suggestions for school-haters

[Katherine D'Souza]

What books do you suggest for students who say things like "I hate school" "There's no point in school?" "I don't like to read" "I don't have a favorite book" "School is a waste of time" "Who likes to read" Okay you get the point. I am sure everyone has heard this at least once in their life. How do you motivate/engage these students in school? How do you encourage them to open a book? What books do you suggest?

[Anna Cardenas]

Great question. I can tell you what I do, but I still have students say they hate to read anyway. What helps is giving them choice in what they read, and finding high interest books. I'd suggest reading Kelly Gallagher's Readicide--he addresses this issue quite a bit, and he has a list of 101 high interest books at the end.
I also give them time in class to read their outside reading books.
As for books they might like, Gary Paulsen seems to go over pretty well, or Stephen King. The irony is they want to read the books that are not really school appropriate, or at least not in our library.
Good luck!

[Katherine D'Souza]

thanks for the suggestion. I have heard of Readicide before but haven't read it yet.

[Kimberly Hager]

My suggestion is similiar to Anna's. I offer choice, choice, choice. I tell students they can read anything. If they like cars I try to help them find a book about cars. I've started adding hunting books to my class library as I teach in a rural town and hunting is huge here. I also try to grab their attention by telling them about books that are banned in certain places or are "R" rated. That usually catches some of them. And even if I only get them to read one book all semester I figure it's one more than they would have read otherwise. I also have students interview their parents etc. about reading and that seems to open some doors -- some kids don't realize that mom and dad have a favorite book or that mom and dad have to read a lot at their job. It gets hard to stay motivated yourself when you hear those comments from school and it's very frustrating!! Keep giving it your best shot.

[Katherine D'Souza]

Great idea! I never thought about having them interview their parents about reading. Thanks

[Michelle Pahl Brown]

I hear this every day at my outer urban middle school. A collegue suggested several series published by Orca Books (orcabooks.com) and they are great especially for boys and sports-minded girls. When I do general fiction book talks, I also acknowledge that for many of my students the only criteria for choosing a book is how short it is (there are a lot of snickering around the room when I say that) so I have a cart full of "quick" reads and boy do they fly off of the cart.

The "rated R" tactic with the banned books is definitely going into my bag of tricks! Many students complain that the books at our middle school library aren't as interesting or exciting (read racy or violent) as they can get at the public library so this may help pique their interest. Thanks!

[Amy King]

Those Orca books are great! There are zillions of them....something for everyone.

I taught at the alternative school in my district for six years; now I'm at a "regular" middle school. Two titles that worked for virtually every school-hating, below-grade-level-reading kid in both populations are *Life in Prison* by Tookie Williams (non-fiction) and *Drive-By* by Lynn Ewing (fiction.) Short, easy, attractive covers, written at approx. 4th grade level, plenty of interesting info and action. I've bought at least 25 copies of each book over the years....they get worn out!

[Lauren B.]

I just read a book that I want to recommend to every boy in my school. It's called Slam by Nick Hornby. (I love love love Nick Hornby!) It's pretty much a typical coming of age story, boy meets girl, the fall in like/love/lust, he grows tired of her, she discovers she's pregnant. Like an after school special, only written in the most authentic teen-aged boy voice I have heard since Holden Caulfield. I have a list of sullen, nonreading boys who are going to love this book. It's that good.

[David DOC Scholl]

My first reply.(YES)... I think we have all faced the same issue.
One way that I have shared some of my favorite books with struggling or reluctant readers is by using AUDIOBOOKS read by the actually AUTHOR and showed the book at the same time through an ELMO (document projector) on to a WHITEBOARD!
Just a chance of pace!
The students loved it!
I have also scanned some of my favorite picture books and put them into KEYNOTE-creating a slideshow for the book with my voice recorded or NOT! YOUR CHOICE....I hope this helps!
DOC23
PS-My profile photos is just for HALLOWEEN...it is my costume this year! WHY SO SERIOUS!

[Teresa Bunner]

So, have you been sitting in my classroom these past few weeks?! Apparently you know my students well:) Maybe our kids could be pen pals. They could practice their writing skills as they share with each other how much they hate school!

All kidding aside, as folks have suggested here, the ability to choose what they read is huge!!!! Lots of choices! I book talk books and pass them around so they can see the books. Townsend Press has a series called the Bluford High series. They are only $1 each on their website. I have to purchase a new set every year because there are certain titles I never see again:)
A Child Called It is another big hit. Sometimes you never know what will be popular. I have a kid reading the Pendragon series right now. Someone else gave me the books. I never would have picked them out!

We have reading time EVERY DAY! This helps them develop the stamina to read. I tell my kids it is like training for a marathon. I can't go out the first day and run 26 miles. I have to build my stamina. We have to do the same thing as readers. So we read every day to build our stamina. Over time, the complaints receed and kids start to talk about their books with each other. The best day is when they say, "Please could we have 10 more minutes to read?" Happy day! And it does happen. It just takes time and your firm commitment that reading is worthwhile.

[Melanie Hammer]

And when your students leave your class, they come to my community college developmental reading class and say the same thing! I agree with everyone who said choice, choice and more choice. My own son (16) is a very choosy reader, and I'd like to share that he's very excited right now about Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games," mentioned all over this ning. I read it myself and then described the plot to him--future dystopic society meets "Survivor,"--and he was taken with it. They're reading "The Crucible" in his English class, and he's the type to do the required reading, but it's nice to see him reading for his own purposes for a rare change. My students, both male and female, also consistently like the "True LIfe Series from Hamilton High" by Marilyn Reynolds which are "problem novels" about teenagers. I don't particularly love them,but my students will read them happily. Read-alouds can be effective, too, in getting students to enter into a community of readers; I've seen Ishmael Beah's "Long Way Gone" work well, and I suspect Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book" would, as well.

More to the point, though, is who are the students who are resisting? What DO they like? What would they be doing if they weren't in school? Any way you can hook the work of school up with the interests they already have?

[Cindy Minnich]

I hooked some of my ninth graders into The Graveyard Book - you can see/listen to Gaiman reading it online (the entire thing!) at his children's website. An awesome book by far - and a great way to get them hooked enough to go read it!

[Gail Stearns-Hussein]

What age/grade level do you teach? Also, what are the demographics along with the current issues that your students are dealing with?