Literacy Now

The Writing Thief author Ruth Culham led a passionate discussion on mentor texts Oct. 28 as part of the International Reading Association’s first Google Hangout on Air. She was joined by Scholastic authors Varian Johnson (The Great Greene Heist), Kate Messner (Ranger in Time #1: Rescue on the Oregon Trail), and Lisa Yee (Warp Speed). The discussion covered a number of topics, including how to motivate reluctant writers and how exactly to use mentor texts in the classroom, regardless of text length.

Culham said she finds mentor texts every day whether it’s picture books or signs at the zoo. “I learn from texts and I know kids do, too.”

Discussion extended past the live stream into comments posted on YouTube and on Twitter, under #writingthief. Viewers shared their enthusiasm in adding more mentor texts to their classroom libraries, passed along favorite statements of panelists, and agreed with the need for more nonfiction mentor texts and increased diversity across all genres.

During the hour-long panel, the authors presented an impressive list of mentor text suggestions. We’ve compiled a list of every single recommendation, who recommended it and why. Don’t worry, we’ve also created a printable version.

RUTH’S RECOMMENDATIONS:

The Day the Crayons Quit
by Drew Dewalt (2013)
“This is a delightfully funny book…” The book is an example of a lot of different mentor texts, narrative, opinion and informational, for example.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz(and the rest of the series)
by L. Frank Baum (1900)
“I know literature influenced my life so much as reader and a writer.” This series was a childhood favorite.

To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee (1960)
Reading this is a 20-year tradition, every August. “The last time I was noticing just how it was put together and how the vignettes were so carefully seamed together.

One Crazy Summer
by Rita Williams-Garcia (2011)
“It’s just so compelling. It’s layered, it’s textured, it’s tragic. It’s everything.”

Nino Wrestles the World
by Yuyi Morales (2013)
“It’s hilarious, but it’s all brilliantly written.” It addresses Hispanic culture by being “honoring and support of his culture and traditions.”

The Conference of the Birds
by Alexis York Lumbard, Illus. by Demi (2012)
“A retelling of folktales that are culturally sensitive.” Shared recently with literacy educators in Abu Dhabi.

I Will Make Miracles
by Susie Morgenstern, Illus. by Jiang Hong Chen (2008)
“We need to find books that warmly embrace different issues, cultural backgrounds and interesting situations.”

Bully
by Laura Vaccaro Seeger (2013)
This book is about the important topic of bullying and this book can open dialog about that. More than that it’s also, “a great example of how a book is put together so thoughtfully.”

Brown Girl Dreaming
by Jacqueline Woodson (2014)
“How could you not want to read a book that is written so elegantly and articulately and flows?”

KATE’S RECOMMENDATIONS:

The Center of Everything
by Laura Moriarty (2004)
Reading short passages, even, is a “great way into that good detailed descriptive writing.”

Bigger than a Bread Box
by Laurel Snyder (2012)
The very first paragraph of this book is great for students to write “detailed memories.” “Deconstructing a single paragraph can help (students) see how specific details really brings (the story) to life.”

My Father the Dog
by Elizabeth Bluemle, Illus. by Randy Cecil (2008)
“This is a funny way into that compare and contrast idea. Much better than comparing a horse and a zebra.”

Ramona the Pest
by Beverly Cleary (1985)
“When I started writing as a kid, I just thought, ‘How did she do that and how did she create this out of thin air and make them so real?!’”

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
by Judy Blume (1972)
These books were like teachers during childhood. The characters were so personal and familiar.

The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins (2008)
A good repeat-read to get into the structure of the book. “What was it about the pacing of that book that made it ‘unputdownable.’”

Me and Momma and Big John
by Mara Rockliff, Illus. by William Low (2012)
It’s just a beautiful story about a family and the father goes to work as a stone cutter. It’s not about race, it’s just a story about a family of color. It’s gorgeous.”

The First Strawberries
by Joseph Bruchac and Anna Vojtech (1998)
“All of our cultures have stories.” This is a great way to encourage students to tell their family stories.

Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors
by Hena Khan, Illus. by Mehrdokht Amini (2012)
“There is diversity in where we come from and what we believe. Share this and have children examine their own cultures.”

