Literacy Now

As the child of anthropologists, I learned about origin myths at a very young age. For those whose parents may have been molecular biologists, let me explain that an origin myth is a story developed by a culture to explain how a particular aspect of reality (or reality itself) came into being. Origin myths typically describe the natural world, but they can also be used to describe the social world. I like to think of my book THE CARPENTER’S GIFT as an origin myth.

When I began working on THE CARPENTER’S GIFT, I visited the archive at Rockefeller Center to learn as much as I could about the most famous Christmas tree in the world. I found out that the first tree went up in 1931, while Rockefeller Center was still under construction. It was erected by workers, presumably because they were deeply grateful to have jobs during the depth of the Great Depression. The tree was decorated with strings of cranberries, garlands of paper, and a few shiny tin cans. How that particular tree came to be at the work site and who specifically put it up are details lost to time. But wouldn’t it be fun to know?

Contradicting none of the (few) known facts, THE CARPENTER’S GIFT offers one possible explanation, in which Henry and his out-of-work father give the tree to Frank and the other construction workers on Christmas Eve. Perhaps there are more likely theories, but this story attracted me because it embraced a truth about why people have flocked to the tree in Rockefeller Center these past eighty years, and why Tishman Speyer, the owners of Rockefeller Center, now donate the tree annually to Habitat for Humanity so that lumber milled from its trunk can be used to build a home for a family in need.

I tried to imagine what those workers in 1931 would have been feeling, and I kept coming back to gratitude, especially the kind of gratitude that motivates a person to pay his good fortune forward. The story of THE CARPENTER’S GIFT couldn’t have ended with the erection of the first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree because Frank and the other workers wouldn’t have let it end there, not without doing something for someone less fortunate than themselves—such as Henry, whom they learn lives with his family in a drafty, dilapidated shack.

As you’ve probably guessed, I actually slipped a second origin myth into the book—one for Habitat itself. The story of how Frank and his friends visit Henry’s family on Christmas morning to help them build a new, decent house evokes my own feelings about the organization—that no matter how much you give, you always get more back.

Screenwriter Randall Wallace, who won an Academy Award for BRAVEHEART, called Habitat “a perpetual-motion miracle,” and I think this chain of giving and receiving is what he had in mind. It takes Henry a little longer than it does Frank to realize this, but eventually he pays “the gift” forward, too, and the miracle moves on.

David Rubel is a nationally recognized author and speaker whose work focuses on making American history accessible to a broad audience. His children's books THE SCHOLASTIC ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE PRESIDENTS AND THEIR TIMES and THE SCHOLASTIC ATLAS OF THE UNITED STATES have become grade-school standards, selling more than half a million copies each in multiple editions.



'Tis the Season to Break With Tradition: Reinvent Your Holiday Book List

Putting Books to Work: Selina Alko's DADDY CHRISTMAS AND HANUKKAH MAMA

by Janice Friesen

One of the most prevalent buzzwords in education today is STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). In the United States, many argue that schools are not turning out enough people, especially women, who are equipped with STEM skills. To address the issue, educators at the University of Texas Elementary School decided that STEM was so important that they actually created a position called the STEM teacher. The students go to STEM class just like they go to any special classes such music, art, or PE.

But when STEM becomes so important, one begins to wonder what happens with reading or text literacy? Does instruction in literacy skills fall by the wayside in the wake of the growing emphasis on STEM skills? In this post, I share two sets of observations about interesting practices that lead me to think that when STEM skills are taught correctly, they may actually help foster success in reading as well.

1. SCRATCH

At the University of Texas Elementary School, STEM class students in third and fourth grade are creating programs using SCRATCH. Scratch is a program created by MIT to help children learn computer programming skills. The application is very powerful and yet very simple for children to use. Students write sections of code designed to tell a cartoon character what to do on the screen. While creating these projects, the students practice many reading skills that appear to transfer to their practices when picking up a book.

The most obvious of these reading skills is sequencing. When students use programs like SCRATCH, they learn to think carefully about what needs to happen first, second, and third – often by writing out or drawing a storyboard that shows what they are planning to create. In turn, these sequencing skills transfer over to aid reading comprehension using similar processes.

2. TO GOOGLE, OR NOT TO GOOGLE

Another class at this school is working on a very interesting year-long project. Second grade math and science students are learning that although just about everything can be “Googled,” this may not always be the best strategy. These students are discovering that sometimes reading a book or talking to an expert is a better way to find out something. To inform their decisions, students use a bulletin board divided into two sections: one side is labeled “Googleable” and the other side is labeled “Not Googleable.”

