Turning+Teens,+Even+the+Most+Reluctant+and+Alienated,+into+Avid+Readers

Literacy/Literature • 6-12 //Room 105// //Marilyn Reynolds, Author// //Kathy Riskin Orihuela, Teacher Trainer, Activating Teen Literacy, Elk Grove SD (retired)//
 * Turning Teens, Even The Most Reluctant And Alienated, Into Avid Readers**
 * [[image:Kathy_Riskin_Orihuela.jpg width="256" height="300" caption="Kathy Riskin Orihuela"]] || [[image:marilyn_reynolds.jpg caption="Marilyn Reynolds"]] ||

Saturday, November 12th Concurrent Session (11:30am - 12:30pm)

Session description: "Turning Teens, Even the Most Reluctant and Alienated, into Avid Readers" will include strategies and techniques for leading readers of all skill levels and interests to an independent reading habit. This session will be interactive, and will focus on first "hit" books including, but not limited to, those of particular interest to Latino, African American, and GLBT readers. The shared wisdom and experiences of participants will be utilized to update featured book lists which will then be made available on line. In addition to the focus on titles of interest to teens will be books that can function as stepping stones from easy to more advanced reading. Throughout this session student responses to reading will be shared as reminders of the life-changing power of reading and connecting with books.


 * Kathy Riskin Orihuela** was a secondary language arts teacher and reading specialist for thirty-four years. She received her M.Ed. as a Reading Specialist from the University of Arizona and taught ten years in Tucson. Later she developed and implemented the first Academic Literacy course in Elk Grove Unified School District at Monterey Trail High School, a course which demonstrated significant gains in student achievement. Kathy is a trained as a S.E.E.D. (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) facilitator, having __led__ SEED school site seminars, she has also been a district-wide SEED co- coordinator, and a member of the national SEED training staff. Currently, Kathy is a training consultant committed to improving high school literacy rates and dismantling the Achievement Gap. Together Kathy and Marilyn Reynolds present Activating Teen Literature training workshops for middle school and/or high school teachers--workshops that draw on the strengths of Kathy's Academic Literacy experiences and Marilyn's experiences with at-risk reluctant readers.


 * Marilyn Reynolds** is the author of ten books of teen fiction in the popular “True-to-Life Series from Hamilton High,” and a book for teachers, //I Won’t Read and You Can’t Make Me: Reaching Reluctant Teen Readers.// All of her writing reflects insights gained through decades of teaching Reading/English at a continuation high school in southern California. No longer a full time classroom teacher, Marilyn remains deeply involved in education through author presentations to middle school and high school students ranging from reluctant, struggling readers to highly motivated students who are interested in developing work for possible publication. She also presents training workshops for teachers. These workshops emphasize teaching respect for diversity through young adult literature, reaching reluctant readers, reading strategies for pregnant and parenting teens, and issues related to intellectual freedom.

Together Kathy and Marilyn present Activating Teen Literature training workshops for middle school and/or high school teachers.