Seven Rules of Engagement – Article Review

Special Education Internship – Spring 2019

During the special education internship at Geneva, Dr. Belcastro instructed us to read

journal articles about reading and write an article review. The purpose of these article reviews

was to expand our knowledge on the elements of reading as we connected our experience in the

classroom to what we learned in the article. These proved to be highly effective in building my

knowledge of teaching reading and opening my eyes to what instructional tools to look for and

observe within the classroom. One of the most poignant articles for me proved to be Linda

Gambrell’s (2011) article, “Seven Rules of Engagement: What’s Most Important to Know About

Motivation to Read.”

Within this article, Gambrell (2011) identifies that seven research-based rules of

engagement may be fostered within the classroom to promote motivation to read. The seven

rules include: 1. Students are more motivated when the reading is relevant to their lives, 2.

Students are more motivated to read when they can choose from a wide array of reading

material, 3. Providing students ample opportunities to engage in sustained reading promotes

motivation, 4. Giving students a choice about what to read and how to complete literacy

activities promotes comprehension, 5. Providing opportunities to socially interact about reading

encourages motivation, 6. Students feel motivated when they can be successful with challenging

texts, and 7. Students are more motivated when classroom rewards embody the value and

importance of reading.

After reading and reflecting on this article, my approach to teaching reading vastly

shifted. Within my subsequent placements after this internship, I recognized many of these rules

of engagement at work. For example, at Evans City, Miss Dobrzanski fostered choice, extended

time for reading, and support to successfully read challenging texts. At Riverside Elementary, I
witnessed and eventually led reading lessons where students were able to read stories relevant to

their lives. Furthermore, at Riverside, I facilitated activities where students were able to socially

interact by asking each other their favorite part of the story and suggesting alternate endings.

Reading this article, combined with observing these practices in several classrooms, has helped

me integrate these rules of engagement into my teaching of reading and I have witnessed the

effectiveness they have in engaging students and stimulating their motivation to read. In my

future classroom, I will continue to integrate these research-based rules of motivation into my

pedagogy.
EDU 474

Jenna Marcisz

6 March 2019

Report C – Interest and Motivation

Motivation is vital for nurturing students who are engaged and interested in reading.

When students are motivated to read, they engage with text on the assumption that reading is

purposeful and valuable. The more interested a student is in reading, the more invested they will

be in the reading process. Thus, teachers must integrate elements into the reading curriculum that

promote an intrinsic motivation to read. As Linda Gambrell (2011) outlines in her article “Seven

Rules of Engagement: What’s Most Important to Know About Motivation to Read,” students’

motivation to read should be nurtured by classroom activities based on the seven research-based

rules of engagement.

The overarching question teachers must consider is why the role of motivation is so

important in literacy learning. Numerous studies support the finding that interest and motivation

highly influence a student’s attitude toward and performance in reading. As the Program for

International Student Assessment found, the higher a student’s interest level, the higher their

level of comprehension. All 64 countries participating in this study showed that “students who

enjoyed reading the most performed significantly better than students who enjoyed reading the

least” (Gambrell, 2011, p. 172). This proves that promoting interest must be integrated into the

reading curriculum for student success. Furthermore, Guthrie, Schafer, and Huang (2001) found

“that students with high reading engagement but lower parental education and income had higher

reading achievement than students with lower reading engagement and the same background

characteristics” (Gambrell, 2011, p. 172). Regardless of a child’s background and present home
environment, they can succeed in reading if they are motivated. Furthermore, the International

Reading Association (IRA) recognizes the importance of “the development and maintenance of a

motivation to read” (Gambrell, 2011, p. 172). All these studies support that interest and

motivation play an important role in the reading process. The more motivated a student is to

read, the more they will engage with reading. The engagement perspective notes “the differences

between engaged and disengaged readers and focuses on the characteristics of the motivated or

engaged reader” (Gambrell, 2011, p. 172). To promote engagement with reading, teachers must

encourage students’ intrinsic motivation to read. This leads Gambrell (2011) to describe seven

research-based rules of engagement and practical tips for how teachers can implement them

within the classroom.

For students to develop intrinsic motivation to read, the teacher may adjust external

factors that promote engagement with reading. These rules of engagement will prompt students

“to read for a variety of personal goals, be strategic in their reading behaviors, knowledgeable in

their construction of new understandings from text, and socially interactive about reading”

