1. Teaching Teen Readers:
A Top Ten Toolkit
Longwood Summer Literacy Institute
July 2011

2. Why is Adolescent Literacy Important?
• “Learning to read and reading to learn
are no longer seen solely as traditional
academic processes. To fully prepare students
for life now and in the future, educators need
to ask different questions:
– What will students need to know in order to
participate more fully in a technological world?
– To act as productive citizens?
– To become critical users of information? And
– To live high quality personal lives?”1

3. Reading is a SKILL
• National Center for Educational Statistics
(1997) “states that reading attitudes deteriorate
and voluntary reading drops as students
progress through school.”
• Students haven’t been taught to value books.
• Most students don’t describe themselves as
readers at all, let alone readers for life. 2

4. Reading Research
There is a co–relation between high youth literacy rates
and low crime rates, low unemployment and
dependence on social welfare, and low health care
expenditures. Similarly, high levels of adult literacy
are associated with higher levels of employment and
wages, lifelong learning activities, participation in
society, and level of health. A strong correlation has
even been found between literacy levels and the
likelihood of time spent in prison (National
Endowment for the Arts, 2007). 3

5. In other words….
•We need to teach
reading!
• These strategies offered here to help you with that.

6. Toolkit #1- Interest Inventory
• Allows you to see where their
interests lie and find reading
material that connects to that
child.
• Two types
–Teacher created
–Student self-assessments

7. Reading and Research Correlation
Sociological research of the digital divide has
suggested online research skills are often not well
developed among people who are online
(Hargittai, 2002). When it comes to university
students, especially beginning undergraduates,
they are typically content to make do with
simplistic “good enough” information search
strategies — ease of access to information often
continues to be more important than the
accuracy of that information (Currie, et al., 2010;
De Rosa, et al., 2006; Nicholas, et al., 2009;
Weiler, 2005). 3

8. Toolkit #2- Catalog Searching in the Library
• Collaborative lesson with
school librarian
Search strategies using OPAC
Practice search activity
Independent search activities
Self- Assessment4

9. Toolkit #3 – Shopping List
Collaborative Lesson with School Librarian.
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•
•
Shopping List sheet
School Librarian will pull books from all genres and reading levels
Reading Teacher and Librarian will model Previewing Books
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Title
Author/Illustrator
Dedication
Front Jacket Flap
Cover
CIP Page
Back Jacket
Chapter Titles
Interior Graphics2
Students fill out Shopping List

10. Toolkit #4 – Library Scavenger Hunt
Collaborative lesson with School
Librarian
• After completing the library catalog search activity and
shopping list, students are ready to explore the physical
plant that is the library.
• Students will complete a scavenger hunt to find books to
check out and create their Someday List.
• Self-assessment4

11. Toolkit #4 – Library Scavenger Hunt

12. Toolkit #5- Someday List/Recommendation
Lists
• Through the Shopping List and
Scavenger Hunt, students can create
a Someday List of books they might
want to check out.
• Book talks, read-ins, think-pair-share
activities allow students to share
ideas and books in a safe
environment.
• This can be done in the classroom
and/or library.

13. Toolkit #5- Someday List/Recommendation
Lists

14. Toolkit #6- Read-ins
Directions for read-in:
1.Select a book to read
2.Read for 5 minutes
3.Write on an index card something
new and interesting you read about.
4.Share something you learned from
the resource with others
5.Begin again with a new book

15. Toolkit #7- Book Talks
What is a book talk? Any
discussion held about a book. For
example, a teacher or librarian
who is trying to encourage others
to read a certain book.
Example of a student book talk.
Book talk rubric

16. Toolkit #8- Read Alouds
This isn’t your grandmother’s read aloud!!!
Interactive Read Aloud:
 Demonstrate your thinking out loud.
 Model specific reading strategies.
 Promote rich oral language and content area vocabulary.

17. Toolkit #9-Most Read Books Binder
We call it our Check It Out Binder!
Students record a rating and several comments
about a recently completed book.
Students use the book to help them find something
they might want to read.

18. Toolkit #10- Using Children’s Books to Inspire
Writing
1. Choose a story that relates to a topic of studyeither as an introduction or review.
2. Set the students up with an anticipatory set to
lead into the reading of the book
3. Read the book aloud to students
4. Introduce the writing assignment.
5. Resources for lessons:
1.
2.
3.
4.
CHILDREN'S LITERATURE OPENS DOORS TO MATHEMATICS
Steven Layne’s site
US History and Children's Literature
Specific Novel & Picture Book Activities

19. Bibliography
1. Ivey, Gay, and Douglas Fisher. Creating Literacy-rich Schools for
Adolescents. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development, 2006. Print.
2. Layne, Steven L. Igniting a Passion for Reading: Successful
Strategies for Building Lifetime Readers. Portland, ME:
Stenhouse, 2009. Print.
3. Cull, Barry. "Reading Revolutions: Online Digital Texts and
Implications for Reading in Academe." First Monday.
University of Illinois at Chicago, 6 June 2011. Web. 13 June
2011.
<http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/f
m/article/view/3340/2985>.
4. Harada, Violet H., and Joan M. Yoshina. Assessing for Learning:
Librarians and Teachers as Partners. 2nd Revised ed. Santa
Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2010. Print.

20. Thank you!
Jan Collins, Reading Specialist and Lori Donovan, NBCT School
Librarian
Thomas Dale High School
Chesterfield County Public Schools

21. Jan_Collins@ccpsnet.net
Lori_Donovan@ccpsnet.net