Literacy Now

All grade levels have students who need intervention strategies to boost basic reading skills; this includes the high school level, a target group often overlooked when it comes to instructional strategies. In order for students to make the most progress during their time with an intervention teacher, the Center on Multi-Tiered System of Supports says Tier III reading interventions must be “individualized and intensive.” What can be difficult for intervention teachers is the lack of motivation some students have for such rigorous intervention strategies.

While motivation is complex to measure quantitatively, teachers may argue it is easy to observe through student behaviors, such as readily conversing in cooperative groups and engaging with the work through questioning, discovery, and application. Lack of motivation presents through refusal to work or participate, speeding through diagnostic and monitoring assessments, or sporadic attendance. For a reading class, student motivation is a fine line because one encourages students who, typically, want to master skills for which they know they have a deficit but also for which they do not want to admit that they have a deficit.

Students are placed into the Tier III setting because they have a detrimental skills gap. The challenge for teachers becomes walking that line of how to increase classwork motivation while still giving explicit instruction on fundamental reading and phonics strategies to teenagers. Many social and emotional concerns have to be delicately addressed, considering reading is a basic skill learned by majority of modern society at a very young age. Teenagers in my class have expressed resistance through exclamations such as “I don’t need this work; I really can read” and “I don’t want anyone to know I’m in this class.” Because Tier III reading includes elementary-level instruction on phonics and vocabulary with applications of prosody, the practice must be contextualized to help preserve teenage dignity.

Relating Reading Skills to Other Content Areas

What may be the easiest and most obvious application for the learning is relating the skills to other content areas. Students learn ways to use their phonics and vocabulary skills to pass their biology or algebra tests, topics not connected to typical language arts classes. Therefore, students should understand that Tier III reading is different than a language arts class. Tier III reading instruction is not content-specific. The foundational knowledge is a prerequisite to achievement in all subjects, and a direct connection to success in all academic areas gives a whole new reason for learning the skills. When discussing this with students, include the usefulness of the learned skills in earning graduation credits or conversing with peers about the subject matter. Suddenly, phonics practice with elementary words is now helpful with a task in Physics.

Perhaps more than any other grade level, high school students need to feel they are not wasting their time at school; they need to understand their learning is useful outside of the classroom. To maximize student buy-in at this level, students must genuinely understand that the lessons’ skills are purposeful in their current and future lives. My students have researched potential careers after graduation, they have written responses for various interview questions, and some have brought in applications for an after-school job. I conference with students for each situation and consistently draw connections to our word-skill practice. The results are stronger relationships between teacher and students and students’ growing intrinsic motivation to learn more about reading.

Weaving in Real-World Connections to the Lesson

In a playful application, students plan lavish vacations. National Geographic offers remarkable destination trips to every continent, and the Orient Express suggests historic expeditions across Europe and Asia. My students have planned extravagant trips with private jets and luxury ships and then presented their day-by-day itineraries to the class. Everyone enjoyed the fantastical descriptions of the sights and the wild dreams of this kind of travel. Most importantly, the research and synthesis required all the reading skills from the intervention lessons.

Motivation and engagement are fruitless if students do not leave the lesson with a
thorough understanding of the application of the practiced reading skills. So more important than merely offering different projects, the teacher must explicitly connect the skill’s knowledge to the skill’s application; transference is vital. With these real-world opportunities, secondary students will have a greater sense of buy-in to the intervention methods as they increase their independence with the skills thus increasing their overall academic success.

Samantha Bart-Addison is a 20-year veteran teacher at Seckinger High School in Gwinnett County, Georgia. She currently teaches Tier III Reading Interventions and other various types of learners. Her goal is to share engaging differentiated strategies to support teachers in the classroom.

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Using Mentor Texts and AI to Transform Grammar Instruction: Part I

Literacy Today magazine: Reflecting Every Reader

Have you ever watched your students ace grammar worksheets only to see those same skills vanish in their writing? You're not alone! When I discovered mentor texts for grammar instruction, everything changed in my classroom.

Mentor Texts and the Standards Challenge

Think of mentor texts as your grammar instruction's best friends. They're amazing pieces of writing that showcase the grammar concepts you want to teach. Here's something important I discovered along the way: While published authors create beautiful, effective writing, they often bend grammar rules for stylistic purposes. For example, many skilled writers skip the comma before a conjunction in compound sentences—which works beautifully for their style, but doesn't align with state standards.

This created a dilemma for me. I loved using authentic texts, but I needed to teach standard grammar conventions. What to do?