(Gambrell, 2011, p. 172-3). The first rule states that students are more motivated when the

reading is relevant to their lives. These allows students to “make connections between the

material they are reading and their lives” and thus they “become more involved and engaged in

comprehending” (Gambrell, 2011, p. 173). Teachers can encourage their students to realize the

relevance of a reading text to their lives by asking them to reflect on what they have just read and

think about how it connects to their lives. The second rule outlines that students are more

motivated to read when they can choose from a wide array of reading material. When teachers

have “a rich variety of reading materials,” they communicate “to students that reading is a

worthwhile and valuable activity and sets the stage for students to develop the reading habit”
(Gambrell, 2011, p. 173). Reading aloud to students is a proven way to show them that reading

can be done for enjoyment. Furthermore, teachers can do a weekly book sharing where they

shortly describe several different books to broaden students’ awareness of reading resources. The

third rule identifies that providing students ample opportunities to engage in sustained reading

promotes motivation. This is important as “reading practice helps students become better

readers” and, as identified in a study, “the amount of time allocated to text reading was positively

associated with growth in reading proficiency” (Gambrell, 2011, p. 174). The longer the time

teachers allow their students to engage in reading, the more likely they will be proficient in

reading. A practical application is to begin the year reading for shorter sustained time periods

and extend that time throughout the year as students can stay engaged for longer periods of time.

The fourth rule explains that giving students a choice about what to read and how to complete

literacy activities promotes comprehension. Because choice is “a powerful force that allows

students to take ownership and responsibility for their learning,” researchers have determined

that “providing choices is an effective way to support the development of intrinsic motivation”

(Gambrell, 2011, p. 175). Even if a teacher uses bounded choice, giving students a choice

between pre-determined options, students feel more responsible for their learning than if they

hadn’t been given a choice at all. The fifth rule suggests that opportunities to socially interact

about reading encourages motivation. Social interaction stimulates motivation as “peer

comments can pique a student’s curiosity,” “student observations of their peers’ progress may

increase their confidence,” and “working with others promotes student interest and engagement”

(Gambrell, 2011, p. 175). When students are interacting with their peers about reading, they feel

validated and encouraged to read. A simple way to encourage this within the classroom is to pair

students together who have read different texts and have them share about their reading for a few
minutes. The sixth rule states that students feel motivated when they can be successful with

challenging texts. Thus, “activities that advance, rather than overwhelm, the reader” will

motivate students. Furthermore, “research indicates that students who believe that they are

capable and competent readers are more likely to outperform those who do not hold such beliefs”

(Gambrell, 2011, p. 176). If students do not experience progress, they will be more likely to fail.

Since all students want to be viewed as reading difficult texts, the teacher can label classroom

books into three categories including “hard,” “harder,” and “hardest” as opposed to “easy,”

“average,” and “difficult.” This simple shift in mindset prompts students to view whatever level

of reading achievement to be a success. Finally, the seventh rule suggests that students are more

motivated when classroom rewards embody the value and importance of reading. Thus, effective

teacher praise which is “given as recognition of achievement” and tangible rewards that are

“related to the desired behavior, such as a book reward for reading,” promote student motivation

to read (Gambrell, 2011, p. 176-7). Teachers can easily give books that are of interest to the

student as rewards to promote engagement with reading. When these seven rules of reading

engagement are evident in classroom practices, students are enabled to develop an intrinsic

motivation to read.

Motivation and interest in reading are key elements in nurturing proficient readers. As

Gambrell (2011) discussed in her article, students who are highly motivated and see the value in

reading will engage in reading more frequently and will consequently become better readers.

Thus, as teachers consider the importance of motivation in reading, they should implement

research-based practices within their classrooms to promote students’ intrinsic motivation.

Within the educational system today, teachers implement practices to motivate and nurture

students’ engagement with reading.

evident in my placement at The School at McGuire and at Todd Lane Elementary School. While

the focus in my 7-10th grade autism support classroom at McGuire is not on reading, Mrs.

Gonzalez recognizes the powerful role motivation plays in a student’s education. Just as “highly

motivated students who see reading as a desirable activity will initiate and sustain engagement in

reading,” students who view learning as beneficial will be more engaged and active in their

education (Gambrell, 2011, p. 177). To engage her students with learning, Mrs. Gonzalez

associates an educational activity with a reward that is viewed as valuable by the student. Since I

am coming in halfway through the year, I am observing students engaging in learning centers for

an extended time. This is a result of prompting students’ intrinsic motivation by adjusting and

using external factors. Even on the functioning level of my students at McGuire, motivation

plays a key role in educational proficiency. At Todd Lane Elementary School, both teachers of

the 3rd-5th grade pullout resource room, which includes Mrs. Balestrieri and Mrs. Sculli,

recognize that students must be motivated to succeed. When discussing why some of her

students outperform others with the same disability in her classroom, Mrs. Balestrieri articulated

that students must be willing to put in the work. As she stated, “These students are capable of so

much, they just need to be guided through and meet the challenge.” For example, when Mrs.

