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    Song Lyrics Remixed: A New Twist On an Old Trick

    by Justin Stygles
     | May 05, 2014
    photo credit: murdelta via photopin cc

    For decades, teachers have incorporated song lyrics into their instruction. Most often, the intent with song lyrics is to "analyze meaning." But what hasn't already been done with song lyrics? Here is a new twist on an old trick.

    The learning sequence typically spans a week, but may take longer depending on the class.

    Day 1: Students are introduced to the text. The teacher reads the song aloud, giving students a chance to focus on clarifying and comprehending. After reading, students may write down questions or predictions. The reader may try to clarify new or unknown words, including words that may carry a different or metaphorical meaning. When using "Buffalo Soldiers" by Bob Marley, many students try to clarify the lyric "analyze the stench," which forces them beyond literal interpretation (smell) into the "ulterior motive" interpretation. Students, then, read the song and further apply strategies by writing in the margins of the paper and preparing for small-group discussions. At the end, a paragraph summary is written consolidating the learning acquired. This confuses some students as they have yet to "learn" about the topic. Summarizing "where we are at" is necessary to show day-to-day meaning making.

    When using Paul Kennerley’s "Story to Tell," two short texts are offered. One is a primary source document from the 1850’s describing Southern values, written by a Southerner. Another is an excerpt from "Daily Life on a Southern Plantation, 1853." The primary source is often read aloud. Writing in the 1850’s differs starkly from today. The exposure to the writing is necessary for students to gain understanding of the time. Modifying documents to reflect today’s writing styles—making a text more accessible—steals the authenticity of the document. The secondary source is more accessible to students; however, they are quick to note the quality change in information. Most prefer, despite complexity, the primary source.

    Day 2: Readers are provided primary documents that align with the song. Meaning is made through a whole class effort and interpretations are recorded on an anchor chart. Students have the text to refer to and cite later in the process. After the anchor chart is made, students carry out a reciprocal teaching discussion before revisiting the song lyrics. To conclude this lesson, students refer to their predictions and questions from the previous day, initiating clarification of the song lyrics. As a ticket out, paragraph summaries are collected.

    Day 3: Day two is repeated with a second text. Students strategically and independently read this text. Students discuss the reading before revisiting the song lyrics and further clarifying.

    Day 4: Stanzas are assigned. Students are asked to clarify a stanza using text evidence. Most of the ideas to clarify concepts are present at this time, turning students’ attention to closely reading and locating text evidence. This reading period is longer and has two defined parts, one for each text. The primary source is read in small-groups as a scaffold for those who need or desire support or encouragement. The text read independently is conferred upon between the teacher and the student. Evidence is collected in a graphic organizer.

    Day 5: After modeling an argument essay, through a think-aloud, students begin to draft a response that clarifies the song lyrics using text evidence. For the most part, basic drafts are completed and shared. The idea at this time is not perfectionism, but the organization of an argument and sentence construction that incorporates text evidence. The next week may be devoted to enhancing the writing, if so desired.

    Using lyrics in this manner creates the following learning opportunities.

    Common Core State Standards would like teachers to abstain from providing extensive background information before reading. Song lyrics used to introduce a topic. Using Paul Kennerley’s "Story to Tell," from White Mansions, readers use reciprocal teaching strategies (Palinscar & Brown, 1984; Ozckus, 2010) to read and discuss their initial understandings and interpretations. Song lyrics alleviate pre-teaching because there is plenty to infer and wonder within a songs’ ambiguity. By creating a scenario where readers must draw on any level of background knowledge and collaborate to share perspectives create schema and become prepared to read specific content related material, aiming to clarify and expand knowledge base.

    Readers consider possible viewpoints, biases, and stances from a variety of writers. The song used may or may not have a stance. What is certain, by reading associated short text from varying perspectives, student will learn stances or biases within related texts. Afterwards, students may ask and clarify what influences the song writer’s viewpoint

    The rewarding aspect of this study is students can chart their learning from the start to the end. Many students already know facts about the Civil War. This study launches a study into the emotions and people behind the war and invites interpretations. When the song is revisited after reading primary sources and essays, the meaning changes! How real life is that?