Anything but Typical
by Nora Raleigh (2009)
A book from the point of view of the main character, who is on the Autism scale, “it is a very different voice than the one in our head.” Books are not only mirrors, but “a window into someone else’s life.”

Beetle Busters
by Loree Griffith Burns and Ellen Harasimowicz (2014)
This is part of the Scientists in the Field series. “These are books I like to call ‘science storytelling.’ Scientists often talk like scientists, not storytellers.”

The Hive Detectives
by Loree Griffith Burns and Ellen Harasimowicz (2010)
“Students can interview scientists in your community and then go back to see how Lori wrote about that.”

A Ranger in Time
by Kate Messner (2015)
“It’s based on real solid history. When you’re reading historical fiction… look not only at the story, but also the author’s note. I’m basically pulling back the curtain on my research.”

LISA’S RECOMMENDATIONS:

Millicent Min, Girl Genius,Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time,and So Totally Emily Embers
by Lisa Yee (2004)
“We use these books for point of view. It’s the same summer, but from the point of view of different characters.” Milicent Min was the first book from a major publisher to feature a modern Asian child on the cover.

All-of-a-Kind Family
by Sydney Taylor (1984)
“Your reader associates. They’re not just reading the story, they’re part of the story.”

Katie John
by Mary Calhoun (1960)
It felt as though, “she wrote that book for me. That is so important.”

Walk Two Moons
by Sharon Creech (1994)
“This is a great book. I left this book, along with To Kill a Mockingbird on the desk when I was writing my first novel.” Reading one sentence can be an inspiration to write.

The Lightning Dreamer: Cuba’s Greatest Abolitionist
by Margarita Engle (2013)
Also in free verse, “the language of this book is just beautiful—and the imagery. My heart broke and my heart sang with the book.”

VARIAN’S RECOMMENDATIONS:

Millicent Min, Girl Genius
by Lisa Yee (2004)
The use of the resume in the opening of the book is a great way to get students “on the page” to start writing.

Motown and Didi: A Love Story
by Walter Dean Myers (1987)
“I got to the back flap and saw a picture of Walter there, looking very astute with his glasses, and it was the first time I realized someone who looked like me could write books. I had never realized that.”

Hard Love
by Ellen Wittlinger (2001)
After reading this book, “I knew I wanted to write books for young people.”

The Westing Game
by Ellen Raskin (1997)
While writing The Great Greene Heist, this was a great mentor text for changing the point of view from one character to another. “You’re bouncing around, but you’re not jostled.”

Locomotion
by Jacqueline Woodson (2010)
Another free verse novel, the main character struggles with poetry. “I find young readers really resonate with it. It’s a way to get them thinking about story in a different form.”

April Hall is editor of Reading Today Online.

Rachel Krall, IRA development manager, contributed to this feature.

Have you been too busy to finish your International Reading Association award or grant application? Good news: The deadline for some of the programs has been extended until Jan. 15, 2015.

Here is the list of those with the extended deadlines, with links to each:

Arbuthnot Award
Award for Technology and Reading
Erwin Zolt Curriculum Excellence Award
Esther Zolt Academic Research Grant
Esther Zolt Teacher Research Grant
Helen M. Robinson Research Grant
Jeanne S. Chall Research Fellowship
Jerry Johns Outstanding Teacher Educator in Reading Award
Maryann Manning Outstanding Volunteer Service Award
Nila Banton Smith Award
Regie Routman Teacher Recognition Grant
Short Story Award
Steven A. Stahl Research Grant
Special Service Award
Teacher as Researcher Grant
William S. Gray Citation of Merit
Outstanding Dissertation Research Award

Since the kickoff of the ILD 60-for-60 challenge last month, IRA staffers have receive a daily treat in their email inboxes:  a 60-second literacy activity. For our latest two-week round, we imagined what it would be like to pack for a yearlong trip to space. There are some very specific parameters to what someone can bring to the International Space Station and we started small and went smaller.

For our personal belongings lockers, we asked questions that included what three CDs, books and movies had to be onboard, among other sentimental items. After admitting that, sure, you could take some type of tablet that could probably hold all the music, books, and movies you would ever want or need, we asked the staff to suspend their disbelief and work with us here. Our responses ran the gamut from The Bible to The Bell Jar, from reggae to experimental hip-hop.

