Action Research Plan: Making Time to Read Nathan Wolfe EDUC 526: Capstone Experience in Digital Teaching and

Learning Professor Matthew Hixson APU Murrieta Regional Center April 3, 2014

ACTION RESEARCH: MAKING TIME TO READ Abstract: Literacy is rapidly declining in this country and has been for at least a decade. Knowing my own personal reading habits are not as they should be, I aspired to increase both the quantity and quality of my reading experience and enforce a daily habit of frequent exposure to literature. Using Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, and a period of three-weeks as the basis of my research, I sought to progressively introduce three techniques to improve my reading: (1) read daily, (2) set goals, and (3) change reading environments. The results were surprisingly positive in helping me become a more active and effective reader.

ACTION RESEARCH: MAKING TIME TO READ Introduction Literacy in America, despite the best efforts of the public education system, is at a poor state. According to research done in April 2013, fourteen percent of adults cannot read, which roughly translates into a total of 32 million individuals across the country (U.S. Dep. of Ed. 2013). Unfortunately, this relatively high percentage is not limited to those who were not schooled. Nineteen percent of high school graduates are not literate, revealing the remarkable missteps of teaching reading in the public schooling system. These statistics along with my own struggles to be a motivated reader helped develop my initial interest in making adequate time to read. As one desiring to be an English teacher, I certainly enjoy reading and making sure my literacy skills remain sharp, yet I struggle, as nearly all adults do, to read on a regular basis. In a fast-paced, distraction-filled world, finding time to immerse oneself into a literary world of varied characters and diction is a rare and difficult task. My realization of my own lack of motivation to make time to read along with the poor example I would be setting for the students to whom I would be teaching literacy and fluency caused me to take action. The amount of literature and written information I was failing to take in was unacceptable. I made it my goal to not only increase the frequency of making time to read, but also to drastically improve the amount of content I was consuming by increasing the speed of my reading. Implementation Since my prior reading schedule was fairly dismal, I knew that the best method of increasing both my time devoted to reading and pages read per minute would be to set progressive short term goals. Given a three-week time span, I sought to implement a new goal or technique each week to scaffold and build off of my previous improvements. Following this

ACTION RESEARCH: MAKING TIME TO READ pattern, I hoped to slowly build these reading strategies into my daily routine. In order to maintain consistent results and data, I chose to spend the three-week span reading Charles Dickens Our Mutual Friend, which consists of 797 pages and implements more difficult vocabulary and prose diction. My ultimate goal was to complete this novel by the end of the three weeks, yet that was secondary to increasing the frequency and time spent of my reading. Read Daily My first priority was to make time for reading each day, no matter how little was done. I felt this would be an easy way to start a habit, and that, hopefully, by the end of the week I would feel that reading is an essential part of my day. This step had the least amount of restrictions or limitations, which allowed me to form more of a loose habit of reading rather than one that was goal-oriented. The only requirements this step required is that I motivate myself to at least crack open the book and read a few pages for at least 10 minutes. While the number of pages and minutes read for this goal may seem quite underwhelming, at least making time to read was better than reading nothing at all. Set Goals After getting used to reading every day and beginning the habit of making time to read, I then started Week Two by setting daily goals for my reading. In order to increase the amount of pages I read per day, I set the goal of completing four chapters of the novel per day. While some chapters are longer than others, I felt that providing myself with an objective and tangible goal would force me to read for a longer period of time while also not feeling overwhelmed by such a long novel. With this goal of four chapters per day enforced, I could successfully finish the novel by the end of the three-week period.

ACTION RESEARCH: MAKING TIME TO READ Change Environment The final step to be enforced in Week Three is the changing of the environment in which reading takes place. Since there are so many distractions at home, I wondered if reading in a more peaceful environment would help me reach my goal of increasing my page-per-minute reading time. At home, I already knew how easy it would be to get distracted by others, from cell phones and TVs, and from simple chores that need to be done around the house. Getting out and going to a location like a coffee shop or a park would eliminate many of those distractions and, hopefully, provide me with more focused reading time and more of an opportunity to be fully immersed in what I was reading. Results Following the three-step process I sought to implement proved much more helpful than I could have expected. The results that were brought about by these three weeks of focused reading were very satisfactory. Week One, although it was the baseline for which I was anchoring this study, provided some interesting results. Simply taking the time to read some of the novel, as much of a change as it was, was not as difficult as I thought. Making reading a priority helped me notice several opportunities throughout the day that I could take to open up Our Mutual Friend and spend a few minutes reading the introductory chapters. With an overall average of 0.4 pages per minute, I was hopeful to make improvements by the end of three weeks.

WEEK ONE Pages Read Time Spent Pages/Min.

