Resistant adolescent readers often do admit that literacy skills can be useful in helping them to understand themselves and others, and to solve real-life problems. They may suspect this is true for other people but have no idea how it applies to them.
As a first step, help your student distinguish between the two kinds of reading: reading for information (e.g. job notices in the newspaper) and reading for the vicarious “living through” experience of a novel or story.
Next, focus on useful reading by going over an article from a newspaper on a provocative topic that affects your student. Discuss possible responses to the article and help him follow up with a literacy activity: writing an article or a letter to the editor, making a phone call or a speech, or collecting a photo essay. Choices also exist that are more creative and personal: poems, song lyrics, drawings, and sculptures. Bring in examples of music, poetry, artwork, or cartoons that were produced as a response to a public event.
If a student is looking for a summer or after-school job, use the classifieds to make a list of names and numbers. You might collaborate on a letter of application and a resume, and role-play a job interview. Experiencing the payoff of good literacy skills in the outside world can spark an adolescent’s desire to become an active reader and writer.
