Literacy Now

After recently finishing another round of standardized testing, as well as too many district-required assessments that mimic the standardized tests, I am inclined to look for additional ways to make assessments more meaningful and engaging for my students. Why? Because I struggle to watch some of my students sit through a multiple-choice test. Some of my students come to school after witnessing horrific crimes, after not eating breakfast, after engaging in fights (at home or on the street), and I have to get them to concentrate on—let’s just say it—a boring test that lasts way too long.

I never cared about those tests growing up. I specifically remember putting effort into maybe the first five questions on standardized tests and then bubbling in whatever because I just didn’t care. It wasn’t relevant to me.

Zoning out didn’t mean I didn’t understand what I learned or read—it just meant I didn’t care enough to pay attention. Daydreaming was just so much better. That being said, if I was assigned a project in grade school, I couldn’t STOP thinking about how I was going to make my project the best. Most of us can remember those projects where we pretended to be a president, or designed a commercial (basically what we would now call “performance tasks” minus a few of the critical elements).

Performance tasks seem to present problems for multiple reasons, including the time it takes to create one as well as design a rubric to match. There are also a lot of rules to designing performance tasks. And engaging performance tasks seem even harder to design for reading. I also need buy-in from my grade-level team so that we can look at the data and use it to guide further instruction.

Yet, even with all these obstacles, we must push on in order to gain meaningful data from our students.

So do you have to reinvent the wheel? No! Use the resources you have and think outside the box! Think of all the activities you create in the classroom and tweak them. For example, I recently read “Brain Powered Strategies to Engage All Learners” by LaVonna Roth. This book is full of strategies designed to engage the learner by reinforcing connections between the student and the subject matter without a worksheet.

After utilizing these strategies in my classroom, I began to adapt some of the activities into assessments. One strategy in particular I love to use as a form of assessment is called “That’s a Wrap.” In this strategy, students create their own study guide through a process that mimics an interview. My students were given an article from Scholastic’s about the new water slide opening in Kansas City, called Verrückt (German for “crazy”). After reading the article, students had to write down questions they had about the waterslide.

Little did they know they all had very similar questions, validating that their questions were probably important ones: Is this ride safe? What if the riders fall out? Can they go down without a raft? How tall is it? Even crazier is that all of the questions they asked were answered in the text but after one read they weren’t picking up on those important details.

I typed up all of the students’ questions and told them their task. Students were going to pretend to work at this park and be interviewed by the local media regarding the opening of this new water slide. They had to be prepared to answer the reporter’s open-ended questions. They needed supporting details to justifythe important points they were going to make. Where would the answers come from? The text, of course.

The possibilities here are really endless. You can tie in criteria for research and technology and encourage students to find videos and more articles related to the topic. This task could include speaking and listening standards as well as be used for almost any topic in all content areas. Imagine interviewing a hurricane for science! Another option: rather than have students create or fill in a timeline of someone’s life, they could be interviewed and discuss those moments in chronological order with an interviewer.

Here are some additional ideas for using performance tasks in the classroom:

• Ask students to create a restaurant menu for pets based on information they read in an article related to pet food. Have them create menu items based on a specific animal’s diet.This will show you that students are able to compare and contrast the diet of certain animals through the organization of their menu and whether or not they understood what they read.
• Invite students to create a Facebook page (using a template—there are tons of free options online!) for a book character, well-known historical figure, or a person in current events. Students could be required to read multiple sources of text and even watch videos.Depending on your teaching focus, examples of the criteria could be the following.
  • Include four written status updates that represent how the character’s feelings change throughout the story.
  • Include the character’s hometown.
  • Include two status updates for setting changes.
  • Include four friends of the character.List two people who were declined a friend request. (A writing piece could be added by having students provide a rationale for their friend choices and those who were denied.)

Wiggins and McTighe offer a great tool to assist in the creation of performance tasks in their book, “Understanding By Design,” using the acronym GRASPS (Goal, Role, Audience, Situation, Performance and Standards.) Here are some important things to remember as we design performance tasks:

• A performance task usually involves presenting students with a real life problem, where they develop a product or perform for an identified audience (real or simulated).
• Tasks should be relevant, relatable, and developmentally appropriate to the grade level and student.
• Engaging does NOT always mean it is effective.
• Teachers must set the learning outcomes first and be clear about the intended performance results!
• Think: what is the evidence we need to measure a student’s understanding?
• Collaborate with other teachers! We learn most from each other, so open up those doors and start talking to one another.
• Use the Internet to take advantage of so many great ideas already online. Check out Pinterest, TeachersPayTeachers, Facebook pages, and blogs.You may just find an idea you want to tweak.

