Literacy Now

Literature has always been an indispensable part of society. At a young age, we're introduced to books at home, and later at our school or neighborhood libraries. Helping us navigate this world were our librarians, who used their expertise to guide and enrich our journeys into literature.

Unfortunately, these connections to literature are being challenged. Writer Mark Weakland in a February post titled “They Tried to Ban My Book” explains how the state attempting to control the dominant ideology is a continuous occurrence in history.

Weakland writes that the concern around books as harmful or radically biased against the elitist status quo doesn't justify the censorship that tends to silence the already marginalized voices. Censoring actually works against our desire to protect our children, and it is only with diverse literature that we can rear responsible, well-rounded, and critical members of society. Here's a look at what diverse children's lit can do for our kids.

Promote empathy

Studies in developmental psychology have consistently shown storybooks as empathy-building vehicles for children. The simulated, abstract experiences and narratives help kids build awareness of what people in different situations may feel. Research published in the National Library of Medicine details how book reading fosters one's identification with someone outside of their self and their own circle, which leads to minimizing fostered prejudice and bias.

Improve children’s confidence

Confidence in oneself sets the stage for crucial decision-making and resiliency skills as an adult. Brianna Holmes of Johns Hopkins University criticizes the rampant racial inequality of American society, and stresses how diverse representation and inclusion, with an anti-bias curriculum especially in the academe, is key to a confident child who treats everyone with respect.

Set the stage for future careers

An anti-bias curriculum has also been shown to inform behavior and reduce prejudice. Exclusive literature results in an exclusive society, which can be dangerous not only for excluded populations but also for society as a whole.

This repercussion is particularly noticeable in public health. Telehealth company Wheel highlights health care’s diversity gaps, which is caused in part by a lack of inclusive health care research that tackles minority communities. It is thereby the role of diverse children’s literature to open our minds, especially if we wish for our children to become successful doctors, researchers, and leaders.

Build critical thinking

Development is impossible without discourse. When we censor, we discourage open discussion instead of building our children's capacity to think for themselves. History has proven authoritarian attempts to control information as being ineffective and counterproductive. For example, a study by Cambridge University Press found there was increased access to information after the censorship of Instagram in China in 2014.

Wanting to protect our children is valid. However, in times of uncertainty, inclusiveness and empathy become all the more necessary. It is therefore by promoting awareness and diversity in our children’s literature that we will truly be able to protect them.

We should be cultivating our children’s ability to decide what is right and wrong, and we can do this by encouraging diversity in the materials we consume no matter how controversial the topic may be. In this day and age of technology where information is a weapon, we must give children the tools for growth and trust that they'll be able to make the right decisions.

Jerie Blintt is an avid reader who is passionate about bringing technology and literature to the forefront of every classroom. When she's not writing about the latest innovations, you'll likely find her meditating in her local park.

As an eighth-grade English language arts teacher with 45-minute periods, my time with students has always seemed far too short. When my district switched to 90-minute blocks for language arts classes a few years ago, I thought I would finally have the time I needed to teach and ensure my students completed their work. However, after a lot of reflection and discussions with colleagues, I realized my long-standing practice of not assigning much reading homework was undermining my instructional time—even with the longer block.

When we moved to the longer blocks, along with a switch to a new language arts curriculum, it seemed logical to have students do the reading assignments in class. It’s a common practice, and it made sense because the text complexity of the new program was a big change for my students. But the result wasn’t what I expected. My pacing suffered terribly.

Let them do at home what they can handle on their own

Good reading instruction encourages students to revisit a text for multiple purposes, and I was doing that. But having students read the text first during class and then also do a deep analysis of the reading material in class was repetitive and, frankly, a little boring.

My colleagues and I realized we needed to assign the reading material as homework to improve our pacing and convey high expectations. Our eighth-grade students were capable of wrestling with the text independently for a first read. They could wonder about a text while doing homework, and then, as a class, we could all move to deeper levels of understanding through a variety of classroom activities.

For example, one of the core texts we read is All Quiet on the Western Front, and the homework for one lesson includes reading a dozen pages while annotating for emotional responses (or lack thereof) of the men in the Second Company. In class, students share what they find and then purposefully reread the text to answer additional text-dependent questions. That rereading promotes deeper learning and ensures all students are accessing the text, even if they missed the homework.

