Read Naturally and Reading Attitudes
Many teachers have told us that the Read Naturally program helps improve students' attitudes toward reading.
Deb Coleman, an elementary classroom teacher in Linden, Michigan, demonstrated
this attitude improvement while working on her Master's research project
this past fall.
Of the 23 students in Deb's classroom, ten were struggling readers and
13 were reading at or above grade level. Deb gave the struggling readers
extra instruction using Read Naturally. The ultimate goal of her research project was to improve
student achievement in the area of literacy, a goal which she attained.
While using Read Naturally,
her students gained an average of 2.46 words per week. As she found
out, a by-product of increased literacy with her students was an improved
attitude.
Deb's classroom research lasted fourteen weeks. At the beginning and
end of this time period, she gave each of her students a self-reflective
survey. The survey was based on a point system, and she compared the
Read Naturally students'
attitudes to the non-Read Naturally
students' attitudes toward reading. Deb's findings were that the Read Naturally students had a significant improvement in their reading
attitudes compared to the other group.
Students |
Number |
Means |
| Read Naturally Students | 10 | 18.69% |
| Non-Read Naturally Students | 13 | -0.52% |
Deb wrote, "My Read Naturally
students are highly motivated to read. One of the questions on the survey
asks the students if they think they are good readers. At the beginning
of the school year, they rated themselves as either average or poor
readers. Now, they rate themselves as excellent to above average readers.
It is exciting to see struggling readers' attitudes about reading become
more positive."
The Read Naturally students'
attitudes extended beyond the classroom as well. The goal was to read
at home at least four times per week for at least 20 minutes or more.
In November nine out of ten of her Read Naturally students achieved their at-home reading goal, compared
to only four achieving this goal in September. Congratulations to Deb
and her students!