Literacy Now

INTERRUPTING CHICKEN (Candlewick, 2010)
Pre-K through Third Grade

INTERRUPTING CHICKEN is a story of a father chicken attempting to put his daughter, Little Chicken, to bed for the night. Little Chicken asks Father to read her a bedtime story and he agrees after reminding her to listen and not interrupt. She promises to be good and the first story begins.

During the reading of the first story, HANSEL AND GRETEL, Little Chicken begins to listen but has to alter the ending of the story just when the old woman invites the children inside. Little Chicken shows great concern for the characters in the story and doesn’t want them to get hurt. Father reminds her that she is interrupting and she promises, again, to be good. Father begins to read the next story, LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD, and the same thing happens. Little Chicken gets so involved in the story she feels part of it and tries to save the girl.

The illustrations in this story tell another tale, showing the emotions that Little Chicken and Father go through during the experience of bed time routines. Young children are captivated by the colorful and detailed illustrations and will ask for the story to be read over again. Each reading brings new interest and the story is easily retold by the children. The illustrations and easy to remember text will help to build literacy skills of retelling, sequencing, and draw readers of all ages into the story of Father and Little Chicken.

Cross-curricular Connections: Character Education, Science, Reading, Art

Ideas for Classroom Use:

Retelling Using Real Life Experiences (Pre-K through First Grade)

The purpose of this activity is to engage students with the text and use a retelling of the story to connect with real life experiences. After reading the story to the children, ask them what the problem in the story from Father’s point of view, illustrating the need for Little Chicken to relax and the desire of Father to finish the story. Then discuss the problem from Little Chicken’s point of view, illustrating concern for the characters and a desire to help. Discuss moments in the student’s lives when a similar situation may have occurred. Ask students to illustrate a time when they felt like Little Chicken and write or dictate as appropriate the story of the event.

Life with Chickens (Second and Third Grade)

The purpose of this activity is to begin to distinguish fiction and fantasy from nonfiction. Use INTERRUPTING CHICKEN as an opening story for a unit on the life cycle of a chicken. Discuss the surroundings and actions of a chicken and have students brainstorm about a chicken's actual activities. Lead students to determine if the chickens in the story are exhibiting typical behavior of chickens. Then, through guided research, find examples of chickens in typical habitats and compare their activities. Chart similarities and differences between the research findings and the story in INTERRUPTING CHICKEN.

As a closing activity for this lesson, have students create a class book detailing non-fiction events in the life of a chicken and fiction events in the life of a chicken. Encourage students to share their work in an Author’s Chair experience.

Telling a Story through Illustrating (Pre-K through Third Grade)

As a class or small group, examine the illustration in the story. Discuss how the illustrations tell a different story than the words do. Reread the story using only the illustrations. Discuss other wordless picture books such as CAT AND CHICKEN by Sara Varon or ROSIE’S WALK by Pat Hutchins. After studying the illustrations, have children work together in groups, or for younger students work together to create a story using only pictures. Talk about details in illustrating the pictures and how facial features, posture, colors, etc. signify emotions. Share the wordless picture books with younger students or in the school library.

Additional Resources and Activities:

Candlewick's Read to Us! Story-Hour Kit
This PDF guide provides additional ideas for INTERRUPTING CHICKEN, including having your students create a paper plate puppet for retelling and interrupting the story. The site also includes a reproducible "Bedtime for Papa" page for students to finish telling Little Chicken’s bedtime story. These activities are designed to reinforce awareness of print, understanding of story parts, and retelling skills.

David Ezra Stein's Website
This website gives more information about the writer and links to the story and ideas to try, including a making a snappy book. This information can be used to complete an author study or to create the class book for Author’s Chair activities detailed above.

Chicken Life Cycle
This website provides a simple overview to the life cycle of a chicken from egg to chick to chicken. The website also provides links to additional information about chickens. This information will be useful in beginning the guided research on non-fiction information about chickens.

Kathy Prater is a Reading Specialist and Pre-Kindergarten teacher in Starkville, Mississippi. She tutors students with dyslexia and teaches as an Adjunct Professor at Mississippi University for Women in Columbus, Mississippi. Her passions include reading, writing, tending her flock of 15 chickens, and helping students at all levels to find motivation for lifelong reading and learning. She believes that every child can become a successful reader if given the right tools and encouragement.

WANT TO WRITE FOR ENGAGE? Send your name, the grade level(s) you teach, the title of book that you put to work, and a line or two about how you use it in your classroom to engage-membership@/.

Verizon Thinkfinity invites teachers of grades five through 12 to enter the iCivics Impact Challenge between now and November 30, 2011. Winners receive a VGo Robot and videoconference session with retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor for your school. 

Through the iCivics Impact Challenge, students can extend the learning beyond Constitution Day by visiting icivics.org and earning points while playing educational games related to the Supreme Court, the U.S. Constitution, presidential roles, and other civics-related topics. The games engage students in evaluating Supreme Court cases, becoming active in their community, voting, determining budgets, passing laws, arguing cases before a judge, and even being president for a day. The team with the highest number of points at midnight on November 30, 2011, wins the grand prize. 