IRA’s brand new copywriter, Jessica Abbey, had a 60-for-60 baptism by fire when she started midstream. She says getting the questions every day helped her transition into the organization while she’s still working remotely from Brooklyn. She says she’s already found some common ground with new coworkers, even if she hasn’t met them face-to-face yet.

“Overall, I think that the staff participating in the ILD 60 day challenge is a great idea, in that we are practicing the literacy lessons that we preach,” she says, “and having fun at the same time!”

The second week of our challenge made things even more difficult when we had to pack our Personal Preference Kits. Just 3-inches-by-3-inches, this kit can hold items that are small in size, big in meaning. A photo, a special lucky charm, a slip of paper—not much more can fit. So we asked about those things, including a favorite quote that would be of comfort during a long year away from Earth. Answers included song lyrics, passages from books, and quotes from athletes.

IRA Development Manager Rachel Krall said this latest round of activities is her favorite so far.

“Like getting lost in a great story, a 60-second literacy activity allows us to explore the world in new ways,” Krall says. “I personally have never dreamed of being an astronaut—just the idea of space makes me sweat—but allowing ourselves to dream, even if only for 60 seconds, shouldn’t be something that we lose as adults.”

As we enter the second half of the 60-for-60 challenge, the staff will have a chance for a little reflection from our 2014 ILD activity kit. Taking a cue from the “six-word memoir” movement, Jayme Gravell, IRA social media strategist, will send out a theme each day to inspire a six-word story (to be written in 60 seconds). Today’s prompt is “describe your weekend in six words.”

Can you? Share your six-word story at social@reading.org.

April Hall is the editor of Reading Today Online. She can be contacted at ahall@reading.org.

Editor’s Note: This story was originally printed in Reading Today magazine. Currently,  Sierra Leone is highly impacted by the Ebola crisis and schools are closed throughout the country and to compensate, students are learning some subjects at home via radio. As of this online publication, the Koinadugu region is Ebola-free and teacher training continues. IRA sends our sympathies for Ebola losses and our hopes the region will soon eradicate the disease.

As rain thunders from the sky on the tin roof and the generator rumbles, 30 Master Teachers from villages across the Koinadugu region of Sierra Leone demonstrate best practices in literacy education. Volunteers from the International Reading Association (IRA) look on in celebration. This scene is part of an IRA initiative that was successfully launched in July 2013, through which approximately 640 teachers have been trained in Diagnostic Teaching Methods (DTM). The two-year project is co-sponsored with Catholic Relief Services and funded through the United States Department of Agriculture. The ultimate goal of the project is to improve classroom teaching and children’s learning throughout Sierra Leone.

What Is the Diagnostic Teaching Methods Model?

DTM is a K–12 model of instruction that is based on current literacy research and effective classroom
practices. It is intended for countries where literacy educators have not been exposed to contemporary methods of teaching. A central component of DTM is its emphasis on participatory teaching methods that integrate research about prior knowledge, emerging literacy, vocabulary, comprehension, and the writing process. Teaching strategies such as KWL (what I Know, what I Want to know, what I did Learn), prediction, retelling, story structure, reciprocal teaching, and every-pupil-respond techniques are presented through demonstration lessons. After each demonstration lesson the participants discuss and reflect about how the DTM method might be effectively applied to their own school contexts. The project has been implemented in other African countries, such as Tanzania and Kenya, but this is the first time it has been taught in this West African country.

Civil War Recovery, 80 Students Per Class

Sierra Leone is a beautiful country that rests on the Atlantic Ocean and stretches inland to the neighboring countries of Guinea and Liberia. Although it has many natural resources—such as one of
the finest ports in the world, iron, diamonds, and gold—the country continues to recover from a devastating civil war that created enormous challenges to its infrastructure and schools. The majority
of its teachers are volunteers who are uncertified by the educational ministry. These volunteers teach in the hope of someday becoming certified. Teachers are typically faced with large classes containing
as many as 80 children and have limited, or nonexistent, books and supplies. Most schools have no electricity or even plumbing, and certainly no technology. Yet despite these formidable challenges the teachers, both certified and uncertified, are highly motivated and committed to helping all children learn to read and write.

