This past summer, I read a post on the blog for Changing Lives Through Literature (an alternative sentencing program using book discussion) that talked about how our brains are not hard-wired for reading. This was something I should have been able to deduce logically, but had never really considered.
Written language is only about 5500 years old, a very recent development in the big picture of life on Earth. The processes that we use for reading actually developed for other purposes and that we have managed to cobble them together to be able to create and decode written languages is truly astounding!
What made me think of this now was that I treated myself to a Kindle last week. It is THE. COOLEST. THING. EVER. And it immediately got me thinking about what this technology will mean in the near future.
What I noticed immediately, though, was that reading on it seemed to use different reading muscles than I was used to from reading printed books. I very deliberately had to resist the urge to skim, something I never do with paper books but often do while reading online. I could actually feel my brain making the adjustment, it took some practice, and then I was good to go.
So what does this have to do with Teen Summer Reading?
A person who will be a teenager in 2011 was born during the 1990s; they have never known a world without the internet. Their relationship with written language cannot help but be shaped by this. Texting, AIM, Facebook (etc.) require interacting with written language in ways that are different from opening up a paper and print book. This is both a change in language and a change in format.
I am not putting a judgment on this and I am not saying that today’s teens have an either/or approach to written language. We all know teens who text away with a 300 page book in front of them. These different ways of interacting with written language do not necessarily contradict each other. But we need to be aware that they exist.
What I AM saying is think of what this could mean (from both “positive” and “negative” perspectives) when you are thinking about Teen Summer Reading—the big picture and your own plans. Think about your personal experience of reading as a teen and how it is different (and the same) as that of teens today. Think about ways to embrace not only different interactions with print literacy but the many different literacies.
Cash in the Coffee Can: $68.00
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