Literacy Now

A few Reading Today issues back, I pondered the importance—and the challenges—of educational leadership, particularly what it takes to lead in the midst of policy. I made the following observation:

“…politicians and the public can fight the fight, but regardless of how we feel or where we stand on policy decisions, the job of public educators is to implement what has been put in place by a vote or decision (state or federal).”

Nowhere is this more evident than with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), in which the continuing debate is undoubtedly a hot topic, but for the wrong reasons. Equally full of passionate support and disdain, the “noise” is coming at teachers from all directions—from teachers unions to parents, from media outlets to state legislators, and even from publishers shopping what’s billed to be CCSS-aligned materials.

The unspoken implication for teachers is that whether or not they agree or disagree with education policy, their job is to teach within it; deliver student outcomes as prescribed and/or interpreted by an educational overseeing body. That leaves the average teacher wondering who to follow. Sometimes the policy noise can be deafening and, worse yet, defeating to the very teachers it is meant to guide.

As the largest global professional network of literacy educators, we have the duty to cut through that noise. Each educator that comes upon us and considers joining weighs the value of what we offer and considers us as worthy (or not) of their dime and time. When an educator makes the choice to join, they are likely seeing IRA not only as a resource for supporting fine classroom instruction in reading, but also hopeful that IRA will support what is right and good for reading instruction at a greater level—one of influencing those who create the policy under which they deliver instruction. Literacy educators around the world want an advocate.

We can tell our members what makes for good instruction—the research and evidence that produces student outcomes—but it may be of marginal use if we are not assertive within the global realm of education in informing and influencing the bodies of government that craft the policy.

This is no mean feat for IRA; within our ranks, we have disagreement over what is effective. But arguing amongst ourselves which body of research is valid can no longer be an excuse for not supporting—and advocating for—teachers everywhere. We believe our job is to convene the collegial dialogue and the debate in a way that ultimately informs good practice for inclusion in education policy.

We live in an age when taking a public stance on an issue often includes vilifying the opposing view. The fallout carnage of the vehement argument of right and wrong perspectives has a wearying effect on our teachers and serves no useful purpose for them as to what they need to teach literacy to our children. IRA is stepping up and finding the right balance with serving literacy educators by continuing to translate research to sound classroom teaching and renewing our charge of advocating on their behalf for what is effective instructional literacy practice.

In doing so, there have been times when we’ve been accused of being pro-Common Core, or criticized simply for not demonstrating enough favor for or against education policies, Common Core or otherwise. But the truth is, in the end, our stance on any one particular issue does not make us who we are as the International Reading Association. In fact, the truth is simple: We are pro-educator. We are for teachers. That is our stance, and if it’s Common Core-aligned research and lesson plans our members need, then that is what we are going to provide.

We owe it to teachers—our members—to do just that, as well as to continue to voice, with fervor, what is necessary to build sound education policy.

Marcie Craig Post (mpost@/) is the executive director of the International Reading Association. This column originally appeared in Reading Today magazine. Members can read the rest of the magazine in digital form and non-members can join IRA here.

photo credit: WellspringCS via photopin cc

Lately, a common refrain I hear even amongst my most favorite and most fabulous teacher friends is that teaching isn’t fun anymore. They are feeling beat down and overwhelmed by the need to teach central message, to track character, to analyze language and do close readings and be all Common Core-y.

I feel you. Teaching is hard and feels like it’s getting harder. There is so much public finger pointing and tedious paperwork. There are scary and unsupportive evaluation systems and a general sense that no one is listening to us. There are assessments and assessments of assessments and then meetings to talk about those assessments.

I have also heard from many trusted friends and admired colleagues that, as a result, their reading instruction feels tedious, overly challenging for students, and less fun. They have become bogged down with graphic organizers and lengthy lessons that rob students of the chance to fall into their own independent reading. When I hear this, I want to drop everything, shake my fist at the sky and scream, “Nooooooo!” (I have a flair for the dramatic.)

The Common Core State Standards in and of themselves are not “fun.” They are dense and, frankly, a bit of a dry read. But what set of standards aren’t?  The joy and fun don’t come from the Standards themselves, they come from us, from YOU. Joy and fun come in the form of engaging book choices and dynamic conversations about reading. It’s all in the presentation and sticking to those things we value most about the teaching of reading: finding great texts, talking about that those texts, and luxuriating in the act of reading.

