Hilary Kemp

SEED 4503

Bean, T. W. (2002). Making reading relevant for adolescents. Educational Leadership,

60(3), 34-37.

Summary:

This article discusses the need for students to do more recreational reading. It has been found that “time spent reading correlates with academic success, vocabulary development, standardized test performance, attitudes toward additional reading, and the development of world knowledge.” This article contends that students often do not wish to participate in recreational reading because they can see no connection between this and their lives.

According to the author, students are often bored with the reading assigned in class because it often does not address interests. If teachers can make connections between students’ lives and reading assignments, the students would be more interested and more likely to read on their own. A way to make these connections, as mentioned in this article, is through young adult novels. The author suggests having the students read a young adult novel that has elements of the subject being taught and then have the students read the subject material. In this way, students’ will be better able to understand assignments and be more interested in them. It is also suggested that students keep journals with reading responses. These can serve as a foundation for later student discussions.

Application:

I found this article to be interesting, but this type of program could be difficult to implement. In one scenario, enough books would have to be bought to furnish the class, so that the students would be able to discuss the book. This could result in budget problems. Another option would be to buy only a couple of books and have the class split into groups according to the number of books available. As each group finishes the book, another group can start reading while the first discusses. This can turn into a problem because the students are all at different points in the scheduled curriculum. Some will be behind while others will be finished and waiting or moving on to something else. Perhaps I misunderstood the ways to implement these programs, but from my point of view, they have idealized this situation without addressing logistics. However, I do see how this approach can boost student interest in reading. Perhaps teachers could suggest books in students’ various interest areas, and then have them report back about their reading and how it ties into the content area of the class.