Student Motivation, Reading, and Richard Wright's Black Boy

Motivating students to read is one of the most difficult challenges faced by teachers, but as one teacher discovered, the secret lies in selecting reading material that is culturally relevant to students.

Retired Chicago-based high school English teacher, Hyacinth Williams, taught special needs students for 17 years. In the following article, Mrs. Williams recalls how she met the motivational needs of her students and in the process, got families reading!

And by the way, teachers, even your older students still like to be read to from time to time. Performing literature can be as enjoyable for you as it is for them!

As a teacher of English for the Chicago Public School system, I always tried my best to find ways to engage my students in reading. As important as reading is in every subject area, for many of my students, it was not a priority.

One day I was perusing Richard Wright's masterful autobiography, Black Boy, and in a flash I just knew my students would relate. I decided then and there to include it in my curriculum. Why hadn't I thought of assigning Black Boy to my classes before?

It worked! My students loved the book!

After making sure that each student had his or her own copy, I read the first chapter to the class (as I usually did), making sure that dramatic intonations and inflections were in my voice.

My juniors loved the story. After they read the book, I had no problem getting them to do their assigned reading for homework and to participate in class discussions.

There was one problem, however. After almost a week of reading, discussing, and writing, I noticed that some students did not turn in the homework assignment or simply did not participate as usual in what was usually an exciting discussion.

The reasons further boggled my mind:

"My mother is reading my book."

"When my uncle left my house last night, he took my book with him and I couldn't do my homework."

I thought, "Riiiight. And the dog ate it and the sun was in my eyes."

But what do you know, when I followed up with parents, I discovered that the students had been telling the truth. Family members had noticed that their students were actually reading a book with interest. This made them excited and curious about what their children were reading.

In addition to having family members return books to the students, I made sure that I kept extra copies of Black Boy in my classroom -- just in case!

From that semester forward, I made sure to keep Black Boy in my curriculum. Teachers are always searching for ways to better teach their students. This experience encouraged me to search for even more books that enhanced my students love of reading -- for life I hope!

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