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 27 1 hour 0.3 pages 11 hour 0.4 pages 30 1 hour 0.5 pages 9 hour 0.3 pages 12 20 min. 0.6 pages 43 1 hour 0.5 pages 32 1 hour 0.5 pages

ACTION RESEARCH: MAKING TIME TO READ Week Two proved to be very successful in terms of increasing the amount of pages read per day. After determining to read at least four chapters of the novel each day, I had a more consistent result in how many pages were read, averaging at about 49 pages a day up from 23 pages the previous week. Since I was able to more than double my prior results, I felt that Week Two was a success and that implementing reading goals is absolutely necessary in making more time to read every day. I also noticed that my pages read-per-minute was stabilizing, although there was no sign of tremendous growth compared to the increase of pages read per day. Surprisingly, finishing the 797-page novel seemed to be possible at this point, considering the next step of implementation should even more drastically improve my reading performance.

WEEK TWO Pages Read Time Spent Pages/Min.

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 53 2 hours 0.4 pages 48 1 hour 0.5 pages 47 2 hours 0.4 pages 45 1 hour 0.5 pages 56 2 hours 0.5 pages 42 1 hour 0.5 pages 52 2 hours 0.4 pages

The most substantial and noticeable improvement came at the implementation of the third and final step: changing environments. Previously when I would read at home, despite finding a relatively quiet place to focus on the text, my wife or other visitors would easily distract me, no matter how determined I was to keep reading. Having cell phones and computers around made it all the more tempting to take a break and begin doing something other than reading. So, removing these obstacles had the potential to increase my page-per-minute speed. I first tried visiting a coffee shop down the street to test the environment to see if it was conducive for focused and meaningful reading time. The results were positive and I was able to increase my completion speed of the four chapters I had made it my goal to accomplish. After doing this on

ACTION RESEARCH: MAKING TIME TO READ Sunday and Monday, I then decided to try another atmosphere, one with even fewer distractions and people: the park. Being outside and having fewer auditory disturbances seemed to further increase my ability to read quicker without losing comprehension or enjoyability. It was due to this particular environment that I was able to achieve a reading speed three-times as fast (0.9 pages/minute) as my beginning day three weeks prior (0.3 pages/minute). I was even successful in completing the novel and achieving a record 1-page/minute speed due to this positive change in environment. WEEK THREE Pages Read Time Spent Pages/Min.
Table 1: Pages Read

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 40 1 hour 0.6 pages 52 1 hour 0.9 pages 39 45 min 0.9 pages 49 1 hour 0.8 pages 42 45 min. 0.9 pages 44 45 min. 1 page 4 3 min. 1.3 pages

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Week 1 Week 2 Week 3

ACTION RESEARCH: MAKING TIME TO READ

Table 2: Time Spent

140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Week 1 Week 2 Week 3

Pages/Min.
1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 Thurs Thurs Thurs Tues Tues Tues Fri Fri Sat Sat Fri Mon Mon Wed Wed Mon Wk1: Sun Wk2: Sun Wk3: Sun Wed Sat Pages/Min.

One can easily see the drastic increase in pages read per minute from the beginning of Week Three and onward. The change in environment coupled with the setting of goals and a habit of daily reading forming certainly produced the best results in just a matter of weeks. Each step had its part in the process. Reading daily formed the habit necessary to make time and find time to read. Setting specific yet manageable goals helped provide me with a drive to read a certain quantity. Changing my environment gave me that added change to truly focus on what I was reading and improve my reading speed. 8

ACTION RESEARCH: MAKING TIME TO READ Conclusion I am excited to continue this practice, as it will help my personal and professional life. I know that as a future English teacher, I need to be self-motivated to read and read frequently. The results of this three-week research period will cause me to continue to experiment with different steps that can be taken in order to even further my reading efficiency and reinforce my habit of reading daily. Part of the reason I chose to participate in this form of action research is due to the fact that my personal knowledge and experience of what works best when making time to read will aid my future students. I am already determined to share these helpful tips with my students before beginning a large reading assignment, as I know that it will be beneficial to some, if not all of my students. I hope that I can inspire many of my future students to make time for reading in a world that is quickly declining in literacy. With statistics such as those shared earlier increasing, the best preventative is to simple make the time to read and share that love of reading with your students and peers alike. General Comments The action research process helped me rediscover my love for English literature and made me realize how important it is to me. Because of the significant time I spent figuring out a way to accomplish my goal of making time for reading, I value the time I make to read even more. Taking time out of a busy schedule, especially a teachers, is very difficult, but reading in the way prescribed by the research I underwent is abundantly beneficial for personal relaxation and intellectual development. It is truly amazing to think how much time most individuals teenagers and adults alike spend on smartphones, tablets, and/or computers. Taking the time to read and removing myself from environments that are focused on electronics helped me realize

ACTION RESEARCH: MAKING TIME TO READ that. I have already resolved to limit my time and exposure to technology throughout the day unless it is for educational or academic purposes.

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ACTION RESEARCH: MAKING TIME TO READ References United States Department of Education, National Institute of Literacy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/naal/kf_demographics.asp

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