I have a weird idea, want to run it by y’all. I’m very concerned about the recent drop off in ability to read entire books in my college freshmen. I’ve been thinking about ways to address that. This would only reach a few kids, but if it works well, maybe others could pick it up and run with it?
The idea is a mentored summer book club, essentially. The parents pay a nominal fee (maybe $5 / week for a 6-week session), sign their pre-teen or teen up to read a book together, with me leading the discussion. We meet up once or twice a week, have snacks, talk about the book. Sort of like an English class, but no grades, no pressure. And we pick a book that they’re hopefully actually interested in — the only actual goal is to read the entire thing themselves. We’d probably do some read-aloud together when we meet up. No writing anything up, no shaming if they’re behind on the reading, but they commit to actually coming every week.
Is this nutty? Is it duplicating something that already exists? Would it be helpful? Poke holes in it, suggest better ways to structure it. My hope is that we can convince those teens that aren’t reading full novel (or even novellas) themselves, that there is something really worthwhile and fun and satisfying in reading the whole book, and that it might make them more inclined to read books (assigned, and for fun) going forward.
If it actually works, maybe it’s something high schools could offer over the summer eventually? Or a library program? (The latter could be free, if the library can budget something reasonable for the mentor’s time — maybe $300 for the six week session.)
(graphic snagged from McMillan Memorial library, just to have something for the algorithm, thanks)
