Students become literacy partners
As a couple and as teachers, we have always had a partnership in discussing education, sharing the love of learning, teaching, and watching children grow through feeling the excitement of their own success. In our shared discussions, we always come back to the importance of building a great foundation for children to have a love for literacy. Reading is not only a much-needed life-long skill, but also a wonderful daily experience.
The love of reading begins long before a child enters school. Sitting on a parent's lap, snuggled up with a good book is how children relate stories with positive feelings. Looking at pictures helps them to visualize the story, make them laugh, and can relate emotions in a text to the illustrations in the book. As children begin to understand that words have meaning, they long to pick up a book and read it themselves. Before long, they become eager to create their own stories, illustrations, and to share their work of creativity with a family member to watch for reactions. As teachers and parents as well, we watch this process take place daily year after year.
Recently we decided to bring our two classes together to do a service learning project for reading and writing, and to foster the power of collaborative learning. Michael's sixth-grade class from the Horseheads Intermediate School visited Elisabeth's second grade at Gardner Road Elementary School in Horseheads. Prior to the visit, the sixth-grade students wrote original short stories in a storybook format leaving space for the second graders to illustrate. Using the storybooks, the sixth grade students also created a literacy lesson such as plot sequence, figurative language, vocabulary or comprehension skills.
The sixth-grade students played the role as the teacher to the second-grade students. When it came to illustrating the books, the sixth- and second-grade students collaborated. The books will be published so that students have a copy of their original work.
In the classroom, we heard wonderful conversations taking place between partners, and both groups of students were highly engaged. By the end of the activity, both groups learned lessons in literacy, cooperation and the feeling of giving and receiving. We plan on bringing our groups back together before the school year ends for another service-learning activity.
Students need to move beyond being the student in the classroom. When they are able to step into the role of teacher to another student, their learning is enriched, and often the younger students look up to their peers and are incredibly engaged.
We see the importance of learning in this manner even in a family. Families at home who work together are able to achieve more.
Participation in sharing literacy in a family is a great form of entertainment, and any number of activities can be done within the schools or at home as well. The next time you hear children complaining they are bored, perhaps with a couple of story prompts they too will be enticed to create their own work of art.
Elisabeth and Michael Bostwick are teachers in the Horseheads school district. They are members of the Family Reading Partnership of Chemung Valley. Their comments are part of a monthly series of articles about literacy.
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Saturday, February 20, 2010
Boys need books, too
But literary interest can be delayed response
With the increased interest in technology and electronic devices, reading is becoming less of a habit with young people, especially boys. If given a choice, most boys would choose video games over books. While most boys enjoy hands-on, interactive activity, reading allows a different set of brain cells to be stimulated. When boys are younger, they enjoy going to Story Hour at the library or hearing a bedtime story every night.
And then something happens: They start middle school. The hormones begin to kick in, the body starts changing and there is so much energy generated that it is hard to sit still for any period of time. Read a book? That is not usually their first choice of ways to fill an hour or two. Physical activity becomes a priority. Boys crave movement, sports games, a football, a basketball or even a tennis ball to throw around, chase and tackle.
However, all is not lost. There is still a good possibility that the middle school boy in your household will be a reader and enjoy books. In an interview with two male college seniors, Chris and Shane, the responses to a few questions were enlightening and encouraging. When asked "What prevents most boys from enjoying reading?" They responded that physical activity, playing sports and video games are more fun, and that finding a good book for teen-age boys is difficult.
When asked, "What types of books might appeal more to boys?" They responded non-fiction, biographies of powerful role models (male and female) and reading about other cultures (Japanese anime art, for example).
Chris and Shane also shared that in middle school, most boys don't value reading. They are just beginning to discover who they are and form opinions. They don't feel they are ready to share their voice at that age. They are often told by adults that they are too young and don't know what they are talking about. However, fast-forward a few years to high school. In high school and college, it is more important to have a conversation with (gasp!) girls or keep up with current events to appear knowledgeable in class. So then they'll pick up reading material and find time for sports. Boys who are shy begin to feel more comfortable with a book in their hands. They realize that some girls are looking for studious, book-reading males in high school.
Beyond high school it gets even better. Those same boys who were too busy in middle school eventually realize that reading can be appealing. They understand that selecting a book at Barnes & Noble or Borders can be enjoyable. Sure, there will be times when they are required to read for a job or higher education course, but most of the time it involves getting the book they want off the best-seller list and reading it from cover to cover. Now that they're men, they simply enjoy reading.
Holly Williams Strickland is an assistant principal at Ernie Davis Middle School in the Elmira school district. She is a member of the Chemung Valley Family Literacy Partnership.
This series
* Holly Williams Strickland writes today about getting boys interested in books. This is one of a series of monthly columns written by members of the Family Reading Partnership of Chemung Valley.
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- Thursday, January 28, 2010
Get caught reading
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Like father, like son.
Or, in this case, like mother, like daughter.
Years ago, my sister-in-law Kathy and I sat on her front stoop, just talking. Along came 4-year-old Becky, who sat beside us, promptly picked up an old cigarette butt from the walk, put it to her lips and feigned smoking. In that split second, Kathy vowed to quit smoking. She never got caught smoking again. More to the point, neither did my niece, now a marathon-running mother of two.
Kids are great imitators, especially of the adults in their lives. Have you seen toy cell phones? Before they can even talk, toddlers will babble on pretend cells, emulating their moms, dads, and older siblings. We have to watch what we say in front of children because they'll repeat what they hear. My cousin Linda, also at age four, was overheard remarking about a neighbor, "I can remember when he didn't have two nickels to rub together." She had no idea what that meant, but you can bet that my aunt and uncle never again got caught gossiping in front of their precocious daughter.
For new year's resolutions, some of us may decide to quit smoking. Some of us may decide to quit gossiping. Some of us may have already broken our resolution to quit swearing, eating ice cream in secret, or having that extra beer.
Here's a sweet resolution for you: Don't quit anything. Just do more of something that you like doing anyway. Get caught reading! The more you read in front of children, the more they'll want to read themselves, the more they'll want you to read to them.
So, kick back in your recliner and read, read, read. When the little one jumps aboard with her copy of "Green Wilma," keep reading, and say, "Wait 'til I finish this chapter." Then, by all means, indulge her with Tedd Arnold's sprightly story in rhyme.
Or, at the breakfast table, when the 3-year-old asks for another piece of whole-wheat cinnamon toast, keep your nose in that newspaper and say, "As soon as I finish this article." Then, by all means, pop the bread in the toaster, pick up that toddler and read him the comics while you wait for his crispy crust.
Bring books ? one for you, one for your little buddy ? when you go somewhere that involves waiting time, maybe the doctor's office or the car repair garage. Sit on that vinyl lounge and open your latest mystery while your young companion opens "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats, borrowed from the library. Read together or read separately. Instead of getting caught watching the clock, you'll get caught reading.
Get caught reading labels in the food store, magazines in the barbershop, novels in the bedroom, newspapers in the kitchen, e-mails in the den.
And when you catch kids reading, remember that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and that reading is the surest way to school readiness and success.
Donna Homuth is a retired English and instructional support teacher in the Elmira school district. She also is a board member of the Family Reading Partnership of Chemung Valley. Her comments are part of a monthly series of articles about literacy.
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