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    Reimagining Reading: Connecting and Promoting Lifelong Readers Through Book Clubs

    By Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher
     | Apr 04, 2018

    LT Book ClubsAlmost all of our students have abandoned the regular reading of books.

    Let us say this again: Almost all of our students have abandoned the regular reading of books.

    A strong statement, for sure, but not one we have come to lightly. We have reached this conclusion after surveying our high school students, many of whom have come from years of classrooms focused only (or mostly) on the whole-class reading of difficult texts. In these environments, they have found alternatives to actually turning the pages. They are practiced in participating in fake discussions spun from reading SparkNotes summaries. They have become experts in the art of hiding. And, sadly, we have found that this applies to all our students—even those at the honors level.

    If we do not alter our approach to the teaching of reading—if we don’t figure out a way for students to rediscover the magic of books—we will graduate a generation of nonreaders, fake readers, and unprepared-for-college readers.

    So how can we reconnect kids to reading? We believe the answer lies in providing our students with a balanced reading diet. In our classrooms, “balanced” means a rich foundation of independent reading, regular book club opportunities, and the study of a few core texts in a school year.

    Though independent reading and whole-class study of texts are critical, we have found that creating vibrant book club experiences are particularly helpful in reestablishing reading habits in our students. Specifically, book clubs do three kinds of important work:

    • Book clubs allow our classrooms to be responsive. This year, we selected book club titles around the topic of equity. Students picked from a wide range of fiction and nonfiction titles, from below–grade-level to college-level texts, thus meeting the needs of the diverse reading abilities found in our classrooms. (Check out the sidebar for the list of books we used.) We picked equity as a theme because it is a vital part of discourse today. Our students need a part in the conversation. Charlottesville, “Take a Knee,” DACA, and Black Lives Matter are dominating headlines, and they demand to be studied in the moment. Our unit was responsive to the times, and relevancy motivates our students to read.
    • Book clubs raise reading volume. One thing we are sure all students need—and too many students will graduate without—is a deep volume of reading. What should college freshmen expect in the first year? Five thousand pages of reading (according to reDesign, an organization that specializes in teaching and learning practices) and 75 text-based discussions with students who come from many parts of the world and from religious traditions and family cultures unlike their own. We must create opportunities for our students to practice the speaking and listening, the reading and responding, and the thorny thinking that can result from examining current issues with peers. Book clubs increase the volume of reading because students are responsible to their peers. Having an audience beyond their teacher brings a renewed energy for reading.
    • Book clubs connect students to other readers. We build conversations around books to engage more students in productive talk. Students are too often alone together, as MIT professor Sherry Turkle named the isolation that is caused by a devotion to screen time. You know this. Our classes are quiet when we come in from hall duty. Most students scroll through likes and posts or are animatedly texting. Their friend groups are larger than ever, but less intimate. In the awkwardness of adolescence, it is easier to cultivate a presence online than to make eye contact and to speak, or to actively listen as others respond to your thinking. Small-group conversations are less natural and occur less frequently outside of school today, so they must become an essential part of our classrooms.

    We used Flipgrid to connect our students across the United States, from New Hampshire to California, and then to education majors at Miami University in Oxford, OH. We included college students in our book clubs this year because many young adults find the adjustment to college in the first year difficult, particularly those who are the first in their family to attend. We teach those students, so we used book clubs to build a bridge from our students to college readers.

    Both of us teach students from the working class. Their parents want them to rise above financial struggle, but they don’t know how to prepare their children for the demands of college or the workplace. They depend on us—teachers in the local public school—to know what their kids need. It is a sacred trust. We stand on the front line of preparing students for the future, and motivating them to read is a crucial part of this preparation.

    When we recognized that almost all of our students had abandoned regular reading, it was time to reimagine our teaching of reading. We look forward to sharing more thinking on motivating young readers at the ILA 2018 Conference in Austin, TX, this July. We hope you will join us.

    Penny Kittle, an ILA member since 1999, teaches English at Kennett High School in New Hampshire. She is coauthor of 180 Days: Two Teachers and the Quest to Engage and Empower Adolescents with Kelly Gallagher and author of Book Love: Developing Depth, Passion, and Stamina in Readers (Heinemann).

    Kelly Gallagher, an ILA member since 2003, teaches at Magnolia High School in California. He is the author of several books, most notably Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It (Stenhouse).

    This article originally appeared in the open access March/April issue of Literacy Today, ILA’s member magazine.

    Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher will be featured speakers at the ILA 2018 Conference, July 20–July 23, in Austin, TX. To learn more, visit literacyworldwide.org/conference.

    Almost all of our students have abandoned the regular reading of books. Let us say this again: Almost all of our students have abandoned the regular reading of books. A strong statement, for sure, but not one we have come to lightly. We have...Read More
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    Celebrating Open Education

    By Todd Bryant
     | Mar 29, 2018

    Open EducationEarlier this month, educators, technologists, and learners across the world celebrated Open Education Week, a global event that seeks to reduce barriers, increase access, and drive improvements in education through open sharing and digital formats. 

    Organized by the Open Education Consortium, the event showcases open projects, resources, and ideas and encourages the further creation and dissemination of educational resources. While OEW may have passed, advocates can continue to celebrate and advance open education all year long. Here’s the why and how:

    What is open education?

    The open education movement started in response to two critical issues facing educators and students. Most are aware of the rising costs of learning materials; a study published by U.S. Department of Labor found that the cost of textbooks increased by 88% from 2006–2016. Eliminating these costs can significantly reduce financial barriers for our most disadvantaged students.

    Furthermore, open resources have the additional advantage of being published under a Creative Commons license. This means teachers can take portions of open texts or digital materials, add their own material or include them within a lesson, and share with other teachers. One example of this is the Mixxer Language Exchange site hosted by Dickinson College, which connects language learners with native speakers as part of a mutual language exchange. Users can practice via Skype or submit a short writing piece and ask for corrections. The site also provides “lessons” that integrate materials from the Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning (COERLL) to support and guide exchanges.

    Next steps

    We believe that education should be open and free, and there are several resources to help teachers interested in collaborative learning. Those just getting started may want to check out  MERLOT, an open educational resource project from the California State University. Anyone can contribute or use materials from the repository, which includes whole courses, open textbooks, small instructional modules, and more. Those looking for open textbooks should browse California’s Cool4Ed library, Minnesota’s Open Textbook Library, OpenStax from Rice University, and aggregators of these resources, such as OER Commons’ hub.

    Finally, institutions and governments are becoming proponents of openness in education. The Cool4Ed library was established by California legislation that called for the establishment of an open educational resources council and a digital open source library. Community colleges have started an OER Degree Initiative to create entire degree programs that exclusively use open textbooks and online resources. The open education movement has also for the first time succeeded in allotting federal funds for the creation of open and free textbooks. Open education still has a long way to go, but it’s slowly becoming a reality.

    Todd Bryant is a language technology specialist at Dickinson College.

    Earlier this month, educators, technologists, and learners across the world celebrated Open Education Week, a global event that seeks to reduce barriers, increase access, and drive improvements in education through open sharing and digital...Read More
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    What to Expect from ILA’s Inaugural Children’s Literature Day

    By Alina O'Donnell
     | Mar 28, 2018

    CLDEach year, thousands of literacy educators, professionals, advocates from across the world gather to attend ILA’s annual conference. The event attracts attendees of varying backgrounds, expertise, and experiences, who share and connect over a love of the written word.

    Feedback from postconference surveys, #ILAchats, and social media activity consistently indicates that conference attendees value author interactions. As a result, ILA will now offer an entire day of programming dedicated to children’s and young adult literature, to debut at the ILA 2018 Conference, taking place in Austin, TX, from July 2023.

    Children’s Literature Day 2018 will include keynote speeches, educational sessions, book signings and giveaways, and more. Here’s a snapshot of what’s included with registration:

    • Keynote speeches by Marley Dias, 13-year-old founder of #1000BlackGirlBooks and the youngest person on Forbes 30 Under 30 list; Colby Sharp, fifth-grade teacher and cofounder of Nerdy Book Club; and Kwame Alexander; poet, educator, and New York Times bestselling author of 24 books.
    • A plated lunch during the afternoon keynote (Sharp) and the presentation of ILA’s Children’s and Young Adults’ Book Awards.
    • One Author Meetup of your choosing. Four categories (Early Reader, Middle Grade, Early Young Adult, and Older Young Adult) feature a mix of up-and-comers and well-established veterans.
    • Free titles from each featured author in the selected Meetup.
    • Hands-on workshops (also spanning four age-level categories) where you’ll create title-focused classroom materials alongside the authors who wrote the books and gain practical, teacher-generated ideas for incorporating those books into your curriculum.