In order for anyone to want to do anything, it has to hold value. Assessments must be meaningful as well. It’s hard for students to find little, if any, value in our standardized tests these days because the meaning lies within comparing schools, districts and states, as well as holding teachers accountable. But where is the value for the student? Where is the connection for the students? We want them to be creative, collaborative, and able to communicate. Bubbling in answers doesn’t allow for any of that.It’s not the content of these traditional tests that is bad; it’s the form and authenticity of them.

This is something we can change in our classrooms. As teachers, we have the power to make our students’ faces light up. We have the power to make their creativity come alive. We have the power to help them understand what real learning and problem solving looks like in the real world.

We are teachers. We not only have the power to make these changes, we have the tremendous responsibility to do so—and fast.

Karen Jackson is a third grade teacher in Tampa, Florida. She has been a classroom teacher for over 12 years. She holds a Master’s Degree in curriculum, instruction and assessment. She is a professional development writer and trainer and owns an educational resource company that supplies resources and professional development for teachers around the country. You can find Karen at www.sharpenyoungminds.org.

If you're a fan of Reading Today Online, you will recognize this name. Barbara Ward has been coordinating the weekly K-12 book reviews from the International Reading Association's Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (CL/R SIG) for about three years. In this Member of the Month interview, we learn about Barbara's path from a journalist to a middle grades educator to a professor, from Tennessee to New Orleans to Washington State, all the time reading and sharing a love of literacy with those around her. 

You're quite a bibliophile. Describe your relationship to reading. 

I’m an avid, passionate, daily reader. If I’m not reading something for pleasure each day, I actually start to feel grouchy. My eyes and brain crave that form of mental and physical exercise.

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

I have been a reader, writer, and actress pretty much all of my life. Since I grew up on a farm in East Tennessee, I didn’t have a lot of playmates other than my younger brother, Mike, during my formative years. I loved where I lived with all those woods and pine trees, and my parents encouraged me to fill my time doing the things I enjoyed. I discovered characters that were similar to me in the books I read while also learning about experiences foreign to me. Reading and writing took me to different places, places far beyond those lovely mountains that surrounded me, and I dreamed of seeing what was on the other side of them once I grew up. I always knew that I would be a writer someday, and my first career in journalism allowed me to accomplish that dream. My second career as a middle grades language arts teacher in New Orleans gave me the opportunity to share my passion for literacy with youngsters who had no idea that they could get lost—or found—in a book. Teaching, whether as an eighth grade teacher or as a university professor, lets me build community, and rekindle the love for reading and writing in my students. I affectionately call them “born-again readers” because that is exactly what they are—readers who have lost the way and no longer enjoy reading. I blame the current focus on high-stakes testing and the use of reading programs that require students to regurgitate trivial facts rather than encouraging deep discussion and exploration of those important ideas and big questions that good books can raise. I also think that there are many purposes for reading. Reading for enjoyment or relaxation is usually a different experience than reading for information or for test items.

Although I loved teaching middle grades and high school in New Orleans, I always knew that I wanted to teach at a university at some point. I thought that the methods and passion for literacy that I shared with my students might transfer well to a university setting. When Hurricane Katrina destroyed my home and all my possessions in August 2005, Dr. April Whatley Bedford, one of my doctoral committee members, shared my dramatic survival story with Dr. Terrell Young at Washington State University, and he helped bring me to Washington State University to teach literacy courses in Tri-Cities, the branch campus, and later, in Pullman, the main campus. It’s interesting how connections influence where we end up working.

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

As you know, I’m always reading. My list of books from last year consisted of 1,476 titles. It was a great reading year. I like to read several books at the same time since I feel rather depressed when a book comes to the end, and the characters I have come to care about are no longer part of my life. If I have several reading relationships going on at the same time, I can stave off the depression. I’m reading Lies My Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Ann Peters and Reign of Error by Diane Ravitch, and I’m wading through a nice stack of picture books. I just finished Peter Brown’s My Teacher Is a Monster! and hooted all the way through. My passion is young adult literature, probably because I relate so strongly to the characters and their experiences. I jokingly tell my students that I am probably thirteen emotionally.

You have been the CL/R SIG president for several years. How did your interest in children's literature develop?

Books have always provided me with the answers I seek about life’s mysteries and offer me hope. Children’s literature is simply amazing because today’s writers are tackling tough and important issues and telling stories that have often been left out of history books. To be succinct, these are the books that speak most powerfully to me and provide an accessible way to raise questions about important issues or themes that matter to me. For instance, Eve Bunting’s Fly Away Home and Barbara O’Connor’s How to Steal a Dog challenge assumptions about homelessness. I can’t think of an issue that can’t be addressed in some way through a picture book or chapter book.

What is your favorite theme for the CL/R SIG's book reviews on Reading Today Online?