During the school year, students begin each of their thematic units by learning about a problem, asking questions, and trying to find answers. They start out by writing their question on sticky notes and then they place their question on what they believe to be the correct side of the bulletin board. Once they have specific questions, they begin looking for answers. Sometimes their search involves finding a book and other times it involves doing an experiment or talking to an expert.

This is another example of STEM teaching that leads to text literacy. While engaged in these activities, students become fascinated with non-fiction books because they are curious about what they can find out from them. They are motivated to read articles online and in journals and newspapers that are too difficult for them. They are actively reading for meaning, so they eagerly seek help when they need it. They do not skip past words they do not understand, which might cause them to gloss over the big ideas. Often, they read with a parent or other adult who can bring things to a level that they can understand.

Recently, students at the school performed quite well on their mid-year benchmark tests in reading. Their performance caused me to wonder: Could the emphasis on STEM skills have anything to do with that? I think the question is worthy of further consideration as we move forward with a focus on developing STEM skills as part of the elementary school curriculum.

To learn more about what is happening with second graders at The University of Texas Elementary School, read their blog.

Janice Friesen is a self-employed teacher. Her business I’m not a Geek.com helps people to be successful using technology. Her searchable blog http://helpimnotageek.blogspot.com offers tips for successful use of technology.

This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

Just because people experience the same situation, it doesn’t mean they have the same responses to it. We know this very well. We’re identical twins (Jennifer’s six minutes older! Julia is an inch taller!) Other than the six minutes Jen was on earth before Julia, we shared the same room, school and life throughout childhood.

But through very different points of view.

Even though we look alike, if we were main characters in a book, our stories would have different voices, flavors and feel. Think about the old adage of walking a mile in someone else’s shoes: We wear different kinds of shoes both literally and figuratively: Julia is likely to be in wedge heels; Jennifer in cute ballet flats. We’re sitting in a mall right now, and we asked ourselves what we’re noticing this very moment.

Julia is noticing the woman with the cute baby and cute tangerine dress and the people at the next table cracking up. Jennifer is noticing the scent from the pretzel place, the cute baby (but not the woman’s dress) and the song that reminds her of tenth grade.

Every person has his or her own unique point of view in a given situation, even if you’re sitting next to each other (and are close as sisters).

When you write fiction, it can be a challenge to write from a character’s particular point of view. This is particularly true of kids, who tend to automatically write from their own point of view. (Adult writers aren’t immune; you’ve probably read books where the teen characters sound—golly gee—like a grownup.) It’s important to help young writers become aware that if you can capture a character’s point of view, you help your reader connect to the character and understand his or her personality, motivations and emotions.

We write a book series about identical twin seventh-graders who—just like the authors—look like but see things from very different points of view. The books shift perspective between social Payton (trendy wedges) and mathlete Emma (well-worn sneakers and cute but comfy ballet flats.)

One way we show the difference between our characters is to use sensory details. You want your students to walk through the story in their character’s shoes. But, what kind of shoes? Well-worn sneakers? Roller skates? Sky-high heels? Or do they even wear shoes? (They may have hooves or paws or gangrenous zombie stumps.)

Student writers often focus on action and dialogue. While those are obviously crucial to a story, they often leave out an important component: sensory details. What is the character seeing, feeling, smelling, hearing and yes, even tasting? Fiction is descriptive and sensory details add a richness and maturity to students’ writing. (Even the ones about the zombies.) Learning to add sensory details will help writers bring the story to life from their narrator’s unique viewpoint. In TRADING FACES, sometimes we follow Payton and Emma as they experience the exact same situation. However, while the situation is the same, notice the differences in their characters:

The twins walk into a classroom:

Payton sees:

• The empty seat in the back where she can hide from teacher questions
• The people who are watching her walk in, self-consciously
• The trendy coral shoes of the girl in the front row

Emma sees:

• The empty seat in the front where she can best capture the teacher’s attention
• The assignment written on the smartboard
• Her academic arch nemesis already taking notes

Payton hears:

• The whispers of people gossiping

Emma hears:

• The voice in her own head prepping for class

Payton touches:

• The gooey lip gloss as she reaches into her backpack for her pencil

Emma touches:

• The sharp compass point as she reaches into her backpack for a pencil

You can see how sensory details add to our understanding of our characters who, on the surface, seem exactly the same.