When first reading a book or other text on their own, I ask students to jot down what they notice and wonder, which serves as an entry point for our lesson in class. This supports them in reading longer, more complex materials with greater comprehension.

It’s important to help students, especially middle school students, become more self-directed and take ownership of their work. That will help them as they move up into high school and college. By asking students to complete more work outside of class, I’m supporting my students, not letting them down.

This approach makes especially good sense with reading, which doesn’t involve lab supplies or computer programs—just a quiet corner and a book, which they hopefully can find at home.

Four strategies to support and motivate students with reading homework

Making the shift to assigning reading at home rather than in class can be challenging, but it is worth the effort. Good reading instruction gives students multiple opportunities to engage with the content, so if a student doesn’t complete the homework, they will still have a chance to engage with the text. Over time, students will be more intrinsically motivated to complete the homework so that they can engage with their peers during class. Here are some strategies to try:

• Assign homework, especially reading homework, that is closely tied to what students are doing in class.
• Ask students, through homework prompts, to engage with reading by noticing and wondering about it. In class, use practices to encourage even deeper levels of analysis with your support and peer support.
• Give parents an entry point for discussions with their kids by providing a question related to the reading homework. Send the question through email or posted in a virtual space.
• Use tools like Equity Sticks to randomize student selection during class discussion. Write the names of your students and place them in a jar. During class, select a stick from the jar to check for understanding, ask for reflections, and have that student share thoughts on a reading. Making the process random removes any teacher bias, but you should also ensure your students know that they can pass at any time free of consequence or scrutiny.

I know homework seems out of date in some teaching circles. Kids are busy, and they need downtime, not busy work. But giving students rich reading assignments to engage with from home is hardly busy work. Rather, it’s an instructional approach that can help improve their literacy skills and free up time during the school day for more robust teaching and learning. I’ve found it’s hard to argue with that.

Krystle Gleason, an educator with 16 years of experience, has taught both high school English and eighth-grade language arts. She currently is an eighth-grade teacher at Mad River Local Schools in Dayton, OH. She also works part time as a PD facilitator for Great Minds, the developer of the Wit & Wisdom English language arts curriculum. She is passionate about helping each of her students reach their potential.

Distance learning at the height of the pandemic took its toll on students academically and emotionally. Even though most students are back in class this year, things aren’t quite back to normal. Most are wearing masks and many are living with the impact of COVID-19 on their lives and in their communities. In our work with schools, we hear that students continue to crave connection and higher levels of engagement.

But how do we help students stay connected and engaged in deeper learning when being at school still means communicating through masks, dealing with student and teacher absences due to COVID-19 exposures, and catching up on lessons and learning experiences lost to distance learning? There is, of course, no one solution to the problem, but many educators are finding that project-based learning (PBL) provides a way forward by developing knowledge and skills through authentic learning experiences that generate student interest and enthusiasm.

Authenticity is a key feature of high-quality PBL. In our ongoing work codesigning and researching project-based learning with high school English language arts teachers in Colorado and Michigan, we created a set of literacy-related PBL projects that teachers can adapt to their own ELA curriculum and community. Students and teachers have given us great feedback on these resources and report that the most successful projects are those that feel real and important,  projects that call for students to do work that they and other people care about.

For example, a ninth-grade student we’re calling Sara (to protect her privacy) was in a project-based ELA class at a high school in northern Colorado. In one project, her teacher, Robert Laurie, supported his students to be “human interest storytellers” and consider the questions “What happened here?” and “How do authors use time, place, and perspective to tell a compelling story of what happened?” In project-based learning classrooms, students often have choice and voice in creating final products, and that was the case in Mr. Laurie’s classroom, where students could present their stories in a variety of formats. Sara ended up creating a short video, or “digital story.”

Her experience demonstrates the three main ways project-based learning activities can be authentic:

• to the learner
• to others
• through the tools and practices used

Sometimes, as was the case for Sara, a project is authentic in all three ways.

Authentic to the learner

Sara found the project to be personally relevant to her, as did many of her peers. First, the class read a series of short personal vignettes, such as one about the 2013 floods in Colorado in which days of historic rainfall led to massive flooding and dangerous mudslides. Then the students wrote vignettes based on the same themes but tied to their own lives and experiences. The themes included “a decision,” “your neighborhood,” “an event,” and “someone you know.”

