On the Independent Reader Channel

Switching Gears

It seems that this blog recently has gravitated to parents of children who are just beginning to read or who may not yet be readers.   That certainly is an important time.

However, this post will be devoted to those readers in 3-4th grade and beyond. One of the most common mistakes I see parents make is, when their child becomes an independent reader at some level, moving away from supporting their child as a reader.  Most of the time it's because the parent mistakenly believes that the child can now "do it on his/her own" and doesn't need anything further.

They Aren't Ready to Fly Solo

The truth is that children continue to mature as readers into their adult years.  In one manner of speaking, if we keep reading all our lives, we are constantly becoming better, deeper readers and thinkers.  That translates into better problem-solvers, more creative individuals and who wouldn't want that for their child?

Unique ways to support your older reader

The same strategies you use to encourage reading with a 5, 6 or 7 year old won't be very effective with a pre-teen or teen.  Think "what are they interested in?" and answer that question with a book, a magazine, an online resource.

Think about reading as a tool for life and ask yourself, "how can I help my child use this tool effectively?"

Practice and exposure to what they want to read is always important.

Dr. Steven Layne, one of my favorite researchers, reminds us all that we cannot forget to encourage reading for its pleasure, its interest.  Click on his name in the previous sentence to read more.

Lastly, the U.S. Department of Education has some good advise and, although their brochure Helping Your Child Through Early Adolescence isn't exclusively about supporting him/her as a reader, it does give some excellence tips in that area.

Looking for new titles?  Try these:

From the New York Times Chapter Books (January, 2011)
Chapter Books for Middle Readers 
Random House selections
Want to try something really new?  Check out Jon Scieszka's chapter books. 
Don't forget to visit my friends at the Reading Tub.

Happy reading!

A final P.S.  I'll be traveling next week to Springfield, IL for the Illinois Reading Council Conference.  If you know anyone who lives in that central part of Illinois or is planning to attend the convention (mostly educators and librarians), please let them know I'll be presenting 3/17/2011.

As always, comments about content or books are welcome!

Engaging Older Readers (3rd grade and up) With Personel Connections To What They Read

Personal connections aid in understanding a story, whether your child is the reader or the writer (a composer like these two fellows in the picture to the right).  I encourage families to find great books that connect to your child's a passion so they will show more interest in reading.  I know you've heard that from me before but it is worth repeating.  

When a reader makes personal connections to text, he then becomes part of the story, adding his or her own memories, ideas, experiences to that of the author. He moves from reading on the surface into deeper connection and the understanding (what teachers call "comprehension") goes through the roof.  

So How Do You Get Your Kids to Respond That Way To Reading?

Good authors like Willie Morris (author of My Dog Skip) give us a large hook to connect with.  Nearly everyone has experienced a pet and/or the loss of that friend sometime in our lives like he tells about in his book.  If your young person is more into baseball, skateboarding or jazz, try Under the Baseball Moon by John H. Ritter.  Have a youngster who likes history?  A Wish After Midnight is a combo historical fiction and time travel adventure that will hold them til the very end.   Relationships and self-image important?  Try Nothing But The Truth by Avi.  If you want to share an adult book with your teen, feel free.  The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba is an incredible real life story of inspiration.  Sharing books you are enjoying (as long as you are comfortable with the content) is a terrific way to connect.  The key is that

if we are going to expect our young people to be readers in the midst of all the possible distractions in this modern world, then we must give them an authentic, meaningful-to-them reason to do so.

Carve Out A Little Reading Time

Once you have a good selection for your child to choose from (and have involved him/or her in the selection process, pick one time a week (protected from interruptions and outside distractions) in which the whole family will spend time reading. I've got news for you; it may not be easy at first, especially if this isn't already a habit with your family.  However, it can start with as little as this once a week, 15 minute time slot, but think of ways to expand it into travel time in the car on the way to soccer, or home from school, time just before "lights out".  It may be easier for you to start on the weekends.

Set a goal 

Your goal over the course of the next 6 months is to move from one such time a week to two and then to three.  Don't try to jump in all at once, especially if your family isn't used to this dose of reading.  Find the balance for you but know that consistence is very important.  Also, pay attention to your family schedule, your children's extra-curricular activities and school homework level, etc. when considering that is reasonable for your family.

W\hat you will often find is that your children will actually enjoy themselves, the adults will feel the benefit of a little down "doing something all together" time, and you'll be fostering a habit for reading.  In the meantime, you'll also be giving your child a dose of practice (something we all need to do if we are to improve our skills whether it is in reading, exercising, riding a bike or playing a video game).