    Readers, in this activity, are breaking critical literacy ground. Reading content-related documents to clarifying the song lyrics, students discover lyrics have multiple meanings and that "facts" do not contain multiple interpretations. This dissonance creates the thinking and learning. With respect to the Civil War, students learn about clash between cultures, ethics, and principles between the two sides. Students, throughout the study, also begin to consider the war’s ramifications. The questions they ask, the conclusions they draw, the learning that is composed all melds into one idea students begin to ponder, how different is today from yesterday. Critical literacy is off and running.

    The everlasting effect appears down the road. For example, if students study "Buffalo Soldiers," what comes to mind when they hear the song later? For most the link back to African-American units battles with Indians, during Westward Expansion or the Indian Removal Act, and the slave trade. Most importantly, when hearing the song again, the learning rushes back. The historical concept attaches to the song in the way many of us relate to a life event through song.

    In the end, really, this is a new spin on an old idea. Song lyrics remixed, so to speak. The model of instruction can be applied with poetry or other short texts, not just lyrics. Like in the classroom, the lyrics define the starting point, a hook to invite students exportation of profound topics and ideas in history.

    Coming to IRA 2014? See Justin Stygles present "Close Reading and Critical Literacy: Song Lyrics—The Ultimate Teachable Moment, Grades 4–8" on Saturday, May 10th, at 4:45 PM to 5:45 PM.

    Justin Stygles is a gr. 5/6 teacher at Guy E. Rowe School in Norway, Maine. He is a member of the IRA's Advisory Committee of Teachers and is a liason for the Maine Reading Association.

     
    photo credit: murdelta via photopin cc For decades, teachers have incorporated song lyrics into their instruction. Most often, the intent with song lyrics is to "analyze meaning." But what hasn't already been done with song lyrics? Here...Read More
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    May Member of the Month: Dana Reisboard

    by Sara Long
     | May 01, 2014

    We met Dana Reisboard at a recent International Reading Association (IRA) event and were immediately impressed by her enthusiasm and dedication to literacy education. In this Member of the Month interview, she shares her path from a special education teacher to an assistant professor at Widener University in Pennsylvania, how to engage students in reading, and of course her excitement for the IRA 59th Annual Conference in New Orleans

    Dana ReisboardHow did you begin your career, and what led you to your current position?

    I began my career as a teacher at the Benchmark School, a primary and middle school devoted to teaching students who learn differently. It promotes reading development through research based best practices. Since I have two Masters Degrees, one in applied psychology and the other in special education, Benchmark provided a great opportunity to practice what I had learned in school and to develop new reading instruction methods that I’ve incorporated into my critical literacy teaching as an assistant professor of education.

    What are you reading (personal, professional, or even children's/YA)?

    I read a lot of children’s books. I regularly go to my favorite children’s bookstore and select books that demonstrate good character development and critical literacy. For example, I presented R.J. Polacio’s Wonder to my adolescent literature class at Widener University. We discussed how August Pullman, a 10 year old boy with facial deformities, coped with school bullying and social ostracism. These are issues which my students will have to address in their careers as teachers. I have two young children, 10 and 8. They are valuable book critics. The key to teaching reading is to find books that are authentic and engage the student while they access critical literacy skills. Personally, I’m re-reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Teacher Man by Frank McCourt, a book that has been on my “must read” list for years.

    What do you consider to be your proudest career moment?

    I have been fortunate to work with great educators at Benchmark School and to be a ninth-grade reading teacher in a public school in an urban area. As a teacher, I had proud career moments when I saw my reading methods having real success in practice. I would apply cognitive strategy instruction pedagogy and saw my students succeed. I always knew I would be a teacher, and earning my Ph.D. at Rutgers University was certainly a proud moment. However, my proudest career moment occurs every time when I see my students applying what I have taught them with success. Now, as an education professor, I enjoy seeing students learn how to be great teachers. When my student teachers win awards for being great teachers, this will be my proudest career moment. I am still early in my career and cannot wait to see that happen; I know it will.

