Literacy Now

Today, April 22, marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, a celebration of our planet and a day to reflect upon the choices we make and how they affect the world around us.

Children often have an innate curiosity for the natural world and a drive toward ecological activism. During this time of sheltering in place and stay-at-home orders, help foster students’ curiosity and motivate them with inquiry-based activities and project-based learning. We’ve rounded up several resources you can share with families and caregivers to inspire green activities and environment-friendly activism today and every day.

• Earth Day Teacher Resources (from TeacherVision)
• Earth Day: Lesson Plans, Reading Lists, and Classroom Ideas (from Edutopia)
• Earth Day Resources for Teachers and Students (from KidsDiscover)
• Think Outside the Trash: Global Recycling Project-Based Learning
• How Ideas Become Books (and Trash Became a School!)
• Studying World Geography via the iPad
• Super Practical Project-Based Learning Ideas
• Animals in the Wild Book Reviews

Follow @ILAToday and tell us how you are celebrating #EarthDay with your students and family.

World Read Aloud Day is Wednesday, February 5! To celebrate the occasion, Pam Allyn, the founding director of LitWorld, shares some ways to create a home or classroom environment for more impactful read-alouds:

Designate a special place and time for reading aloud: Whether you are creating an elaborate fort together or something simpler, like a reading “nook,” building a safe space allows kids to relax and open up for conversation and to engage around the books you are reading together.

Keep track of books that inspire the richest conversations: Make a file on your device to save favorite read-aloud titles. Find space in your classroom to post children’s reviews and comments after reading. Document the journey together, valuing the titles that invite new worlds and/or reflect your deepest selves.

Solicit your students for story recommendations and books they want to read (and read again) to share ownership of the read aloud experience: Scholastic, LitWorld’s extraordinary sponsor in World Read Aloud Day, published the Kids and Family Reading Report, which shows that children are most likely to finish (and enjoy) books they choose themselves.

Make read-aloud a performance: Invite students from other classrooms, teachers, librarians, staff, parents, grandparents, and members of the local community. Stage a play, read aloud from children’s own narratives, or host a read-aloud-athon on World Read Aloud Day to bring the importance of reading aloud to the fore.

Use read-aloud as a tool for social justice and equity: By discussing a shared text, we can honor and hear quieter voices in our classrooms and at home. Make sure to stop for “turn and talks” during the read-aloud and to select books that reflect a wide range of cultures, languages, and perspectives.

In this way, multiple voices and stories wash over your community like a cleansing, celebratory rain, signifying the start of a new era and a time when all children’s voices matter and will be heard.

For more resources, visit litworld.org/wrad. Remember to use the hashtag #WorldReadAloudDay on Twitter to share your stories!

Every time students pick up a new word or understand the deeper meaning behind a story, their passion for reading grows and prepares them for a future of rich literacy education. The end goal for educators is to instill passion in their students to keep reaching for books. However, getting students to that point can be difficult. No one learner is exactly like another, and every student comes with personal learning preferences and challenges, which pose a major hurdle when it comes to collective classroom learning. 

Research-based instruction strategies can help educators reach all of their students regardless of the differences among them. Not only do these strategies offer proven evidence for what does and doesn’t work, but they also propose ideas and tactics that educators may have never even thought of implementing in their classroom.  

We’ve compiled a list of research-based methods for maximizing literacy instruction. Check out the links below for ways to improve the reading experience of our young students:

• “Misconceptions About Appropriate Literacy Instruction for Young Children” relies on research to dispel some common misconceptions that educators have about appropriate literacy instruction. Check this article against your own classroom to make sure your students are receiving the best instruction possible.
• “Should We Teach Reading Comprehension Strategies?” settles a classic debate in reading instruction through literacy research.
• If you’re concerned about how to motivate or improve the progress of low performers in the classroom, “Bringing Low Reading Achievement Into Focus” provides a comprehensive guideline.
• “Disciplinary Literacy and the Value of Making Connections” delves into the importance of stepping away from general reading strategies and instead turning to focused ones that can be used to make sense of texts from specific academic disciplines.
• Given the growing primacy of digital reading, “Extending Text-Based Strategies to Digital Environments” is a crucial article that teaches educators how to prepare students to apply their text-based reading strategies to a digital world.

Of course, just like every student, every classroom is also different. A concept that works well in one (or many) may be ineffective in another. The most important part is that educators never stop trying until they find the most effective strategies to complement their unique group of students.

