When students receive extra support with reading, our goal is not only that they become stronger readers, but that they feel cared for throughout the process. We want them to build skills and grow confidence and curiosity about reading. But how do students actually experience reading intervention, and how can educators help ensure that experience is positive and motivating?
A recent longitudinal case study of young students in Tier 2 intervention offers an important reminder: even from an early age, students have strong opinions and feelings about what reading support means to them, and those perceptions directly impact their motivation and progress (Erickson, 2022). As the researcher followed students across two years of pull-out intervention, she found that children weighed the perceived benefits (e.g., enjoyable activities, learning new things, recognition) against the perceived costs (e.g., missing their classroom community, facing tasks that felt too difficult, and reading materials that didn't interest them). When the “costs” felt heavier, engagement dropped—even when instruction was evidence-based and skillfully delivered. This underscores that strong instruction must foster both skill development and motivation to produce the best outcomes (Nevo & Nusbaum, 2020).
For teachers supporting striving readers in intervention settings across grades, awareness that students are constantly making this kind of cost-benefit analysis can be empowering. Motivation is not something students either have or don’t have—it is shaped by daily instructional choices. To help educators design instruction that students experience as an overall benefit, researchers offer the SMILE framework to highlight key dimensions of reading motivation that are helpful to keep in mind (Guthrie and Wigfield, 2017):
S – Sharing (Social Motivation): Students are often energized when reading connects them to others. Build in brief opportunities for collaboration, partner reading, discussion, or shared problem-solving—this will also help build community within your intervention group.
M – Me (Self-Efficacy): Help students believe they can grow as readers. Tools such as progress charts and fluency graphs make learning visible and reinforce that their effort leads to improvement.
I – Importance (Valuing): Students stay committed when they understand why the work matters. Make relevance explicit (“We’re practicing decoding and fluency so those long words don’t slow you down in science”), and connect reading to students' goals in school and beyond.
L – Liking (Intrinsic Motivation): Enjoyment supports persistence. Offer age-respectful, appealing texts—even when materials are controlled for readability—and give students choice where possible (e.g. what to read, which strategy to try, or how to show understanding).
E – Engagement (Active Involvement): Motivation grows when students are actively and regularly doing the work of reading. Offer interesting, diverse texts—books, articles, websites—at appropriate levels or with scaffolds, so students can access content that excites them.
As you intentionally apply the SMILE framework, remember that motivation grows when students feel heard. Quick exit tickets (“One thing that helped me today was...”/ “One thing I’d like to change is...”), brief check-ins, or anonymous surveys can reveal how students are experiencing intervention. Treat this feedback as information—not judgment—and adjust as needed so reading support feels like an opportunity rather than something students simply endure.
The most effective intervention doesn’t just address what students can’t do yet. When students experience intervention as a time and place where they feel capable, connected, and curious, we open doors not only to stronger outcomes, but to lifelong literacy and learning.