    At Widener, our students are teaching at an urban charter school. I experience proud moments when I see how we are both helping our community while learning how to be great teachers together.

    What can literacy educators do to motivate kids to want to read?

    Dana Reisboard with students
    Dana Reisboard with her students and their
    "literacy polyannas"

    We must engage students with authentic literature that highlight reading as a powerful transformative tool that can change their lives and views of the world. We are reading specialists who have learned how to teach literacy strategies. Our work and methods are constantly evolving. Through professional associations, like IRA, we can learn new practice methods and developmental tools to help us motivate kids to want to read.

    Motivation starts with recognizing student diversity. Engagement occurs whenever students have the opportunity to read books that speak to their unique situation or others where they have personal interests. Classrooms provide the best learning environment where we can engage students to learn from one another and about the world we share together. Providing access to an engaging learning environment requires group teaching methods, such as read arounds, which provide a great way to introduce a new text.

    What do you believe is the biggest challenge in literacy education today?

    Providing access to education to children who learn differently and others who are economically disadvantaged is the biggest literacy challenge today. The news is filled with facts demonstrating that America’s income stratification is an impediment to literacy education. For example, today’s newspaper presented a story about how America’s middle class has, for the first time, lost economic ground when compared to other developed countries. Literacy education is a key ingredient necessary for America’s economic development. As educators, we possess the power to evoke real change by teaching effective reading methods. Public policies promoting preschool education and full day kindergarten are also steps which will help to bridge these social and economic gaps.

    As literacy professionals, our biggest challenge is to engage students to master phonics when they enter the formal primary literacy environment. This is the key to their learning through our society’s text-based education pedagogy, used in secondary education and through professional development. The inability to access text content because of underdeveloped literacy skills is an achievement gap that presents our biggest literacy challenge.

    The longer I am in the field, the more convinced I become of the need for affordable, high quality, early childhood education. An enormous challenge educators at all levels face is that children arrive to kindergarten and/or first grade without the prerequisite emergent literacy skills needed for reading. Without these skills and emergent literacy experiences, children enter school at a significant disadvantage to their peers who have engaged in early childhood education programs and have been exposed to the prerequisite concepts and experiences to facilitate reading.

    How long have you been a member of IRA? How has membership influenced your career?

    Dana Reisboard
    Delivering books on World Book Day, April 23, 2014

    I have been a member of IRA for fourteen years. Dr. Lesley Morrow was my primary faculty advisor and chair of my dissertation committee when I attended Rutgers as a Ph.D. student. She encouraged me to attend the annual conference. I am grateful for this suggestion and also for her sharing her professional relationships with me. My experience with the IRA has had a profound impact on my career.

    Fourteen years ago, at the IRA conference in New Orleans, I met Dr. Michael Pressley. He became my “unofficial” advisor and helped craft reading lists and guided me as I learned more about reading comprehension instruction. At an IRA conference in San Antonio, I met Dr. Gerald Duffy. Like Mike, Gerry provided ongoing and substantive support during my doctoral education and helped me to better understand and use direct explanation methods. He also served on my dissertation committee.

    IRA supports a great professional learning environment. It has helped me to achieve professional goals and has provided many examples of great student teacher relationships.

    We hear you're attending the IRA Annual Conference in New Orleans. What are you looking forward to doing there?

    Apart from eating delicious food and enjoying New Orleans culture, I am looking forward to two LEADER-SIG events. I am the President of this IRA special interest group. We have exciting events planned in New Orleans. The LEADER-SIG Awards and Reception on Friday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Marriot Hotel will be a great opportunity to meet new people, including IRA LEADERS, past and present. At this event I will happily present the well deserved, Distinguished Service Award to a colleague who is also mentor, and friend.