I love many of the themes used in our weekly book reviews, but my favorite one has to be “Books That Make Us Linger.” There are thousands of books published each year, and while each one of them has someone who enjoys reading it, I am drawn to those rare books that stay with me long after I reach the final page. It could be that I want to linger with a book because of how it ends or because I have fallen in love with a character or because the author has raised issues that I know I will need to continue to explore. As a writer, I relish the idea that something I have written stays with a reader for a while, maybe even returning to haunt him/her days, weeks or years later. I prefer books that make me think and don’t offer me all the answers. If an author leaves me pondering questions or wondering about what I might do or trying to resolve complicated issues, then I am happy.

Are there any stellar new books that you'd recommend to students (and teachers) who don't like the "classics" traditionally used in classrooms?

My list of favorites would be far too long for this column. The CL/R SIG provides weekly reviews centered around one theme each week that offer recently-published titles that teachers may want to read and/or share with their students. While I love much of the classic children’s literature that I read as a child and know it has a place in today’s classrooms, I would encourage teachers to branch out and read books that are hot off the press as well. I once thought that everyone needed to read the same books for class discussions, but now I like to choose a theme and offer my students several choices of books dealing with that theme. For instance, we may explore through reading “What Are the Many Ways to Love?” or “How Is Disability Explored in Children’s Books?” and my students choose from six or seven books for that week. When they come to class having read different books, their definitions of disability or culture, for instance, have expanded greatly, and the subsequent class discussion allows their definitions to expand even more. That’s a powerful, life-changing experience.

What are your favorite lessons to connect literature with reading and writing skills?

I love to use mentor texts so that my students learn to read like writers. By examining the craft of writing through published books, they learn to recognize good writing and try similar writing techniques for themselves. I also love to use what my colleague and former CL/R SIG president Carolyn Angus calls “Perfect Pairs.” I like to identify two books dealing with the same theme or topic and have my students read both books and then critique them. What do they notice about each book or how the author approaches the topic? What does one book include or omit that the other one does not?

What do you consider to be your proudest career moment?

I’ve had many great moments—and hope to have a few more. Receiving my doctorate was a great achievement since I went back to school for that advanced degree late in life. I loved every moment of my doctoral journey and worked with some terrific professors, including Dr. Patricia Austin and Dr. Wilma Longstreet of the University of New Orleans. I am proud to have received the Celebrate Literacy Award from the Washington Organization for Reading Development as recognition of my passion for literacy. I was honored to receive the Excellence in Teaching Award from the WSU College of Education and have a lovely plaque attesting to that award on my office wall. Finally, I am thrilled whenever I receive a card or email from one of my students thanking me for teaching them and helping them fall in love with reading again. Just the other day I had an email from a student that I taught fifteen years ago when I was in New Orleans. She thanked me for teaching lessons that mattered to her, lessons that are still with her, and relying on class discussions to tackle issues. I was blown away—and you can bet that I kept that email. My office door at WSU is covered with cards, letters, and photos that attest to how I have made a difference in my students’ lives. It is very humbling. 

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

I worry that for many students today reading as a chore and not something that can be pleasurable. Reading really should be the love of a lifetime, and I hope that more individuals will come to realize that the romance between readers and the texts they choose need never wane.

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

I’ve been an IRA member for 13 years. Being a member keeps me aware of current research and teaching practices, and it has given me the chance to expand my intellectual horizons. I love the publications and enjoy the conferences. In fact, I’ve met many dear friends through IRA, including Dr. Deanna Day, Dr. Nancy Hadaway, and Karen Hildebrand.

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

I think I’m always wearing that educator hat and suggesting books and teaching strategies to everyone I meet. But I love to travel and chat with friends. I waste a lot of time online too, searching for stories about strange happenings.

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

You may find your “tribe” or the group of individuals with whom you connect most strongly through professional organizations such as IRA. Make the most of those opportunities, and don’t be afraid to share what matters to you with others. Make reading a daily habit. Becoming a reader is not negotiable, and we teachers must be reading and writing models for our own students. Above all, develop a sense of humor, and don’t take yourself so seriously all the time.

The Ubuntu philosophy is grounded in the idea that I am because we are. As doctoral students at Georgia State University (GSU) and P-12 educators, we stand on this principle. This ethos is also fostered by Alpha Upsilon Alpha Honor (AUA), an honor organization under the International Reading Association (IRA), which was founded in 1985 to “recognize and encourage scholarship, the development of personal and professional leadership, and service to the field of reading.” 

