September 2010 Inspire! Motivating a Reluctant Reader As a child
who did not learn to read easily, I sympathize with children who
find reading a struggle. While some children pick up reading
without difficulty, many children have to really work at it.
Often these children complain that the story is too long or too
hard. Since one of the goals in teaching children to read is to
instill a love of reading, this is an attitude that we want to
try to change. One technique I have found that works well is for
you to share the reading of a story with your child. Have your
child read every other page, while you read the rest. To make
sure that your child is following along with you when it is your
turn to read, make some obvious, and perhaps even silly,
mistakes for your child to catch. Your child will love catching
your mistakes and will also feel relief that they do not have
the responsibility of reading the entire story. You can add to
this experience by creating unique voices for the characters in
the story that b