    I am also looking forward to participating at the LEADER-SIG symposium on Sunday, May 11 at 3:00 p.m. in the Ernest N. Morial Conference Center, facilitated by LEADER Vice President Jenny Roca Mills. Notable reading scholars Patricia Edwards, Kathy Headley, David Monti, Elfrieda Hiebert, Rita Bean, and Bonni Botel-Sheppard will share their teaching experiences.

    What do you like to do when you’re not wearing your educator hat?

    I enjoy being with my family. My kids are very active. My son does karate and soccer. My daughter does gymnastics. Together, we travel, go to the beach, ride bikes, play tennis, garden, and cook. We like to laugh a lot. Personally, I also enjoy meditation and yoga.

    What’s the best advice you could offer someone new to the profession?

    Teaching is a hard profession, but the rewards are great. Don’t compromise your ideals or belief in a better tomorrow. Be yourself and keep working towards this goal.

    During this process, take care of yourself. Self-care is often overlooked, yet it is an essential characteristic of all happy and healthy educators. Keeping yourself physically and mentally healthy and personally inspired is imperative if educators are to convey these qualities to our students.

    Sara Long is a content manager at the International Reading Association. 

    We met Dana Reisboard at a recent International Reading Association (IRA) event and were immediately impressed by her enthusiasm and dedication to literacy education. In this Member of the Month interview, she shares her path from a special...Read More
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    Listening In: The Impact of Adolescent Lit in Teacher Research

    by Nakeiha Primus
     | May 01, 2014
    Basketball
    photo credit: kitakitts via photopin cc

    I start each morning circumventing basketballs launched across my classroom. This sport, a cross between dodge-a-desk, WWE wrestling, and Fisher Price basketball, is the epicenter of my homeroom. With the buzz of computers newly aglow after a night's slumber, the frenetic motion of feet avoiding "fouls," and the charged murmur of voices hovering in the atmosphere, I have somehow been able to glean essential wisdom from my students during this time. I do not remember how many times I have been hit in the head, but a good round of Primus Hoops allows the voices of my students to rise above the everyday angst and annoyances many teens typically articulate. It is in these moments coated with youthful zeal, that I get the best "stuff" for class. My students unwittingly help me keep the “adolescent” integral to our study of literature, particularly as we explore young adult themes.

    My first formal attempt to maximize the impact my students' opinions had on what we studied came in 2010 after a conversation with RJ, a student frequently willing to test the limits of inquiry. At the time, we'd just finished reading Twelve Angry Men. My ears rose to attention when I heard him grumble about the play. His tone and affect were peculiarly reminiscent as I envisioned myself as an inquisitive teen. His description of the text as "boring" and "depressing" crept into my multitasking teacher sphere, and I called him out. Our conversation morphed into a class discussion, as he led the charge. I wanted to know what the boys thought and asked what could be better. While it could have been the kiss of death for me, this impromptu conversation encouraged a closer look at the other texts we read in class. 

    Though seemingly haphazard, their venting tapped into a truth. There were areas of their lives and their stories as they lived them, which were invisible in the texts. Issues of gender (“how do girls think about this, Ms. P?”), sexuality, race, and what it means to be “a man” became constant themes the boys wanted to explore in literature. I began to see that student voices and experiences could provide useful insights as I planned activities and chose texts. My students could be co-collaborators for our English literature curriculum. This realization prompted a formal research project entitled Listening In: Boys and Curriculum Meaning Making.

    I continued to have informal conversations with students about the literature we read, their interests, and the kinds of experiences they had in English class. I wanted to know a few things:

    • What do boys "get" from English literature? What do they “want” from it?
    • What role can they play in the development of English curriculum? Does it matter that they do?
    • How do I (as a teacher) influence what they experience in class?

    I kept a record of poignant interactions on a blog, crafted field notes, and formalized the process by obtaining appropriate permissions to record (both video and audio) my students. This work was further validated when IRA granted complementary funding through the Teacher-As-Researcher grant program.  As a pretty novice researcher working with teenagers, Murphy’s Law abounded daily, but this project has had an indelible impact on my growth as an English teacher.Here’s an early excerpt from my blog notes: 

    October 27, 2010

    Underway...

