Deep comprehension of
informational texts: Classroom
contexts and teaching practices to
build motivation and engagement.
John T. Guthrie
University of Maryland
Professor of Literacy Emeritus
Today’s outline
1. Is there a motivation challenge in the
CCSS?
2. What are students’ motivations for reading
information text?
3. How do motivations relate to proficiency,
growth and use of reading skill?
4. How can teachers increase long term
motivation?
5. Is the benefit of motivation support worth the
cost of time, effort, money?
6. How can motivation be connected to a CCSS
Is there a motivation challenge in the
CCSS?
• Cognitive--▫
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Complex texts
Disciplines of science, history, literature
Close reading; knowledge building
Reasoning, integration, vocabulary
• Motivation and engagement
▫ Extensive reading
▫ Confidence, interest, values, peers
Challenges
Reading in South Africa—lowest of 70 countries
• Compared to world SA has problem;
• Compared to Asia, US has a problem;
• Compared to CCSS we all have a problem
Motivation and Engagement
How much instruction for close reading?
• How many 30 minute lessons? How many 30
minute sessions?
• How much volume for integrations across texts?
Number of lessons? Number of sessions?
• Will students do the reading?
Top 20 percent, yes.
(SA example St. Charles College)
Today’s outline
1. Is there a motivation challenge in the CCSS?
2. What are students’ motivations for
reading information text?
3. How do motivations relate to proficiency,
growth and use of reading skill?
4. How can teachers increase long term
motivation?
5. Is the benefit of motivation support worth the
cost of time, effort, money?
6. How can motivation be connected to a CCSS
lesson?
Motivations to read
(reasons to use the tools)
• Interest (intrinsic motivation); ‘fun’
▫ Elementary and secondary
• Confidence (self-efficacy); belief in capacity
▫ Elementary (word reading)
▫ Secondary specialized to information text
• Values for reading (importance); benefits
▫ Secondary and elementary (5)
▫ ‘Situated’
• Peer acceptance and values
▫
secondary; weaker
Fiction vs. nonfiction motivation
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Achievers were reared to enjoy literature.
Intrinsic motivation fuels achievement.
Not so for information text.
Zero correlation for non fiction book reading
and achievement.
• Teachers must build motivation for info text.
Grades as motivator
• Grades. Like prizes. Like working for money.
They are extrinsic vs. intrinsic
• Grades plus intrinsic motivation is ideal.
• Grades alone is actually negative; after grade
Ss stop working; promulgates cheating; among
adults working only for money, a cheating
culture prevails. (‘everyone is doing it’)
Today’s outline
1. Is there a motivation challenge in the CCSS?
2. What are students’ motivations for reading
information text?
3. How do motivations relate to proficiency,
growth and use of reading skill?
4. How can teachers increase long term
motivation?
5. Is the benefit of motivation support worth the
cost of time, effort, money?
6. How can motivation be connected to a CCSS
lesson?
Benefits of motivation:
Deep comprehension
• Boosts learning of comprehension strategies—
attention, focus, persistence
• Increases use of strategies during reading
• Fosters volume of reading
▫ How much reading during a CCSS lesson?
Amount of Reading in CORI
Grade 7 for 3 Gps. In 90 Minute Class
Pages Per Day Read
25
20
Whole C
15
Guide R
Indep R
10
Total R
5
0
Strug. R.
On-Gr. R.
Student Groups
Adv. R.
Benefits of Motivation:
Self Improving System
Extended self-improvement
(growth of reading comprehension after
instruction ended)
For Students at same achievement level,
Ss high mot in Oct gained 1.5 grade levels more
by May than Ss low mot in Oct.
Shown by:
• Engagement – teacher ratings (Guthrie-Wig. ‘08)
• Motivation -- self reported (Morgan & Fuchs ‘07)
• Time spent reading -- self-reported (Becker ‘10)
Teacher issues
• Who cares about motivation? No one is asking.
▫ No one is asking about students’ attention.
▫ But you need it.
• Where does motivation come from?
▫ Inborn? Parents? Siblings? Peers? Teachers?
• What are motivating teachers like?
• What do motivating teachers do?
• Can motivating practices be learned?
Today’s outline
1. Is there a motivation challenge in the CCSS?
2. What are students’ motivations for reading
information text?
