More Reading Thoughts

Even though I found the readings this week to be insightful about the problems students encounter when reading and useful ways to combat these problems, I am still left with the thought of how to make students interested in reading. As a high school teacher (sorry if you are all tired of this point by now), I found that no matter what I assigned with the reading or what activities were incorporated, some students simply did not read no matter what. Unfortunately, I believe a big factor in this is that the information seems to be easily accessed elsewhere, even if it is not quite the same (i.e. movies). Students don't seem to understand how much a text changes when it is translated onto screen due to the interpretation and the desire to target certain audiences. My question, then, is whether there is any true way to get students more interested in the actual reading. The techniques in today's assignments may make the reading less intimidating over time, but it still won't give them the motivation to want to read. I agree that a more active classroom environment will help because it creates interest in the material. I love Liz's idea about the poetry reading. I used to make my students mingle as if at a party and they could only use a quote from Shakespeare I gave them on a piece of paper. I was surprised how many could actually understand their quote by the end. Still, I don't think it made them want to read more Shakespeare. Any thoughts on how to motivate? I feel a bit out of ideas.