Mentor Text Workarounds

Thankfully, you don't need to abandon your favorite mentor texts! Here are three approaches that have worked wonderfully:

• Cherry-pick perfect examples: Select individual sentences or short passages from mentor texts that do align with standard grammar. Use these gems to study sentence construction and expansion.
• Adapt beloved texts: I've found success taking published text and adapting it (with proper attribution) to demonstrate standard grammar usage. This gives students the best of both worlds—engaging content they love with the grammar patterns they need to learn.
• Create custom examples: Sometimes, I ask AI to generate content about topics my students care about, specifically requesting standard grammar usage. Just be sure to review the text carefully to confirm it truly follows the standards you're teaching! AI is not always accurate.

Here’s an example of one piece of text generated by AI. I indicated the different types of sentences by keeping simple sentences in plain text, underlining compound sentences, and italicizing complex sentences.

The Hidden Language of Trees

Trees may appear silent and solitary, but they participate in complex communication networks beneath our feet. Simple mycorrhizal fungi connect tree roots through an intricate web scientists call the "Wood Wide Web." These fungal threads allow trees to share nutrients while they send chemical signals to neighboring trees.

When a tree is attacked by insects, it releases airborne chemical compounds to warn nearby trees of danger. Once alerted, the neighboring trees begin producing defensive chemicals to protect themselves. This remarkable system resembles an early warning network that protects the entire forest community.

Older, larger "mother trees" serve as hubs in these networks, and they support younger saplings by sharing essential nutrients. Although these connections are invisible to the human eye, they create a cooperative environment where trees support one another during times of stress or limited resources.

Scientists have discovered that some tree species recognize their relatives and preferentially share resources with them. They maintain these connections through the seasons, and they create a resilient forest over time. As we learn more about these communication networks, we gain a deeper appreciation for the sophisticated relationships that exist in seemingly quiet forests.

Two Possibilities for Mentor Text and Grammar Learning

One of the most engaging parts of science instruction can also be used in grammar instruction. In science, phenomena provide a real-world context for learning, allowing students to actively engage with observable events and "figure out why" something happens. Essentially, phenomena act as a driving force for inquiry-based learning, sparking curiosity and motivating students to explore and explain what they see around them. In grammar instruction, a mini-inquiry using a mentor text acts as a phenomenon, allowing for context, curiosity, and collaboration. How a mini-inquiry may unfold:

• Read the mentor text aloud (maybe a few times), allowing students to enjoy and understand the content.
• Return to the text and pose an inquiry question. For the mentor text above, consider the question: What are some similarities and differences in simple, compound, and complex sentences?
• Partner (or trio) students up and ask them to come up with as many similarities and differences as they can. They may even jot these down.
• Listen in as students discuss their ideas. Jot down relevant theories or questions.
• Share something you jotted down and ask students to explore. Share a theory: Simple sentences are shorter (which is not a plausible theory). A question: Is there always a comma in a complex sentence?
• Explore the mentor text for proof of the theory or potential answers to the question.
• Gather guidance from the inquiry in a resource for students to use when writing.
  
   

It is true that mini-inquiries can transform grammar instruction by turning mentor texts into “phenomena” that spark curiosity, helping students discover grammar patterns in authentic contexts rather than isolated worksheets.  

In the next post, we’ll explore another powerful approach to grammar instruction using mentor texts called Imitation and Innovation. Can’t wait for you to add this to your grammar instructional repertoire!

Patty McGee is a nationally recognized literacy consultant, speaker, and educator with a passion for transforming classrooms into spaces where language and learning come alive. With decades of experience as a teacher, coach, and advocate for delightful literacy practices, Patty has worked alongside educators across the country, partnering to unlock the full potential of their students through innovative and practical teaching strategies. Not Your Granny’s Grammar is her third book. Connect with Patty at www.pattymcgee.org.

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Navigating the New Era of AI: A Teacher’s Guide to Ethical Decision-Making With High School Students

Literacy Today magazine: Reflecting Every Reader

The April/May/June 2025 issue of Literacy Today, ILA’s member magazine, underscores the importance of representation in children’s picturebooks.

Our guest editor for this edition, Angie Zapata, is an associate professor of language and literacies education at the University of Missouri. She is also a children’s literature researcher and teacher educator, whose extensive work focuses on the promise and possibilities of diverse literature in K–12 language arts classrooms.

“Given what can seem like competing agendas for literacy and literature learning in classrooms, it feels appropriate to center picturebooks in the hands of readers as a viable pathway toward helping students reclaim their reading lives,” she wrote in her opening note to readers.  

Read on to learn more about the issue, how Zapata approached its curation, and what she hopes readers take away from it.

