Running head: MOTIVATING YOUNG READERS

Motivating Young Readers through Adolescent Literature
Mary Ann Clemente
Grand Canyon University: SED 435
Dec. 9, 2012

Motivating Young Readers through Adolescent Literature The challenge that faces educators today is presenting adolescent readers with books that students can relate to and will keep them motivated to read. Adolescents connect to stories that have a theme that tell a story about things like friendship, discovering themselves and their values. Books that show teen characters positively, as compared to how society usually sees them will keep students motivating and will hold their interest (Herz & Gallo, 1996). One such book is Rifles for Watie, a historical fiction novel and Newbery Medal winner. It was written by Harold Keith in 1957. This book can be used to connect the history of the Civil War with a students everyday life. The story is about a sixteen year old boy named Jefferson (Jeff) Davis Bussey. He joins the Union side of the Civil War and while serving gets noticed by for his intelligence, skill, and calm disposition. He becomes a spy, pretending to be part of the Rebel side, gaining information for the Union. Students will be able to relate to this young man. He struggles with many of the same things as students do today. The older men see him as young and inexperienced and not as valuable. Jeff also misses his family and struggles with the realization that even though the Rebels are his enemy, they are real people who face the same issues as his family. It brings the Civil War into reality. The Civil War brings up many good questions for teachers. The young men who fought in the war were about the same age as students in their classrooms. Teachers could discuss with students how they would feel about going to war and what type of issues would they be willing to fight for. Teachers could talk with their students about leaving home, fear of death, and the power of friendship and love. This is a discussion that could continue and grow as the novel builds. The issue of seeing things from a different view point as Jeff gets to know men from the other side of the war is an important element of this story. This novel shows how the Cherokee Indians lived in a way that does not fit the stereotype of how we believed that Indians lived. In reality, many Cherokee Indians had begun to live in towns very much like the white man. To help students to grasp this information, graphic organizers can be used. These teaching tools are important in that they have been proven to help students organize and remember information (Robinson, 1998). One type of graphic organizer that students could use is a timeline. Students would take events of the Civil War and map them out. This would give students a clear view of when and how things happened. They could refer back to this timeline while reading, giving them a guide through the novel. Another idea would be to use something called a K_W_L chart (Know, Want, Learn). Students could use this to learn about the Cherokee Indians. The students would divide their paper into three columns and label them “What I know”, “What I Don’t Know”, and “What I Learned”. They would then fill out what information that they could and as they read the novel fill out the column “What I Learned”. This technique has proven to create an active learning environment for students (Ogle, 1986). This can be used to create a classroom discussion as well. Use of these types of graphic organizers give students an active learning environment and makes them responsible for their own learning. Cooperative learning groups have come to the forefront of education as a popular and effective learning tool. When students are put into groups, it gives them the opportunity to become active participants in their own education. It also holds them accountable to their peers, which is a huge motivator to complete their assigned jobs. Teachers can then become coaches in learning rather than enforcers. Students must take responsibility for themselves, knowing that others are relying on them to do their part. This aligns more to how the real world works and builds the skills that students need to be able to function in the adult working world. Peer groups teach students good habits about time management and autonomy (Johnson & Johnson, 2001). One group activity that students enjoy and has proven to be extremely effective is a literature circle. This involves assigning a job to each student in the group. The students are then responsible for their own individual job while reading, which pushes the students to be active readers. After reading, the students would then gather in their group and present what they had learned or experienced. An example job would be the Connector. The connector would share with the group anything that the reading had made them think about, whether it was a movie, a personal experience, or maybe another book they had read. This helps students to connect what they are reading to their own personal knowledge making the reading more meaningful. (Frey & Fisher, 2006). Because getting students to read is one of the most challenging aspects of an educator, engaging students in the reading material should be one of the main focuses of a lesson. Educators must continue to learn and increase their knowledge about teaching literacy skills in the classroom in order to be effective in the classroom. The more that teachers know, the more creative they can become. Understanding literacy will help teachers to choose quality reading material, which in turn will help keep students motivated to read.

Literary Unit for Rifles for Watie
Timeline – Chapters will be read daily for a total of 5 chapters per week. The book will be discussed daily in class.