    It's been a bit more than a week since my last post and Listening In is in full swing at The School. The boys really seem interested in delving more into themselves as they explore characters, talk about what it means to be a young man, and engage with each other.

    By happenstance I found a really interesting short story by Lois Gould titled, “X: A Story of Childhood.”  I'd already chosen my "gender" short story for this project, but I couldn't help using it. The story centers on a baby raised in a unique experiment; could a child be raised gender neutral? In the story, Mom and Dad go against the grain in their interactions with Baby X (Mom teaches the baby about sports; Dad encourages cooking and Barbies). The boys were perplexed with such an idea at first. They asked questions that centered around biology (genetic "sex") and how Baby X would fare in adolescence. We discussed the feasibility of such an experiment and then I had the boys craft a "glimpse" of what life would be like for X as a teen. What advantages or difficulties would X face? What the boys produced was great. It was one of their first creative writing opportunities and they excelled. The story was a great prelude to short story chosen for the project, "Girl."

    Yesterday, I decided to have the boys write down a typical day's schedule (from the moment the wake up until they fall asleep). Last week, I'd asked the boys to think about how being a boy influenced their home lives. Do they have specific responsibilities or chores? Are they expected to carry themselves in a particular fashion (either at home or because of what they've been taught at home)? The responses that I received were good, but they didn't necessarily get as specific as I'd hoped. I decided to break down the task even further. How could I get at those expectations, chores, and tasks without frankly saying that's what I was looking for?

    I came up with a few things I could use for daily writing prompts:

    • typical day's schedule
    • manners learned at home or expected at home
    • what does a mess look like? Smell like? How would this compare to how a girl might answer this question?

    The boys really enjoyed writing down their daily schedule. When we discussed them, I asked what patterns they observed. Who determines what you do when? What kind of routines do you have? I learned that some loved watching the same TV show at the same time every day. Others had the exact same snack every day. Still more had responsibilities that actually broke gender stereotypes. A few had cooking responsibilities or laundry duty. Older brothers were entrusted to care for younger siblings, particularly girls.

    After this task, I assigned Jamaica Kincaid's very short story, "Girl." We've simultaneously been learning and writing with semi-colons/commas, so the boys have been quick to point out the grammatical nuances of the story. Later this week, we'll discuss the story in depth. I wonder if they'll see how each of the daily writing prompts (written from their male perspective) relates to the protagonist of the story.

    Signing off...

    How often do our curricular prep, text choices, and classroom activities respond to or reflect the musings or misanthropic murmurs of 21st century teens? Should they? As a teacher, I have realized that too often, we perpetuate those very norms our adolescent students despise when it comes to speaking up, voicing an opinion, and offering an unadulterated perspective. We hush them, take it personally, and quip that they’ll “understand when they get older.” We don't mean to do it. It’s kind of par for the course. There are plenty of people, situations, and "things" that occupy our brains at any given moment, so the grumblings of students are invariably “tuned out.” Yet, we know, whether through positive behavior or non-compliance, their thoughts influence how we “do school.”

    Come see Nakeiha Primus present on “Co-Creating with the Boys: Rosenblatt in Praxis” at the Becoming a Teacher Researcher: Exploring IRA’s Teacher as Researcher Grant research workshop at the IRA 59th Annual Conference on Sunday, May 11, 2014, at 11:00 a.m.

    Nakeiha PrimusNakeiha Primus Nakeiha Primus currently teaches English at the Haverford School. She completed her undergraduate studies in English and American studies at Tufts University, obtained her MA in teaching degree from Duke University, and is currently a Ph.D candidate at the University of Delaware. Her research merges interests in curriculum theory, literary theory, and socio-cultural approaches to learning. She loves contemporary literature of the Americas, but has an immense soft spot for Shakespeare, adolescent literature, and West African poetry. Visit her blog, mid/scribble, and follow her on Twitter (@docpr1me).


    photo credit: kitakitts via photopin cc I start each morning circumventing basketballs launched across my classroom. This sport, a cross between dodge-a-desk, WWE wrestling, and Fisher Price basketball, is the epicenter of my homeroom....Read More
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    Let's Talk about Books, Baby: The Beauty of Book Clubs

    by Nancy Baumann
     | Apr 30, 2014

    Seeking to attract all kinds of readers: eager readers, aliterate readers, reluctant readers, readers stuck in one genre, and even adult readers? Try a Choices Chat or book discussion!