Tell us how you developed your vision for this issue. What were your goals? How did you choose your authors and topics?

Thanks so much for this opportunity to center better representation in children’s picturebooks in schools. My commitment to cultivating a better sense of belonging in the classroom through children’s visual storyworlds in picturebooks is both a professional and personal endeavor. I aimed to gather both US bound and international voices as well as established and fresh voices in the field who could provide interdisciplinary pathways into an issue that has plagued our field for so long. I really aimed to amplify too often overlooked pathways into our work as picturebooks curators in schools and provided directly implications for practice.  

You’ve worked with preservice elementary school teachers and have a background in connecting research to practice. How does that experience inform your views on representation in children’s literature?

That bridge to practice remains essential. As a field we have a rich resource of critical content analyses and reviews of picturebooks that feature diverse sociocultural representation, Building upon that research, we must also grow our empirical body of research that examines how these books are shared in the classroom, how children read and respond, how teachers thoughtfully build collections and mediate students’ literature, experiences and the implications of this critical classroom work for students’ identities, positive school experiences, self-efficacy, and learning. What new literature practices and theories of practice and learning can emerge from deeper study of how these texts live in classrooms among teachers and their students? In today’s sociopolitical climate that incites fear and resistance to any kind of diverse representation in picturebooks, highlighting the everyday ways we lovingly, thoughtfully, and ethically share these texts and how student respond are critical. 

To add, I am deeply inspired and motivated by the teachers and students who have welcomed me into their spaces as they read and respond to linguistically diverse picturebooks. The opportunity to offer direct implications for classroom practice with picturebooks featuring diverse representation through this issue of Literacy Today is exciting as I am reminded of my time in their classroom and am inspired once again by what is possible with picturebooks and how much we must learn, both theoretically and pedagogically in picturebook classrooms. 

Your opening letter mentions the importance of access to diverse stories for students. What do you think are the most pressing considerations for educators looking to select and share quality diverse picturebooks?

First, I have found that entering this process with great humility makes a significant difference in the opportunity to grow. It can be overwhelming and even off-putting to try and navigate the pressures of identifying and sharing a text with diverse representation, especially if you are not of the community represented. But the payoff of entering that process humbly and with willingness to learn pays off tenfold, especially for your classroom of students.

I also highly encourage educators to choose to share picturebooks with better representation because they want to and because they believe in the power of picturebooks to both affirm and grow students’ understanding of themselves and the world around them. I think when we observe these texts integrated in the classroom without the humility and critical lens needed, the opportunity for students to engage in the storyworlds are not as robust as they could be and that the reading falls flat. As picturebook curators who embrace the awesome responsibility of building thoughtful collections for students, we as educators can share and model that commitment of learning about new titles and processes to build collections.

To add, that kind of work is best done with a similarly interested colleagues, including voices that are different than your own. I would therefore also suggest finding fellow picturebook enthusiasts who are similarly interested in growing as a picturebooks curators. If you don’t have any in your setting, how can national organizations like ILA help you find your learning partners virtually?

What are some of the biggest misconceptions educators have about picturebooks, and how does this issue of Literacy Today aim to address them?

I think there has long been assumption of picturebooks as easy to read, simple narratives that don’t demand much preparation on our end when shared as read alouds. For example, how often have we quickly pulled a book off the shelf for a quick read aloud and then just as quickly realized we should have taken more time to thoughtfully prepare for the reading event? I hope this issue reawakens our habits of ‘slowing down’ with picturebooks readers to savor the richness of visual storyworlds.

Time to ‘slow look’ visual storyworld, as Dr. Pantaleo reminds us in her essay, is essential practice, and I believe it to be even more so with picturebook collection that feature a diversity of lives, languages, and literacies. There is so much to uncover in the visual designs and choices made by the illustrator and the intellectual demand of reconciling both the illustrated and print narrative is significant. Time to do the work of being a picturebooks reader is so important. It can feel radical to claim the need for more time for picturebooks in today’s reading achievement climate, but the depth and opportunity to model and practice meaning making with print and illustration is tremendous.

Monica Kleekamp’s article, “Humanizing Neurodivergence,” presents guiding tenants that educators can use when selecting stories that humanize neurodivergent characters and is “nuanced in its presentation of a character’s lived experiences.” Why did you find this an important topic to feature?

Dr. Kleekamp truly helps us slow down and prioritize the neurodivergent experience from the perspective of those who live with these abilities. Too often, picturebooks have been written from the perspective of caregivers and siblings. Although important, collectively these perspectives have not allowed us to consider subtleties of a neurodivergent experience. Dr. Kleekamp wisely helps us widen our lens when selecting and sharing these texts and provides practical guidance that humanizes the communities featured.

