Literacy Now

As a teacher, literacy coach, chair of the Advisory Committee of Teachers (ACT), and experienced conventioneer, I feel compelled to offer some helpful tips for attending this year’s 59th Annual Conference in New Orleans. If your plan was to scan the program for the words Common Core like a colleague told me, or to look at only the sessions and workshops as I used to, then this piece is definitely for you. If this doesn’t sound like you, I challenge you to think about your own plan for the conference because everyone needs a plan. My suggestion—whether it’s your first conference or twenty-first conference—is to engage a variety of ideas in a variety of formats. As Woodrow Wilson, our nation’s only president to earn a PhD, once said, “I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.” I hope you see this as your first step toward the exhaustive “brain borrowing” the conference can offer if you plan accordingly. 

To plan your conference, I suggest that you go through the program and rank your top sessions in each even type. For me, it’s important to attend board sessions, poster sessions, sessions, and workshops. With this in mind, I thought I might offer you a glimpse at my thought process for the sessions in each category that I have labeled “DON’T MISS.”

IRA Board Session:
01267 - Coaching Toward the Common Core: Strategies to Enhance Teacher Practice and Improve Student Learning in Grades K–5
Saturday, 1:00 p.m.

My thought here is that if someone is good enough to make it to the IRA board, well then it’s a sure bet that the sessions will be fantastic. And this board session is sure to be great. Laurie-Elish Piper, who is in her second year as IRA board member, along with her colleague from Northern Illinois University Susan L’Allier, will be running this board session. Not only is Laurie a board member, but I have attended sessions with Susan and her in the past, and every session has been highly thought-provoking. I promise you this session will be no different.

What’s my advice?
My thought process here employed two strategies that are sure to work: attend relevant board sessions, and look for names you know. (1) Look at the IRA board sessions. As an ACT member, I have had the privilege to meet almost every board member, and they are all unbelievably intelligent and, perhaps more importantly, they are all highly engaging and approachable. And Laurie is no exception to this. (2) Look for names you know, presenters you have seen in the past. If you enjoyed one of their presentations, odds are you will enjoy their next. For me, Laurie Elish-Piper and Susan L’Allier’s sessions have always stretched my thinking in ways I never know possible, and I’m sure this session will be no different.

Poster Session:
2080 - Examining Multimodal Composition in Teacher Education
Saturday, 1:00 p.m.

Please, please, please don’t forget about the poster sessions. If you’ve been to them, you know what I mean. If you’ve never been to a poster session, you have to go this year. This particular session being offered by Donna Werderich and Michael Manderino seems to me to be cutting-edge research. Although their focus is on teacher education and you may be more concerned with classroom practice, I have no doubt there will be something in their research that is meaningful to you. As teachers it’s sometimes important step outside our classroom world and engage in research. And let’s face it; we live in a world of multimodal composition. So why not learn about how new teachers are experiencing it in their training?

What’s my advice?
Make sure you attend poster sessions. I would recommend starting with the one I listed here. My thought process here is that it can be easy to get lost in the immensity of the convention. A good poster session, and I believe this will be one of the better ones, can make you feel connected and grounded. The poster session format allows for intimate conversations with the researchers, allowing for you to have your individual questions answered—even if you have many. There is no more intimate, no more individualized, no better way to engage in thinking about education research than in poster sessions at the convention. If you are a classroom teacher, administrator, or coach, the poster session will allow you to shift your thinking from the classroom to the research that might ultimately inform what you do.

Session:
1908 - Creating Café Culture: One School's Effort to Engage Adolescent Readers
Sunday, 11:00 a.m.