The teaching of reading is about introducing our students to engaging stories, authors and topics they might not have considered before. Stay up to date by following resources on Twitter such as The Horn Book, Classroom Bookshelf or by using the hashtag #kidlit. International Reading Association’s Choices puts together an annual list of the best children’s and young adult literature. Get on Pinterest and scour other teachers’ boards for lists of titles aggregated by author, subject, grade level or theme. Look for lists of award winners, read book reviews on HuffPo Books or The New York Times, or just ask your students what is hot right now. You might be surprised by what you discover.

Teaching reading is engaging in thoughtful conversations about texts make you lose track of time. Once you provide your students with strategies for determining the central idea, for finding information, for following the character, for uncovering the meaning of new vocabulary. Take that new learning and talk about it! We need to let our students use what they know as readers to talk about what they are reading in authentic ways that get them excited about reading more.

The teaching of reading is about allowing students to fall in love with what they are reading. We need to provide them with the time to feel what it is like to sit and read. That time is a gift in the midst of their school day and should be treated that way. In order to keep this time sacred and fun, student choice must reign supreme. If students are exclusively “assigned” various readings, reading becomes a chore or another “to do” on the list.  

I guarantee you if you dedicate yourself to re-discovering the fun of digging into juicy ideas like debating the central idea of a great story, or tracing the development of a thrilling character, or uncovering the answers to questions about topics you are passionate about, teaching will become fun once again. Our students are following our lead and we owe it to them to protect them from all the shenanigans outside our classroom walls that threaten to bring us all down.

Jennifer Scoggin (a.k.a. Mrs. Mimi) is the director of the Connecticut branch of LitLife and a consultant in schools. She holds a doctorate in curriculum and teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University, and has been an IRA member since 2011. She's the author of Be Fabulous: The Reading Teacher's Guide to Reclaiming Your Happiness in the Classroom and It's Not All Flowers and Sausages: My Adventures in Second Grade, which sprung from her popular blog of the same name.

photo credit: Laurel L. Russwurm via photopin cc

When people hear the term “Project-Based Learning,” there are usually one of two misconceptions: It is where your class makes a project at the end of a unit or it is simply too chaotic. Both of these assumptions are truly that —“misconceptions.”

True PBL is a process where the students own their learning. They are simply told what to do, with clear guidelines. They are at the forefront, while the teacher serves as the facilitator. Students are engaged and the project is driving the unit instead of the unit driving a final product. Yes, things may look chaotic at times, but with proper training, students know what the expectations are. Student behavior usually is not a problem because they are so involved in the process. They know the purpose for learning the content. Students are working in collaborative groups, having making decisions about their learning. By doing this, they are working on conflict resolution skills, leadership, listening and speaking skills.

One of the Standards I recently taught my third grade students was the history of our community. Students needed to know why people chose to live in their community, what their rights and responsibilities were as a citizen of their community, how their community has changed over time and what drives shifts in population in their community. Through PBL, I was able to create a project where students were in control of learning this material.

I developed a driving question, “How does Shawnee’s past impact present day Shawnee?” This is open-ended question drives the unit. Students were placed in group of four or five students, where they wrote eight to 10 questions that could guide them to answering the driving question. They used these questions to help them with research. Next, students took notes, allowing them to understand Shawnee’s past.

After doing this, we took a community walk. Each group had an iPad to take photos of our present day community. Students went into businesses, interviewing individuals on why they lived or worked in Shawnee and what they felt our community was doing well, and what needed to improve. To understand more about how they could be a responsible citizen, students completed random acts of kindness while we were on our walk.

Another important aspect of PBL is including experts. This could be individuals coming in to speak with the students, or someone you are able to contact using Skype in the classroom. Our city manager made a presentation for the students so they could gather more information about Shawnee.

The final step was allowing the students to turn their research into a movie using Animoto. This was more of an authentic assessment, rather than having the students answer a multiple-choice test on our community. Students were assessed using a rubric, which they had been given at the beginning of the project.

Finally, the students needed someone to present their movies to. The city manager contacted city council members and other community leaders to attend our community movie presentations. Students became the experts, where they were able to applaud decisions and make suggestions to individuals who were the decision makers with what took place in our community.

Yes, PBL does mean you have to be willing to give up some control to your students, but in the end, it is well worth it.

Brandi Leggett is a National Board Certified Teacher as a Middle Childhood Generalist. She received her master’s in Elementary Education from Arcadia University in Glenside, Pa. She currently teaches third grade at Prairie Ridge Elementary in Shawnee, Kan. Follow her class during the school year at Team Leggett.

