YA Lit Builds Better Readers
Okay, you caught me. I exaggerated.
A (slightly) more accurate statement would be:
90 minutes a day of student-selected in-school reading builds better readers.
In his book, What Really Matters for Struggling Readers, Richard Allington states:
A (slightly) more accurate statement would be:
90 minutes a day of student-selected in-school reading builds better readers.
In his book, What Really Matters for Struggling Readers, Richard Allington states:
It seems clear from these studies that the volume of daily in-school reading many struggling readers routinely experience is below an optimum level. So how much daily in-school reading might we plan for? I would suggest that 1½ hours of daily in-school reading would seem a minimum goal given the data provided in the various studies," (Allington 54).
In their survey of urban adolescent readers, Sandra Hughes-Hassell and Pradnya Rodge also found that giving students time to read during the school day was critical. Hughes-Hassell and Rodge encourage educators:
Give students time during the school day to read. This is particularly important for economically disadvantaged urban students who often have to work to improve financial conditions at home and may not have a place or the resources to read texts of their choice outside of school (Fisher, 2004). Sustained silent reading programs have been found effective with at-risk students if they are thoughtfully designed and consistently implemented over a sustained period of time (Fisher, 2004;Worthy, Turner, & Moorman, 1998). Key factors include professional development for teachers, access to a wide variety of appealing reading materials, follow up activities that encourage further voluntary reading, modeling by teachers and administrators, informal accountability, and time to read (Fisher, 2004; Pilgreen, 2000)," (Hughes-Hassell and Rodge).
While Hughes-Hassell and Rodge focused their survey on urban readers, the reality is that many students (urban and otherwise) are economically disadvantaged, and may lack the time to read, or the access to their preferred reading materials. Peer pressure may also discourage students from reading outside of school. As teen writer Anthony Turner notes, "Recently I was 'caught' reading at McDonald's by a group of kids at my school. I say 'caught' because many of my peers consider reading to be a lame activity. They think it's something that only geeks do" (Turner).
Clearly, educators (and administrators) need to provide time for reading in school. But Hughes-Hassell and Rodge note that time spent reading in school is not enough, and implore educators to
Find out what [students] are passionate about. As we invite urban adolescents to read, we must remain open to their reading interests by providing and promoting the reading materials about topics that are of interest to them. As Allington (1994) pointed out, personal interest 'remains the most potent factor in the development of reading processes' (p. 21)," (Hassell-Hughes and Rodge).
In their survey, Hassell-Hughes and Rodge found that:
These topics, as well as many of the other topics Hassell-Hughes and Rodge asked about, feature heavily in young adult literature. As Groenke and Scherff state in their book, Teaching YA Lit through Differentiated Instruction, "when adolescents have the opportunity to make choices about what they read, access to young adult literature, and time to read, they will read" (Groenke and Scherff xiv).
So let's give students choice. Let's give them access to young adult literature, and time to read in class. Let's give all students the best possible chance to become strong readers (and enjoy the journey). Because reading is not just a necessary life-skill, a key to independence, or a fun hobby: it may also make us into better people.
- 43% of teens surveyed indicated that they liked to read about "People/characters like me,"
- 42% liked to read about "People my age who have done some cool or amazing things," and
- 35% liked to read about "People/characters my age who are wrestling with tough issues, like drug abuse or crime" (Hughes-Hassell and Rodge).
These topics, as well as many of the other topics Hassell-Hughes and Rodge asked about, feature heavily in young adult literature. As Groenke and Scherff state in their book, Teaching YA Lit through Differentiated Instruction, "when adolescents have the opportunity to make choices about what they read, access to young adult literature, and time to read, they will read" (Groenke and Scherff xiv).
So let's give students choice. Let's give them access to young adult literature, and time to read in class. Let's give all students the best possible chance to become strong readers (and enjoy the journey). Because reading is not just a necessary life-skill, a key to independence, or a fun hobby: it may also make us into better people.
An Important Note To Remember:
Teens are not all the same.
Not every student is going to love young adult literature.
Not every student is even going to like it.
But most students will.
Most students will find YA books that they care about, with characters that remind them of themselves (or their friends, or their siblings, or even their parents). And many students will find a genre, an author, or a series. They'll discover Ellen Hopkins's books, and not know what to do with Hopkins's dizzying, shape-shifting narrative poetry, but they won't care that they've never seen a novel look like that before because they'll devour every last word. There will be kids who'll gobble down Zusak's The Book Thief, and cry their eyes out practically every other page but still not be able to put the book down, because they know that what they're feeling is real, and that, in the end, it will be a good hurt. And there will be kids who find Walter Dean Myers, and read every single one of his books because they looked at the main characters and said, "That's me."
Most students will think about the books they read and keep thinking about them, turning them over and over in their minds. "I wanna write like that." "I wanna live like that." "I didn't know that someone else thought that way." "I didn't know sex could be like that. That's never what it looks like in the movies." "I didn't know I wanted that." "What if?"
And for these students, the YA books they read won't just be stepping stones to the next Lexile level - they will be the books that induct them into life-long reading. Some of those books will become fond memories and dear friends. That's pretty much what happened to me.
And for the students who don't like YA lit, let's get them access to the reading materials they do like. Simple as that.
Not every student is going to love young adult literature.
Not every student is even going to like it.
But most students will.
Most students will find YA books that they care about, with characters that remind them of themselves (or their friends, or their siblings, or even their parents). And many students will find a genre, an author, or a series. They'll discover Ellen Hopkins's books, and not know what to do with Hopkins's dizzying, shape-shifting narrative poetry, but they won't care that they've never seen a novel look like that before because they'll devour every last word. There will be kids who'll gobble down Zusak's The Book Thief, and cry their eyes out practically every other page but still not be able to put the book down, because they know that what they're feeling is real, and that, in the end, it will be a good hurt. And there will be kids who find Walter Dean Myers, and read every single one of his books because they looked at the main characters and said, "That's me."
Most students will think about the books they read and keep thinking about them, turning them over and over in their minds. "I wanna write like that." "I wanna live like that." "I didn't know that someone else thought that way." "I didn't know sex could be like that. That's never what it looks like in the movies." "I didn't know I wanted that." "What if?"
And for these students, the YA books they read won't just be stepping stones to the next Lexile level - they will be the books that induct them into life-long reading. Some of those books will become fond memories and dear friends. That's pretty much what happened to me.
And for the students who don't like YA lit, let's get them access to the reading materials they do like. Simple as that.