In looking for sessions to attend, I have found the following criteria have been foolproof. Because sessions are not necessarily designed to be highly interactive, it’s good to look for a good story. To do so, read subtitles carefully because that’s where the story should be. This subtitle in particular uses a word that jumped out at me: efforts. The reason why this word popped for me is that the presenters are not claiming to have discovered a phenomenon the rest of us have not been lucky enough to find. Nor will these presenters preach to the audience as if they have some divine power. If you’ve been through these types of sessions, you know what I’m talking about. If you have not, you will know it when it happens. The phrase On School’s Effort though does not convey that message. Rather, it conveys that these presenters will be sharing the ups and downs and everything in between that they experienced. It will be your job as an audience member to take away from their story what you wish. And good stories make the best sessions.

What’s my advice?
When looking for a session to attend, my advice is this: look beyond the catchy title and read the sub-title with a critical eye. Read carefully for words that reveal the presenters intentions. Look for words that convey a range of experiences—good, bad, and everything in between. These sessions will be the most fruitful.  

Workshop:
1963 - Bridging the Gap Between Content-Area Literacy and Disciplinary Literacy
Sunday, 11:00 a.m.

I love workshops because they are active, but not all workshops are created equal. Because workshops should be meant to be interactive amongst groups of smart people, they should require addressing challenges that take a group of really smart people to solve. To change teachers’ thinking, as this title implies, from content area literacy to disciplinary literacy is no easy task—making this workshop one that will be worth your time.

What’s my advice?
When picking out workshops to attend, read carefully to see that the workshop is addressing a difficult topic that requires active participation and the power of the group. Look for workshops about changing, re-thinking, moving, or shifting as change is sure to be difficult. These workshops will require audience input because they address issues too difficult for individuals. As a workshop attendee, you should expect to be challenged. You should expect to have to rely on your fellow attendees to work through difficult problems. You should expect to provide input and to challenge the presenters as well as others in attendance. This can only happen if the workshop is designed around a highly challenging topic.

Concluding Thoughts

As you begin planning your journey to New Orleans this May, I ask you to plan your conference with an open mind, and to think outside your box to experience the full range of intellectual opportunities offered at the greatest of professional conventions. As you plan your convention, do your best to borrow from as many brains in as many different ways as you can. See the convention as more than an opportunity to grab some activities that you can use as soon as you get home. See the conference as a way to stretch your thinking in ways you never imagined by thinking broadly and planning thoughtfully.

Michael Henry is a high school reading teacher and literacy coach at Reavis High School in Burbank, IL, and is a member of the International Reading Association's Advisory Committee of Teachers (ACT), MHenry@d220.org.

Teaching in ACTion is a series from the Advisory Committee of Teachers (ACT), an International Reading Association committee comprised of exemplary reading and literacy teachers from around the world. Educators who best exemplify the mission of IRA are chosen from a pool of applicants to serve a three-year term. Among other responsibilities, the main charge of ACT is to be the conduit between IRA’s members and the board of directors. 

ACT invites member to engage in the conversation by sending responses to us. ACT’s goal is to get a feel for how members feel about current hot topics, so that we may better serve members by sharing their concerns with the board of directors. 

by Gina Cervetti
University of Michigan
March 19, 2014

Last week Oregon became the 10th state in the U.S. to adopt the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), with more states expected to follow suit. The NGSS and the Framework for K–12 Science Education that served as the basis for the development of the Standards are notable for their attention to the role of literacy in learning and practicing science.

The Framework for K–12 Science Education (Framework) was developed by the National Research Council as the first of a two-stage process in the development of new national science standards. The Framework, which was released in 2011, describes the reading and writing of scientific texts as “fundamental practices” in science and engineering that “constitute at least half of engineers’ and scientists’ total working time” (p. 72). The Framework also points to specific challenges for students who are beginning to engage with scientific texts and forms of communication, including unfamiliar vocabulary in science texts, the need to read for precise meaning, the need to justify their arguments in talk and writing, and the need to understand multimodal texts, which communicate with words and other forms of representation, such as charts and diagrams. The Framework specifies a set of related goals for students by Grade 12:

• Use words, tables, diagrams, and graphs (whether in hard copy or electronically), as well as mathematical expressions, to communicate their understanding or to ask questions about a system under study.
• Read scientific and engineering text, including tables, diagrams, and graphs, commensurate with their scientific knowledge and explain the key ideas being communicated.
• Recognize the major features of scientific and engineering writing and speaking and be able to produce written and illustrated text or oral presentations that communicate their own ideas and accomplishments.
• Engage in a critical reading of primary scientific literature (adapted for classroom use) or of media reports of science and discuss the validity and reliability of the data, hypotheses, and conclusions. (pp. 75-76)

The second stage of the Standards’ development process resulted in the new NGSS. The NGSS articulate standards as a set of performance expectations that connect disciplinary core ideas, scientific and engineering practices, and cross-cutting concepts, such as structure and function. Each performance expectation describes what students should be able to do in order to demonstrate that they have met the standard. For example, within the topic Weather and Climate, third grade students are expected to “Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world” (3-ESS2-2).

The NGSS embed specific connections to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (CCSS) with each performance expectation. For example, the third grade performance expectation above (3-ESS2-2) is associated with three CCSS standards: RI.3.1, RI.3.9, and W.3.8. Some of the developers of the Common Core State Standards worked with NGSS development team to identify these literacy connections.

The NGSS also include an appendix that further elaborates the nature of the connections with the CCSS. Appendix M describes literacy skills as “critical to building knowledge in science” (p. 1). It lays out how particular CCSS standards connect to science and engineering practices. For example, CCSS Reading Anchor Standard #7 calls for students to “integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.” This anchor standard and related individual grade-specific standards are linked to the need for scientists and engineers to understand and present information in a variety of visual formats.

Thus far, states have been slow to adopt the NGSS; though 26 states participated in the development of the NGSS as lead state partners, only ten of these states and the District of Columbia have adopted the standards. Familiarity with literacy connections in the NGSS may be helpful to IRA members as more states consider adoption in the coming years.

This article is from the International Reading Association’s Literacy Research Panel. Reader response is welcomed. E-mail your comments to LRP@/.

Recently, my colleague Sam Williams wrote “Is Common Core Too Challenging for Kindergarten,” which addressed the necessity for play yet the lack thereof due to the rigor of the CCSS.

As a third grade teacher, I hear and see similar concerns among my fellow intermediate teachers every day. The new buzzwords are being tossed all over faculty meetings and trainings—close reading, text complexity, rigor, text-dependent questions, exemplar text, etc. I’ve sat through Common Core trainings where we’ve practiced writing “text-dependent questions” and then argued whether or not they were REALLY “text-dependent.” I’ve sat through trainings where we practiced what close reading is and what it looks like.

In fact, I can barely surf the net or Facebook without seeing the latest news story, video, or blog sharing an educator’s or parent’s contempt for the Common Core. I’ve read things that go as far as to say “Common Core is killing innovation” and “It’s a one size fits all approach.”

I hear all of it, I read all of it and I have my own opinions on all of it, but come 8:00 a.m. every morning I still have to open my doors to 18 third graders and teach them how to read—and more importantly, how to love reading.

So I ask you to think about these two questions. What is within your realm of control and how can you keep your creative juices flowing?

Here are some examples of how I try to engage my students while still meeting the CCSS. Let’s take a look at this standard: “Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic” (RI.3.9).

This is the end goal, right? First I have to teach them how to do this. So I start by looking for texts that are engaging. A lot of the texts I choose come from the Internet, a magazine, or sometimes a topic that I choose to write an article about myself.

For this specific lesson, I used an article in Scholastic’s Super Science magazine. This article talked about what your pet actually wants in their pet food and the process behind making it. The article points out the fact that dogs actually do not prefer the smell of bacon; it actually overwhelms their sensitive noses. But dog owners do like the smell of bacon and that is why pet food makers sell dog treats that smell like bacon. Basically, the food has to be appealing to the dog owner, not just the dog.

