Essay

Write an essay for a teacher’s magazine about how to make books more appealing to
teens.

Nowadays, postmodern teenagers are really difficult to get engaged in any activity.
They get distracted very easily and they don’t seem to devote much time to one task.
They want immediate results and they are always doing everything as fast as possible.
That’s why it is so difficult to encourage them to read and to get them involved in
books. However, there are many ways to make books more interesting and attractive
to them.

In order for teenagers to be motivated with reading books, teachers need to bear in
mind the characteristics and personality of the teens she/he is working with. Teachers
have to look for books that are suitable for their ages and interests. Moreover, the level
of difficulty has to be taken into account. Motivation plays a real important role in
making the young interested in books so, if the chosen ones are difficult to read, they
contain an inappropriate topic and they are not according to their ages, any teen will
surely not feel like reading it.

Not only it is important the book the teacher chooses but also it is crucial the way
he/she works with it. Working with a project with short term objectives can be a
stimulating idea. It is really hard to make teens read because they want to finish before
starting. Therefore, teachers can, for example, work with one chapter at a time and give
a particular task to each chapter. Doing that gives to the postmodern anxious teenager
the feeling that they are constantly achieving goals. Thus, they will probably be more
engaged in reading.

Another way to work with books is through technology. After finishing a chapter or an
important part of the book teachers can make the young students work with social
networks or blogs. For instance, thoughts about a character’s attitude can be posted
on Facebook which gives the possibility of debate and free expression so loved by
teens. Moreover, they can create tweeter accounts with the character’s names and chat
and express themselves through hashtags and retweets. What’s more, a blog can be
created with pictures and pieces of news about what is happening in the story.

Adolescents are not easy to please and entertain through books. However, choosing
the correct option and the correct way of working seem to be the clue for engaging
teens in reading.