ERIC ED333362: Encouraging Your Junior High Student To Read.

33 Pages·1991·0.7 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
CS 010 620
ED 333 362
Shefelbine, John
AUTHOR
Encouraging Your Junior High Student To Read.
TITLE
ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication
INSTITUTION
Skills, Bloomington, IN.; Internatlonal Reading
Association, Newark, Del.
Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED),
SPONS AGENCY
Washington, DC.
REPORT NO
ISBN-0-87207-168-5
PUB DATE
91
RI88062001
CONTRACT
NOTE
33p.
Parent Boollets, International Reading Association,
AVAILABLE FROM
800 Barksdale Rd., P.O. Box 0139, Newark, DE
19714-8139 ($1.75 prepaid); ERIC Clearinghouse on
Reading and Communication Skills, Indiana University,
2805 E. 10th St., Suite 150, Bloomington, IN
47408-2698 ($1.75).
Guides - Non-Classroom Use (055) -- Information
PUB TYPE
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EDRS PRICE
*Indepeadent Reading; Junior High Schools; *Junior
DESCRIPTORS
High School Students; Learning Activities; *Parent
Child Relationship; Parent Influence; *Reading
Attitudes; Reading Habits; *Recreational Reading;
Supplementary Reading Materials
*Reading Motivation
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
This booklet shares ideas, guidelines, and
suggestions to help parents of junior high school students help their
children read more and derive more pleasure from reading. The booklet
focuses on the "why's" and "how to's" of two central issues in
promoting reading for pleasure: supplying a wide variety of
interesting reading materials, and making time to read. Following an
introduction and a section on how to use the booklet, the booklet is
composed of five sections: (1) "Why Reading for Pleasure Is
Important"; (2) "General Guidelines for Parents"; (3) "Finding Time";
(4) "Gathering a Variety of Interesting Materials"; and (5)
"Encouraging Reading for Pleasure: It's Worth the Effort." Lists of
sources for parent's reading and of resources for parents from the
International Reading Association conclude the booklet. (SR)
***********************************************************************
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
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from the original document.
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS
Office of Educational Research and improvement
BY
MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
CENTER (ERIC)
tf
This document has been reproduced as
received fro., the parson or organization
originating it
0 Minor changes have been made to improve
reproduction quality
I
Points of view or opinions stated on this docu
merit do net necessarily represent official
RESOURCES-
TO l'HE EDUCATIONAL
9
OERI position or policy
INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."
IRA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Judith N. The len, Frostburg State University, Frostburg, Maryland, President
Marie M.
Clay, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, President Elect
Doris Roettger,
Heartland Area Education Agency, Johnston, IA, Vice President
Joan F. Curry, San Diego
State University, San Diego, California
Daniel R. Hittleman, Queens College, City
University of New York, Flushing, New York
Mary D. Marockie, Regional Education
Service Agency VI, Wheeling, West Virginia
Joy N. Monahan, Orange County Public
Schools, Orlando, Florida
Donna M. Ogle, National-Louis University, Evanston,
John J. Pikulski, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware
Illinois
Kathryn Ann
Ransom, Springfield Public Schools, Springfield, Illinois
Pehr-Olof Rönnholm, Cygnaeus
School, Thrku, Finland
Richard T. Vacca, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
Peter K.
Mitchell, Jr., Executive Director
The International Reading Association attempts, through its publications, to provide a forum
for a wide spectri, n of opinions on reading. This policy permits divergent viewooints without
assuming the endo sernent of the Association.
ERIC/RCS
Director Carl B. Smith
The ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills (acs) is sponsored by the
Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education:ERIC/RCS
gathers and disseminates information in areas related to language arts and mass
communication under DE contract No. iu 88062001. Contractors undertaking such projects
under government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their judgment in
professional and technical matters. Points of view or opinions, however, do not necessarily
represent the official view or opinions of the Office of Educational Research and
Improvement.
Copyright 1991 by the
International Reading Association, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Shefelbin,l, John.
Encouraging Your Junior High Student to Read / John Shefelbine.
cm.
p.
Includes bibliographical reference
I. Title.
I. Vision disorders in children.
90-4823
RE48.2.C5B48
1991
cip
618.92'0977 dc213
ISBN 0-87207-1681(pbk. )
Photo credits:
Freelance Photo, page 14, page 23;
Gail Denham, cover; Larry Cumpton, page 7:
CLEO
Paul Pavlik, page 19; Michael Siluk, page 27
Encouraging Your
Junior High Student
to
Read
I begin with a true confession. When I was a kid, I didn't
read much. I preferred building forts and climbing trees.