Jon Wargo’s article, “History Out Loud,” states that children’s picturebook biographies about famous LGBTQ+ figures can help “amplify and strengthen messages of [intersectional] justice.” What stood out about this topic that inspired you to include it in this issue?

I always appreciate Dr. Wargo’s expertise and passion for centering LGBTQ+ perspectives through children’s literature. In today’s sociopolitical climate that continues to demonize LGBTQ+ experiences in literature, we are failing to recognize the wide and limiting reach such a stance imposes on our society. There is such an opportunity through nonfiction picturebooks to both humanize and reveal the significant contributions of LGBTQ+ figures, and contextualize both historical and contemporary moments to learn from. 

Mengying Xue’s article, “Seeing the World From Different Perspectives,” examine postmodern wordless picturebooks that allow young readers an opportunity to engage with “complex topics and social issues from unexpected viewpoints.” Can you expand a little upon your choice to include this discussion?

I believe postmodern picturebooks offer an exciting initial entry point for nurturing picturebook readers in the classroom and can be an incredible bridge for readers trying to do the work of navigating multiple perspectives in one narrative. This is a foundational experience as readers and as citizens in a national and global society. I’ve observed four-year-olds do this with great ease and weave their own narratives with the perspectives they encounter to create new imaginaries. What might it mean to scaffold students into the work of navigating multiple perspectives through wordless picturebooks first? I appreciate Dr. Xue taking time to reconnect us to this genre.

What do you hope readers will take away from this issue of Literacy Today, and how do you envision it sparking further conversations about representation in picturebooks?

I do hope readers of this issue will feel reinvigorated in their practice as classroom picturebook curators and feel supported when choosing to share picturebooks with diverse representation. Too often, the onus is on the individual teacher to do it all and to figure out how to teach by themselves or have to teach mandated scripted curriculum. I hope interested readers do not feel alone in their commitment for a better world and feel motivated to reach out and grow their picturebook practice. I hope this issue inspires readers to connect with one another and dig deep into any of the articles to directly impact students’ positive reading experiences in schools.

Angie Zapata, an ILA member since 2002, is an associate professor of language and literacies education at the University of Missouri. Through collaborative inquiry partnerships with K–12 practicing teachers, her research highlights teacher and student interactions with picture books featuring diverse racial, ethnic, and linguistic representation, as well as how translingual and transmodal literacies are produced through those literature-based experiences. 

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Empowering Future Teachers: How Fairytales Foster Cultural Competence

Literacy Today magazine: Reflecting Every Reader

Fairytales have always been part of the American classroom. These stories not only foster cultural awareness, but they can also be a tool to prepare preservice teachers to create inclusive classrooms by embedding translanguaging in writing. Strategically using fairytale writing as a tool in a teacher preparation program enhances a culturally sustained pedagogy by allowing preservice teachers to connect with diverse cultural stories and validate the linguistic repertoire of multilingual learners.

However, to fully realize this potential, teachers must be equipped to recognize and address the diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds of their students. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), in 80% of teachers in 2020 were white while the student population was increasingly diverse—culturally and linguistically—a population that teachers do not reflect. This disparity highlights the urgent need for teacher preparation programs to prioritize cultural competency and equip future educators to effectively weave students' cultural background into their teaching for truly culturally sustained pedagogy.

In the arts integration course I teach, preservice teachers learn about the various arts that can be integrated into the curriculum. I find that literary art in the form of creating fairytale adaptations can open the door to preservice teachers becoming culturally competent. Even though individual fairytales are unique to their specific culture, the similarities they have serve as a bridge that helps preservice teachers understand culture and language, and writing fairytale adaptations requires both a deep knowledge the originating culture and the activation of developing the same translanguaging practices that multilingual students use as part of their linguistic repertoire.

Getting started

I begin my literary arts module by asking who knows the story of the three little pigs or Cinderella, which of course many students do. When I show my students The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone, the preservice teachers recognize it, but when I show them The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka, few students do. Further, when I introduce The Three Little Javelinas by Susan Lowell, The Three Little Tamales by Eric A. Kimmel, and The Three Little Gators by Helen Ketteman, no one has heard of these adaptations. This makes a perfect opportunity to teach how to design and facilitate culturally relevant learning that brings real-world experiences into educational spaces.