The purpose of the project is to prepare school leaders in DTM so that they can later prepare other teachers throughout their regions. Two IRA members, Nancy Allen (Qatar University) and Peter McDermott (Pace University) conducted three one-week workshops spread across the academic year. Participants who complete all three workshops are eligible to be certified as DTM trainers. During the course of the program, they have been training other teachers in their districts in DTM methods and will be expected to continue to do so in the future. There are challenges in sharing DTM’s literacy methods in Sierra Leone. Many of the schools lack sufficient literacy materials such as books, paper, and pencils, and participants must learn to become creative with the few resources they do have. There are language differences to overcome, as the first language of people in Sierra Leone is Kreole, with English as a second language. Often written materials that seem clear in the United States are difficult for teachers in Sierra Leone to understand because of specialized vocabulary used in literacy education (e.g., schema, text structure, etc.).

Combining Local Tradition With Teaching Methods

The most exciting and engaging DTM lessons are those that actively involve the participants in discussion and critical thinking about the familiar. For example, to teach story structure, Nancy and Peter asked a volunteer to tell a traditional story. Kai, an experienced teacher, shared a story his father taught him when he was a boy. The story was about a boy who was always lazy and later became a
poor, lazy man who could not afford a wife or children. Realizing that his life was a mess, he sought the advice of a sorcerer, who told him that he could easily become a rich man. All he had to do was collect a bucket of sweat! The man set out to collect his magic bucket of sweat, which required that he work without stopping. To his surprise, he soon found that he had filled the bucket and had also become rich. He married, had children, and lived happily ever after.

After listening to Kai’s story, the trainees analyzed it according to its narrative structure and discussed its similarities and differences to other stories they knew. They discussed how story structure could be effectively used when teaching children how to understand, retell, and question other narrative texts. Culturally specific connections such as this were often used to demonstrate how to use the teaching strategies in the DTM Handbook. IRA’s efforts to contribute to literacy education in Sierra Leone are greatly needed and appreciated by all the people with whom Nancy and Peter met. The 21st Century requires skilled readers and writers, and countries such as Sierra Leone will only prosper when their children are literate and well educated. IRA is making important contributions to literacy education in this western African country.

Nancy Allen, PhD (nancyjaneallen@gmail.com) is a visiting professor at Qatar University and has been an IRA member since 2009.
Peter McDermott, PhD (pmcdermott@pace.edu) is a professor at Pace University and has been an IRA member since 1986.

The National Science Teachers of America (NSTA) and the International Reading Association are teaming up to promote the importance of literacy in science education. The NSTA Area Conference on Science Education is Oct. 16-18 at the Greater Richmond Conference Center in Richmond, VA. Science and literacy are important partners, experts say, and teachers need more training to address the connection. On the final day of the conference, an entire series of sessions will focus on how literacy is vital to deep science learning.

NSTA and IRA will convene a panel to kick off the day’s sessions. As the day goes on, the series of sesions will also feature a panel of eight award-winning authors affiliated with the NSTA and American Association for the Advancement of Science to meet with families and discuss literacy through a scientific perspective.

Juliana Texley, President of the NSTA, says the motivation of science will encourage students to improve their reading skills, while great literature extends the ways in which students can apply their understanding of science.

“Children approach science from many backgrounds, perspectives and learning styles. Great literature challenges the imagination, extends and deepens concepts,” Texley said. “The whole child benefits when great literature is used to put active learning in context. We must not only learn science but communicate it!”

Saturday morning, IRA Exective Director Marcie Craig Post and Bill Badders, retiring president for the NSTA, plan to talk about literacy in the context of science. The pair is expected to provide concrete examples of the connection between the two areas.

“We know literacy is the foundation of all learning,” Post says, “and that all teachers are educators of literacy, in every content area.

“IRA supports teachers in every classroom, to deepen cross-curricular learning, and to make all students career and college ready.”

Other area NSTA conferences are ongoing through the Fall. Registration for the full Richmond conference and for single days is still open.

Morgan Ratner is a communications intern for the International Reading Association.