Reading: Ages 15+
Reading Aloud to Teens
Today's
Snack: Let's have a snack that's as loud as possible to eat, since we're
talking about reading aloud. How about a bowl full of crunchy celery sticks?
Then gulp down a big glass of fruit juice as loudly as you can.
--------------------
Supplies:
Read All
About It! by Jim
Trelease
Teachers already know that it's a good idea to read
aloud to adolescents. You can add a lot of drama and interest to great works of
literature, and get their interest. You can bring alive difficult or same-old,
same-old material in history, math and science with short bouts of read-aloud
material.
It's not "babyish," and it's being done in Advanced
Placement classes just as much as in remedial classes for dropout prevention,
and in juvenile detention centers for teens hoping to blend back into school.
Now it's time for parents of
adolescents, and people who work with teens in after-school programs, to pick
up on this trend.
And here's a secret that might
encourage them:
TEENAGERS LOVE TO BE READ TO!
There's just something nice about
having someone take the time to read to you, and add their own stamp of humor,
drama and interest to make the material come alive for you.
Read-alouds are especially helpful
for "reluctant readers," or students who are reading below grade-level and not
really in the habit of reading for fun. The truth is, they probably have a
"listening vocabulary" that is every bit as big as an honor student's. Those
two types of vocabulary - words you understand when you hear them vs. words you
understand when you read them - usually don't merge into the same list until
the end of eighth grade or so.
As with anything else in life, reading is an
"accrued" skill. The more you do it, the better you get at it. Teenagers who
aren't doing so well in reading probably weren't read to as much as other kids.
The more they can be read to now, the faster they'll catch up to their age
peers.
It's just that, quite often, kids who are not
excelling in English class aren't able to decode complex, unfamiliar words very
fast, and so they quickly fall behind. And much of the material in classrooms
is too tough for them to read. So they associate reading with difficulty and
failure.
But when they are read TO by someone
else, they can gain the content. And all the comprehension help that comes from
being read to is still working to improve their reading skills - fluency,
comprehension, vocabulary - it's all going on.
So whether you're an adolescent, a
youth-serving professional, a parent or a teacher, you might want to get a copy
of read-aloud expert Jim Trelease's book, Read
All About It! containing stories, poems and newspaper pieces that are
perfect for the older student reader. It's an "anthology," or collection, of
the types of things people loved to read when they were about that age. It
contains interesting details about each author, and really makes you feel like
you're sitting on their porch with them, visiting with them.
And isn't that what books are
supposed to be about? Books are a two-way street, and reading aloud to
teenagers is a great way to help them make that connection.