Now, things can get pretty creative if the main character is a supernatural being or a historical character. A zombie might walk into a school and see people as food and smell brains (and depending on the graphic writing proclivities of the student, taste them.) The vampire sees necks and smells blood. The historical character might see baffling lights from electricity and computers and the strange wardrobe of students.

Here’s a writing exercise to demonstrate the value of sensory details by introducing and identifying sensory details from their own point of view.

Tell students to imagine they’re going to the mall. Ask them to write down the first place they would go to. They might identify a clothing store, video game outlet, food court, or bath and body shop.

Next have them write down five sensory details they would experience in this setting. Students might write about the vivid colors of the clothes, the noisy beeping of the games, the citrusy, perfumey bath gels, or the rich scents of the food court with all of its different potential tastes.

Have students share their responses with the class. Point out the difference and similarities between their choices of sensory details they “experienced.” This shows how different people have their individual points of view.

Some students will also note they focused on different senses from their classmates. Some people are more naturally visual, others auditory, and others kinesthetic. We see this in our characters Payton and Emma:

“We need signature colors,” Payton said. “Mine is hot pink. What’s yours?”

I knew Payton wouldn’t drop the subject until I chose a stupid color. “Gray,” I told her.

“You can’t have gray!” she squealed. “It’s so blah! So nothing!”

“It’s the shade of my mechanical pencil,” I said, holding up the pencil I was writing with.

“Just pick something else,” she sighed.

“Fine,” I said. “Blue.”

“Baby blue? Greenish-blue? Aquamarine?” she asked. “Turquoise?”

Payton is very visual, which is a common sensory focus. Help students explore all the forms of sensory details with another writing exercise.

Here’s a second exercise you can try:

Student writers need to be able to step out of themselves and put themselves into other characters not only writing, but for literary analysis. So the next step is to have students identify the sensory details that fit their characters.

Have students fold a piece of paper in half, then in half again. Unfold it so there are four blank boxes. Have them label one area: SEE, the next HEAR, then SMELLS LIKE and FEELS LIKE. Explain that these are four of the five senses, and taste is less commonly used in this instance.

Ask students to close their eyes and imagine they have ‘become’ their main character. Now, they should open their eyes and look around. Then ask them to stay ‘in character’ and write down what they see in the classroom. Then what they hear, smell, touch.

After students have had the opportunity to explore their surroundings on paper, invite them to share their characters’ impressions of your classroom. Compare and contrast the different answers.

If we walked into your classroom or library for an author visit, you and your students would see two people who look very much alike and share the same profession. But, you’d soon learn we have different personalities…and styles of shoes.

However, one thing we absolutely have in common is our enthusiasm for students to enjoy writing and to learn to express themselves. And that is a shared point of view that we both share with you.

Julia DeVillers is the identical twin sister of Jennifer Roy. Her book HOW MY PRIVATE, PERSONAL JOURNAL BECAME A BESTSELLER was adapted as a Disney Channel Original Movie, and she is the author of the Liberty Porter, First Daughter series.

Jennifer Roy is the identical twin sister of Julia DeVillers. Her book YELLOW STAR was named an ALA Notable Book and School Library Journal Best Book.

Together, they write the Trading Faces series about (what else?) identical twins. The most recent installment, DOUBLE FEATURE, comes out in paperback on December 18th; TRIPLE TROUBLE will be released in hardcover on January 1st.

In the spring of 2012, a group of English Language Arts educators from Franklin, MA, launched a highly successful middle school reading program around The Hunger Games. In this five-part special series, the teachers who orchestrated the whole-school read will detail, step-by-step, this year’s initiative. Parts I and 2 focused on how the team made this year’s book selection, The Hobbit, and encouraged student participation. Part 3 looked at some unexpected pitfalls the group faced based on book selection, while Part 4 recounted how the group decided which readers would get to see the film adaptation. In the final installment of this five-part series, Mary Cotillo and Erin O’Leary recap this year’s program, and talk about attending the Boston premiere of the movie.

All good stories deserve embellishment.—Gandalf

We don’t know if that line is in the novel The Hobbit, but when Ian McKellan muttered it in his signature Gandalf growl in the film, we looked at each other over our 3D glasses. All good stories deserve embellishment, indeed.