Ready to present at the IRA Conference

Sparked by our presentation Alpha Upsilon Alpha: Cultivating Scholars and Developing Leaders at the IRA Conference in Chicago in 2012, we, a group of four graduate students collaborate and share our experiences of pursuing a doctoral degree. As members of underrepresented groups (women of color) in academia and society at large, specifically three African Americans and one international student from Turkey, we reflected on our experiences as novice scholars and concluded that AUA has fostered and enhanced our growth in the program. The goals of AUA are cohesively aligned with our doctoral requirements, which serve as a vital support to students in the areas of scholarship, leadership, and service.

Scholarship

Austin and McDaniels say that constructing a positive and professional scholar identity is an essential task for a doctoral student (Analyzing faculty work and rewards: Using Boyer’s four domains of scholarship, 2006). Fortunately, AUA nurtures the development of our academic identities. For example, when Tuba began the doctoral program as an international student at GSU, she tried to navigate between American and Turkish cultures but felt disoriented due to conflicting norms, which further complicated her academic pursuit. She quickly became cognizant of the challenges that come with learning new academic discourses. However, through AUA, she gained comradeship with other members. They revealed to Tuba their similar trepidations of becoming a budding scholar and how they successfully navigated the daunting process of publication. Also, they exchanged strategies to prepare for the IRA 2012 presentation. These spaces provided an opportunity for Tuba to build a community with other novice learners as she began to develop her own academic identities. She began blogging about these experiences and relationships, which led her to develop the website for AUA that disseminates and exchanges scholarly information with colleagues. These activities manifested her research interests of multimodal practices in literacy. 

In addition, the support from AUA catapulted Tuba to engage in other learning communities, such as the research team at Global Conversations Literacy Research (GCLR). GCLR is a platform that globally unites scholars such as Brian Street, Bonny Norton, Julia Davies, and James Paul Gee as it explore issues of literacy grounded in innovative research. Tuba contributed to the organization in various ways, including as a developer of Facebook and Twitter pages, a researcher, a facilitator, and a moderator during the presentations. Due to her engagement with AUA, Tuba felt confident to venture out and participate in other learning communities, present at international and local conferences, and share her journey of crafting multiple academic and social identities while navigating across different cultures.

Writing Retreat, and...


Fellowship after the Retreat

Noll and Fox’s research indicates that, “many students believe they lack the knowledge, skills, and experience for the kinds of writing expected by both graduate school professors and scholarly journals” (52nd yearbook of the National Reading Conference, 2003). Therefore, members of AUA started hosting an annual writing retreat to foster the development of scholarly writers.  The retreat provided a space for students to focus on writing projects outside of what was required for coursework such as the development of manuscripts, IRB proposals, or research projects. Natasha describes her experience as a “breath of fresh air” because it was difficult for her to allocate time to write outside of what was required for course work. The retreat afforded her an opportunity to finalize a section of a coauthored piece and initiate the IRB process for a study that she was collaborating with another AUA member. The first writing retreat took place at the home of our advisor, Dr. Tinker Sachs. The atmosphere was conducive to our goals for the retreat as there were multiple rooms and areas in the home that allowed for individual writing space. 

We started the retreat with breakfast and sharing time where we shared our objectives for the day. We exchanged ideas and created a plan for our writing. Everyone then dispersed to a room to work. When we convened for lunch, we described our progress and we rendered feedback to our peers. We pushed each other to problematize the issue we were writing about, to extend our thinking to include a critical stance, and we suggested resources. This group time was equally important as the independent writing time. We worked to clarify and extend our ideas in order to advance theory and application in our discipline through the support of peers. As a result, Tuba submitted and published her first article Putting multiliteracies into practice: Digital storytelling for multilingual adolescents in a summer program and Kamania and Natasha began the initial phase of a research study. These interactions in and out of the writing group offered us opportunities to enrich our scholarly relationships and academic identities.

Leadership 

Through our interactions, AUA members conceptualized a broader view of literacy by exploring a multitude of research topics. Each member offers a unique approach to his or her scholarly inquiry. These topics include but are not limited to the difficulties and advantages of applying multimodal literacies to classroom activities, critical literacy, teacher development, second language acquisition, culturally relevant pedagogy, experiences of Black women teachers, literacy practices of elementary aged boys, and educational policy. During our exploration, AUA members collaborated and presented at local, national, and international conferences such as TESOL Doctoral Forum in Philadelphia, Georgia Association of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (GATESOL), Georgia Association of Teacher Educators (GATE), International Reading Association (IRA), and American Education Research Association (AERA) in Vancouver, Canada. These presentations have strengthened the members’ understanding of becoming a professional leader in the field of education while presenting our research to multiple academic communities. For example, Natasha, along with her advisor and four other AUA members, published an article, entitled “When Policies Collide with Conviction” in the Language Arts Journal of Michigan about the intent and consequences of educational reading policy. The concept of this article was birthed through conversations that focused on the social, cultural, and political contexts of early literacy development. These scholarly discussions and critical conversations were instrumental among AUA members because we were able to identify ourselves as valuable contributors and change agents. In addition to the article, the AUA members extended their discussion on how educational policies collided with their beliefs in a keynote session that they presented at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in 2011. This presentation led to an opportunity to write a chapter in P.T. Thomas’s edited book, Becoming and Being a Teacher: Confronting Traditional Norms to Create New Democratic Realities (2012). These AUA members developed as leaders in and out of the classroom through collaboration and seeking experiences in various academic platforms.