Of course, the earlier you begin this in terms of the ages of your children, the more they will value reading as a habit and valuable use of time so my advice to those of you with younger children is to start early.  Don't believe the myth that some children just won't be readers.  Every child needs to read and read strongly for information, pleasure and, yes, even escape.

If your family can only manage 15 minutes to start with, begin at that level.  The goal is for everyone to be reading something during that time.

Give Them Control

As you allow your children to make choices - sometimes assigned materials from school, but other times magazines, ebooks, Wii manuals on the latest interactive games, a novel or a "fact" (nonfiction) book -- anything as long as it is reading, you will all be gaining benefits.  If you and your family have invested in an IPOD Touch, a Kindle or a even laptop, the novelty of reading "online" might appeal to your children more than holding a traditional book.  

Especially if you haven't done this a lot in your household before and regular reading together wasn't a part of your earlier lives together, this can be a challenge to get started.  However, I assure you, with the proper approach, even those who are at first reluctant will come "on board".

Need a little jumpstart?  Maybe some of the reading is tandem (you and your young child read a book together while Dad and Junior are pouring over an article in the lates Sports Illustrated. Your example of being interested and excited is essential here:  any child will see through you if you are just biding time and not invested in the experience.  Yet, on the other hand, if you are involved and getting something out of the reading, your child will feed off that too. 

A few more ideas for this "everyone is reading" time:

1. Give your children cool, colorful post its or sticky arrows (or even colorful strips from junk mail or old funny paper panels with a dab of rubber cement on the edge - did you know that its temporary if you only put it on one paper surface?).  When they run across a word they don't know, can flag it, then skip over it, if they can get the meaning from the rest of the sentence.  Later, you can spend a few minutes exploring the definition and pronunciation of the word together. 

2.  Everyone has one "pass" to interrupt and share about something they are reading (a particularly juicy description that makes pictures in your head, reminds you of something that happened last week, or was just fall out funny.  Print a paper ticket or coupon to hand out at the beginning of the reading time if you like (click here for a template "Polar Express" train ticket).  As an extra incentive for your kids to do this, they can also earn points toward freedom from a chore for a day, a small monetary reward (a quarter or dollar), or a special trip to the ballpark with a parent.  Again, choose those rewards based on what is meaningful and desirable for YOUR kids.

3.  At the end, with five minutes to go, you can also do something teachers call, "turn and talk".  Pairing again two family members together, you "turn and talk", telling each other about the best part of what you read.  If you run over (and you just might), don't announce "time's up".  Let the conversations go on as long as they will.

Don't turn your family reading time into a quiz, drill and skill, where you are pummeling your child with questions, just to see if he or she understands what she read.  What a turn-off and they get enough of those at school.  Instead, pose questions like these in conversation so your children see that talking about books is a natural activity.  Let your child's answers and reactions lead you to the next question:

What is your phrase or word you related to most in the book you read?

Have you ever experienced the feeling those words described?

When and how?

Can you imagine what it would be like to .....

Why do you think he/she reacted that way?  How could he have reacted differently to the situation?  What would have to be different in the relationship between Willie and his dog (or family member or whomever the interaction or emotion is shared with) to change his reaction.'

So what?  What is the significance, the importance, of his reaction, interaction, response?

I am taking this from knowledge (what I call regurgitation of fact) up through Bloom's to analysis, synthesis, etc.

You and your family will be practicing higher level thinking skills without turning your home into a academic "hothouse".

Share, Share, Share

Come back to this blog after you try this experiment and post your results.  Share what you are already doing with your children in this regard and how you squeeze reading into busy lifestyles and schedules.  We'll all benefit when we learn from one another.

 

A last tidbit:  You don't have to do this "encouraging your child to be a reader" alone.  All this week,  my friends at the Reading Tub and many of their friends are blogging about reading and children in their Share A Story: Shape A Future Event.   You will also find fun giveaways. I'm going over there right now to jump in; won't you join me?

Happy Reading!

Starting your Tween's and Teen's New Year with Reading

Dropping in quickly to with a few tidbits for those with older, independent readers (ages 6-18).  The new Kindles, MP3 players and other devises make having books more affordable (under $10 most of the time) and portable.  Not able to afford a book reader?  Try audio downloads available as well.  Take advantage of the fact that your young person loves technology and consider one for them sometime this year. 

The local Huntsville/Madison County Public Library in my home of Huntsville, AL is loaning downloads of ebooks (a great idea).  Visit their site to see how they do it and share the idea with your local library too.

