By Brooke Thomas
Hello Busload of Books fans,

We are happy to report that our recent National Online Conference on September 26th was a hit! In today’s post, we wanted to highlight and recap one of the presentations that made our convening such a success: a keynote address given by Dr. Joy Erickson! Dr. Erickson is an assistant professor of Early Childhood Education at Endicott College, and her research primarily focuses on early childhood reading motivation and early childhood civic agency. Some of her recent work has been featured in a Kappan Online article titled, “Where is Motivation in the Science of Reading?"
Dr. Erickson’s keynote presentation, titled “Motivation Matters: If It Isn’t Part of the Plan, Make It One,” used scholarly literature, case studies, audience participation, and more to give those in attendance of the conference an interactive and thought-provoking experience.
During her interactive presentation, Dr. Erickson discusses her “why” for her research, explaining the idea of rejecting false dichotomies in education that motivation and building foundational skills are not related. She also prompts the audience to participate in answering questions such as, “Are you frustrated by the lack of attention paid to students’ reading motivation in PK-12 Science of Reading aligned programs?” and facilitated discussions using the responses given by audience participants. Dr. Erickson also encourages conference-goers, who are largely comprised of educators, to contribute to the scholarly literature surrounding children’s literacy motivations. To do so, she ends on a slide that reads, “Call to Action: Support Students’ Reading Motivation & Democratize the Literature at the Same Time!” and discusses the ways in which people can get involved in examining and reporting students’ motivation. To view Dr. Erickson’s slideshow, click here! There was also a Q&A at the end of the keynote address, allowing audience members to share their thoughts and ideas while hearing even more insight from Dr. Erickson, Robbi and Matthew, and the Busload of Books Research Team.
If you are interested in learning more about Dr. Erickson’s work, her website can be found here! If you would like to watch her keynote address, a recording of it will be posted on Robbi and Matthew’s YouTube channel. Click here to watch, we highly recommend it!
The key part that struck me was the slide that reads, "Read books that supported her (the student) in achieving her goal of being a forest ranger: “I want to read more books about woodland creatures so that I can learn more about them to be a forest ranger.”
My students do best when they choose what and how they read. Allowing that opportunity for them builds their intrinsic motivation.