On Monday, Dec. 10, 40 lucky Horace Mann Middle School students assembled in small groups outside of the auditorium. Girls, excitedly fingering their hair, complimented each other’s holiday dresses; boys nodded in acknowledgement, straightening their neckties. There were a few hobbits. One bearded wizard. A bunch of parents, eager to see us off, held cameras and phones aloft.

At 5 p.m. sharp, our perfectly motley crew exited the school and into the winter twilight. As we loaded the students onto the waiting coach bus, whispers of “Is this for us?” caught our ears, and we began to understand. They felt special. They felt exclusive. They were excited to be singled out for special attention and proud that they had earned it.

Warner Brothers gifted us 50 tickets to the Boston premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. They treated our kids to reserved seats, pins, bookmarks, and words of praise. As the theater darkened and the title emerged on the screen, you could hear the shrieks, giggles and spontaneous applause. Our eyes filled with tears as we heard our cherubs whisper the opening lines right along with the movie, “In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit.”

During the three-hour epic, it was hard to pay attention; at times, living this through their eyes was too distracting. Besides, every time a vocabulary word was used in dialogue, Ms. Cotillo was summoned in the darkness and flashed a two-fingered V. “Vocab!” they mouthed. We knew how memorable this experience was going to be, but we didn’t anticipate the change we felt in our kids. They had been raised up. The smiles didn’t leave their faces for the remainder of the week, and neither did ours.

The night was magical and amazing and fantastic and memorable. But instead of focusing on the reward for the reading and the hard work, we have a different plan for this, the final installment documenting our Hobbit journey.

Bilbo Baggins had a million reasons not to embark on his adventure. He didn’t have anything to prove. He didn’t have anything missing in his life. He didn’t need adventure; it wasn’t his thing. He had never done it before. His days were already filled. He liked things just as they were.

Maybe you’re reading this thinking, “I have too much on my plate,” or “I already encourage literacy in my students, why do I need to do any more?” Or even this: “You want me to take hundreds of kids to the movies? Are you joking?”

We hear you. We get it. And we promise we won’t think any less of you if you decide to return to your hobbit hole and your second breakfast. But just in case you, like Bilbo, feel the Took stirring inside of you, allow us to share with you our incentive (or 11) for sacrificing all of our free time and most of our sanity to the literacy gods.

It happens when you least expect it. Usually on the day you come to school over-tired, tapped for ideas, and a little zany; questioning why you were crazy enough to sign up for this adventure. Frustrated over one more complaint, one more request, or one more email you just can’t answer. And then…

• A beaming 7th grader stops you in the hallway, “I couldn’t put it down! I read all day Friday and Saturday until I finished. Omigosh, I loved it! I read it in two days. I’ve never done that before!” 
• You check your voicemail and hear, “Miss O’Leary, I just needed to tell you. Alex finished The  Hobbit last night. He read for over two hours and wouldn’t stop, even though it was way past his bedtime. I’ve never seen him more proud of himself. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you.” 
• Upon returning his borrowed (and completely read) copy of The Hobbit, a struggling reader chooses a new book and says, “I feel like I can read this one. It looked so hard to me before. There were so many words on the page. But now I think I can do it.” 
• You step into a sub-separate classroom to lead a read-aloud, and become audience to Gollum and Bilbo riddling each other, complete with accents, blocking, props, costumes, and scenery. 
• You hear stories (and field chaperone requests from) families who are reading the book together. Fathers and daughters, brothers and sisters, parents and grandparents all get in on the act. 
• A student gazes upon their hard won permission slip to attend the movie, earned after successfully answering the riddling questions, and quietly marvels, “I get to go. I did it.” 
• Despite the cautions of their Wilson instructor as to the complexity of Lord of the Rings trilogy, a recently initiated member of the Tolkien fan club retorts, “I don’t care if they’re hard. I can do it.” (One day later he was on page 25). 
• The A period class is joyfully hijacked by an overzealous eighth grade boy who desperately wants to sing his rendition of the Misty Mountain song. When you acquiesce, his is spontaneously accompanied by his peers singing harmony. 
• Students begin to recognize allusions to Tolkien in other places—Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Origami Yoda, even Family Guy—and can’t wait to tell you. 
• Your principal, still slightly shell shocked from last year’s reading bonanza, dons a Gandalf hat and agrees to bigger and better plans because “at least we’re reading something cool this year.” 
• You stand at the front of a bus and gaze upon students clad in prom dresses, tiaras, cloaks, breeches, beards, and bellies, radiating an aura of confidence and pride. You will never see early adolescents carry themselves with such poise. 

