I
would like to preface this review with the information that I love
reading, my daughter loves reading, my stepson loves reading,
however, in my previous life – prior to unplugging – I worked and
volunteered in schools, mostly with kids who were wrongly diagnosed,
grossly neglected by and often tortured through the system and more
often than not HATED reading. I feel reading is the most important
skill for a successful life. Reading opens minds to worlds without
limits, breaks through any restrictions, and allows true freedom from
everything, so when I was contacted to review Motivating
Teen and Preteen Readersby
Jeffrey Pflaum, I was really excited to delve into something that
might help those who have no interest in reading.
The outline
of the program that Pflaum puts forth is this -
- 4 books of questions on reading and reading life
- students answer questions on a schedule spread out over a course of a year and then discuss answers
- brief teacher/parent raps and mini-discussions examine the experience of reading
- class or 1:1 discussions bring out reading-world encounters and ideas
- evaluations follow up each set
The list of
goals that Pflaum lays out on pages 6-8 are somewhat inspiring and
include -
- Motivate, reading by heightening understanding of its processes.
- Reveal the power of the written, spoken and imagined word.
- Define reading as a process of self-communication.
- Deepen students' understanding of reading's affective side.
- Create confident, intrinsically motivated, effective, independent, lifelong readers.
Throughout
the first few sections of the book, I felt there were a number of
contradictions that I had a difficult time getting past. The author
seems to illustrate that these books of questioning techniques will
boost adolescents' motivation to read, but he states that motivation
for reading must be intrinsic. My question to the author is,
"How are these extrinsic questions going to bring about a
self-motivating drive?" A quote from page 1 "Reading in the
2000s is functional: to get grades on standardized tests." may
seem to be taken out of context, but shortly there after Pflaum
states "They [the questions] motivate students to make sense of
reading and realize that testing is only a small part." p. 8.
This leads me to wonder the actual intent of the book - is it to
increase test scores or to create an interest for teens to read?
I am uncertain as to whether it is about essay writing and expression
of experiences than actual useful tips to help teens WANT to read.
The four
books of questions - which by the way are actually all included in
this compilation - are comprised of questions which are suppose
to make the reader enjoy reading more by teaching them "fundamental
prerequisite skills or tools needed to enjoy reading and learning".
After looking over the questions I could picture was a class full of
high schoolers rolling their eyes at these touchy feely questions -
- How cool and calm are you when you are reading? Explain your answer.
- Do you enjoy the solitude and silence of reading and your reading life? Explain your answer.
- When is reading sweet peace for you?
Again I am no
expert in this area, but my 14 year old daughter said it rather
eloquently when she stated - "You just need to find a book genre
that you like and read." To me this is the quintessential
solution - let kids read what they want to read when they want to
read it. Many kids hate to read because they are forced to
regurgitate the information to pass a test. They are made to
feel inferior if they cannot read at the same time or earlier than
kids their own age. They don't connect with the book because they see
it as "work". They have no time to read for "fun"
because they have homework and sports and dance and even over the
summer they have stacks of books that MUST be read by the fall. While
I don't want to say that ALL home educated kids like to read, I have
never met one who doesn't.
When kids
aren't rushed, prodded and ordered to read restricting possibilities,
content and given strict timelines, they tend to have that intrinsic
motivation that Pflaum mentions naturally. This is just another
approach to the same end, get the kids to write so they can pass the
test. I don't mind offering the advice of my young sage!
I'm
interesting in learning from the author during his upcoming interview
with Unplugged Mom, whether the intent of the book is to "teach
the test" or to motivate a true love of reading and appreciation
of literature. I look forward to the opportunity to hear
from him. ----
Updated–
Nov. 15, 2011
After
listening to Pflaum's interview on UMRadio, I feel like he has the
best intentions, but the ideas expressed in his interview did not
translate into his writing. It is my opinion that this is a teacher
trying to make better students, rather than make better readers!
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