3. How do motivations relate to proficiency,
growth and use of reading skill?
4. How can teachers increase long term
motivation?
5. Is the benefit of motivation support worth the
cost of time, effort, money?
6. How can motivation be connected to a CCSS
lesson?
Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction:
Motivation Practices--Alignment
Student
Motivations
1. Social interaction
2. Interest
3. Valuing
4. Confidence
5. Extended
engagement
6. Safety
Classroom
Practices
1. Collaboration
2. Choices
3. Importance
4. Success
5. Volume
6. Precondition
Classroom instruction and teaching:
Five engagement principles
1.
2.
3.
4.
Help students read together
Provide choices in reading
Show importance of reading
Match texts to student
abilities
5. Enable students to read a lot
Engagement principle #1
Help students read together
Grades K-2
• Partners rhyme words; partners alternate reading pages
of a story book;
Grades 3-5
• Partners read same pages silently, and write a summary
together
Grades 6-12
• Partners separately identify 3 main points of a text and
compare them and reasons for choosing them. Teams of
4 develop an opinion about a topic, write a persuasive
essay and present to another team.
Engagement principle #2
Provide choices in reading
Grades K-2
• Students choose a book for the teacher to read aloud
Grades 3-5
• Students select one section of a history book to learn
and teach to team
Grades 6-12
• Students identify topic and select several texts to
learn from and then write an integrative statement.
Engagement principle #3
Show importance of reading
Grades K-2
• Teacher reads a story aloud; students state one thing
they enjoyed. Students read page in an information
book; report 1 amazing fact to a partner.
Grades 3-5
• Have students state what they learned from a picture in
comparison to a page of text on the same topic.
Thematic instruction.
Grades 6-12
• Have students write a statement explaining how what
they read in a text connects to their observations or
experiences outside of school.
Engagement principle #4
Match texts to student abilities
Grades K-2
• 90 percent accuracy word recognition
Grades 3-5
• 90 percent accuracy read aloud fluency
Grades 6-12
• 90 percent accuracy in brief summaries of a page
of text
Engagement principle #5
Empower students to read a lot,
apart from direct instruction
Grades K-2: Expectations: On grade reader: Home = 30 min; School =
30 min. Total = 1.0 hr.
Grades 3-5 : Expectations: On grade reader: Home = 30 min; School =
60 min. Total = 1.5 hr.
Grades 6-12: Expectations: On grade reader: Home = 90 min; School
= 90 min. Total = 3.0 hr.
• Diverse books, magazines, internet for enjoyment, knowledge,
usefulness
Teacher support
• Teachers provide time daily for independent reading, based on
interest and curriculum. Teachers assign home reading daily.
Feedback; grades; charting; expectations
Ben Carson
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Age 10 Baltimore school
Lowest in class
Mother—TV 1 hour per day; Book 1 per week
Teacher – Rock, Obsidian, Collection
Class smartest
Harvard graduate
Neurosurgeon: Johns Hopkins University
Engaged Readers
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Read widely and deeply
Interested
Confident in themselves
Value reading
Share reading
Grow quickly
Reading Engagement = Skill + Will
Today’s outline
1. Is there a motivation challenge in the CCSS?
2. What are students’ motivations for reading
information text?
3. How do motivations relate to proficiency,
growth and use of reading skill?
4. How can teachers increase long term
motivation?
5. Is the benefit of motivation support
worth the cost of time, effort, money?
6. How can motivation be connected to a CCSS
lesson?
Costs and benefits of motivation support
• Cost seem high. Does it pay off?
• Motivation fuels future growth
▫ —not only todays performance
• Motivation in October determines speed of
learning in Nov. – May
• How much benefit from motivation?
▫ Growth beta is .4. Newly motivated student
in October is 1.5 grade equivalent higher in
June than less motivated student, at same
Oct achievement level.
• Ben Carson is extreme, but typical.
Today’s outline
1. Is there a motivation challenge in the CCSS?
2. What are students’ motivations for reading
information text?
3. How do motivations relate to proficiency,
growth and use of reading skill?
4. How can teachers increase long term
motivation?
5. Is the benefit of motivation support worth the
cost of time, effort, money?
