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No More Reading for Junk: Best Practices for Motivating Readers
Pizza. Pez dispensers. Nerf balls. When we give students "junk" to reward reading, we are focusing their intention away from the act of reading and from their own independence as readers. Instead, we can create classrooms where reading is seen as its own reward. In this book, esteemed researcher Linda Gambrell provides a research-based context for cultivating children's intrinsic motivation to read and identifies three essential principles, the "ARC" of What exactly do those principles look like in action? Reading specialist and researcher Barbara Marinak shares the strategies and techniques that make a difference for student readers' motivation, turning disengaged readers into passionate ones. "Pizza and Pez dispensers are short lived," Linda and Barbara write, "but confident and empowered readers are likely to remain motivated for life."
96 pages, Paperback
Published May 18, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
May 31, 2016
While the teaching ideas aren't innovative, this book is full of research nuggets about the negative effects of reading incentives and rewards, and what motivates readers.
June 30, 2016
Finally, I add another book to my professional development shelf!
Reading this book validated the changes I have made to our Summer Reading Club over the past few years. We're not entirely there yet, but it's hard to figure out motivation when we're not working with a captive audience like teachers are. Not all ideas in this book are applicable to the public library setting, but I was definitely taking notes and trying to figure out what would fit for us.
I'm going to ask a few of my other staff members to read this book and I think it will make for some interesting discussion. I agree with other reviewers that it's not exactly new material, but it is nice to have lots of research in one place and it's written in a very easy to digest way.
Reading this book validated the changes I have made to our Summer Reading Club over the past few years. We're not entirely there yet, but it's hard to figure out motivation when we're not working with a captive audience like teachers are. Not all ideas in this book are applicable to the public library setting, but I was definitely taking notes and trying to figure out what would fit for us.
I'm going to ask a few of my other staff members to read this book and I think it will make for some interesting discussion. I agree with other reviewers that it's not exactly new material, but it is nice to have lots of research in one place and it's written in a very easy to digest way.
January 18, 2018
So much of what is in here is also rolling aimlessly around in my head and it was so validating to find it in book format and written so well. This is intended to be for teachers in a classroom, but much can be applied to public libraries as well. As I strengthen my partnerships with area schools and teachers, this was immensely helpful in understanding what they do and why they do it. I'm filled with ideas on how to make summer reading and school visits even stronger and will proudly declare "no more junk!"
June 23, 2021
This is a wonderful book. It is a straight forward researched based approach to intrinsically motivating students to read. It is similar in approach to The Book Whisperer, but more succinct. Fantastic read for every classroom teacher!
September 13, 2019
A good perspective resource for educators, parents and libraries....Very quick read and good tips to think about in terms of motivating young readers...
July 23, 2017
Have you ever really thought about why you do the things you do in the classroom in terms of reading instruction? How many of us have created reading incentive programs, or jumped on the Book It train? In Marinak and Gambrell's book, they (gently) eviscerate the token economy approach to literacy.
In Part 1 (Not This), Marinak takes us through her evolution as a reading teacher, focusing on the many mistakes she, and others, have made. She talks about dressing up and quacking like a duck, and principals shaving their heads, as well as commonly used bribes like candy, toys, and food. I really appreciate Marinak's transparency in part 1, because although she is correcting mistakes that I have made many times in my teaching career, she does it with humor and by pointing out her own mistakes.
In Part 2 (Why Not? What Works?) Gambrell takes over to discuss the research. She starts by explaining motivation theories (behaviorism, self-determination, goal theory, social-cognitive theory). She describes how behaviorism has historically driven much of what happens in education, but then points to study after study that prove behaviorism doesn't work when it comes to increasing motivation to read. She also parks on the idea of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation in this section. She calls her theory of motivation ARC: access, relevance, and choice. She believes that to truly motivate students to want to read, they have to have lots of access to reading materials and opportunities to discuss those materials, relevant experiences that are interesting, authentic, and moderately challenging, and choice of materials, tasks, and activities.