Apart from conferences and research, our professional membership in AUA goes parallel with our career plans in the field of education. We will continue to conduct groundbreaking research while teaching at a university. Our activism in AUA has empowered us to become members of several other professional and academic organizations, such as IRA, TESOL, AERA, and Middle East Institute, which are aligned with our residency requirements for the doctoral program. Our active engagement and service to professional communities has grounded our academic path.

Service 

Service is a major tenant of AUA, and through our work we are contributing to building our community as well as gaining valuable experiences to fuel this personal journey as educators and researchers. The sole responsibility of a scholar is not limited to conducting research and publishing manuscripts; other contributions should include service to our local, national, and international communities. AUA members strive to promote the growth and literacy development of the urban community, which is also a residency requirement. Through service, we were able to become familiar with the city, not just in the physical sense but in becoming a real member of the community. 

One member, Nicole, recalled joining AUA and IRA to heighten her awareness of the latest scholarship in literacy, but she has gained so much more. As a first generation college graduate, she revealed how people committed to service and organizations just like AUA were at the core of her educational journey. She stated, “I am from Oakland California and have been part of every program possible from Upward Bound, Summer Bridge, to EOP [Educational Opportunity Program] and was a member of every intervention from the Boys and Girls Club to local community centers. These volunteers modeled for me a real sense of community and sincere passion for building life-long learners. It is with this same passion that I embark on my educational journey.” AUA felt like an extended home for her.

The Ubantu notion, I am because we are, is the foundation for AUA’s community projects. For example, members frequently volunteered at the Genesis Shelter, which provides a “supportive environment that enables homeless newborns and their families to achieve positive life outcomes for this generation and those to come.” AUA members partnered with the shelter to achieve their mission by volunteering in the nursery classrooms. Through several visits, the members learned how to navigate their classroom norms and become a part of the learning community. During one visit, Nicole intended to read a few picture books but her plans were quickly altered when all the children pleaded to repeatedly read a different book. Below is her excerpt of this event: 

My first time reading at Genesis was an experience I will never forget. I walked in with my bag of tricks, as most of us teachers have. I was expecting to wow the kids with my favorite book. One page into my read, BEFORE the good part, I was met with opposition. They challenged my selection and requested another book. I then pulled out my next book, another one of my top ten crowd pleasers. Again they were underwhelmed. As I proceeded to the next book and the next they were not thrilled by anything. Finally I put the books aside and asked the five-year-old scholars what they wanted me to read. Their reply was one of my least favorite children’s books, No David by David Shannon. Luckily I had just bought a set of books for my little cousin’s birthday and this book. I ran to my car, tore the wrapping paper off, and re-emerged with their beloved David. They cheered as I read it and we shared stories and had conversations about everything from discipline to friendship. This service experience culminated my year. It put all of the professional training and theoretical understandings in perspective for me. What did I learn from this experience? Part of the value in service is the shared experienced. It is the I am because we are.

During another visit, Kamania played with children outside and learned how they engaged with each other. She observed which groups of children preferred to play certain games. She also code switched with the various discourses utilized by the children, i.e. African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) and Spanglish, a mixture between Spanish and English). Eventually, the AUA members noticed how the teachers and parents entrusted their young children to us with the expectation that we share a similar goal to provide a safe learning environment for the children. Despite their living conditions, all the adults strived to guide the children towards a love of learning.

Although we are all women of color and positioned as minorities, we still have acquired a form of privilege as scholars earning a doctorate in philosophy of education.  We are cognizant of our responsibility to serve our community; specifically, the marginalized students represented in research studies. These students are not just statistics that we read and discuss in courses but they are people, sons and daughters that reside in the same community where the university is located.  Therefore, we also volunteer at the Georgia State’s Urban Literacy Clinic, which serve students in the metro-Atlanta area. The mission is to facilitate the implementation of research based lessons for P-12 grade students designed and delivered by pre-service teachers. In return, the students receive complimentary tutorial services. Its aim of equalizing education and providing access to marginalized children is aligned with AUA’s mission of volunteering in the field of reading. In particular, the members researched grants to help keep the center thriving. In addition, AUA conducts an annual book drive for the Urban Literacy Clinic. We collected new and gently used books for the several months to donate to the clinic.