Balestrieri is teaching in small groups, she pushes students to their full potential when

participating. If a student is hesitant to participate, she explains to them that trying, even if their

answer is wrong, benefits them far more than not putting in any effort. Furthermore, Mrs. Sculli

identifies that students with similar backgrounds can outperform each other depending on their

engagement level. This aligns with the study conducted by Guthrie, Schafer and Huang which

revealed that “reading engagement is more important than students’ family background”
(Gambrell, 2011, p. 172). For example, Alyssa and Gary are two students who began the year on

the same reading level but are currently reading on two different levels because of motivation to

read. Alyssa recognized the value in reading and consequently engaged in reading outside of

school which contributed to her progressing to the 2nd grade reading level. Since both Mrs.

Balestrieri and Mrs. Sculli recognize the need for motivation and engagement with reading in

determining students’ reading proficiency, many of their instructional practices embody elements

of the seven rules of engagement.

To nurture engaged and motivated readers, teachers must use instructional practices

grounded in the rules of engagement. Any instructional practice that highlights the value and

importance of reading promotes a student’s intrinsic motivation to read. Mrs. Balestrieri and

Mrs. Sculli use instructional practices that embody certain elements of each rule of engagement.

Using the first rule of engagement, Mrs. Balestrieri encouraged students “to reflect on what they

[had] read” and consider “how the material connect[ed] to their own lives” by assigning students

to come up with a fire safety plan with their family after reading a story about a family whose

house caught on fire (Gambrell, 2011, p. 172). This prompted students to use the awareness they

gained through reading about fire safety to formulate a fire safety plan for their family. This is a

prime example of how reading material may be explicitly connected to a student’s life. Using the

second rule, Mrs. Sculli chooses new stories for students every week, ranging from informational

text on sea animals to literature about knights and dragons. As Gambrell states, “motivation to

read and reading achievement are higher when the classroom environment is rich in reading

materials” (Gambrell, 2011, p. 172). As students complete their story each week, they keep a

printed copy of the story for their binder and may reference the story any time they want. Using

the third rule, Mrs. Balestrieri and Mrs. Sculli recognize that many of their students will not be
encouraged to read at home. Thus, to promote fluency, automaticity and comprehension skills,

students must have much practice reading. As the study conducted by Taylor et al. (1990)

showed, “time spent reading in school was highly correlated with reading achievement”

(Gambrell, 2011, p. 174). The students spend a huge portion of time orally reading the story

before starting in on the reading lesson. This often takes anywhere from 15-30 minutes.

However, the teachers recognize that to become better readers, the students must practice

reading. Using the fourth rule, Mrs. Balestrieri allows students to choose a book and fun activity

on the app called “epic!” if they finish reading instruction early. While the app is geared towards

stories and reading, students get to choose the genre of story. In this way, students “acquire

strategies for choosing books they can read and for finding interesting books” (Gambrell, 2011,

p. 175). Using the fifth rule, Mrs. Sculli and Mrs. Balestrieri pair students up to independently

complete activities after reading the same reading level book. This proves important to

promoting motivation to read as students will be “talking about books with others, reading

together with others,” and “talking about books with peers in class” (Gambrell, 2011, p. 175).

Thus, both teachers promote social interaction to nurture motivation to read. The sixth rule is

highly utilized within my classroom at Todd Lane due to the wide range of abilities among the

students. Since the students are all functioning on different levels, Mrs. Balestrieri must provide

3 different stories for 6 students. Despite the varying reading levels of the stories, students all

participate in the same activities but with different information. For example, every Thursday the

class uses the “Kahoots” app to review the story and prepare for the test. Thus, the teachers

provide a differentiation in content, but students engage in the process of review together.

Students must be provided with “activities that advance, rather than overwhelm, the reader”

(Gambrell, 2011, p. 176). The teachers must experience in progress to feel successful which is
why students are functioning on their appropriate level. Using the seventh rule, the teachers use

explicit and genuine praise to reward students for achievements in reading. For example, Mrs.

Sculli expresses her excitement such as, “Thank you for capitalizing the first letter and putting a

period at the end to make it a sentence!” As Gambrell (2011) states, “sincere and constructive

teacher praise and teacher feedback are always closely linked to the desired student behavior”

(Gambrell, 2011, p. 176-7). Students respond when they are encouraged for a specific,

appropriate behavior. Altogether, Mrs. Balestrieri and Mrs. Sculli use these instructional

practices to nurture engaged and motivated readers.

Motivation is the key element for promoting engagement and interest in reading. When

students become motivated to read, they engage with reading more and thus become better

readers. While students may eventually develop intrinsic motivation to read, teachers should use

external factors to promote motivation in reading. As Gambrell (2011) explains, instructional

practices should be grounded in the seven research-based rules of engagement to nurture

engaged and motivated readers. When teachers base their instruction in these rules of

engagement, they provide students with the invaluable experience to develop intrinsic motivation

to read and learn throughout their entire lives.

Works Cited

Gambrell, Linda. (2011, November). Seven Rules of Engagement: What’s Most Important to

Know About Motivation to Read. The Read