We start by comparing and analyzing the mentor texts based on their story elements and writing style. I task my students to find other fairytales and their adaptations. Some of the more common ones include Cinderella by James Marshall and adaptations such as Yeh Shen: A Cinderella Story from China by Ai-Ling Louie, Isabella: A Cinderella Fairytale of Latina Princess (Puerto Rican Princess) by King Ki'el, and Sindi: A Zulu Cinderella by Desaeay Mnyandu. For Little Red Riding Hood by James Marshall, students have selected Mahogany: A Little Red Riding Hood Tale by JaNay Brown-Wood and Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young as adaptations.

Comparing and analyzing mentor texts

Now that we have a few to choose from, my students compare and analyze these mentor texts, identifying things like the target audience and any writing techniques such as dialogue between characters that represent a blend of home language and English used by the author to enhance a culturally sustained pedagogy. We create five-column charts to easily see the similarities and differences of each fairytale adaptation. By comparing and analyzing story elements, preservice teachers can begin to see how authors have reframed traditional fairytales with a cultural lens.

In addition, writing techniques are analyzed to identify how the author has embedded translanguaging (e.g., “Tío José and Tía Lupe owned a taqueria” and “He built his casita out of cornstalks”) and cognate words (e.g., tortilla and tamale) as seen in The Three Little Tamales. This analysis also gives preservice teachers awareness of the multi-dialectal nature of language in American society and the social constructs of different dialects, including the learner's natural way of talking, as demonstrated in The Three Little Gators when the author writes, “It’s time you young ‘uns set out on your own.”

Writing an original fairytale adaptation

After preservice teachers have gained a deeper understanding of how authors' adaptations create an inclusive learning space for all readers, they write their own fairytale adaptation. Regardless of their demographic, I have my students research a culture different from their own. This critically reflective practice helps preservice teachers engage in the use of story elements and how character development, setting, problem, and solution align to that specific culture while staying true to the plot of the fairytale. A key component of this lesson is the appropriate use of translanguaging, cognate words, and the dialects of how learners speak in the final assignment.

Writing fairytale adaptations gives preservice teachers awareness of their own cultural biases and assumptions, and the opportunity to demonstrate cultural inclusivity and responsiveness when teaching fairytales to elementary students. This prepares future teachers to understand how to use writing methods in order to be culturally competent and empathetic educators while developing a culturally sustained pedagogy. 

Ivonne Miranda has been an urban educator for 23 years. She is currently assistant professor, supervisor of field experiences and student teaching, and director of the graduate program at Cedar Crest College Education Department. She has the Celebrate Literacy Award from the Keystone State Literacy Association Central Eastern Region for her work with pre-service teachers publishing diverse children's literature, and has also been published in Literacy Today.

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Boosting Literacy Skills With Word Games: Fun Puzzles for the Classroom

Literacy Today magazine: Reflecting Every Reader

Today, I find myself reflecting on Jodi Picoult’s bestselling novel Nineteen Minutes, a harrowing account of the moments leading up to a school shooting. It was among the top books banned during the U.S. 2023–2024 school year according to PEN America, and it contains a quote that I find very poignant: “If we don’t change the direction we are headed, we will end up where we are going.

Book bans have already risen to unprecedented levels in recent years. Since 2021, PEN America has reported nearly 16,000 book bans in U.S. public schools nationwide—a number not seen since the Red Scare McCarthy era of the 1950s. By banning books, we are limiting access to stories that reflect a wide range of experiences and put young readers at a severe disadvantage. As a society, we all suffer under censorship.

Preserving the freedom to read

Right to Read Day marks a national effort led by Unite Against Book Bans to encourage readers, educators, and advocates to preserve access to literature for all. By mobilizing our communities, raising awareness, and providing advocacy tools, we can challenge restrictions on books in schools and libraries right now.

Here are four organizations that can help support your involvement:

1. 1.	Office for Intellectual Freedom: Part of the American Library Association, you can receive free consulting services, training materials, and even grants to bolster efforts combating book bans.
   2.	Unite Against Book Bans: Our partners at Unite Against Book Bans offer actionable advocacy ideas to implement in your local community today, such as ways to support your local library, how to report a book ban, and ways to evaluate government candidates.
   3.	PEN America: Providing research reports that clearly outline the dramatic rise in censorship, PEN America also offers guides on how to contact your state elected officials and what to say at public meetings.
   4.	International Literacy Association (ILA): Here at ILA, we provide a Children’s Rights to Read toolkit specifically designed for teacher colleagues, librarians, families, and policymakers.

Literacy is a fundamental human right, and access to books is essential for fostering lifelong learning, critical thinking, and empathy. By defending the right to read, we uphold global literacy efforts that empower individuals and communities. Whether you write to a legislator, attend an event, or share resources, every action contributes to a future where books remain accessible to all.

Jillian Gorry is the managing editor for the International Literacy Association.