    Learn more and register for ILA 2018 at ilaconference.org.

    Alina O’Donnell is the editor of Literacy Daily.

    Each year, thousands of literacy educators, professionals, advocates from across the world gather to attend ILA’s annual conference. The event attracts attendees of varying backgrounds, expertise, and experiences, who share and connect over a...Read More
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    National Walkout Day: Teaching for Democracy

    By Katie Kelly and Marie Havran
     | Mar 21, 2018
    Books About Activism

    Today’s post-Columbine generation has never known a world without school shootings. Last Wednesday, thousands of students and teachers across the country participated in National Walkout Day in response to the mass shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, FL. They were met with mixed reactions from district officials, some of whom prohibited participation, citing security risks, disruptions to learning, and the need to refrain from expressing political views during the school day as justification. In some instances, students were physically blocked from exiting the building by school employees.

    We argue that this is a missed opportunity for meaningful learning about the democratic process and for teaching students how to advocate for their rights. Furthermore, teaching is a political act; it is impossible to take a neutral stance when making curricular decisions, choosing which books to include or exclude in our classrooms, and deciding whose voices and histories are being told and valued. We believe our students should not be asked to divorce their rights to freedom of speech or expression upon entering school. As educators, we owe it to our students to create spaces where they have the right to safely express their views and where their voices are valued.

    In a field driven by top-down mandates, educators’ voices are often stifled and silenced, creating a culture of compliance. As the instructional coach at my school, I, Marie, was approached by many teachers who wanted to be a part of the movement to honor and show solidarity with the victims of Stoneman Douglas High School. I agreed that this was an important opportunity to teach students about civic engagement, but the teachers and I felt limited in what we could do as a result of the district’s communication that outlined appropriate activities, so I reached out to Katie to brainstorm possible solutions.  

    After careful consideration, we decided that literature could create a conduit for conversations centered around social change. We encouraged teachers to read aloud Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Toniatiuh, which examines the Mendez family’s actions that led to school desegregation. The text was used as the foundation for classroom discussion, which provided reflection for taking action.

    Students connected the events in the text to current conversations around policy change. They channeled their feelings through authentic writing experiences—students chose to write letters to first responders, to the students of Stoneman Douglas High School, or to fellow classmates. They shared words of gratitude for the first responders, expressed feelings of hope and encouragement to the victims, and stated their desire to end school violence. Knowing a group of students organized and led the movement added an element of genuine awe as these elementary students began to realize how powerful a group of young people can be. They learned that they too have a voice and can make a difference.

    Real world reading, writing, and discussion were used as tools to foster meaningful response and to help students cope and support each other. Through each modality, a deeper understanding of their experiences was embraced in a caring and nurturing environment within the classroom community. Choosing to advocate for our students in this way allowed us to frame the larger ideas concerning the school shooting.

    At such a pivotal moment, teachers embraced tough conversations and provided a framework for future activism. Students who participated in National Walkout Day experienced an important movement as part of living history that takes learning far beyond the pages of the textbook and stretches beyond their classroom and school walls. Even when banned from participating, educators still found ways to engage their students in valuable lessons about the democratic process while imparting essential literacy, social, and life skills.

    Other books to teach young students about social activism include the following:

    • The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, A Young Civil Rights Activist by Cynthia Levinson (Simon & Schuster, 2017)
    • Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel (HarperCollins, 2013)
    • Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Little, Brown, 2010)
    • Malala Yousefzai: Warrior With Words by Karen Leggett Abouraya (StarWalk Kids Media, 2014)
    • Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson and Frank Morrison (Houghton Mifflin, 2018)
    • ¡Sí, Se Puede! / Yes, We Can!  by Diana Cohn (Cinco Puntos Press, 2005)

    Katie Stover Kelly is an associate professor of education at Furman University in Greenville, SC, and coauthor of From Pencils to Podcasts: Digital Tools to Transform K-6 Literacy Practices (Solution Tree, 2017) and Smuggling Writing: Strategies That Get Students to Write Every Day, in Every Content Area, Grades 3-12 (Corwin, 2016). Her new coauthored book with Lester Laminack will be published by Heinemann this fall. Find her on Twitter @ktkelly14.

    Marie Havran is an elementary instructional coach in Greenville, South Carolina, and an adjunct professor at Furman University. Find her on Twitter @MarieHavran.