    After constantly listening to the same tired dialogue about why kids aren’t reading—they don’t have time anymore, they’d rather be gaming, books are so long and boring, and (my favorite!) boys don’t read—I introduced several informal opportunities for kids and adults to read, gather, and talk about books. The response was positive and sometimes overwhelming. Some of the chats attracted up to forty readers at a session!

    My book discussion groups grew from two needs from teachers and one request from students. The teachers’ request stemmed from the Children’s Choices project, a joint venture between the International Reading Association (IRA) and Children’s Book Council (CBC). The fifth and sixth grade students weren’t reading and voting enough, she said. Beyond making the Children’s Choices books easily available to students in the classroom or putting them on display in the library, students needed encouragement to read and vote. Yet teachers and librarians are not permitted to book talk or promote the titles since the students must be free to select, comment, and vote on the books without any influence from adults.

    The student request came from kids complaining about the Newbery Award books, and how they are selected by adults who couldn’t understand what kids like to read and what is “distinguished” literature for readers ages birth to 14.

    Thus, the “Choices Chats” and “Mock Newbery Book Club” were created to give students a forum to present and talk about the Children’s Choices books and Newbery contenders they read with peers. These discussion groups offered a safe community to express views and ideas. Oh, some also had food!

    We selected lunch time for the chats. This is the only time that didn’t interfere with anything else. Three librarians agreed to host them in their libraries. Kids brought their lunches into the library once a week for 25 minutes to talk about the Children’s Choices selections. Each librarian publicized the chat with their fifth and sixth graders. To our great surprise we had 10–15 students weekly at the elementary school, 25–30 at one middle school, and an entire third grade class at a second elementary school.

    Here’s how it worked: Students received a pass from their language arts or homeroom teacher to be able to leave the lunchroom. They walked to the library with trays/bag lunches, signed in, grabbed a snack, and prepared to talk and listen. Everyone was required to bring the book they were reading to show as they talked. To keep discussions from getting stale, colored candy (Skittles, M & M’s, Sour Patch Kids) were used as discussion starters. Kids sat at library tables or on the floor and ate lunch while taking turns presenting their current read.

    We used a stopwatch to limit each speaker to two minutes. It’s helpful as it gave everyone a chance to talk. Kids can easily run the stopwatch and gently remind the speakers when their time is up. By request from students, these chats have been extended to the end of the school year. Additionally, and upon request, seventh and eighth grade “Choices Chats” groups have been started. All of the chats feature books that are self-selected.

    “Read ’n’ Feed” is a variation on a lunchtime book discussion group. Using the professional title “Fiction, Food, and Fun: The Original Recipe for the Read ’n’ Feed Program” (Closter, Snipes, and Thomas, 1998) as a guide, I collaborated with a local teen librarian to facilitate this book discussion. We initiated our “Read ’n’ Feed” program at my middle school library. We book talked four different titles and the seventh grade students checked out the book they were most interested in. Kids had a two-week deadline for reading the novel.

    Through a grant from the school district we were able to purchase 20 copies of four different titles. We limited each discussion group to ten students and repeated the discussion (Tuesdays and Thursdays) over a semester. Subway pitched in and delivered sandwiches, a drink, and a cookie at a discount. Kids could place an order to comply with dietary needs. We also invited teachers and our administrators to assist us in facilitating discussions or sit in on the discussion.

    We were able to fill each session and had strong support from the kids to continue it next year!

