friend of mine to let me borrow his Bones graphic novel compilation. This thing is thicker than any Harry Potter book! He carried it around like it was the Bible and was so proud of having a "big" book.
You see, the thing that most people don't realize is that a comic book, although it has pictures, can still be a deep reading experience. Yet he had pictures to fall back on when he was confused.
By the end of 5th grade, Dee was on a 5th grade reading level. He was comfortable with reading chapter books and his mom told me, laughingly, that she actually had to yell at him to stop reading and go to bed one night! The kid who seemingly HATED reading.
So, what's the take away? What have I learned from all of this?
Every kid can learn. What makes our job difficult is figuring out HOW to get them to learn. I know they can, but we have to figure out what will motivate them.
My advice? Get to know your kids. Find out what they love. Help them to realize that they can do anything they want. Believe in them and anything is possible.
As always,
Overly Enthusiastic Jen
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