    Today’s post-Columbine generation has never known a world without school shootings. Last Wednesday, thousands of students and teachers across the country participated in National Walkout Day in response to the mass shootings at Marjory...Read More
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    Nadia Lopez, ILA General Session Speaker, on Setting Her Scholars up for Success

    By Lara Deloza
     | Mar 19, 2018

    Nadia Lopez

    You probably don’t know Nadia Lopez by name. You might not even recognize her face. Her story, though? That’s another thing entirely.

    On Jan. 19, 2015, Brandon Stanton’s popular Humans of New York (HONY) blog featured a 13-year-old boy who cited his school principal as the most influential person in his life.

    “When we get in trouble, she doesn’t suspend us,” the boy told Stanton. “She calls us to her office and explains to us how society was built down around us. And she tells us that each time somebody fails out of school, a new jail cell gets built. And one time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter.”

    Intrigued, Stanton did some digging that led him to Mott Hall Bridges Academy (MHBA), a New York City public school, and its founder—an inspirational educator determined to offer children living in the underserved, marginalized neighborhood of Brownsville a way up and out.

    Now do you know who Nadia Lopez is?

    Taking her message from Brownsville to the world

    The initial HONY post went viral (to date, more than 1.2 million people have liked it on Facebook and more than 170,000 have shared it). It changed everything.

    Before HONY, Lopez was on the verge of burnout. She was considering quitting altogether.

    Afterward, there was an outpouring of support—and cash. A fundraising campaign started by Stanton brought in more than $1.4 million. Half of the proceeds were earmarked to send incoming sixth graders at Mott Hall on an annual trip to visit Harvard. The other half became a scholarship fund for graduates of MHBA.

    There was an appearance on The Ellen Show. There was a trip to the White House. There was a TED Talk that has been viewed more than 1 million times. There’s a book—The Bridge to Brilliance: How One Woman and One Community Are Inspiring the World (Penguin)—that shares the story of MHBA and the woman whose vision brought it to life.

    Lopez hasn’t shied away from the spotlight, and she’s certainly enjoyed the attention she’s received (when asked the most surprising thing that happened after her story went viral, she cites getting to meet Michelle Obama when both were honored at BET’s Black Girls Rock celebration). But the work that she’s done was never about her. It was always about the kids.

    Serving them is what drives everything at Mott Hall, including the expectations set for its teachers. Lopez believes in the power of the team; at MHBA, educators collaborate on planning and preparation. She sees the staff as a village created to support the success of the school’s scholars.

    “Leadership is not easy,” Lopez says, “but it’s worth it.”

    Setting her scholars up for success

    Leadership will be just one of the themes of Lopez’s General Session keynote at the ILA 2018 Conference.

    “Everything begins with our leaders,” she says. “Administrators must be the example of what they want to see in their team members….What you choose to prioritize, those who work for you will understand it mandatory to follow.”

    For Lopez, this means cultivating a culture of literacy in the STEAM-focused Mott Hall.

    “Reading and writing are paramount in learning,” Lopez says. “Our incoming scholars range from a K–3 reading level in the sixth grade, which is unacceptable. If they will ever be successful, my scholars must be able to build their literacy skills before they graduate MHBA.”

    Brownsville lays claim to some of New York City’s lowest literacy rates, but her vision behind Mott Hall—to create a school that sets children up for college and career—makes literacy education a top priority.

    “A child who can read can learn beyond the limitations set upon them in this world,” Lopez says. “Opening a book, reading a blog or newspaper can give you a worldview from someone else’s perspective. It also levels the field by building knowledge that makes you not only competitive but marketable.”

    There’s still much work to be done. Lopez puts in long hours, seven days a week. Her concern for her students and their future never wanes. Her responsibility to them and the community weighs heavily on her shoulders.

    And yet…

    “I love what I do,” she says. “Each day I am grateful for the opportunity to impact the lives of children.”

    Lara Deloza is the senior communications manager at ILA.

    This article originally appeared in the open access March/April issue of Literacy Today, ILA’s member magazine.

    Nadia Lopez will be a keynote speaker during the General Session at the ILA 2018 Conference, July 20–July 23, in Austin, TX. For more information visit ilaconference.org.

    You probably don’t know Nadia Lopez by name. You might not even recognize her face. Her story, though? That’s another thing entirely. On Jan. 19, 2015, Brandon Stanton’s popular Humans of New York (HONY) blog featured a 13-year-old boy who cited...Read More
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