Page 65 - Reading Nest - The Supportive Literacy Environment Handbook

Good company and good example

Autonomous motivation is based on competence, autonomy and connection (Ryan and Deci,

2008). Autonomy in the nest is ensured by the child being allowed to choose what to do in it
and how, and these choices give the child a sense of autonomy – they can explore and create

the texts which are of interest and challenging, but the connection is ensured by good

company.

Principles of the mental environment of the nest include:

Example and joy from collaboration – both from peers and teachers. Parents, authors and

people with interesting professions could be invited to the nest, for example a footballer, actor

or chef could talk about their favourite books.

In many a case lifelong friendship with books is sparked by a single event, by an example of

an important person. For many children it is a kindergarten or class teacher whose opinion
matters and with whom a child would like to resemble. For another child the driving force is

a visitor, e.g. famous athlete or a friend’s father, who comes to visit, reads an extract from his

childhood favourite book and talks about how “travelling with native Americans” in his teens
helped him to cope with defeat as a professional athlete and build up mental strength for great

victories.