Part 3 (But That) provides plenty of specific strategies for implementing ARC in the classroom. This is where most of my bookmarks and highlighting occur. One of my favorite strategies that I will be implementing almost right away is the "book blessing" (p. 35), which is a modified book talk. She provides a variety of books to students that she quickly introduces and then uses the "blessed books" in a number of ways...free choice reading, read alouds voted on by students, etc. Her second strategy that will also be implemented in my library is the personal invitation. She shares an experience that was so touching to me about a girl and a paper bag. I won't spoil it for you, but it made me want to bless a kid in the same way. The visual interview is another cool strategy I plan on using in my library, in which kids answer interview questions using only photos (online) or drawings (What was your favorite book in kindergarten? Who is your favorite author now?)
My Takeaways from this Book:
* Daily classroom reading time is a MUST, and will be implemented in my library next year. Research shows that good readers benefit from longer amounts of time, struggling readers need less.
* Students need time to talk about text to each other. I am going to end my SSR time each library period with time for students to debrief each other.
* Teach the concept of AVID READER, which means an eager or enthusiastic reader, one who reads as much as they can whenever they can (p. 37). I will take photos of avid reading and post them in the library.
* Book blessing, as described above, lets me introduce lots of books all at once without the stress or strain of full booktalking. It also provides some scaffolding to my lessons.
* Personal invitation to read. I will be using this idea of hand-picking books for certain students (those special cases who need a little extra attention) and wrapping the books up in newspaper, wrapping paper, comics, etc. with a personal note.
* Visual interview. Will be using pictorial representations of questions so that students have a different way to tap into their creativity.
* Selecting books for the library. I will be forming a TAG for my school library that will include the job of suggesting books to be ordered for the library. I do this already in small doses; I always order student recommendations. But now I will actively seek out their assistance in making collection decisions.
* Celebrating Your Reading Life. I want to involve parents in new and meaningful ways. During Back to School Night and Orientation I plan on introducing my theme for the year #choosekind, and talking about the importance of reading at home. I will ask parents to use our hashtag to post pictures of themselves reading with their kids, and to consider sending in books and materials that are meaningful to their families to be shared with other students.
* BOOK TWEETS!!! This is so happening next year. I will post a Twitter board on the window outside the library with blank tweet papers and the rules of tweeting (see p. 55). I will share exemplars out on our actual Twitter feed. I will ask staff and faculty to participate, as well!
* CHOICE. More of it, as often as possible. Students will be choosing what they read, how they read, where they read, and how they share what they read.
* Who knew ____? Such a cool idea to post a fun fact from my own personal reading each day, such as a newspaper headline or a science fact. I will probably tie this in to the monthly themes I will be using.
* Listography! This is encouraging kids to track their books in lists. We are using Bookopolis this year in 5th grade, so I want to see if kids can tag their books using pre-determined tags (loved it, loved the cover, loved the ictures, i learned so much, not my favorite, want to read it, etc).
That's a lot of takeaways from one little book. I actually borrowed this one from interlibrary loan, but will probably just order my own copy. It is a terrific read, easy to follow, fun, and useful.
5/5 stars!
In Part 1 (Not This), Marinak takes us through her evolution as a reading teacher, focusing on the many mistakes she, and others, have made. She talks about dressing up and quacking like a duck, and principals shaving their heads, as well as commonly used bribes like candy, toys, and food. I really appreciate Marinak's transparency in part 1, because although she is correcting mistakes that I have made many times in my teaching career, she does it with humor and by pointing out her own mistakes.
In Part 2 (Why Not? What Works?) Gambrell takes over to discuss the research. She starts by explaining motivation theories (behaviorism, self-determination, goal theory, social-cognitive theory). She describes how behaviorism has historically driven much of what happens in education, but then points to study after study that prove behaviorism doesn't work when it comes to increasing motivation to read. She also parks on the idea of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation in this section. She calls her theory of motivation ARC: access, relevance, and choice. She believes that to truly motivate students to want to read, they have to have lots of access to reading materials and opportunities to discuss those materials, relevant experiences that are interesting, authentic, and moderately challenging, and choice of materials, tasks, and activities.