Temperance School in South Africa

Lastly, our plans for serving the community have recently been expanded to an international scope. According to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “we have made of this world a neighborhood and yet we have not had the ethical commitment to make of it a brotherhood” (1968).  It is in this spirit that we sponsored a local school known as Temperance Township Primary School located in Gordon’s Bay, Western Cape, South Africa. The organization donated classroom materials that were in high demand at the school in order to better met the instructional needs of the students. Some of the materials included, writing paper, pencils, crayons, and construction paper. 
Our membership consists of several international students and new Atlanta residents, and being a first year of doctoral student in a new city can be intimidating. However, through the support of AUA we were cultivated to become members of the community we served. This service component is vital. Regardless, of our nationalities, ethnicities, and backgrounds, these projects bind us.

I Am Because We Are

During the preparation for the IRA conference, we discovered various similarities and a few critical differences in the construction of our new identities as novice scholars and aspiring researchers. We each shared a sense of eagerness to start the doctoral program and later our emotions shifted due to fear of the unknown.We were exposed to unfamiliar terms during coursework, such as, methodology, theoretical framework, critical race theory, grounded theory and many others. This new discourse led us to question our competence and capability of successfully completing the program. Fortunately, with the support from AUA advisor, Dr. Gertrude Tinker Sachs and members, we were able to better navigate the doctoral program. In the pursuit of scholarship, leadership, and service, AUA is grounded in the Ubuntu philosophy: I am because we are. 

Kamania Wynter-Hoyte (kwynter2@student.gsu.edu) is a doctoral candidate at Georgia State University with research interests in home and community literacy practices, culturally relevant pedagogy, and critical literacy. 

Tuba Angay-Crowder (tangay1@student.gsu.edu) is a doctoral student at Georgia State University with research interests in L2 writing, academic literacies, and genre-systems approach to writing. 

Natasha Thornton (nadams10@student.gsu.edu) is a doctoral candidate at Georgia State University with research interests in culturally relevant pedagogy, teacher development, and formative design. 

Nicole Dukes (ndukes2@student.gsu.edu) is a doctoral student at Georgia State University with research interests in urban pre-service teachers, home and community discourse, and writing instruction. 

Authors’ Note: A special gratitude is extended to our advisor, Dr. Gertrude Tinker Sachs, for her relentless support in restoring the organization and supporting our IRA presentation and the development of this article. 

I recently read an article that suggested that children are not learning disabled until they attend school and fail to adequately learn to read and write. The author referred to this as “school-induced learning disabilities.” The article went on to suggest that if those same kids were simply taught the way they learned, they would not only not need special education services, but they would not need a label of “learning disabled,” or as in most cases of learning disabilities, dyslexia.

If you ask parents of a child who is eventually identified with dyslexia, they will tell you that their child was a normal, happy, curious, intellectually-capable child from birth to kindergarten; and for those bright, curious preschoolers who were not identified with dyslexia and did not receive the appropriate intervention, something slowly changed. They became frustrated with homework, got stomachaches that sent them home early, received low grades in reading and writing, referred to him- or herself as “stupid,” started to make statements about not liking school, and in many cases developed behavior problems—they became learning disabled.  

And although dyslexia is a neurobiological reading and writing disorder that children are born with and therefore are inherently learning disabled, I do agree that children do not really become learning disabled until they get to school. School is where they are exposed to teaching that does not respond to how they learn, it is where they experience failure and are compared to their peers, it is where they learn that they can’t do what their peers can do—so within the walls of the schools and during the time they are learning reading and writing, they become disabled for the first time.

I understand that for educators who have admirably dedicated their lives to educating children, this is a difficult pill to swallow. We all know you did not sign up to be teachers to miss those children who need the most help. And you certainly didn’t sign up to make them “disabled.”

It happens because educators don’t have the information they need to prevent reading and writing failure. It is a sobering fact: dyslexia affects up to 20% of the population and it has very specific symptoms (see www.interdys.org for more information about symptoms and the definition). Dyslexia occurs on a continuum, so it can be mild in one student and profound in another, and they both have dyslexia. Lastly, there are piles of research that should inform how we identify and teach these children in elementary school, starting in (if not before) kindergarten, so that they never become outwardly learning disabled—although they will always have dyslexia, with the correct instruction, they  may never feel disabled or outwardly demonstrate a learning disability.

