Explore Your Reading Self

Activity Description

Why This Is Helpful

 

Activity Description

This activity invites teens and parents to reflect upon their reading histories. With an eye toward understanding their feelings about reading, teens will recall their earliest reading experiences up to the most recent ones. Using an online tool, teens will create a graphic map of books they’ve read and rate each reading experience. Was it positive or negative? After thinking, talking, drawing, and writing about reading, your teen will reread a favorite book and choose a fun activity related to it.

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Why This Is Helpful

By high school, some teens no longer read for enjoyment. The demands of required school reading may color their opinion and lead them to choose other free-time activities instead. But fresh interest can spring from an exploration of your teen’s reading life. Through this examination, teens will uncover what was most enjoyable about reading. For instance, did your teen always favor funny books as a kid? If so, perhaps there are more “grown-up” humorous books that would be appropriate. The end goal is to identify positive aspects of reading so your teen might once again find enjoyment while settled into a comfy chair with a good book.

This activity was modified from the ReadWriteThink lesson plan “I Remember That Book: Rereading as a Critical Investigation.”

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