Reading & Literacy
 

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Grades 9-12

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Opening the Door to Learning 2008 (English) Opening the Door to Learning 2008 (English)

October 2008 - Opening the Door to Learning (2008) was designed by a team of educators and librarians to help parents and caregivers strengthen literacy in the lives of their children from birth to DOWNLOAD PDF »

For most teens, high school is a time of transition — from discovering where one fits with friends to discovering where one fits in the world. High school students need to develop sophisticated literacy skills to meet the challenges they will face as family members, college students, employees and citizens.

At this stage, young people find meaningful connections between what they are reading and their own lives. They also discover reasons for writing beyond school: resumes, college applications and diaries.

 

What you can do at home

Speaking and Listening

  • Ask questions about what your adolescents are reading, listening to and studying. Listen carefully to the answers. Discuss homework assignments.
  • Share family stories.
  • Point out interesting news articles in the paper and talk about them together.
  • Watch television programs together and discuss your reactions.

Reading

  • Encourage your adolescents to read stories to younger siblings and to help them use the Internet to gather information.
  • Encourage them to read and understand 25 books each year.
  • Help them find answers to questions, both personal and academic. 
  • Provide time and space for homework, reading and writing.
  • Find out about their school through homework, the school newsletter, parents night, visits with teachers and conversations with them.
  • Be sure that everyone in the family has a public library card and that you visit the library often with your family.
  • Read what they are reading and discuss it with them without making judgments or talking down.

Writing

  • Encourage your adolescents to write about thoughts, feelings and experiences in a journal. Respect their privacy.
  • Exchange writing with them in which you share thoughts, conflicts and feelings.
  • Provide support tools for writing (computer, paper, pens and reference books such as a dictionary, thesaurus and quotation book).
  • Encourage public sharing of writing, such as community essay contests, community newspapers and letters to the editor.

 

What your student may be experiencing at school

Speaking and Listening

  • Asking questions, restating what they have heard and stating different opinions.
  • Presenting oral reports and stating their own opinions in all subjects, with supporting examples and facts.
  • Listening respectfully to others.
  • Talking about ideas with peers.
  • Having different types of speaking experiences, from informal discussions to giving speeches.

Reading

  • Reading poetry, nonfiction and fiction in different subject areas.
  • Reading to discover new ideas and ways of thinking.
  • Investigating topics that are connected to their own lives, passions and academic interests.
  • Participating in book clubs, literature circles and other opportunities to talk about books.
  • Reading to learn the main ideas for all their classes.
  • Evaluating what they read to decide if it is unbiased, accurate and complete.
  • Exploring college and career opportunities beginning early in the ninth grade, to discover the ones that match their interests, talents and ambitions.
  • Using charts, diagrams, tables and graphs to get information.
  • Inferring meaning that is not directly stated in a text.

Writing

  • Writing in every class.
  • Working together to revise and edit writing.
  • Trying a variety of formats for their writing, including poetry, stories, essays, letters, journal entries, plays and research papers.
  • Producing polished pieces of writing by creating first drafts and then revising to improve both the expression of ideas and the use of language.
  • Publishing or performing their writing.
  • Expressing themselves about important issues to different audiences, for example, telling their own stories, writing letters to the editor.