For more ideas on how to make civics engaging in the classroom:
• Visit the Speaker Series section of the Thinkfinity Community to watch our interview with retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor as she tells us why she created iCivics, how to keep students engaged in civic life, and what civic knowledge students need to know before they graduate. 
• Add your ideas to the discussion: What would you ask retired Supreme Court Justice O'Connor about teaching students civics?  
• Visit the History Explorers group in the Thinkfinity Community to exchange ideas on making civics curriculum more compelling: What can teachers do to enliven civic education and inspire active participation? Do you think some form of civic engagement should be required as part of a school's core curriculum? 

For additional lessons, interactive games and activities, visit the Constitution Day collection on Thinkfinity.org. 

Advocacy at the International Reading Association

The deadline to apply for the Fulbright Teacher Program is October 15, 2011. The Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program is an international professional development program that provides opportunities for K-12 teachers to participate in direct exchanges of positions with colleagues from other countries for a semester or a year. By living and working abroad, exchange teachers gain an understanding and appreciation of different educational systems and cultures, and enrich their schools and communities by providing students with new perspectives about the world in which they live. 

Fulbright exchanges result in continuing relationships between schools, some of which establish their own student and faculty exchanges and Internet links.  In other instances, exchanges benefit local communities by providing them with international resources that are not otherwise available. International collaborations such as these foster enduring relationships and continuously provide students with opportunities to increase their subject knowledge and understand its relevance in the greater context of the world. Participating teachers develop and share their expertise with colleagues abroad, and schools gain from the experience of having an international resource in their communities. 

Full-time U.S. teachers are eligible to apply for a year-long or semester-long direct exchange of teaching positions with a counterpart in another country teaching the same subject(s) at the same level. Fulbright program staff in the U.S. and abroad match U.S. and overseas candidates in the spring of each year. Then, Fulbright staff propose matched-exchanges that each candidate and each school administration must approve before the program takes place. For more information, see http://www.fulbrightteacherexchange.org/cte.cfm. 

Applications for the 2012-2013 Distinguished Fulbright Awards in Teaching are due by December 15, 2011. These awards are designed to recognize and encourage excellence in teaching in the U.S. and abroad. They select 24 highly talented U.S. and international teachers to receive a grant to study at a university, conduct research, teach classes and workshops, and develop a project pertaining to their field of educational inquiry during their semester overseas. 

Sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State, the Distinguished Fulbright Awards in Teaching program recognizes and encourages excellence in teaching in the U.S. and abroad. The program sends highly accomplished primary and secondary teachers from the U.S. abroad and brings international teachers to the U.S for a three to six month long program. Participating countries in 2012-2013 are: Argentina, Finland, India, Israel, Mexico, Morocco, Singapore, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

This highly prestigious program will provide U.S. award recipients with the opportunity to study in an overseas research center or university. International participants will gather at a single U.S. university college of education which will provide a broad range of education classes and faculty support. Participants can take advanced undergraduate or graduate level classes, conduct research, design and lead seminars for host country teachers and students, and engage in other teaching related activities. Grantees will propose an action-based research project at the time of application that should encourage cross-cultural dialogue, reflection, and support teaching activities. In conjunction with a host institution mentor, each grantee will design program activities that will enhance the action-based research project and contribute to its successful completion. Upon returning home, teachers will be expected to share the knowledge and experience gained on the program with teachers and students in their home schools and within their communities. 

Grantees will be expected to produce a final action-based research project at the end of the program, with the form and content of the project proposed by the applicant at the time of application; projects should encourage cross-cultural dialogue and support future teaching activities. Participants should be creative in developing program activities that will enhance their project and contribute to its successful implementation. Each international teacher will be encouraged to give presentations on their project activities, and to compile written reflections and photographic or other records of their U.S. experiences. 

Program costs such as tuition, room and board, and transportation are covered by the grant; participants will receive a maintenance allowance designed to assist with the costs of food and lodging during the program. Distinguished Teachers will also have the opportunity to apply for professional development funds to support development and research, or cover the expenses of attending a conference or workshop related to their fields of teaching expertise. Dependents may accompany program participants; all dependents' expenses, however, will be paid for by the grantee. See http://www.fulbrightteacherexchange.org/dteIndex.cfm

for information. 

Photo caption: Jeff Blair, 2009-10 U.S. Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching participant at the Fezeka Senior Secondary School in Guguletu, South Africa 

IRA Global Operations

IRA Professional Development for Educators

StoryCorps, the national non-profit oral history project, launched the National Teachers Initiative on Monday, September 19, 2011. The Initiative celebrates the brilliant and courageous work of public school teachers across the country. By recording, sharing, and preserving their stories, StoryCorps hopes to call public attention to the invaluable contributions teachers have made to this nation, honor those who have embraced the profession as their calling, encourage teaching as a career choice, and unify the country behind its teachers—helping all recognize that there is no more important or noble work than that of educating the nation’s children.

