Reluctant Readers in High School

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Reluctant Readers in High School

• Jim Greenlaw

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Introduction

• We need to teach all teens how to read well.
  Helping adolescents to access their background
  knowledge, predict, recognize textual conventions
  and structures, respond affectively, etc., are
  strategies which all readers, not just reluctant
  ones, need to practice.

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Topics of Discussion

• Profiles of reluctant readers
• Programs that address the problem
• Resources
• A sample Reluctant Reader Unit - Wish You Well

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Natural Readers

• For teenagers who are natural readers, reading is
  often intensely social.
• There are arid spells even for the most avid of
  readers.
• Finding the right book is difficult, but key to
  sustained reading.
• Reading books in a series is typical.
• Trash and treasure coexist for readers.
• Reading serves a variety of purposes escape,
  solace, entertainment, etc.
• High school reading is rarely meaningful.
• Cultural and gender attitudes affect reading
  choices.

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Profiles of Reluctant Readers

• Take two minutes to jot down a brief description
  in point form of a reluctant reader your are
  currently teaching or one who stands out in your
  memory from last year.
• Then, working with the person sitting next to
  you, describe the characteristics of your
  reluctant reader.

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Profiles of Reluctant Readers Before Reading

• reluctantly approach or resist reading tasks
• possess limited background knowledge
• inconsistently recall or use background knowledge
  
• read without a clear purpose
• read without considering how to approach the
  material
• set minimal or no goals

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Profiles of Reluctant Readers During Reading

• possess a limited attention span
• need guidance for reading tasks
• possess a limited vocabulary
• do not consistently apply word attack skills
• read word-by-word, lack fluency
• do not monitor their comprehension
• do not perceive organizational structures
• read everything at the same rate, often very
  slowly
• read to get done

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Profiles of Reluctant Readers During Reading

• use a limited number of strategies or repeat
  their mistakes
• give up when reading is difficult or
  uninteresting
• get only pieces rather than integrating
  information
• do not ask relevant questions
• often do not create mental images as they read
• do not realize and/or know what to do when they
  do not understand
• do not recognize important vocabulary
• do not use context clues

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Profile of Reluctant Readers After Reading

• forget or mix-up information
• only look for "the answer" and give verbatim
  responses
• do not read outside of school
• feel success is unattainable, a result of luck
• rely on the teacher for information
• express negative feelings about reading
• avoid reading at all costs

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Reader Response Theory

• In the 1930s Louise Rosenblatt developed a theory
  of reader response in which she pointed out that
  students must be engaged with the text in order
  for it to make sense to them. Her formula to
  describe this transaction between the reader and
  the text is
• Reader Test Poem
• She also observed that students read for two
  purposes, to gain information from text and to
  gain pleasure from the reading process. She uses
  the word efferent to describe informational
  reading and esthetic to describe pleasurable
  reading. We should be clear on how to enhance
  both the students efferent and esthetic
  transactions with texts.
• To appreciate how the readers background
  knowledge or schema influences the reading
  process, lets read the short story together
  titled Ordeal by Check.

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Wish You Well by David Baldacci

• Young Adult Novel about a 13-year-old girl named
  Lou Cardinal and her 8-year-old brother, Oz, who
  move to Virginia after their father dies in a car
  accident.
• Exciting historical fiction and problem novel set
  in 1940 which raises many social issues and deals
  with family and racial conflict.
• Other characters include Diamond (Jimmy), Cotton,
  Louisa, Amanda, Eugene, and George.

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All America Reads Activity

• In pairs, take ten minutes to attempt one of the
  reading activities from the All America Reads
  package.
• Provide a one-minute summary to the larger group
  of how your task worked and what you thought of
  its potential as a teaching strategy.