Engaging Children to be Readers— What Ingredients are Needed? Part 2

“Learning how to learn is one of the most important skills in life”- Norma Fauziyah

In yesterday’s post I wrote this statement. In order for students to be successful learners they have to become engaged in the process. I want you to zoom out for a moment and think of this in the larger context of learning in general. In order for a person to be successful or achieve the desired outcome, they have to become engaged in the process. If we think about it that way instead of zooming in on the process of learning to read it might be easier to understand how people learn and what motivates them.

Think about a time when you wanted to learn to do something such as play a sport, learn to play a musical instrument, ride a bike or drive a car. Those are all activities that most people engage in at some point in their life. What is the driving force behind launching into trying something new? I came up with five ingredients that must be present to learn something new.

The Five Ingredients Needed For Learning

The five ingredients needed for learning success are desire, interest, purpose, engagement, and confidence. Let’s take a brief look at how each of these elements are needed in the learning game.

Desire — is to want; to wish for earnestly. Learning starts here with wanting to do something. This is what motivates a person to jump on the learning train. For example, me wanting to learn to sew. If a person never engages any further that’s all it will ever be, a desire.

Interest — is to engage the attention of; to awaken interest in; to excite emotion or passion in, in behalf of a person or thing. The next step is to move desire to interest and to get excited about this new prospect. For my sewing example. I signed up and took a community education class.

Purpose — why you do something or why it is important. There needs to be a reason why this thing is important to learn. In regard to my wanting to learn to sew, my grandmother was a seamstress and made me many beautiful things while I was growing up. I wanted to learn the skill and carry on the tradition. I also thought it would be a useful skill to know how to do as an adult. Without a reason to learn, it is difficult to put forth the necessary energy to be successful and have the perseverance to overcome the difficulties and challenges that will be faced.

Engagement — the act of engaging or the state of being engaged; involvement. This is where the magic starts to happen, where the learning begins. This is when I started laying out the pattern on the fabric and started cutting out the pieces of the skirt I was making. An even better visual is when a new musician picks up that instrument for the first time and tries to make a sound that resembles beautiful music. This is the stage where all the hard work happens and is necessary to keep the learning moving forward. This stage must continue throughout the process of learning the skill and improving.

Confidence — the quality of being certain of your abilities. Confidence is the driving force that allows learners to persevere and not give up when things get tough. Unfortunately, in my sewing example I did not have the confidence in my skill or abilities to keep trying. I never finished my skirt and never tried learning to sew again. I have often wondered if I tried again would there be a different outcome? Where was the breakdown in the process for me?

Tomorrow we will zoom back in and think about these five ingredients in regard to learning to read and then tackle the question, why do the students who want to succeed and can succeed still fail?

Please take a moment to click this link and share your information with me. I would LOVE to hear from you.

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”

― Frederick Douglass

The joy is in the journey!

Blessings and Peace,,

Mary