While your students are focused on optimizing their trick-or-treat routes in order to get as much candy as possible, keeping their attention in the classroom can be difficult. But don’t let that spook you—take advantage of their Halloween excitement! This list of candy-coated classroom activities, terrifying tales, and phantasmic prompts are sure to keep things from getting “boo-ring.”

• The National Education Association’s list of Halloween lesson plans for grades K–5 includes hands-on activities, printable worksheets, and more to help welcome the spooky spirit into your classroom.
• TeachHUB offers suspense-filled reading and writing activities for teaching literacy concepts, language skills, and the historical roots of the holiday to horror enthusiasts of all ages.
• Keep the day not-so-spooky with some storytelling. A Teachable Teacher’s guide to Halloween books provides descriptions for each book and some accompanying activities so you can make the best pick suited for your students whether they prefer witches or mummies.
• Scholastic’s list of writing prompts offers 11 “spooktacular” story starters to get your students to express their excitement for Halloween through creative writing.
• Halloween coincides with the Mexican holiday Día de Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. EduHup’s resource roundup features ways to immerse your classroom into the holiday’s rich history and traditions, which will not only broaden your students’ knowledge but also help them develop an appreciation for other cultures.

Share your classroom Halloween ideas with @ILAToday on Twitter!

As I overheard a heated Viber conversation between a 21-year-old female (we shared space in the same girls’ hostel in Kathmandu) and her boyfriend (who was studying abroad in the United States), I experienced a sinking feeling that made me question: Where are we heading as human beings?

In today’s age, we have more opportunities than ever before. Yet, as the conversation I heard suggested, we are not happier and we are more stressed and overwhelmed.

This young woman came to Kathmandu with high expectations to achieve her dreams. But life is not that easy. Kathmandu is expensive and remaining resilient every day in light of her family’s increasing expectations was frustrating for her. Unable to manage her emotions, she was venting to her boyfriend, who had his own share of struggles as an international student in the U.S. from a third world country.

If critical thinking is regarded as a fundamental aspect of 21st-century education, why aren’t we starting with thinking about our own lives—what we are feeling and why, how we can manage our emotions better, and what our values are so that we can cultivate relationships and pursue careers that give us fulfillment?

Always fond of asking questions, I started out as a journalist when I was 17 and later switched careers and served in rural Nepal through the Teach for Nepal fellowship. This was when I realized how emotional well-being plays a crucial role in the learning process.

Later, when I joined a faculty for undergrads, I realized students even in the city struggled with

emotional intelligence. A 2013 study by Travis Bradberry and his team at TalentSmart concluded that only 38 out of 100 Nepalese could explain what emotions they experienced a day prior.

Astonished, I conducted my master’s research on 200 students to measure the state of emotional intelligence in Nepal. This led me to understand that the skills of emotional intelligence were lacking in teachers, and because the teachers weren’t empowered to nurture such important skills in their students, those students would go on to lack crucial skills to deal with life’s challenges.

All these years, I have witnessed pain in a lot of confused youth who could do so much better if they learned the skills of emotional intelligence. But every time I talk to a crowd of 30, only two raise their hands when I ask if they know about emotional intelligence, and only one usually gets its definition right.

This has led me to my latest venture, My Emotions Matter, a social enterprise committed to developing emotional intelligence in students, teachers, and working professionals.

Through self-reflective experiences, we introduce emotional intelligence as a learnable life skill so that individuals are more aware, intentional, and purposeful in their personal and professional lives.

If people develop the capacity to understand and manage their emotions, they will be in a better position to interact positively and form meaningful relationships. They will be better focused on their goals and resilient in the face of setbacks. These skills can help people navigate fluctuations in their emotions that come from 24/7 connectedness, cultivate intentional face-to-face conversations, respect others for who they are, and pursue meaningful careers.

The World Economic Forum predicts emotional intelligence to be the sixth most important skill in the workplace by 2020. This crucial ability is what I believe can help human beings flourish.

Bhawana Shrestha, an ILA member since 2015, is from Nepal. She holds a master of philosophy degree in English, with her research concentration on the state of emotional intelligence in Nepal. She is the cofounder of My Emotions Matter, which helps improve school and organizational climate through emotional intelligence. Shrestha was an ILA 2015 30 Under 30 honoree.

This article originally appeared in the September/October 2019 issue of Literacy Today, ILA’s member magazine.