This time of year can find many students lacking in motivation. Thankfully, there are many simple ways to spice up your Read Live or Encore program to keep your students engaged.

Success SignOne easy way to give students a motivation boost is to have them track the number of stories they complete each week. As they try to match or beat their score from the previous week, students are incentivized to put forth their best effort each day.

Similarly, last year we shared a sticker system developed by our educational consultant, Karen Hunter. Students affix a sticker to their folder each time they complete a story, giving them visual proof of their progress toward completion of the level. Karen observed that this visual proof and the simple act of sticking something to their folders gave students the extra boost they needed. Details on this system, as well as links to free resources, are available here.

Students are also motivated by their quiz and Wordtastic data. Keeping track of their scores encourages them to strive for improvement from story to story. In fact, many Read Live students are unaware of the detailed charts the program compiles on their story and quiz data. We’ve found that showing students these charts can be highly motivating.

As we posted here, our brains have been scientifically proven to work better when we’re motivated. That’s why the Read Naturally strategy’s progress monitoring system is so successful. Do you have additional ways to boost your students’ motivation? We’d love to hear your ideas!

To learn more about these charts, look at "Reviewing Student Work" in the Read Live User Guide.