Wordless picture books are one of the best ways to invite readers to actively participate in  a story. Examining these books present great challenges to both readers and authors/illustrators as they no longer rely on words. While some teachers find wordless picture books useful for fostering young children’s literacy skills and imagination, picture books without text also provide reading pleasure for older readers. This week’s book reviews from members of the Children’s Literature and Reading Special Interest Group invites readers of all ages to experience the power of illustrations and the surprises and delights that these picture books carry to revive or strengthen our love for reading.

Becker, Aaron. (2014). Quest. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

In this sequel to Journey (2013), a 2014 Caldecott Honor Book, author/illustrator Aaron Becker takes readers on another adventure with the previous book’s characters, a young girl and the young boy she has just met. Carrying red and purple chalks as well as accompanied by a magical purple bird, they meet an old king in an orange robe. He shows them a map with several colorful circles on it. While the king is trying to explain the map to the boy and the girl, two soldiers appear suddenly and arrest him but not before he leaves them an orange chalk, which sets them off on a quest to save the king. By following the map, they travel to different places, from under the sea and a desolate castle to a landmark on snowcapped mountains. Chased by a group of soldiers, they are able to complete their quest and save the king with their wits and bravery and the help of the magical bird. Readers will experience the power of wonder and the value of companionship through this picture book. With watercolor, pen, and ink illustrations adding a tone of mystery to the quest, this story invites readers to continue the imaginative journey begun in Becker’s earlier title.

—Ying-Hsuan Lee, Washington State University Pullman

Boyd, Lizi. (2014). Flashlight. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books.

When night falls, the dark does not mean that nature becomes silent. Carrying a flashlight, a curious boy walks out of his cozy tent to explore the woods at night. It turns out the excursion into the woods after dark is quite interesting. He discovers his lost boot on the grass. Bats fly through the air. An owl perches on the tree. Mice and skunks walk freely. Beavers are constructing a river house. Fish, frogs, foxes, deer, and butterflies all leisurely take their time moving about. Sitting by a tree and having a snack and a rest are luxuries that come from night exploration. Oops! The boy tumbles over a rock, losing his flashlight. To his relief, a raccoon picks it up, and all the animal friends the boy encounters during the exploration help him return to his cozy tent. This picture book invites readers to see nature’s nocturnal beauty through several cut-outs accentuating details on the illustrations. Moreover, the illustrations, rendered in gouache, capture the serene but lively night. Readers may be inspired to take their own night trip outside to appreciate nature in the dark.

—Ying-Hsuan Lee, Washington State University Pullman

Colón, Raúl. (2014). Draw! New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

What might happen to a boy with pencils, sketchbooks, and a book about Africa in hand? After reading about Africa, the boy, stretching his imagination, carries his pencils and sketchbooks and enters his own African safari where he draws elephants, zebras, giraffes, lions, chimpanzees, and rhinoceroses. Of course, he makes friends with some animals and is chased by others. This is such a wonderful adventure that the boy is excited to show all his lively drawings of African animals to his classmates. While the story allows readers to let their imagination run wild, the illustrations, rendered in pen and ink, watercolors, colored pencils, and lithograph pencils, with a yellowish and orange hue, make the African safari look real. As one of The New York Times Best Illustrated Books for 2014, Raúl Colón, based on his own childhood experiences, invites readers to experience the power of imagination and drawing.

—Ying-Hsuan Lee, Washington State University Pullman

Frazee, Marla. (2014). The Farmer and the Clown. New York, NY: Beach Lane Books/ Simon & Schuster

While a hard-working farmer is taking a rest, a toot-toot train happens to run by. To his surprise, a baby clown bounces off the train and walks to him. With considerable sympathy, the farmer takes the baby clown to his farmhouse, and they live together. They have meals together, they entertain each other. Their companionship adds some fun while they work on the farm. One day as they go on a picnic, the toot-toot train passes again. The farmer and the baby clown run as fast as they can to catch up with the train so the baby clown can finally reunite with the clown family. As they bid farewell to the farmer and leave on the train, a clown monkey secretly follows the farmer home. Through the characters’ facial expressions and body movements, this wordless picture book presents a heartwarming story featuring many happy moments shared between the farmer and the baby clown. The illustrations, created with colored pencil and gouache, have a nostalgic tone, which may remind readers of their own pleasant memories of visiting a circus or carnival.

—Ying-Hsuan Lee, Washington State University Pullman

Hoogstad, Alice. (2014). Monster Book. New York, NY: Lemniscaat USA, LLC.

