Encouraging children to read can often be difficult. Keeping them intrigued to pick up reading material as an adolescent in a world filled with multi-sensory distractions can be even more of a challenge.

Darnell Wynn, reading education officer and newly appointed President of the Bermuda Reading Association answers The Royal Gazette's questions about the importance of reading and how to keep them interested.

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The Royal Gazette: What are your impressions of today's adolescent student?

Darnell Wynn: The 21st century adolescent is like none we have seen before. This generation of students is extremely gifted with technology. We can actually refer to them as the "NET" generation. They don't stand still and they are very involved with the non-traditional, out-of-school literacies like video games, Wii, text messaging, MySpace, etc. They aren't as immersed in in-school texts or assignments.

RG: What do you see as key issues that we must insist upon to capture our adolescents for improvements in literacy?

DW: We must use a variety of practices to increase motivation and engagement with literacy. Motivation is a critical concept and is very important for reading, writing and learning, especially for adolescents.

As educators we must strive to keep our students engaged and not view this the same as keeping them entertained. By this I mean we must provide relevant and meaningful texts, assignments and opportunities for learning that will foster engagement as a natural outcome. When students are engaged in learning they are seeking to understand new information because they find it relevant and useful to them personally.

When I think of the instructional practices when working with adolescents or any student, it is important that we saturate our students in that which they are learning. The learning experiences in the classroom must have such a balance of skills and challenges so that other distractions are almost blocked.

RG: Have we moved away from the teaching practices of the past?

DW: In many ways we have . . . We have moved away from the model of lecturing at students (transmission teaching). We have to be real genuine in our demonstrations where our students "see, hear, witness, experience, feel, study, explore" the artefacts of what it is they are taking on (constructivist learning).

We can't make teaching only about drills or filling in worksheets or simplifying reading to decoding of letters and sounds or memorisation of rules only. We must show our students what we actually do while we are reading and writing. We have to think out loud the things we have in our heads as we read.

For example, when we read we are always asking questions or seeing events of the story. Tell students this is what you have to do to understand. Better still, take a text and read it out loud, taking the time to pause and ask yourself questions — as only then can students see the process of how you work with text.

Our expectations must also be reflected in our teaching practices. You can't be about the best practices but expect little of students. We can't hold onto identifying labels (like ADD or dyslexia) or scripted programmes that minimise the quality and diversity of our instruction. We must trust our students. Adolescents know our expectation of them — it is very difficult to fool them.

RG: How can teachers build trust and high expectations with students in actual literacy practices?

DW: I think we have to include students in establishing rules, not impose our rules on them. By allowing students to come up with rules for their own behaviour, demonstrates our confidence in them and this helps them set realistic expectations for themselves.

For example, if we are expecting discussions around literature, ask our students for the norms of behaviour they will exhibit to each other in order to have productive conversations.

We can have our students keep portfolios of their work that they review with us but our feedback shouldn't be about telling them how we think they can improve but they should tell us what more can they expect of themselves.

Students can write their own literacy goals (for example, "I will write once a day in my journal" or "I will read a book once a month"), and we can help them monitor their goals and have them share the goals with their peers.

Our feedback shouldn't solely focus on deficits or errors. Our feedback should elicit a way for students to do more without feeling inadequate.

For example, instead of saying, "Your story is too short . . ." we could say, "What details could you add to make your writing more specific". We have to give them feedback that lifts them further not put down their efforts.

I guess it all boils down to knowing our students well so that they trust us and receive our feedback as genuine, that our feedback stems from our confidence in them. Our feedback or evaluations of student performance is more genuine and relevant when it includes more than numerical grades but checks for participation, conference notes on portfolios, student self-assessment and learning logs. Adolescents are particularly interested in having a say in their performance.

Even though students must take responsibility for their learning, responsibility also means choice. We deny our students opportunities when we make all the decisions around what they read, what they write, what questions they must answer or who they must work with. Our students have to share in the decisions about what they will engage with and what they can ignore.

Adolescents can push limits but why not give them choices in their writing partners and discussion groups. We can also include parameters like having choices altered on a schedule, the option of rearranging groups or partnerships if the students are not holding up their end of the bargain. We just have to send a clear message that our students are capable of making choices and we will honour these choices.

We can use literacy assignments to discipline in some ways. For example, if we have a student who is consistently late with assignments, have them write a letter explaining the delay before you accept the assignment. We have to foster responsibility.

Providing students with classroom tasks such as facilitating group discussions, recording of ideas and even deciding on how the room is arranged for various literacy activities allow our students to take responsibility for their learning; to feel some sense of control over it.

RG: You have spoken of choice, demonstration, trust, feedback and responsibility in engaging and motivating adolescents. Anything else?