Now, in response to that second idea proposed in the aforementioned article: I do not agree that children who do receive the appropriate intervention early on and do not end up exhibiting learning disabled symptoms do not need an official diagnosis or “label.” They will always have dyslexia, and those students with more moderate to profound dyslexia will always encounter difficulties and will almost always need some accommodations to help them reach their potential (and every child should be allowed and given the tools to reach their potential). For many parents and their dyslexic children, the label of dyslexia frees them from years of asking themselves why reading and writing are so hard,  wondering what they did wrong as a parent to cause this academic angst in their children, and/or why all their efforts are not helping.

Additionally, a diagnosis and label gives them a road map to help their children and themselves which will lead them on the journey to success. The official label liberates students from self-doubt and self-blame. So, yes, diagnosis and labeling is important. Even when children are identified and received remediation early, they will always have dyslexia. 

But don’t take it from me; take it from those who have walked the walk. For example, Ben Foss, a Stanford-educated attorney, author and dyslexic, greets families with children (and adults) with dyslexia with this: “Welcome to the Nation of Dyslexia.” He goes on to state, “Whether your child is on the cusp of being identified or you’ve known about his dyslexia for quite some time, I say welcome to the club! It’s safe here, and you can let go of your fear and anxiety about this identification. Believe me, I know how you feel. I was there and so were my parents, and I can tell you with 100% certainty that it will get better. Indeed, you’re going to have fun.”

In many ways, the identification allows you to belong.

It’s unfortunate that dyslexia has become such a divisive term in the education world. But despite that divisiveness and constant banter about what dyslexia is and how to help a child with dyslexia, the fact remains that dyslexia is real and the 15 to  20% of children in schools who have dyslexia are depending on you to do your due diligence and learn about dyslexia.

So, why do we continue to use the wait-to-fail model? Isn’t that too late? What if it was your child that was failing despite ability? Would any teacher deliberately allow a child to become learning disabled? I don’t think so, but that is what happens when this debate continues without action. 

In my personal and professional life, I am surrounded by teachers. I know teachers are admirable, smart, caring people—they need (and want) information about dyslexia—they are the gatekeepers to child’s academic and emotional health. At the Dyslexia Training Institute we hear this comment in each and every course from frustrated teachers: “Why didn’t we learn this in our credentialing program?”

Well, here’s your chance, and you can start with a short, four-minute video created by Ted-Ed:

Just four short minutes could change the life of a child sitting in your class. And if you have just under an hour to spare, you can watch the documentary “Embracing Dyslexia” for free online.

For a full list of teacher-friendly resources you can read the Lowdown on Dyslexia here.

While we continue to debate, here’s an idea in the interim: if you don’t like the term dyslexia, why not identify the phonological processing deficit (and in some cases an additional rapid naming deficit) and respond to it immediately? It is still dyslexia, no matter what you decide to call it, and dyslexia still exists, but you still need to respond to the cause of the reading and writing challenges.

Hal Malchow, the President-Elect of the International Dyslexia Association (IDA), recently responded to the dyslexia debate (also to a book by the same name) this way:

We also understand the power of common language and the mission and purpose it can provide. We believe that "dyslexia" is a beautiful word. True, it describes a category of learning disorders. But it also describes a community, a body of knowledge, a category of law, a more positive sense of self, and a belief about the progress we can achieve together. We will continue to use the word “dyslexia” now and in the future.

I will leave you with this thought (and yes, it’s a bit of a guilt trip): while we continue to argue about the existence of dyslexia, another child becomes learning disabled in your local school.

Dr. Kelli Sandman-Hurley (dyslexiaspec@gmail.com) is the co-owner of the Dyslexia Training Institute. She received her doctorate in literacy with a specialization in reading and dyslexia from San Diego State University and the University of San Diego. She is a trained special education advocate assisting parents and children through the Individual Education Plan (IEP) and 504 Plan process. Dr. Kelli is an adjunct professor of reading, literacy coordinator and a tutor trainer. Kelli is trained by a fellow of the Orton-Gillingham Academy and in the Lindamood-Bell, RAVE-O and Wilson Reading Programs. Kelli is the Past-President of the San Diego Branch of the International Dyslexia Association, as well as a board member of the Southern California Library Literacy Network (SCLLN). She co-created and produced “Dyslexia for a Day: A Simulation of Dyslexia,” is a frequent speaker at conferences, and is currently writing “Dyslexia: Decoding the System.”

As a nonfiction children's author I'm often asked, "How do you find new book ideas?" Students are usually surprised when I explain I don't have to look for book ideas—they find me! For example, when I visited Washington D.C. during a summer vacation in 2011, I checked out the annual Folklife Festival on the National Mall lawn. With a long list of story ideas waiting to be written on my desk back home, finding a new book idea was the farthest thing from my mind, until I saw it—a colorful plastic wall, three feet high, sparkling in the afternoon sun.