My brother Hank, on the other hand, read all the time. So
why, you might ask, am I writing about reading when I did
remember my rather-not-read ex-
so little of it. Well, I still
periences. That makes me an authority, I guess.
As the title says, I'd like to talk with you about encour-
aging our junior high students to read. (I say "our" because
high.) If your family is at all
my youngest child is in junior
like ours, you might be thinking, "Please! Our life is too
complicated already. We have a hard enough time fitting in
homework, music, sports, and pet care with our busy work
and school schedules. And then there's laundry." That's
how I feel, especially when I am stuck in traffic while car-
pooling kids to a lesson we're already late for.
Still, for reasons that I shall give later, reading for ?lea-
of junior high students' lives.
sure can be an important part
And rather than being yet another duty or burden, plea-
actually can add some joy and peace to our
sure reading
3
4
children's world (as well
as to our own). If this sounds a bit
corny and too good to be true, read on.
Books and Time
I remember the first time
we worried that our kids
weren't reading enough. It
was shortly after one of the
hamsters had babies. We didn't know she
was pregnant;
in fact, we didn't even know "it" was a she. At that point,
we wished we had done some reading about hamsters.
According to their second and third grade teachers,
our
daughters Sarah and Anna read quite well. We certainly
knew they liked being read to,
an activity we had some-
how managed to fit into
our busy lives from the time they
were babies. Still, my wife, Janet, and I wanted them to
read more on their
own.
We decided on a two-part plan. First,
we changed our
library routine. We continued going
every week or two,
but instead of our usual 2 to 10 books,
we now carted off
40 to 50. In fact, we brought along
grocery sacks. (Wagons
were not allowed.) Why so many? At the ages of 8 and 7,
Sarah and Anna liked to read shorter books,
many of
which had been read to them
over the years. Usually,
they'd go through at least 2 books before
we even got
home from the library. We also wanted to be
sure that
they had plenty to choose from, in
case 1 or 2 were not
that interesting.
Second, we changed their bedtime from 8:30 to 7:30.
"By the way; we added, "you can keep your lights on until
8:30 if you want to readr Ordinarily, such a big change in
rules might lead to a revolt, but the girls readily accepted
this new routine. It helped that they were still young and
that our 13-inch black-and,white TV was less than a major
attraction. Most of all, it helped that reading the books
was that
from the grocery bags was fun. The glorious result
they started to read a lot more. (I admit that
we now had a
new worry, but it was a minor one: how to find all those
books at the end of every two weeks.)
This all happened 10 years ago. Sarah is in college,
and Anna is in high school. Encouraging reading for plea-
sure seems more complicated now, especially for Rachel,
4
initial
who is in junior high. We've had to go beyond our
grocery-sack/lights-on approach, but the same two con-
continued to be of central importance in pro-
cerns have
wide variety of
moting reading for pleasure: (1) supply a
interesting books and materials and (2) make time
to read.
How to Use This Booklet
about books and
In this booklet, I share some ideas
Mostly, these ideas are
time and about other related topics.
high school students
guidelines to help parents of junior
pleasure
help their children read more and derive more
applica-
from reading. (By the way, this information also is
ble to children in elementary school.)
family or to
Not every suggestion applies to every
high youngster. So, the most important guide-
every junior
high chil-
line of all is this: We need to know our junior
and their
dren their interests, their outside activities,
personalities.
they were
Important changes have taken place since
living in each
little kids. Someone new and different is now
reacquainted
of our homes. If we take the time to become
booklet will have a spe-
with our children, the ideas in this
situations. Good
cial meaning for each of us in our unique
reading will follow naturally.
6
5
.. i
Why Reading for Pleasure Is Important
Parents often hear that students need to read outside
of school. But you may not be sure exactly why this kind
of reading is so necessary. You also may not know how im-
portant a role you play in encouraging your junior high
student's reading.
How do people become good readers? The traditional
beliefs are that students learn to read in school, where they
master reading skills taught by teachers. Some parents feel
that, excluding homework, their youngsters do whatever
reading is necessary during school hours. In fact, these
views do not accurately represent how students learn to
read well.