A little girl who lives in a black and white town is the only one who owns colorful magic chalks. She loves to draw, and whatever she draws seems to come to life. She first draws a red heart-shaped balloon that is carried by a dog, and then many colorful cartoonish monsters are animated out of her creativity. At first, the town people are surprised to see so many colorful creatures beautify their monotonous town. However, as some monsters join the girl to add colors to town buildings and even draw on people’s faces, the town’s citizens call a police officer to ask the girl to wash the color away. A storm comes with heavy rain when the girl cleans up the mess. While the adults are happy to have their drab town restored, a group of children joins the girl to resume coloring secretly on the other side of the town. With illustrations created with pen and crayons are presented in a childlike style, this book will resonate with readers who have been fallen in love with coloring and drawing.

—Ying-Hsuan Lee, Washington State University Pullman

Idle, Molly. (2014). Flora and the Penguin. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books.

Author/illustrator Molly Idle returns to the character from her 2014 Caldecott Honor winner, Flora and the Flamingo, only this time with Flora has a new friend, Penguin. Tightening up her ice skating shoes, Flora is ready to glide, spin, leap, and twirl on the ice with Penguin. However, the new partners have some points of disagreement, and the penguin, attracted by fish under the ice, disappears for a while. When the penguin shows up again the pair finds way to skate together and the duo glide on the ice beautifully and gracefully again. This wordless picture book with simple illustrations capturing subtle details and emotions traces perfectly the ups and downs in the story of friendship between Flora and Penguin. With lift-up paper on several pages, readers can exercise their imagination to fill in the wordless text and make sense of the plot. Although the illustrations rely only on yellow, blue and white colors, the book’s visual simplicity does not detract from the pleasure of reading. Readers will surely enjoy the lively and lovely performance of Flora and Penguin.

—Ying-Hsuan Lee, Washington State University Pullman

Jay, Alison. (2014). Out of the Blue. Cambridge, MA: Barefoot Books.

In a lighthouse by the sea lives a young boy with his father and dog. On a sunny day the boy and his dog go outside to play at the beach where he meets a young girl. The new friends have a blast picking up shells, catching and releasing fish, and watching the immense whales bathing in the sea. Suddenly, a thunderstorm comes with lightning and heavy rain that causes the sea to undulate violently. After a night of restlessness, the sea calms, and people return to the beach to enjoy the sunshine. However, a huge octopus is stranded on the beach, which scares everyone, and the boy is the only one who sympathizes with it, even deciding to cut the net and set the squid free. This wordless picture book is ideal for teaching life science and marine preservation. Several pages at the end of the book provide information about marine life and lighthouses. The illustrations, rendered in oil paint with a crackling varnish, use frames, borders, and various points of view to guide readers throughout the story. This book can trigger readers’ interests in exploring the sea and its fascinating creatures.

—Ying-Hsuan Lee, Washington State University Pullman

Merveille, David. (2013). Hello, Mr. Hulot. New York, NY: North South Books Inc.

This book portrays a famous French character, Mr. Hulot, played by comic actor Jacques Tati during 1950s and 1960s. Mr. Hulot is well-known for his fun and abnormal personality that enables him to see the world from a different perspective. The 23 scenes included in the book present visual humor and surprising outcomes that may make readers laugh out loud. For example, the shadow of Mr. Hulot is pictured as Don Quixote, and Mr. Hulot’s shaking of a snow globe results in snow falling on a summer day. The comic strip-style illustrations add visual interest to the book and readers will surely enjoy reading and rereading.

—Ying-Hsuan Lee, Washington State University Pullman

Pett, Mark. (2014). The Girl and the Bicycle. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Passing by a store with her brother, a girl spies a shiny green bicycle in the store window. Her desire to own the bicycle makes her work hard to save money. She sells lemonade and her used toys, she offers to help neighbors with their yard work. However, no one stops at her lemonade stall and toy stand, and all of the neighbors, except one woman, turn her down. As the girl works for the woman, their friendship grows. After a year’s hard work and saving, the girl finally has enough money to buy the bicycle. When she takes her money and rushes to the store excitedly, she finds that the bicycle is gone. Disappointed, she instead uses her money to buy a bicycle for her brother. On her way home, the woman invites the girl to her house. To her surprise, the woman has bought the shiny green bicycle she wanted so much as a present. The use of pencil and watercolor for the illustrations creates a retro tone with a down-to-earth yet warm feel. The book shows the importance of saving money, working hard, and delaying gratification, as well as the value of kindness and generosity. Hard work does not go unrewarded as this book shows so perfectly.

—Ying-Hsuan Lee, Washington State University Pullman

These reviews are submitted by members of the International Reading Association's Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (CL/R SIG) and are published weekly on Reading Today Online. 

In most people’s minds, the “maker movement” in education is associated with STEM-related concepts and technology-based activities. There is good reason for that; it’s an approach to project-based learning (PBL) that encourages experimenting, building, and playing with different concepts. However, my entry point into this hot trend has been primarily through the unusual route of literacy.