Vocabulary – You must keep a vocabulary journal. While reading, choose 10 words that you do not know the meaning of and write them in your journal. You must have the part of speech, the definition, the sentence from the book that contains the word, and then your own original sentence that implies the meaning. Total of 25 chapters.
Example:
1. faint-heartedness, noun, the trait of lacking courage or resolution. “Although Jeff had felt sorry for them and their families, his father, a veteran of the Mexican War, was disgusted with their faint-heartedness.” After trying to learn how to juggle, the girl became faint-hearted and gave up.
Daily Group Activity – Students will be put into groups of five and assigned a job to do with their daily reading. Groups will gather in class for ten minutes and discuss what was learned from the reading
Jobs List:
Connector – Student will write down any connections made with the reading to other books, movies, life situations, etc.
Illustrator – Student will draw a picture or some type of graphic organizer that is connected to the reading.
Summarizer – Student will make a brief recount of the major events of the chapter.
Vocabulary Enricher – Student will highlight, look up, and share the definition to 5 words from the chapter.
Researcher – Student will present any information that is pertinent to understanding the chapter.
Timeline (Graphic Organizer) – The events of the Civil War will be put into a timeline. All major events must be accounted for.
Venn Diagram – Students will make a Venn Diagram that compares and contrasts the beliefs of the Union and Confederate sides of the war. This will lead you into understanding all that lead to the Civil War.
Weekly Questions – Questions must be answered in complete sentences. Most questions require more than one sentence to answer. Support your answer with examples from the book. They will be due at the end of each week.
Week 1 (Ch. 1-5) 1. Discuss the conflict between the territories of Kansas and Missouri and why it is critical to the book. 2. Describe Captain Clardy’s attitude toward Jeff and vice versa.
Week 2 (Ch. 6-10) 1. Talk about the medical procedures that were described in the book. Do you think seeing the injured men affected Jeff? How? 2. There is a saying “All’s fair in love and war”. The Union Army regularly punished the families of the men who were fighting or the Confederacy. Do you think this was a fair practice? Why or why not?

Week 3 (Ch. 11-15) 1. Write down what you knew or thought you knew about the Cherokee Indians before reading the book. Compare your ideas with what you learned in the book. Did this change any stereotypes that you had? 2. Describe how the Cherokee Nation was divided during the Civil War. Week 4 (Ch. 16-20) 1. How were spies punished during the Civil War? What is the irony of Jeff and Lucy’s relationship? How do you think Lee Washbourne’s execution affected Jeff and his relationship with Lucy? 2. While living with the Rebels, Jeff comes to realize something. What was it? Be sure to support your ideas with examples from the book. Week 5 (Ch. 21-25) 1. Explain how Jeff was able to escape from the enemy. Did you find humor in it? 2. How do you think the war changed Jeff? Given the same circumstances, could you have done what Jeff did? Explain.

Grading Rubric – 100 points
|Vocabulary Journal |0 pts |10 pts |15 pts |20 pts |
| |No attempt |Chose some words. No |Words, part of speech, |Assignment is complete |
| | |sentences. |definitions are present. |with all parts present. |
| | | |Sentences are done but not|Well done sentences with |
| | | |well thought out. |meaning of word implied. |
|Group activities |Reading not done. Group |Job done inconsistently. |Job done with adequate |Job assigned completed |
| |job not completed. No |Minimal effort. |effort. |with well thought out |
| |group participation. | |Contributed to group |answers. Contributions |
| | | |discussion. |created further group |
| | | | |discussions. |
|Timeline |No attempt |Time line completed but is|Timeline completed with |Timeline includes all |
| | |missing major events. |most major events present |major events. |
|Venn Diagram |No attempt |Diagram is finished but |Diagram is finished with a|Diagram is well thought |
| | |with minimal details |clear understanding of |out. Detailed and |
| | | |causes of the Civil War. |insightful. Student has |
| | | | |full grasp of the causes |
| | | | |of the Civil War. |
|Questions |No attempt |Questions answered. |Answers are well thought |Answers well thought out.|
| | |Incomplete sentences. |out and are in complete |Student supports ideas |
| | |Answers are not thought |sentences. Some details to|with examples from book. |
| | |out. No details to support|support ideas. Student is |Understands inference and|
| | |answers. |in the process of |has developed critical |
| | | |developing critical think |thinking skills. |
| | | |skills. | |

References
Frey, N., & Fisher, D. (2007). Language arts workshop: Purposeful reading and writing instruction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.
Herz, S. K., & Gallo, D. R. (1996). From Hinton to Hamlet: Building bridges between young adult Literature and the classics. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Johnson, D.W., & Johnson, R. T. (1999). Learning together and alone: Cooperative, competitive, and individualistic learning. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Ogle, D. M. (1986). K-W-L: A teaching model that develops active reading of expository text. The Reading Teacher, 39, 564-570.
Robinson, D.H. (1998). Graphic organizers as aids to text learning. Reading Research and Instruction, 37, 85-105.