Remember when helping choose titles (really let the kids do the choosing) to gravitate to high interest and light topics for the everyday "recreational" reading you want to encourage.  Starting in middle school, kids get a lot of reading assignments at school but you want them to stay connected to the fun, the wonder, the draw of books that are "off that official list" and are chosen specifically by the end reader.  In fact, a friend of mine, Jim Cope of Kennesaw State University did a study several years ago in Georgia that revealed that choice was the major factor in whether older students continued to read past the "snuggle and cuddle stage" of reading with their families. 

Here are just a few titles to consider:

Young Adult: Fang by James Patterson
                     Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
                     Ana's Story:  A Journey of Hope by Jenna Bush

Tweens:         Long Shadows by Erin Hunter
                      So B. It by Sarah Weeks
                      Smiles to Go by Jerry Spinelli

Don't forget the importance of talking with your child about what they are reading - no drills, just good conversation.

Hope For Young Adult Readers - But We Adults Have to Be The Models

Since the last few posts on the blog have related to the younger set (and their families), it's time to go back to our more independent readers.  I just saw some terrific news from Publisher's Weekly:

While adult trade sales are expected to fall 4% this year, juvenile and young adult sales are expected to increase 5.1%, according to the PW/IPR Book Sales Index. Although it's impossible to completely break out juvenile from young adult (YA), it is possible to look at expected growth rates for different categories. In the fiction/fantasy/sci-fi segment, where most sales in the YA category fall, we expect nearly 13% growth in 2009, reaching $744 million. By 2013, sales in this segment are anticipated to hit $861 million, a 30.6% increase over 2008.

Wow!  In part, we have the growing popularity of Kindles and Ipods for reading books.  But families also play a particularly important role in whether children continue to read after the "snuggle and cuddle stage".

One of the big questions is:  what do teens and tweens want to read?  The Young Adult Library Association (part of the American Library Association) just this fall published a booklist made by teens.  Paper Towns by John Green tops the list.  It is the story of a bright, quiet kid and how he cares for a neighborhood girl.   Kirkus Reviews calls it, "genuine and genuinely funny".  Alicia Afterimage by Lulu Delacre is another great example of a book teens will want to read, this one dealing with grief.

What is most important for students once they leave the elementary school years is to have steady, open choices as to what they read.  The difference between students who read beyond what is required in the classroom and those who just read to "get by" is staggering.  One of the best ways to prepare your student for college (or life) is to encourage him to be a reader.

The reality is that parents can't control what your teen reads, so read a few books with controversial topics at the same time and discuss it with them.  Parents will find a ready (and surprisingly open) approach to talking about decision making and careful choices if they start by listening with an open mind.  And we all know how important communication and staying in touch with our growingly-independent man-child and woman-child is in these complex times.

Helping students carve out time to read what they are interested in and to grab it online or in print ideally starts with habits when they are young.  However, as children move into reading mostly as an independent person rather than reading together with an adult, often families stop supporting their child's reading.  They aren't sure what to do.  That's where the decline often begins.  It is important to remember that no reader is mature at third grade and that supporting them as a reader no longer means "having them practice for you".  There are many more layers of understanding and depth to be developed and encouraged. Continuing to provide a variety of reading opportunities in the home, thinking "quick reads" for those busy teens (including magazines, internet articles, links sent via email, Facebook, IM, etc.) is essential.

I believe that one reason the types of stories mentioned earlier are so powerful for teens to read is because they connect to what they are experiencing, what they are learning about life at a time when they are learning so much.  And that connection is critical, rather than a "you should read this" approach.

So do something different.  Ask your teen or tween what their latest passion is, what they are interesting in knowing more about.  You are sure to uncover a topic that you can support them reading about (or help them find a fascinating story with which to escape the challenges of the teen years if just for a little while).

Nurture their inner reader.

Helping Independent Readers Think About What They Read

I think this time we are on the "older reader" channel. Those of you with young children, read this too because you'll be here before you know it. I was reading a message from the President of the International Reading Association in Reading Today and was impressed with her comments about comprehension -- understanding what we read in more than just a "can I regurgitate simple facts" approach. She emphasized in her comments that it is most important that our children learn to think logically and deeply about what they read. Elizabeth Drew, an author who has written about Washington personalities in politics, says, "The true test of literature is, I suppose, whether we live more intently for the reading of it."

When was the last time your independent reader was moved by something he or she read? Certainly we don't need to be pressing "heavy-duty classics" on them all the time but reading text that makes us think is important. We need to exercise that "muscle" power in our brains to help our brains reach their potential. That's true for us as adults just as well as children.

How can you help your child learn to think about what he or she reads?

First, be interested. That may mean reading or re-reading the same novel they are in class and talking about it. I remember that when my son was reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, I re-read it myself. In turn, it made me want to read more written related to Harper Lee and Truman Capote (they were neighbors as children), especially since I had just seen a movie about Capote's life. I read his novel, In Cold Blood, for the first time and then Harper Lee's autobiography. All those three books together were a great study for me and I learned a lot about these authors and the period of time in which they wrote.