This maker movement isn’t necessarily something new. For years in my library, I have allowed opportunities for my students to play and tinker with reading and writing. As a library media specialist, I felt that I had the scope and the affordances to make that possible, to enable activities that were outside of the sometimes strict classroom regimen. Those early experiences were my first attempts at creating a maker culture.

I have always regarded myself as a student of learning. I started collecting secondhand education books during my first years of teaching. I learned early on that educational theories and practices are cyclical and things once old are eventually new again, often reappearing under the guise of a new name. One of my favorite books in that collection—and the one that led me to tinkering with literacy—was called If You’re Trying to Teach Kids How to Write, You’ve Gotta Have This Book! by Marjorie Frank. The playfulness of the writing is reflected in its whimsical graphics and nonlinear structure. The author herself writes about the “joy that fooling around with words” has added to her life. I remember distinctly how just looking at this book made me want to have fun with reading and writing with my students.

Putting it into action

Students are most accustomed to stories in a linear structure. To expose them to a different way, I often read children’s books with nonlinear narratives to my elementary students. One of my favorites is Black and White, written by David Macauley. Picture books such as this have their own logic. After examining texts that don’t need to be read sequentially from beginning to end in strict order, students become more aware of the innovative possibilities for their own writing.

Another favorite of mine is Inanimate Alice, written by Kate Pullinger and produced by Ian Harper. This “born-digital” story has an “open text” construction and deliberately allows opportunities for student co-creation. The story unfolds in episodes that can either be read individually, sequentially, or in any order. My students enjoyed creating their own next episodes by crafting their own narratives, using various tools and resources, print and digital, or even remixing the Inanimate Alice assets to tell an original story. The maker movement encourages children to imagine, create, and build. My students did this during our “choose your own adventure” unit, which was based on the video game Roller Coaster Tycoon. We kicked off our unit by going on virtual rollercoaster rides. We then read a book based on the game and had fun picking our path and choosing our endings. The participatory nature was highly engaging. Students then used websites to design and test their own roller coasters. Some used the app Inklewriter and others chose to write their stories in print. No matter the medium, students thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

The perfect example of a story that moves through the continuum of creating, but with literacy as the inspiration, is Skeleton Creek, written by Patrick Carman. This hybrid text is told half in print and half in video. Similar to Inanimate Alice, ittells stories across multiple media platforms. This transmedia story helped to move my students from consumption to creation and sparked a mash-up of experiences. The process became less about the task of writing and more about telling stories by leveraging traditional elements and new technologies to shape their narrative. Students designed multimedia reading experiences that fused a story with video, games, and puzzles.

Embracing a growing trend

Following these experiences, I decided to formalize the concepts into a makerspace learning experience. Last year, I was invited to participate in the Brooklyn Storymakers Maker Party organized by the Brooklyn Public Library and Hive NYC Learning Network. At the event, kids had the opportunity to create online comics, design video games, make stop-motion animation, and more. The event was a part of Mozilla Maker Party—one of hundreds of events around the world where people become makers.

With Inanimate Alice as our mentor text, we worked with students to create postcards that characters in the story might send to the main character Alice. Using the Mozilla Webmaker tool Thimble, kids remixed postcards using digital media and the Web. The tool allowed the children to remix their favorite digital postcards by modifying HTML and CSS right in their browser. Instantly, they were able to see the results of their work. Each postcard was written as a #25wordstory,a process of writing created by Kevin Hodgson that lent itself well to our activity. The kids’ creativity was awesome and they were all proud to share it through social media. Many left that event excited to read further episodes and try out other tools such as Popcorn Maker and X-Ray Goggles.

It was after this event that I decided to designate an area in my library as a makerspace. Unveiled last school year, it includes a 3-D printer, Legos, electronics to experiment with at the “Take Apart Station,” and more. A string of imaginative experiences led up to this and set the stage for creativity and making. I believe this maker movement is one that all educators need to embrace. The incredible affordances of new media allow for opportunities to create a “maker culture”’ in our schools like never before. This is true whether you have a formally designated makerspace in your school or not.

The word makerspace, for me, is really simply a metaphor for enabling opportunities for your students to create, imagine, and build, and what better springboard for that than stories? Stories fuel and ignite the imagination.

Laura Fleming(larfleming@yahoo.com) is a library media specialist at New Milford High School in New Jersey. A K–12 educator for 16 years, she focuses on the development of interactive and transmedia storytelling, and runs
the Worlds of Learning blog.