DW: I think it is sometimes difficult for teachers to consider student errors as approximations or as vehicles for further learning. By this I mean too often our notion of what students have learned is gleaned from standardised testing. We have to view errors as learning opportunities for growth.

Also, are we presenting information for students to learn as useful to them? Adolescents will challenge or question, "Why do I need to know this or that?" As teachers we should have an answer for them or reconsider what we are teaching them. Relevance is critical. Adolescents will engage in literacy when they find it purposeful. Having students read a text with the sole objective of completing a worksheet, passing a text or gaining credit seldom fosters engagement.

RG: Are there specific things parents can do at home to support their adolescents with literacy?

DW: Be a role model. They need to see you as a reader and writer. It is not too complicated. Adolescents or any child who have parents that make reading and writing a priority and a visible event in the home are likely to be more successful in school. Read the newspaper together. Have magazines in the bathroom, coffee tables and in the car — this is access. Access to lots of reading material sends a strong message about what is valued. Magazines about sports are more likely to get a boy reading just as beauty magazines for girls. There are many short articles that adolescents will read — and this all counts.

Parents can cut out short articles from the newspaper or magazines and make them priority-reading pieces. They can be pasted in a journal and comments can be written about the article together. We can turn negative events to positives through reading.

For example, our kids are hearing and talking about recent murders — have them cut these articles out of the newspaper, read and write something they are thinking about. This could be very therapeutic for them. Discussion at the dinner table, in the car and even back at school can focus on the article and responses.

Parents must be visible in school, especially at this time as adolescents have incredible peer pressure to contend with. Know who is in your adolescents' school.

There are many persons in school available to help your adolescent grow (special education teachers, school counsellors, subject teachers, etc.). There is also support around the school in the form of Parent Teacher Associations (PTA), School Boards and Teachers Union — all can be of assistance for parents.

RG: Do parents need to be more involved with schools during adolescence?

DW: This is not the time to slacken off. Established routines for homework must not be dismantled with age. Television is a big distracter (and so can the phone and computer). Parents should keep television out of bedrooms and have a computer station that is outside of the bedroom. You cannot monitor the amount of television, phone or computer use if your adolescent is locked away in the bedroom.

As in the classroom, parents and home must coexist together in the messages and practices we use with our adolescents — choice, demonstration, responsibility, feedback and trust. Parents must demonstrate that they value literacy by reading and writing visibly, provide a choice of home reading materials that everyone can read and discuss, be consistently responsible about what is valued, in other words, you cannot only leave literacy practices to school and allow the home to reflect other priorities like endless television watching and no reading materials in the home.

Parents can also know that adolescents will often read less but this does not necessarily spell failure. Monitor the events, persons and things that are competing for your adolescents attention, and discuss with choice, responsibility and genuine feedback that will keep the big picture in mind. Literacy is more than just a school event.

RG: What if parents are concerned about a struggling adolescent reader?

DW: This is very concerning for any parent. If an adolescent is struggling with reading, it affects just about every subject requiring reading and writing. Parents must insist upon the best-qualified teachers for instruction.

Meet with both the class teachers and reading specialists, as it is important that all educators are working from unified goals. A struggling reader is not the responsibility of teacher assistants (you would not go to a nurse to provide you with medical care for a life threatening disease but insist upon a doctor).

As much as possible, seek individual assistance and small group additional instruction from the school staff. There may need to be some modification of texts but this does not mean different learning topics.

For example, if a unit of study is focusing on oceans in science and the grade level text is too difficult, it is the responsibility of the teachers to find alternate texts that provide similar information but on the student's level. It is also imperative that adolescents who struggle get more reading opportunities not less.

It's quite simple, to get better at something you are struggling with, you need more practice not less. I was tutoring a teen boy recently and we were reading an article from the local papers that he chose (it was about gangs), he was struggling with so many words that we use in everyday speech. He knew the meaning of the words once I pronounced them but he was not pulling meaning and a recognition of what to expect (letters and sounds) because he had so little reading opportunities.

We can't leave reading and writing to school alone, especially when our adolescents are struggling.

RG: Where would you direct parents of 13 to 16-year-olds for popular books to read?

DW: Our schools are great resources for parents to seek popular titles for their adolescents. Teachers are the first resource for books that kids love to read. Knowing about best reading titles is a priority for teachers. Our libraries are also excellent places, as librarians would know first hand the titles in constant demand. But for the parent that wants to purchase books, I have found the Internet most useful for finding great selections. A parent can type into their search engine (such as Google), "Best books for 13 to 16-year-olds" or any specific age or text type, like mysteries, adventures etc., and titles will be readily available for review and purchase. Our local bookstores carry most titles suggested by the Internet searches and often sell books for the same list prices. Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk are also great sites to consider.