If you can't take time to read an entire novel, read a little at the first and ask your student to keep you up-to-date on what is going on with the story (a TV guide version, if you will, of each chapter). Don't make this a drill or lesson; just have a conversation about an interesting story.

When your student has trouble understanding assigned reading, there are two things you can do: first, read segments with him, stopping every couple of paragraphs or so to talk about the meaning behind the words (that's helpful sometimes with the antiquated language of Shakespeare). Secondly, find other, easier reading materials that help your student build some background knowledge for understanding the story. Sometimes there are simpler versions of Shakespeare's plays that use modern English. Reading it along with the original text can help. Both of these options mean that you have to make some commitment of time. Believe you me, it will be worth it for your student immediately (and it will be good for your brain too!). Beyond these immediate rewards, it will solidify your relationship with your child, something that is important to every parent. They see you investing time with them and it is meaningful.

Be a poser of questions - why is my favorite. If a simple statement is made, ask "why is that true?" or "why did that happen?" or "why did she do that"? Follow up with "would you have done the same?" Great readers are thinking, active, engaged individuals, experiencing the author's intent and drawing from it ideas that can appeal to, enhance and improve our own lives. Questions help us think about what we read.

And that's the true power behind reading, not what is on the page alone but what we take away from the page.

Reading Beyond the Snuggle and Cuddle Stage

Those of us who have older sons or daughters know that there is a transition, a growth in relationship after our children reach the stage where they don't want to cuddle close and feel "too old" to have stories read to them. A part of me misses that with my 19 year old.

But for parents of kids 3rd grade through high school. here are surefire tips to keep reading on the front burner:

1) Know your child's passion and make sure there is plenty of stuff (books, magazines, internet, anything) to read on that subject available in or around your home.

2) Understand that if your child says "I don't like to read" it is a signal that the reading animal within them needs some feeding. It can also be an admission (hidden in a defense mechanism) that they recognize they aren't very good at it. If your child is a good reader, then it's a flag to find that book that will turn him/her on. Pay attention to those signals.

3) Be an example. If your child never sees you using reading "as a tool for life", then why should he want to spend any time doing it? It must not be very important.

4) Get them hooked! Do whatever it takes (manuals for Nintendo games, fake fingernail "how to"s, sports or speciality magazines, the Internet) to keep your kids reading regularly. They need a dose every day outside of what they must read for attempt to read for school.

Resources to help keep your older kids reading:

http://www.Teenread.org

http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/showarticle/2722 - Improving Older Kids Speed and Comprehension

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/guide-for-dads-reading-aloud-to-older-kids.html - great ideas for Dads (yes, Dads) reading aloud with older offspring

http://www.abffe.com/bbw-booklist-detailed.htm - Forbid your teen to do something and he/she is likely to want to. Reading "the forbidden" can give you and your child a unique opportunity to talk about choices and lifestyles. It's better than limiting them.

http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/childrens/hilobib.html - lower reading level books with high interest for older kids (from the Monroe County (IN) Public Library).

http://www.stonearchbooks.com/ - I've reviewed several of this publisher's books and find them all very engaging for good and struggling older readers.

http://www.plcmc.org/bookhive/ - one of the best public library sites for young and older kids in Charlotte, NC

http://www.thereadingtub.com - great book reviews for kids, has areas devoted to middle and upper elementary. My article "Guided Reading At Home (Part II is best for parents of older readers) is available at http://www.thereadingtub.com/pdfs/our_guided_reading_set.pdf.

Don't forget to check out these great books for kids aged 10 and older:

The Desperado Who Stole Baseball by John H. Ritter
Deadline by Chris Crutcher
Jefficoe Road - by Melina Marchetta
Three Cups of Tea by Gre Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Last ideas:

Pack books when you go to the beach, when you are traveling to the mountains, there is always down time. Substitute some TV time (not your child's favorite shows) with reading. One friend of mine had her kids "earn" TV or computer time by reading, but they could read ANYTHING they wanted. They had to show not only how many pages or minutes were read but give evidence that they did read (what was it about, details, what did you think, what did you learn, etc.) Great dinner conversation, especially if the parents have to follow the same rule!

Enjoy reading and discussing reading with your older children. It is guaranteed to keep you close! If you missed my interview with Allen Cardoza of Answers4theFamily.com (LATalkRadio.com), you can listen to the podcast by the same name as this post at http://latalkradio.com/Allen.php. Just scroll down in the archive until you find the June 8th show.