In order to kick off the lesson, I started by showing my students the commercial for “Beggin’Strips.”. They loved it and they were engaged right from the start. I then told my students that some of the information presented in this commercial contrasted the information in the text and I needed them to find it. Their first mission was to read the text and then take a Wikki Stix and wrap it around the section of text that related to the commercial. They were off to scan for bacon! After they found the section, they were asked to read the section one time in a whisper voice and then a second time standing up. (The students can’t wait to hear how they will be asked to read the text each day!) Students then answered the question of how the text contrasts with the commercial. This task will lead up to them eventually doing the same thing with two different texts, but this was one way to teach the concept. 

Let’s take a look at another example. Another standard requires students to “Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers” (RI.3.1). Students were given an article to read on hippos. Prior to reading the article and without any discussion about what they were about to see, the students watched a thirty-second video of a hippo flinging its poop at the zoo. (If this doesn’t get your students’ attention, I don’t know what will!)  

Immediately after watching the video, students were instructed to read the article and use Wikki Stix to underline the section of text that related to the video. Students then read the article a second time, this time when students were done reading the article they were given six minutes to model with play dough a fact about hippos from the article. It had to come directly from the text. Students then took clipboards and visited three of their classmates’ designs. They had to look at the play dough design and scan the text for what they thought was being modeled. They then had to write the sentence from the text that was related to the model on a sticky note and place it in the designer’s folder. Again, students are up and moving and having a great time.

Both of these examples were shortened to show how I try to implement engaging and meaningful play in my classroom. However, these lessons also included parts where students answered text-dependent questions and completed performance tasks. I aim to reach all learners through multiple intelligences, learning styles, and ability levels.  Students in these examples were engaged visually through videos, and kinesthetically through the use of play dough and movement.

Here are just a few of the things I like to think about as I plan:

• What are some hot topics right now in my classroom? What are their current interests?

• How can I present this information? Is there a song, or video that will help engage my students? After all, one of the new standards expects students to “integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words” (R.7)

• How can I get my students moving?

• What tools can we use during the lesson? (Wikki Stix, play dough, colored pencils, markers, highlighters, sticky notes, highlighter tape, plastic fingers, pointers, stickers, tablets, etc.)

• Are there any cooperative learning strategies I can utilize during this lesson?

• How can I incorporate technology in this lesson? (We have limited technology resources at our school, but I have written many grants and utilized Donors Choose as a way to accumulate the resources I have.)

Even the best-written standards can be meaningless if they are implemented with ineffective instruction and lack of understanding on the part of the educator. Standards are just that, standards. It is up to us, the teachers,  to decide how we present this information so that our students learn and meet the expectations placed upon them.

We are teachers. We hold tremendous power in our classrooms. We have the power and responsibility to teach and change lives. And honestly, it’s a challenge but it’s what gets me out of bed every morning.

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

Eminent author Emilie Buchwald claims that “Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” Children become lifelong readers if they are introduced to books at a young age. Adults should strive to provide children with as many books as possible.

This task is fairly easy since literature for the very young is rich and varied and comes in many genres and formats. There are board books, concept books, and picture books. Young children may enjoy reading fiction or nonfiction, cumulative stories, rhyming books, and wordless picture books. They can also enjoy tales that are written exclusively for them. 

Members of the International Reading Association's Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group share some of their favorites for the very youngest readers in this week’s column. We are certain that some of these books can help readers find book joy on their own or with the help of a reading buddy.

Books for Young Readers

Bloom, C. P. (2014). The monkey goes bananas. Illus. by Peter Raymumdo. New York, NY: Abrams Books for Young Readers.

This book contains just three words: monkey, shark, and banana. A determined monkey spies a banana tree with a bunch of tempting bananas just across the water. He wants to reach the bananas, but the waters beneath them are patrolled by a notorious shark. Will the monkey succeed in his task? Maybe he will, maybe he will not. But for sure, this book with its humor, ingenuity, and creativity will succeed in making readers laugh. This book is a great choice for a class sharing on a day when students cannot go out to play or the mood of the classroom needs to be lifted.

