Encouraging Teens to Read During Summer Vacation

Encouraging Teens to Read During Summer Vacation

Two summers ago, I blogged about helping students find engaging books for their summer reading requirements. This year, I want to address a related topic—how to get teens to actually open those books during break. Even if teens have chosen books that seem appealing, they still might rather linger at the pool or hang out with friends than read. In fact, I’m sure many students procrastinate and cram all of their summer reading into the week before school starts! How do you encourage students to read throughout the summer, so that they can get into and maintain good reading habits?

A recent article on KnoxNews.com (from The Knoxville News Sentinel) addresses this topic. The article, “A Need to Read: What Parents Can Do to Encourage Summer Reading,” offers some ways that parents can help motivate their kids to read over the summer. Here’s a brief overview of those suggestions. Teachers may wish to share these ideas with parents.

Parents can…

• model good reading habits by reading their own books in front of their kids, and by discussing what they’re reading with their kids during casual dinner conversations, car rides, etc.


• bring kids to summer events at the local library. There are often events planned specifically for teens.


• set aside a regular time for reading, like at the end of the day when it's too hot to stay outside, or on car trips. Even books on tape are a good idea, because listening is an important literacy skill, and because listening to books on tape gets students to realize how much they can enjoy certain stories and authors, which might make students more motivated to pick up printed books in the future.


• make reading easy for kids to enjoy. In other words, don’t be too strict or rigorous about summer reading. Allow students to read magazines, Web sites, etc. The important thing is that kids are getting into a reading habit; parents shouldn’t be literature snobs and expect kids to read only the classics on their break.

What About Writing?
The National Council of Teachers of English says that students shouldn’t just keep up their reading over the summer; they should work on their writing, too. NCTE’s lesson plan Web site, ReadWriteThink.org, suggests ways to get students writing during the summer. For example, students can write letters or formal e-mails to their favorite author or to a celebrity fan club. Parents can suggest this activity for fun, without saying that it’s for writing practice or making it sound like homework. Students will enjoy it without even realizing that they’re learning! Summer is also a good time for students who enjoy writing to think about entering contests that they might not have time for during the school year. For example, TeenInk holds a monthly poetry contest.

Enjoy the break!

--Lauren