Keywords

reluctant male readers, reading engagement, literacy practices

Abstract

A few months ago, a group of middle and high school media specialists invited me to help them consider approaches for engaging reluctant male readers. I thought long and hard about my own experiences, both as a reluctant male reader and as a teacher of reluctant readers. To begin to respond to such a query, I suggested, meant that we must first ponder several equally important questions:

  • What are students doing instead of reading?
  • In what literary practices are they already engaged outside of school? 
  • How can educators connect current extracurricular interests with ongoing curricular activities? 
  • How can books further develop this connection? 
  • How can reading push students toward new ideas, understandings, and ways of being in the world?

Original Publication Citation

“Ball Don’t Lie: Connecting Adolescents, Sports, and Literature,” The ALAN Review 41.1 (Fall 2013): 76-80 (co-authored with Alan Brown).

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2013

Publisher

The ALAN Review

Language

English

College

Humanities

Department

English

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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