Part 3 (But That) provides plenty of specific strategies for implementing ARC in the classroom. This is where most of my bookmarks and highlighting occur. One of my favorite strategies that I will be implementing almost right away is the "book blessing" (p. 35), which is a modified book talk. She provides a variety of books to students that she quickly introduces and then uses the "blessed books" in a number of ways...free choice reading, read alouds voted on by students, etc. Her second strategy that will also be implemented in my library is the personal invitation. She shares an experience that was so touching to me about a girl and a paper bag. I won't spoil it for you, but it made me want to bless a kid in the same way. The visual interview is another cool strategy I plan on using in my library, in which kids answer interview questions using only photos (online) or drawings (What was your favorite book in kindergarten? Who is your favorite author now?)
My Takeaways from this Book:
* Daily classroom reading time is a MUST, and will be implemented in my library next year. Research shows that good readers benefit from longer amounts of time, struggling readers need less.
* Students need time to talk about text to each other. I am going to end my SSR time each library period with time for students to debrief each other.
* Teach the concept of AVID READER, which means an eager or enthusiastic reader, one who reads as much as they can whenever they can (p. 37). I will take photos of avid reading and post them in the library.
* Book blessing, as described above, lets me introduce lots of books all at once without the stress or strain of full booktalking. It also provides some scaffolding to my lessons.
* Personal invitation to read. I will be using this idea of hand-picking books for certain students (those special cases who need a little extra attention) and wrapping the books up in newspaper, wrapping paper, comics, etc. with a personal note.
* Visual interview. Will be using pictorial representations of questions so that students have a different way to tap into their creativity.
* Selecting books for the library. I will be forming a TAG for my school library that will include the job of suggesting books to be ordered for the library. I do this already in small doses; I always order student recommendations. But now I will actively seek out their assistance in making collection decisions.
* Celebrating Your Reading Life. I want to involve parents in new and meaningful ways. During Back to School Night and Orientation I plan on introducing my theme for the year #choosekind, and talking about the importance of reading at home. I will ask parents to use our hashtag to post pictures of themselves reading with their kids, and to consider sending in books and materials that are meaningful to their families to be shared with other students.
* BOOK TWEETS!!! This is so happening next year. I will post a Twitter board on the window outside the library with blank tweet papers and the rules of tweeting (see p. 55). I will share exemplars out on our actual Twitter feed. I will ask staff and faculty to participate, as well!
* CHOICE. More of it, as often as possible. Students will be choosing what they read, how they read, where they read, and how they share what they read.
* Who knew ____? Such a cool idea to post a fun fact from my own personal reading each day, such as a newspaper headline or a science fact. I will probably tie this in to the monthly themes I will be using.
* Listography! This is encouraging kids to track their books in lists. We are using Bookopolis this year in 5th grade, so I want to see if kids can tag their books using pre-determined tags (loved it, loved the cover, loved the ictures, i learned so much, not my favorite, want to read it, etc).
That's a lot of takeaways from one little book. I actually borrowed this one from interlibrary loan, but will probably just order my own copy. It is a terrific read, easy to follow, fun, and useful.
5/5 stars!
July 25, 2018
You can take me out of the classroom--but you can't take the teacher out of me. I may not teach anymore, but I still hear about professional (teaching) books that interest me. This book is absolutely geared towards teachers but I still found so much of it interesting. The basis for the book is that encouraging reading for "rewards" unrelated to reading is NOT something that will promote a long-term desire to read. I really liked some of the points on making sure you provide access to a variety of reading topics and styles--you never know what is going to entice a child to read more. Also the idea of meeting the child where they are at. If they are embarrassed to read (for whatever reason) then don't put them on the spot, have conversations that are private and offer them books in situations that don't gain a lot of attention. If they only want to read about dogs, find books about dogs to gain their trust and slowly widen that circle to include other animals. Regardless, I read this book strictly because I am a former English teacher and have two young kids, just getting into reading. BUT I found value in it and am glad I picked it up.
July 10, 2018
I picked up this book because it was recommended in a tweet! It is a thin volume but it packs a big punch. The book is about engaging and motivating readers by moving away from flashy reading contests and "junk" prizes and focusing more on developing a love of reading. Using research-based strategies, the authors focus on providing a culture of reading that develops intrinsic rewards for reading based on 3 key principles: access, relevance, and choice. I love the parts that talk about "book blessings" and celebrating readers lives. Every teacher should take an hour to read this book.