-Rani Iyer, Washington State University Pullman

Colins, Luke. (2014). George Washington Carver. North Mankato, MN: Capstone Press.

Peanuts are our good friends. Not only are they are in our sandwiches and snacks, but they are in the ink of our favorite pen and in soap for our laundry. Thanks to George Washington Carver, a famous African-American scientist best known for his peanut research, peanuts now have multiple uses. Born on a farm in Missouri as a slave, George attended school at the age of 11. After finishing college, he became a teacher of plants and farming at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, working with farmers to grow more crops and make soil healthy again. With a glossary list, recommended books and websites, and questions for critical thinking in the back of the book, this easy-to- read title provides an overview of the life of an influential scientist.

-Ying-Hsuan Lee, Washington State University Pullman

Dahl, Michael. (2014). Little Monkey calms down. Illus. by Oriol Vidal. North Mankato, MN: Picture Window Books.

The board book tells readers what to do when they feel sad, mad, or angry. Crying is okay, but tantrums are not. The book advises the following actions:
Take a deep breath.
Huddle with your favorite thing.
Sing a quiet song.
Be still.
Relax.
Now that the storm has passed, it is time to jump and have fun!
This book is useful for kids of all ages. Teachers, parents, caregivers, and psychologists will find it helpful as they discuss feelings with children.

-Rani Iyer, Washington State University, Pullman

Degman, Lori. (2014). Cock-a-doodle oops! Illus. by Deborah Zemke. Berkeley, CA: Creston Books.

When Farmer McPeppers is fast asleep, the rooster decides to take a vacation by the seaside., The animals decide that won’t be a problem. On Monday, the pig tries to awaken them, but his cries do not sound the same as the rooster. Nor are the awakening calls on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday effective. When the rooster comes back, he complains that his throat hurts. The animals are worried that Farmer McPeppers would not wake up soon.

With the help of his friends, the rooster gets his voice back. As soon as Farmer McPeppers wakes up, he decides the voice of the rooster does not sound too good and he needs a break for a week. The delightful script would be great for a class play, reader’s theatre, and classroom read aloud with the teacher inviting students to play the roles of various animals.

-Rani Iyer, Washington State University Pullman

Hancocks, Helen. (2014). Penguin in peril. Somerville, MA: Templar Books.

After throwing out the last fish bone, three hungry cats are officially out of food. Using three gold coins, they go out in search of food. Instead of buying groceries, the cats spend the three coins to watch a movie, “The Fishy Feast.” The movie gives the cats an idea—if they can find a penguin, they will have endless fish as food. Immediately, they draw up a plan and steal a penguin from the zoo. When the penguin senses his perilous situation, he escapes.

Hiding among nuns, gentlemen in black suits, and restaurant waiters, the penguin finally returns to the zoo safely and enjoys his own fishy feast, while the cats end up behind bars and will “get gruel for life” (unpaged). This is a story with simple storyline, but amusing illustrations that contain visual humor. Readers should be sure to look at both the front and back endpapers to find some clues about what happens to the cats in this story.

-Ying-Hsuan Lee, Washington State University Pullman

Kantorovitz, Sylvie. (2014). The very tiny baby. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.

Jacob is not sure if he and his stuffed bear, Bob, are happy about the baby in Mommy’s belly. He listens to Mommy’s belly to feel the growing baby, which is both weird and exciting, but he is afraid of losing the attention of the adults in his life. As Daddy, Mommy, and Grandma all worry about the baby, since it is born prematurely, Jacob is jealous. Not until the doctor confirms that the baby is safe and ready to go home does Jacob realize that being a special big brother is important.

Drawing on personal experience, Sylvie Kantorovitz describes an experience familiar to many older brothers or sisters. Emotions of happiness, jealousy, anxiety, and anger have all contributed to the ambivalent feeling of welcoming a new family member. Parents and children can read this story together to help children understand the importance of family bonds.  