The National Teachers Initiative will partner with local education and community organizations and public school districts across the country to record stories, placing special attention on the work of teachers striving to increase the number of students who graduate prepared for college and careers. StoryCorps will visit cities throughout the country during the 2011-2012 school year to record stories honoring at least 625 teachers. These cities include: Zanesville, Ohio; Portland, Oregon; New York City; Orlando, Florida; Fort Riley, Kansas; Mobile, Alabama; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Baltimore, MD; McComb, Mississippi; and New Orleans, Louisiana. 

Major funding for the National Teachers Initiative is provided by the Corporation of Public Broadcasting and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with additional funding provided by The Joyce Foundation. The National Teachers Initiative is part of American Graduate, a public media initiative supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to help local communities across America address the dropout crisis. 

The mission of StoryCorps is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of their lives. They accomplish this by recording high-quality interviews between friends or family, in which one person interviews the other. A trained Facilitator guides the interview, if necessary, and handles all the technical aspects of the recording.

StoryCorps travels across the country and has collected and archived more than 30,000 interviews from more than 60,000 participants. It is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind. StoryCorps currently has four major initiatives: StoryCorps Historias collects the stories of Latinos throughout the United States and Puerto Rico; StoryCorps Griot preserves the voices and experiences of African Americans; the Memory Loss Initiative reaches out to people affected by memory loss disorders and their families; the September 11th Initiative honors and remembers the stories of survivors, rescue workers, and others most personally affected by the events of September 11, 2001.

The first StoryBooth opened on October 23, 2003, in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal. In May 2008 the new flagship StoryBooth opened in Lower Manhattan’s Foley Square. StoryCorps currently operates StoryBooths in New York City, San Francisco, and Atlanta. Two StoryCorps MobileBooths travel across the country, partnering with local public radio stations in various cities for one month at a time. StoryCorps’ first two MobileBooths hit the road May 19, 2005. StoryCorps also provides a Door-to-Door service where trained Facilitators travel with recording equipment to collect stories on-site. More information can be found at Bring StoryCorps to Your Community. StoryCorps participants receive a broadcast-quality copy of their interview on CD at the end of their session. The suggested donation for an hour-long StoryBooth session is $25 ensuring access to everyone. StoryCorps fundraises throughout the year to help cover costs of recording, archiving, and preserving each interview. 

With the permission of the participants, edited stories from each booth are broadcast on a partner public radio station. One story is broadcast nationally on NPR’s Morning Edition every Friday morning. Recorded interviews are added to the StoryCorps Archive, housed at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. 

StoryCorps launched the first National Day of Listening in 2008 to encourage all Americans to record an interview with a loved one on the day after Thanksgiving using equipment that is readily available in most homes—from cell phones to tape recorders to computers or even pen and paper. This year’s National Day of Listening is November 25, 2011. Visit http://storycorps.org for more information. 

by Jill Castek

The Friday Institute at North Carolina State University was the site of the fifth New Literacies Teacher Leader Institute from July 25 to 29, 2011. The event was organized around the theme “Inquire, Collaborate, Create: New Literacies for Teacher Leaders.” NC State professors Hiller Spires, Carl Young, and John Lee, along with other presenters, used innovative instructional techniques to showcase ways that digital tools can create challenging and motivating learning opportunities for teachers and students. 

Across the week, participants engaged in hands-on, minds-on, project-based inquiries. In the process, they made plans for distributing new knowledge to their extended learning communities in their respective schools and districts.

Keynote addresses sparked new ideas for implementation. Professor Don Leu’s talk invited a closer look at New Literacies, Inquiry, and Equity:  Teacher Leaders for a New Educational Era. Steven W. Anderson’s address promoted Education, Enduring and Everlasting. Meredith Stewart’s keynote explored Digital Cross Training: Teachers as Students and Students as Teachers. 

Digging Deeper sessions encouraged participants to explore how social networking environments can enrich the classroom and how video can be used as a creation tool to amplify student engagement, creativity, and complex thinking. 

Cool Tools sessions featured Voicethread, Prezi, Xtranormal, Google's Collaborative Literacy Tools and much more. Across the institute, Twitter, and Ning were used as dynamic communication and reflection tools.

Each day included time for teachers to create innovative inquiry lessons based on curriculum standards. To celebrate and showcase their learning, teachers shared their innovative inquiry projects during a Participant Showcase. 

The New Literacies Teacher Leader Institute at NC State was an innovative learning experience that inspired participating teachers to tap students’ curiosity and unleash their creativity while at the same time become agents for change in a new educational era.  Creators Hiller Spires, John Lee, Carl Young, Don Leu, Julie Coiro, and Jill Castek have seen momentum for the institute grow as new generations of teacher leaders share their knowledge with colleagues and put into practice what they’ve learned. Organizers are planning for the next institute in 2012. To get involved contact Hiller Spires at haspires@ncsu.edu.