It happens. The tales above are absolutely true stories, free from any embellishment. You will be brought to your knees by the stories of the struggling readers who now, perhaps for the very first time, can add “finishing a book” to their list of accomplishments. Talk about an unexpected journey. 

We shed our tears the Friday before the book was “due,” when our dream of one hundred little hobbits was realized. By the time we put our handkerchiefs away, we’d added 85 more to our party. 185 students read Tolkien. Voluntarily. (If you’re a numbers person, that’s 37% of the entire student body.)

Never underestimate your students. To those wise, credentialed, professional adults who challenged our choice, insisting it was too difficult for our students—“Kids today don’t appreciate complex text,” they decried—the numbers spoke for themselves. A full two-thirds of the sixth grade—the youngest children in the school—accompanied us on our journey.

We opened the door and our hobbits proceeded to kick it down. They were confident and self-assured. They were chosen. And on at least one magical night in December, they held their heads just a bit higher. All because they were readers.

That’s why we did it last year.

This is why we’ll do it again.

Mary Cotillo and Erin O’Leary both teach at Horace Mann Middle School in Franklin, MA.

Read the rest of the series here:

Six Buses: The Quest for School-Wide Reading Begins!

The Quest, Part 2: Monday Morning Hobbit-Backing

The Quest, Part 3: Goblin Caves and Spider Webs

The Quest, Part 4: Some Shall Not Pass

by Clarisse Olivieri de Lima

Part of being a global citizen is being able to articulate and take positions regarding one's role and responsibilities in the world. Global citizens need to be aware and concerned with what is happening not only in their nation and geographic region but also throughout the world. Global citizens need to develop a voice to promote social and economical justice for themselves and their fellows by demonstrating care and respect for other’s welfare.

Promoting a meaningful and socially valued use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is a crucial task that 21st century teachers may pursue in order to cope with their students' education. The set of basic skills needed to fully operate and participate in a globalized society include the new literacies needed for using Internet-based information.

The Travel Buddies Project is an intercultural exchange project where students from different countries select mascots to go on a journey as a visitor in a foreign culture. In an edition of this project, students in the United States and Brazil participated by sending their buddies to each other's location. As guests, the mascots were involved in activities with the children both inside and outside of school. Students kept in touch throughout the exchange by recording events and activities using photographs, blog posts, email exchanges, and diary/journal entries.

Many subjects from the curriculum can be reinforced in a project such as this one. Connections to reading, writing, the Arts (e.g. music, dance, artistic expression) and Humanities are inherent in all the learning activities that were developed as part of this exchange. Students engaged regularly in shared reading and writing activities using the blogs to register their visitor's activities. They also developed their own individual writing and technical skills through journal entries and the use of software products to create graphic images. Many of the lessons were interdisciplinary in nature and provided opportunities for collaboration between classroom teachers.

Blog posts were used as the central mode of communication between the classes and often initiated spontaneous lessons based on the content that was posted by the partner class. All the activities done by the classes and the mascots that were posted on the blog were done so according to safety and ethical rules established by each school in order to preserve the students’ identities.

Some additional skills that are essential for children to develop for success in today’s world were also emphasized during this project. First, students learned the nuances of acceptable technology etiquette essential to forging respectful social interactions and good citizenship. While the Brazilian and American children interacted through the blog postings, they also practiced examining how individuals interpret messages differently, how values and points of view are included or excluded, and how media can influence their beliefs and behaviors. Additionally, the students learned how to effectively apply more appropriate expressions and interpretations in diverse and multicultural environments.

Telecollaborative projects such as this one provide an opportunity for participants to develop global citizenship skills that are indispensable for their living in a globalized, diverse, and flattened world.

This project was coordinated by Dr. Clarisse Lima (EdTech Consultant, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Dr. Laurie Henry (University of Kentucky, USA) and was held during the year of 2009. 

For complete information: 

Henry, L. & Lima, C. (2012). Promoting global citizenship through intercultural exchange using technology: The Travel Buddies Project. In Kelsey, S. and Amant, K. (ed.) Computer-Mediated Communication across Cultures: International Interactions in Online Environments. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. (pp. 100-119).

To visit the blogs:

Brazil: http://tbteresiano1ano.blogspot.com.br/

USA: http://graytravelbuddies.blogspot.com.br/?zx=4889ea4916054b09

Clarisse Olivieri de Lima is an educational technology consultant in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).