-Ying-Hsuan Lee, Washington State University Pullman

McDonald, Megan. (2014). Judy Moody and friends: Rocky Zang in The Amazing Mr. Magic. Illus. by Erwin Madrid. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.

With a magician’s outfit and accessories, Rocky, a novice magician, wants to show everyone that he can perform magic. His first magic trick, with Judy Moody, his good friend, ends up being a bust. But he doesn’t give up. Convinced by Judy, he decides to hire her as his spectacular assistant for a Back Yard Magic Show. However, no one except Judy’s brother, Stink comes to the show. What is worse, Rocky and Judy do not cooperate well which makes this second magic show a flop too. Though frustrated, Rocky is able to present a marvelous magic show that earns Judy’s admiration.

Filled with humor and friendship, this easy reader will make young readers laugh when they see how Rocky and Judy fail in many tricks, but continue to have a positive attitude toward the unexpected outcomes. Young children who are fascinated with magic are likely to wave their own magic wands after reading this book.

-Ying-Hsuan Lee, Washington State University Pullman

Murphy, Mary. (2014). Say hello like this! Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.

Different animals say hello in different ways. Dogs wow-wow; cats purr-meow; frogs croak-croak; chickens cluck-cluck; beetles tap-tap; donkeys hee-haw. How about you, readers?

This book is a celebration of greeting in different ways. The text has repetitive patterns with the use of onomatopoeia and alliteration, which make it enjoyable when being read aloud. The illustrations provide a happy atmosphere supported by page design that enables readers to see dogs licking each other, frogs jumping croakily, chickens dancing uniquely, and donkeys braying loudly as pages are turned. Anyone who reads this simple but attractive book will laugh in delight.

-Ying-Hsuan Lee, Washington State University Pullman

Rippin, Sally. (2014). Bille B. Brown: The secret message. Tulsa, OK: Kane Miller.

Every summer, Billie goes to the beach. She loves it! Her parents sit under the umbrella, reading; sometimes they nap. Not fun. Billie is here to have fun. She wants to build a sand castle. Perhaps it would be big. Perhaps it would be as big and fancy as the one the two girls across the beach were creating. As Billie digs, she finds a dark, tiny bottle. The two girls come over to meet Billie, and they decide the bottle could have a secret message. However, when Billie performs a handstand, the bottle drops and breaks, and even worse, Billie falls over the beautiful sandcastle. Can the girls be friends again? What can Billie do to save the day? This lighthearted tale is perfect for a classroom read aloud.

-Rani Iyer, Washington State University Pullman

Sohn, Tania. (2014). Socks! Tulsa, OK: Kane Miller.

Most children wear socks, at least in the winter and fall. This delightful book highlights the different kinds of socks. The child in the book uses different socks for different purposes, including playing games. Daddy’s socks, with a little imagination, become the trunk of an elephant. Ankle socks come alive to help the child fly. And what about the surprise Grandma sends?

This lovely book can be used as a perfect mentor text to start brainstorming ideas for young children to write or tell stories about their own collections of clothing.

-Rani Iyer, Washington State University Pullman

The CL/R SIG will host a special session called Children's Literature: The Perfect Teachable Moment on Saturday, May 10 at 3:00 p.m. at the International Reading Association 59th Annual Conference in New Orleans. The session includes keynote speaker Nancy Bo Flood (author of Warriors in the Crossfire) and a presentation of the 2014 Notable Books for a Global Society (NBGS). Visit http://www.iraconference.org to learn more about IRA 2014 or to register. 