    Our “Mock Newbery Book Club” was created to invite students to read and discuss books that could potentially win the Newbery Medal winner. My students had long complained since only adults select the Newbery winner, “How do they know what we like to read?” I also wanted students to improve discussion skills, read for recreation, read books they normally wouldn’t select, and be part of a community of readers.

    I used the American Library Association’s Newbery and Caldecott Mock Elections Toolkit as a reference and my experience on the 2010 John Newbery Medal Committee to guide me. I have conducted this book club with several variations: at an elementary school for fourth and fifth graders at lunch time with one adult and no snacks, after school with both elementary and middle school students with two adults and snacks, and an after-school public library club with one adult and snacks. A blog is used to continue discussions as the clubs meet twice a month. Attendees learn about the history of the John Newbery Medal, as well as the guidelines and voting procedures the ALSC (Association of Library Service to Children) committee uses. Members read and discuss a variety of books deemed to be Newbery contenders. Voting and a pizza party takes place at the last meeting. The book club members anxiously await the results of the “real” Newbery Committee in late January.

    We couldn’t let the students have all of the fun, could we? That’s why we started “Teachers Under Cover,” a teacher-only book club. Science and Social Studies teachers wanted ideas for novels for a collaborative unit with their teams. Teachers also wanted some good read-alouds for their classes that the kids hadn’t already heard that would also encourage recreational reading.

    The “Teachers Under Cover” (TUC) book club started with six teachers. We met once a month, obtained professional development credit, snacked, socialized, and discussed two books. Teachers were encouraged to bring new faculty and administration was always invited.

    Hosting book clubs is a great way to build recreational reading habits, assisting students to become confident in discussions and public speaking, and becoming part of a community that values reading. Book clubs also meet AASL (American Association of School Librarians) and Common Core State Standards. Book clubs benefit families by promoting family reading sessions and discussions.

    Come see Nancy present “Let's Give 'Em Something to Talk About: Using Book Clubs to Promote Recreational Reading, Comprehension, and Discussion Skills” at IRA’s 59th Annual Conference on Saturday, May 10th, at 1 p.m.

    Nancy Baumann is a retired school librarian and classroom teacher, literacy consultant, and author of “For the Love of Reading: Guide to K–8 Reading Promotions.” You can visit her online at mightyreaders.wordpress.com.

     
    Seeking to attract all kinds of readers: eager readers, aliterate readers, reluctant readers, readers stuck in one genre, and even adult readers? Try a Choices Chat or book discussion! After constantly listening to the same tired dialogue about...Read More
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    Diversity and Engaging the Reluctant Reader

    by Eric Velasquez
     | Apr 29, 2014

    One of the greatest challenges for a reluctant reader is being able to become engaged in the story. When the reluctant reader cannot identify with a story or cannot relate to its characters, they quickly disengage. While a child may not show a natural interest in reading, this does not mean that he cannot become a skilled and even enthusiastic reader in the future.

    As a former reluctant reader and member of reading Group C Grades 1 through 4, I suffered from this problem. Born to Spanish-speaking parents, I began speaking English after the age of four and as a result had a tough time in school. Back then, if teachers didn’t understand why you were not reading you were simply placed in Group C.

    Actually, it was not as bad as you may think. I would look forward to reading time. Once the class would break up into our assigned reading groups I would spend my reading time drawing. Mostly I would draw and fantasize about stories I would rather be reading, stories with action and adventure, stories featuring characters that looked like me.

    Most of us were quite content in Group C because as long as we were not disruptive to those wonderful students of Groups A and B, we could do pretty much anything except talk to one another. Some Group C students would just sit and stare at the images in the books, while some would play hangman with each other, and I would draw.

    Sometimes the teacher would help and encourage us to read, but far too often they would be distracted by the more glamorous challenge of assisting an advanced reader in Group A or B. Just as the teacher would begin to get deeply involved with us in Group C, a cry from Group A or B would ring out, “Teacher, I need help,” and off she went, never to return.

    Most of the members of Group C were African American newly from the south and Latinos newly from Latin America. And then there was me, of course.