After Sara wrote four personal vignettes, she chose the most compelling to build out into a video story. It told about the invasive back surgery she experienced a little over a year before because of her scoliosis. She felt the vignette was meaningful because it was so personally difficult and important to her and to her relationships with others. Composing a more elaborate story was an opportunity to dig= deeper.

Authentic tools and practices

When it came to how Sara went about making her video, she followed practices that professional filmmakers use—scripting and storyboarding—to plan the sequence of her video content, narration, and images. After doing some research, and with the guidance of her teacher, Sara used a software program called WeVideo that uses the same kinds of conventions that high-end video editing programs use. These tools and practices provided essential elements of scaffolding, as the storyboard provided a means for laying out the pieces and working on the flow, and the WeVideo program enabled Sara to try out the ideas in her refined storyboard.

What she was doing was authentic to film production as well as English language arts. Rather than asking students to complete separate, isolated assignments to fulfill ELA standards, Mr. Laurie integrated standards-based instruction into the long-term project. He supported Sara in developing skills such as effectively expressing herself and telling a compelling multimodal story. Part of the drive to craft and hone a compelling story came from the third element of authenticity: making sure it resonated with others.

Authentic to others

The ultimate goal of this project was to create a product that Sara would be proud to share in a public film festival. Mr. Laurie organized the festival with a flyer advertising the films that would be shown and scheduled it for a time when parents could come. After the screening, Sara admitted to feeling nervous because the project was so personal. But she said she was glad she decided to share it. She noted that it was “a way for me to connect to my parents about this, because one of the problems that I had after my surgery was that they tried to be there, but I didn’t really feel like they were taking care of me. They got angry at me, and I got angry at them.” After they watched the video, Sara and her parents talked about those tensions with the benefit of looking back.

Project-based learning can be a great way to engage students in deeper conversations not only with their peers but also with their families and the community around them, particularly through public presentations with authentic audiences. In the case of Sara, it led to a rich dialogue with friends and family about a topic on which she became an expert.

Bring PBL into your classroom

We know that project-based learning can feel daunting at first. However, it’s worth giving it a try. The teachers we have observed and worked with almost invariably attest to it being worthwhile, especially in these challenging times when young people are so in need of joyful learning experiences that feel meaningful to them. If you’re wondering where to start, just ask your students. They know what’s authentic to them!

Joe Polman and Alison Boardman are professors at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education. Polman is a professor of learning sciences and human development who specializes in project-based learning environments. Boardman is an associate professor of equity, bilingualism, and biliteracy who explores literacy instruction that is supportive of all learners in inclusive classrooms. They are coauthors, with Antero Garcia and Bridget Dalton, of the book Compose Our World: Project-Based Learning in Secondary English Language Arts, a finalist for the Literacy Research Association’s Edward B. Fry Book Award for best books in literacy research and practice in 2021. They also are codevelopers of the ninth-grade ELA curriculum highlighted in the book.

The tutor’s exasperated look was clear in my monitor. Her first-grade student had disappeared once again to seek out a toy to share and her literacy tutoring session had become another episode of show and tell. The tutor was looking to me, her coach, for help. It was up to me to lead and guide.

How could we engage this student in a meaningful learning activity in this new online world?

A pandemic challenge

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a rapid transition from face-to-face to online teaching for most educators. Our Literacy Research Center and Clinic at University of Wyoming had become accustomed to one-on-one tutoring in a physical space in triads: elementary student, undergraduate tutor, and literacy coach. When we had to move tutoring to an online environment, it brought many challenges.

The largest of these challenges was how to teach writing. Our traditional approaches to supporting young writers were no longer possible, at least not without creative adjustment. When a student wrote and showed their writing, the text would often appear backward on the camera. Keyboarding for some students was laborious, and students limited their production because typing was a slow process and they lost their train of thought or lost interest, frustrated by their inability to produce a text in a timely manner.

For the youngest of students, the challenges were numerous. They were now learning how to negotiate the online platforms while learning literacy skills. They also were not in physical proximity, so keeping them engaged and focused on the tasks became problematic. They learned to turn off their sound and their camera, and distractions were numerous as they worked in their homes. One of our first graders even began to ask her Alexa device for spellings, which brought a moment of brevity. This particular first grader is also the one featured in the opening who turned each tutoring time into a show and tell session about her toys. It became clear that we were going to need to work with her interests if we were going to engage her in reading and writing.