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

The CL/R SIG is accepting submissions to the fall 2014 edition of their journal, The Dragon Lode, through April 15, 2014. There is an open theme, and they invite manuscripts that explore contemporary issues and questions, genre study, literary theory, and research related to children's literature and reading. Manuscripts should be no longer than 20 double-spaced, typed pages. Use APA (6th edition) formatting. Author's name, affiliation, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address should be on a separate cover page. Photos and illustrations should be sent as a separate jpeg file. Any reference to the author that would enable the reviewer to know the author's identity should not appear in the manuscript. Submit all manuscripts to: Dr. Ruth McKoy Lowery, Co-editor.

I have been thinking a lot about what courage and resilience have to do with being an effective literacy teacher. Our educational systems and society as a whole not only need teachers who are courageous, but teachers who are resilient in the face of adversity. It is the resiliency that I see in many of my first grade students that inspires me and helps me tap into my own courage and resilience to learn, research, and find the most effective practices to make a lasting, meaningful impact on my students.

We all have students who, despite all the odds against them and/or a lack of family support, are resilient or have the potential to be resilient. These students have opened my eyes and created a sense of urgency that it is my job to consider ways to build their resiliency with opportunities to become strong, successful readers, writers, and communicators. In turn, this builds their self-esteem and can guide them in becoming strong, healthy, successful children.

This understanding of resiliency is what gives me the courage to slow down and reflect on what some of my most at risk students need to help scaffold them to the next level. I have experienced first-hand that when I have the courage to provide my most at risk learners with what they truly need, it helps move them forward while building their resilience and my own.

All students need to learn their letters, sounds, and sight words. They need to learn how to blend CVC words, comprehend text, and utilize the skills and strategies it takes to be successful readers and writers. But for my most at risk students, before they get to the skills and strategies, they need someone to care about them and make them see themselves as smart, capable readers and writers. In some cases they need someone to sit beside them and read to them because they have never had that experience.  

Last year I had a First Grade Friend that came to me at a pre-A level. She knew a few letters and sounds, could scribble some lines, and was able to write the first letter of her name. Most mornings she came to school in the same clothes she had on the previous two days. She was disheveled, often exhausted, and rarely ready to learn. Her coping mechanism was to crawl under the tables and hiss like a mean cat. One of the first things she said to me was, “I hate reading and writing. I can’t do it because I’m stupid.” Her first intervention would be working on a “Can do Attitude.”

I had to find out what she was interested in and what she could do. She really loved kitties. I found some kitten coloring pages and our brief one on one time was spent coloring and talking. I would share with her how I really liked the colors she chose for her kitty. I would say, “See? You can do it! ” I would have her repeat that a few times—I can do it! I can do it! I can do it! We slowly moved to playing letter recognition games and used tactile activities to practice writing letters. Each baby step forward was something she found she could be successful at and gave us reason to celebrate!

This student also received extra attention every morning from a volunteer who would take the student to our small conference room near the office. I went to the dollar store and bought combs, brushes, pony tail holders, etc. The volunteer would fix the girl’s very unkempt hair into a pony tail, or whatever style she wanted. The student would come back beaming with pride.

During our reading workshop, one of this student’s interventions was to meet with a paraprofessional educator, find a cozy spot in the classroom, sit side by side, and enjoy having someone read to her. She discovered she loved Clifford books. As the year went on she was in a small skill/guided reading group in addition to the one on one read aloud time.

She enjoyed making Clifford books and was successful drawing, coloring, and labeling her Clifford pictures and finally began writing about Clifford. I also enlisted the help and support of our principal and school secretary. They were happy to take a few minutes to celebrate with this student when she had successfully read from one of her Danny books, or was able to write about something important to her, like her kitty.

Each small success seemed to lead to less time under the tables meowing and hissing like an angry, wild kitty. By the end of the year this student loved school and was seeing herself as a successful reader and writer. She had made more than a year’s worth of growth, but more importantly she now saw herself as a reader and writer. She was confident and hopeful. Her courage and resilience continues to inspire me to be a courageous and resilient teacher by stepping outside of the box and the pacing guide to try and meet the needs of all my students.

JoAnne Duncan