Practice Makes Perfect
Junior high students who are good readers read a great
deal outside of school. They read well not just because they
have been taught well and have completed their assign-
ments but also because they read often, on their own, and
for pleasure. Lessons with a teacher are not enough when
learning to play the piano; hours of practice on the family
piano at home are required. A physical education class at
school will not produce a first-string basketball player.
Afternoons and evenings under the backyard hoop also
for reading.
are needed4 The same is true
Let's face it: There are enormous differences in how
much students read. According to one estimate, some read
words a year while others read as few as
over 10 million
100,000 words. That means that some students "practice"
reading over a hundred times more than others, year after
readers. Many parents
year. No wonder some are better
think that good readers are good because they are born
smart. I'm saying they are good in part because they read a
lot. We parents can intervene and directly contribute to
school by encouraging reading,
our children's success in
reading, and more reading.
6
a
ft
OM, -
Reading for pleasure can help students succeed in school.
School
Wide Reading Contributes to Success in
Let me be more specific about the ways in which read-
and academic
ing for pleasure can improve reading ability
success:
This
Students learn to recognize more words "at sight:'
comprehen-
increases their reading rate, fluency, and
sion.
by fig-
Students improve their vocabulary knowledge
words they come
uring out the meanings of unknown
This is a major source of vocabulary
across in books.
growth, particularly for students who read widely over
Vocabulary knowledge contributes to
many years.
of
reading comprehension and is an important part
the
achievement tests, college entrance tests such as
SAT, and IQ tests.
lan-
Students increase their knowledge of academic
that
form of language used in school books
guage a
differs from the language of everyday conversation. For
example, the sentences in books tend
to be longer and
more complex. Familiarity with this "book language"
improves comprehension, learning from textbooks,
and school writing.
Students learn about the world through their book
"experiences!' Their minds travel
to other realms of
knowledge; their imaginations make the
new informa-
tion their own. This book knowledge of the world dra-
matically improves reading comprehension and
academic ability.
Personal Growth and Enjoyment
The benefits of reading
are not merely academic. The
benefits listed below
are equally significant:
al Junior high is a difficult time of personal, physical, and
social growth. Students struggle with being popular
something that can be
as burdensome when they are
popular as when they aren't. In junior high, friend-
ships often
are no more dependable or longlasting
than preteen dress fads. Reading, especially reading
sto-
ries about other kids facing similar problems,
can help
students feel less isolawd and less insecure. Reading
can give them ideas and strategies for making this per-
iod of their lives
more enjoyable and productive. Read-
ing and discussing books about adolescence
may help
our children reveal concerns and feelings similar to the
ones experienced by the characters in the stories.
Some junior high students in Texas
wrote:
Having not too many friends, books
gave me ideas [that]
friends would....
A book is a friend in paper.
I read so much because I didn't know
anyone.
Reading for pleasure can and should be a major leisure-
time activity. Encouraging reading during junior high
can help establish rewarding habits ancl interests that
9
will continue through high school and adulthood.
I really love to read. It's kind of a stress release for me.
Reading Outside School Is Necessary
Wide reading is not just nice, good, worthwhile, or ad-
visable. For many reasons, this kind of reading is just plain
reading is an
necessary. So, for me as a parent, promoting
important responsibility. I feel that parents need to take
this issue seriously. Getting our junior high students to
read more takes time and effort. We may have to change
Simply expecting, or asking for,
some of our own routines.
enough. We need to develop a
more reading usually is not
workable plan and consistently follow it over a long period
of time, all of which brings us to the real purpose of this
booklet! What can you and I do besides just telling our
children, "Go read a book!"
General Guidelines for Parents
This booklet is about encouraging our children to
read. According to my dictionary, encourage means 1. to
by as-
inspire with courage or confidence; 2. to stimulate
sistance or approval. Confidence, approval, and assimnce
persuading students to read more.
are key words in
A
Being Confident
the
As parents, we need to be confident both about
ability to
necessity of reading outside school and about our
students
change how much our children read. Junior high
good at reading how parents really feel
are particularly
of read-
about an issue. If we are unsure about the necessity
be
ing, or if we doubt that reading habits and interests can
of
strengthened, our youngsters will sense our own lack
behave accord-
certainty and commitment, and they will
well
ingly. Some may even test us in ways known only too
9