6. How can motivation be connected to a
CCSS lesson?
General Lesson Plan
for Engagement toward CCSS
1. Concepts
2. Text selection
3. Motivation support (use 1 of 5)
4. Reading strategy
5. Common Core State Standardsbased Task
Concepts
Concept — Abstract representation of events,
motives, interactions, causes, such as:
 symbiosis
 military conflict
 slavery
 deception
 reconciliation
 not a person (Abraham Lincoln), single event
(Battle of Antietam), specific insect (dragonfly)
Text Selection
Information text refers to written language of
non-narrative form in paper or electronic
versions such as:
• Emancipation Proclamation
• Biography of Harriet Tubman
• Science chapter on symbiosis
• Diagram of photosynthesis
• Letter from Louisa May Alcott
Motivation Support
• Teachers’ Guide
1. Plan
2. Announce
3. Scaffold
4. Debrief
Study 1
CORI and Traditional
Reading/LA
• 1000 grade 7 students
• 20 teachers
• 6 weeks---April-June, 2010
• PD = three half-days
• RRQ—2013—Guthrie, Klauda, HO
Study 2: 105 U.S. Top High schools
• Reading Comprehension of 15 Yr.
• PISA – 2009: Shanghai, South Korea
• 105 comparable USA schools
• 3 case studies
How are the top schools distinctive?
“Middle Class or Middle of the Pack?”
Jon Schnur, America Achieves.
http://www.americaachieves.org/docs/OECD/Middle-Class-Or-Middle-Of-Pack.pdf
Study 2: 105 U.S. Top High schools
• Data-driven and transparent
▫ learning outcomes
▫ “soft skills like completing work on time,
resilience, perseverance and punctualit
• Principal and instructional leaders
emphasize
 “student attentiveness and effective
questioning”
 concrete and specific direction
Closing points
• Boosting engagement fosters present and
FUTURE achievement.
• Teachers can have it all--by balancing all.
▫ Standards (25%), Texts (25%),
▫ Strategies (25%), and Engagement (25%)
• School policy for engagement is imperative;
teacher quality is re-conceptualized.
Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction:
Motivation Practices--Success
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Providing texts that are readable
Videos that support text comprehension
Peer or teacher feedback regarding success
Students' recognition of their own content
knowledge expertise
• Students' recognition of using reading strategies
to read well
• Setting realistic goals for texts and tasks
Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction:
Motivation Practices--Choice
• Self-selection of books or sections of books
• Student input into topics or sequence of topics
• Student input into strategy use for
comprehension
• Options for demonstrating learning
• Selecting partners or teams
• Micro Choices daily
Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction:
Motivation Practices--Relevance
• Observational activities linked to text
▫ Hands on science
▫ Videos of science phenomena
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Connecting reading to experience
Relating text to background knowledge
Matching text to students’ interests
Multicultural content
Setting real world purposes for reading
Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction:
Motivation Practices—Importance in theme
• Recognize reading as a useful knowledge
building activity
• Explain how reading helps in understanding the
world around us
• Importance of learning from information text
• Show how text answers key questions
• Identify text as Source of writing, explaining,
debating, poster design
• Classroom benefits today
Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction:
Motivation Practices--Collaboration
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Reading in partners or small groups
Exchanging ideas, sharing expertise
Student-led discussion groups, book talks
Team projects, such as a poster
Peer conferencing and feedback
Roles for discussion: lead, add, summarize.
Study 3
• Baker, L. (plus 7): International Electronic Journal of
Elementary Education, 2011, 4(1), 197-227.
• Grades 2-4-- 220 students
• Infusion of 66 information books/classroom;
Professional Development –balance & search
• No explicit motivation practices.
• Results
▫ No increase in reading comprehension
▫ Declines in motivation
▫ Declines in amount of reading
• My Conclusion? Motivate your students.
Research:
Reviews on Motivation Support
• Institute for Education Sciences – K-2
• Institute for Education Sciences –Adolescent
• Christensen, et al (2012) Handbook of Research
in Student Engagement (800 pages)
• Guthrie, et al, In Christensen, et al 2012
• Becker, et.al. (2010). JEP, 102, 773-786
• PISA, 2009;
http://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/48852630.pdf
• www.CORILearning.com