    Why was I a reluctant reader? It would take me 30 years to answer that question.

    One of the problems was the reading material. Consistently not seeing myself represented in the reading material was a big turnoff. Worse was the fact that the few times I did see people of color in any books they were usually portrayed as slaves drawn as caricatures.

    Our textbooks were filled with all types of stories. Some stories had an urban setting; however, the images consisted of an all-white cast. Oddly enough some of the children from Latin America identified with the white characters in the stories. Not only did it inspire them to read the stories, especially if the character was doing something cool, they would show off and say, “That’s me,” even though the character in the book at times was blonde.

    If you were a child of African descent and attempted to do the same (that’s me) the other children would ridicule and torment you with, “That is not you—you are black!”

    Why did they all take such joy in reminding me that I could not engage in the same fantasy as they did?

    While drawing during reading time in Group C, I would often think, one day I am going create a story and it is going to reflect my world, my neighborhood, my parents, my friends, and my people. Someday a white child will read my story and say, “That’s me,” when he looks at my image and no one will torment him.

    Today, one of the most rewarding experiences of being an author-illustrator is visiting schools and being able to offer children the opportunity to create their world. I have been conducting workshops in elementary schools on how to create a book dummy for about five years now, with amazing results.

    A book dummy is a sample of a book, usually bound and hand-drawn with the text and the sketches in place—a fully paginated version of a story. The purpose of the book dummy is to give the editor and art director an idea of what the finished book will look like. Most book illustrators create a book dummy prior to creating the finished artwork for their books.

    Prior to my school visit, children write an autobiographical manuscript of about 450 words or less. By not limiting the children to write only about their family, some children write about their friends, or the sports activities they are currently involved in. Some children even write about their pets.

    On the day of the workshop I assist the children in constructing the book dummy. I also show them how to design a cover for their book. Then I show the children how to portion and divide their manuscript, eventually showing them how to cut and paste their text into their book dummy. Lastly, I assist the children in drawing the images. However, usually at this point they are off and running.

    The workshop concludes with the children reading their stories out loud, sharing their world with their classmates and teachers.

    One of the aspects I was drawn to in “Thirst for Home” was the fact that the story is seen from the perspective of Eva, a little girl from Ethiopia. The book reads almost as though Eva was given the assignment of writing an autobiographical story, the text of which she then cut and pasted into a book, and created the images. The book serves the purpose of telling us a little bit about her homeland, her birth mother, and her current family in America that loves and cares for her, her world.

    I firmly believe that everyone has a story to tell. All stories are valid; however, whenever there is an overabundance of one type of story with a protagonist that always looks the same, we as a society run the risk of alienating a segment of the population.

    Once a child is engaged they will not only read but will want to read more and about different things, including other worlds. After my workshops I usually get emails from teachers writing to tell me about that one reluctant reader who participated in my workshop that now likes to read.

    Recently while visiting a school in Massachusetts a white child approach me and said that he liked my book “Grandma’s Gift” because the boy in the story was like him.

    Inquisitively I asked, “How so?”

    “Because I spend my winter vacation with my grandma and we cook together sometimes.”

    Come see Eric Velasquez at IRA's 59th Annual Conference. He will be speaking at "Creating Teachable Moments that Increase Reading Proficiency and Engagement: Presenting Authors and Illustrators Whose Books Inform, Engage, and Inspire a Lifetime of Reading and Learning" from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 11th.

    Eric Velasquez is the author and illustrator of “Grandma's Records” and the illustrator of “The Piano Man,” for which he won the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award. His most recent collaborations with Carole Boston Weatherford include “I, Matthew Henson,” which received four starred reviews, and “Jesse Owens: Fastest Man Alive,” which received two starred reviews. He is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts and lives in New York. Visit him online at www.ericvelasquez.com.

    One of the greatest challenges for a reluctant reader is being able to become engaged in the story. When the reluctant reader cannot identify with a story or cannot relate to its characters, they quickly disengage. While a child may not show a...Read More
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