As I approached the plastic structure, I noticed children stuffing plastic bags and trash into soda bottles with sticks. They placed the trash-filled bottles inside a frame made of wood and chicken wire. Nearby, a poster held photos of children constructing tall plastic walls—an entire building—out of trash!

The display explained how the tiny Guatemalan town of Granados (population 847) was facing two problems in 2007: their trash piles were too big and their elementary school was too small. The village had no garbage dumps. No recycling centers. No place to put the soda and water bottles, plastic bags, and trash created by products arriving from other countries. Also, their elementary school, the Escuela Oficial Urbana Mixta de Granado, had become extremely crowded. Two grades shared one classroom. Two students sat at one desk.

The situation looked hopeless. Then the villagers got this crazy idea. Could they build new schoolrooms out of their trash? No one knew if the crazy idea would work, but everyone was willing to try.

Over two hundred children, along with teachers, parents, and grandparents, helped with the project. They worked seven days a week, collecting, cleaning, and stacking bottles. After fifteen months of hard work, they miraculously turned their ugly trash into a beautiful school. One problem had solved another. I couldn’t believe it! And that’s when it happened—goosebumps. (I always get goosebumps when a new story finds me.)

I was inspired by this incredible project, and immediately wanted to share it with young readers. Yet, I wasn’t sure I could find enough time in my schedule for the in-depth research this story would require. (And I did have that long list of story ideas waiting back home.) Then I considered the extraordinary teamwork it took to complete this huge project. I looked at the determined, smiling faces of the children in the photos, and suddenly, the Soda Bottle School moved to the top of my writing list.

I introduced myself to the woman in charge of the exhibit, Laura Kutner, and explained I was a children’s author. Laura turned out to be the teacher who had initiated the building project, and she was excited about the idea of sharing the school’s story. After I returned home to Chicago we chatted more over the phone, and Laura accepted my invitation to co-author a children’s story about the bottle school.

Laura’s personal connection with the project and the villagers was invaluable during the writing process. She patiently answered hundreds of my questions. She explained the building project in detail. First, the students collected over six thousand bottles. They carefully washed every one and set them in the sun to dry. Then the students filled each bottle with about two hundred and fifty old grocery and chip bags. Two hundred and fifty! They called the stuffed bottles eco-ladrillos, or eco-bricks. The bottle stuffing process took six months and most children ended up with blisters on their hands. Then the students stacked the eco-ladrillos between chicken wire fastened to a metal frame to create the walls. After local masons covered the walls with a thin layer of cement, students painted the outside of the school their principal’s favorite color, orange.

When the school was finished, the village threw a huge fiesta complete with streamers, signs, and traditional Mayan dancing. Their new school had started with one crazy idea, but became a reality due to teamwork. It was a truly inspiring story. Now Laura and I had to figure out the best way to tell it.

After several weeks of writing, we had a solid first draft. Then we rewrote the story from several points of view in search of the most meaningful way to share it with children. Somewhere around revision 138 (seriously) we decided to try telling the story through the eyes of a student—a fourth grader named Fernando who was especially enthusiastic throughout the long, grueling building project.

With Fernando and his mother’s permission, we began revising again. Right away we felt this version was different—special. Critiquers confirmed it conveyed the Granados school project in an engaging, personal, and authentic way. Before long (in publishing time), the story was picked up by the perfect publisher. The publisher selected an illustrator, and months later Laura and I were asked to review preliminary sketches. Everyone wanted to make sure the book was inspiring, engaging, and of course, factually correct. While the final illustrations were being painted, we did a few more manuscript revisions.

I’m so grateful the idea for “The Soda Bottle School: The True Story of Recycling, Teamwork, and One Crazy Idea” found me in 2011. Three years later, the book has finally been released! You can learn more about that here.

While the story shares an inspiring message of creative recycling and teamwork, the book itself will help to keep our planet clean. I’m donating my proceeds from the book to help fund new bottle school through a nonprofit organization called Hug-It-Forward. Laura is donating her profits from the book to Trash For Peace, a nonprofit organization which promotes environmental education and ideas for upcycled/recycled projects such as these awesome recycle bins made out of plastic bottles (Download the free instruction manual here.)

Suzanne Slade is the award winning author of more than 100 nonfiction books for children. Her recent picture books include "The House That George Built" (a Junior Library Guild Selection, a Bank Street College Best Book of the Year), "Climbing Lincoln's Steps" (Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, Paterson Prize for Books for Young People), and "Multiply On The Fly" (California Reading Association Eureka! Silver Award, ILLINOIS READS selection.) Look for her new 2014 releases: "The Soda Bottle School," "Friends for Freedom," and "With Books and Bricks: How Booker T. Washington Built a School."