Let’s try an old approach

The tutor and I met to debrief after a particularly challenging tutoring session, and we discussed how to work with writing in an online environment. During our conversation, I found myself discussing a language experience approach (LEA) to writing for this student. This approach was one I’d used with young students earlier in my career, and I thought it might work in our new reality.

Could we take her stories about her toys and turn them into a dictate story, typing them live as she dictated, and then use them for a text to practice reading? We decided to give this a try during the next few sessions.

Success celebrated

A good reminder

LEA has been around since the 1960s. Some references even say it has been used since 1920. It has been used most recently to support adult learners and English learners. As a literacy teacher, I hadn’t thought about using this approach with young readers and writers for a very long time. This use during a tutoring session was a strong reminder of its benefits. The student saw her thoughts and story appear in written text in real time. She saw oral language become written language. She successfully authored a text that could then be used for reading practice. She was engaged and motivated and produced a text that served as a model for further writing.

Of course, the student also engaged in her own physical writing over time in the tutoring sessions and that aspect of writing development is important. Beginning with this approach, though, served to build confidence and modeled the writing process for her, keying off her oral language and interests.

Even though it was used out of necessity when transitioning to an online environment, the success experienced was a good reminder that this type of approach can work in any learning environment to create and support the authoring of text and to allow students to begin to form an identity as a writer and reader.

Instructional tips

• Find opportunities. When students seem disengaged or frustrated with writing, this can be one method for engaging them. It makes their thinking visible in print and uses their authentic language to produce a text for reading practice.
• Connect reading. You are creating an authentic text. Encourage students to read the text for a variety of purposes and audiences.
• Support all students. This approach can be adapted for a variety of student needs.

Amy Spiker is the newly appointed executive director of the Literacy Research Center and Clinic at the University of Wyoming. She teaches literacy courses to preservice and inservice elementary teachers.

Many parents and caregivers look at their children’s math homework and say it looks nothing like the math they learned as kids. Today, students use more strategies to solve problems and focus on conceptual understanding of math rather than just relying on memorization and tricks. But what appears to be less obvious to parents is that literacy instruction has evolved dramatically too—particularly when it comes to how we teach writing.

Integrating reading and writing

I remember, not too fondly, one writing assignment I gave my students in which I asked them to write about the most disgusting thing that happened to them. It led to giggles and students were paying attention that day. But were they learning much to support their success in school and beyond? Not really.

I also love a fourth-grade lesson in which teachers ask students to write about what makes a literal and figurative “great heart” after assigning them to read the scientific book all and other texts about Clara Barton, the nurse who founded the American Red Cross. Students learn about biology, anatomy, and an important figure in American history while developing their writing skills at the same time.

No more blank stares

This approach is very different from the writing prompts I used earlier in my career that were based only on the students’ personal experiences. Those might have included assignments like, “Write about what you did this weekend” or “Write about a memorable moment in your life.”

The truth is, when I asked those kinds of questions, I often got panicked stares. Many students would say they didn’t have anything to write about. This was especially true for students who felt their home lives weren’t as colorful or interesting as that of their peers. This raised concerns about equity and whether we were ensuring all voices were heard in the classroom.

I started to shift my instruction when Tennessee adopted new college and career standards about a decade ago. The standards showed me the value of connecting reading and writing assignments. Now, thankfully, classroom resources and practices are catching up with the standards, and we’re seeing much more robust literacy instruction across the grades in our schools.

Steps you can take

So, if you’re an educator, explore how curating rich texts around a meaningful knowledge-building topic will support all students in becoming stronger writers. Consider moving away from having students draw on their own experiences as writing topics and toward offering equitable access to shared knowledge. You will be amazed at the insightful writing your students will create.

Encourage parents to look at the assignments coming home and consider whether they look like the writing tasks of their school days. Hopefully, they’ll say they are different and better. The homework should encourage students to engage with great books and build their knowledge on important topics, all while developing strong writing skills.

Students have been through a lot this past year and a half, particularly when it comes to educational disruptions. But if we keep making progress in the English language arts classroom, I’m confident we can help young people develop the skills and knowledge to be great readers and writers. That’s something to feel thankful for as we settle into this school year—and beyond.

Educator Meg Kinlaw, a new ILA member, is a curriculum developer for Wit & Wisdom, an English language arts curriculum published by Great Minds. She previously taught middle and high school students and served as an English language arts consultant with the Tennessee Department of Education. You can follow her on Twitter at @meg0701.