March 29, 2019
Tremendo recurso para bibliotecarios, maestros, y promotores de lectura en general. Confío en libros que además de tener más de diez páginas de referencias bibliográficas al final, todas las recomendaciones que se hacen a lo largo del libro están basadas en evidencias y cita todas las investigaciones, los estudios realizados y los resultados. Ya tengo una lista enorme de ideas que implementaré y otras prácticas que abandonaré por ser meros artilugios que en nada aportan a formar lectores.
July 27, 2021
This is the most recent addition to my professional reading shelf! Not all ideas in the book are applicable to the high school library setting but it was a great book to take notes one to find out what works best for my campus. It’s a quick professional development read for anyone looking for a book study that teachers won’t yell at you for ♥️
August 1, 2017
"It is simply not enough to teach our students to read; we want them to leave our classrooms with the intrinsic motivation to read for pleasure and for information and to read widely and deeply across an array of genres." (22)
February 26, 2022
A slim book at less than 100 pages, it is full of best practices supported by research. Highly recommend for educators, and anyone involved with instilling a love of reading in children. Great companion to Game Changer by Sharp/Miller.
June 11, 2017
I will definitely make some changes with the current reading incentives I have in my class but felt like a needed more ideas and support from this book.
July 15, 2017
I read this after Disruptive Thinking by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst. While I appreciated the research and ideas, I found Disruptive Thinking much more useful and inspiring.
January 9, 2018
Motivational and full of great ideas! Reinforced all of the great ideas I read about from Donalyn Miller’s books!
January 16, 2018
Important work on creating intrinsic readers. Every educator should read. Well put together, balancing research with suggestions. Can't wait to put some of the ideas into action.
February 6, 2018
A short book packed with ways to promote more intrinsic motivation to read. A must-read for anyone working on a summer reading or reading incentive program.
May 29, 2018
This is an excellent read! Very fast and practical and research based at every turn. It's about 75 pages of actual reading. I highly recommend!
April 15, 2021
Great book filled with great suggestions!
July 12, 2016
Meh. I got a lot of the same information from articles and things I've seen online. I'd recommend ditching this book in favor of The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child, which is more substantial and up to date. Overall, though, the authors were preaching to the choir: many adults involved in literacy work already want to ditch the plastic prizes.
July 1, 2016
This book is full of great ideas and insights that I hadn't considered before. I am a huge advocate of creating readers in my classroom, and consider myself to be pretty good at getting kids to enjoy reading, but I came away with tons of new ideas to try. It also made me thing more about the ideas of rewards and gimmicks to get kids to read. I've never really thought they worked on the kids that don't want to read anyway, and this book really verified that for me. Highly recommend for teachers and parents alike!
August 5, 2016
This quick to read book is full of research against external motivation for reading. When we reward students with junk, we are sending the message that the candy, toys, etc. are good and reading is not. Book blessing (book talks), choice, access to books, time to read and time to talk about reading are all musts. This book reinforces ideas in Igniting a Passion for Reading, Book Love, The Book Whisperer, and Reading in the Wild.
October 22, 2016
I knew this was going to be good by this quote on page 5: "affording my students choice, surrounding them with books, reading aloud, and encouraging conversations were the authentic and enduring practices that would most likely nurture intrinsic reading motivation"!! Had to stop taking notes - too many great points. Geared more towards a classroom teacher than librarian. Main point all stakeholders in literacy can/should support: ARC (access, relevance, choice)
January 1, 2017
I gleaned some new information. This book should be read as a quick introduction/reminder--a jumping off point. It has given me some new things to do to increase student engagement with ALL kinds of reading materials. Researched based. I particularly enjoyed the discussion about how are well-intentioned incentive programs may actually produce the opposite results as far as long term reading engagement.
June 6, 2016
No new information here, but little gems of research are tucked into the corners of the book, providing a foundation for what we know to be true: access, relevance, and choice are the keys to motivating readers.
June 28, 2016
Not insanely prolific, however I found it positive, motivating and validating. A worthwhile PD read☺️
August 15, 2016
Very valuable suggestions about reading rewards being tied to the goal of encouraging reading.
August 27, 2016
Well written and researched.
November 30, 2016
A quick, practical read. I loved the emphasis on building reading relationships with students and among students.
January 31, 2017
13 pages of notes from a 78 page book. Yep, I'll need to buy this one.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews