Week 10 - Promoting Literacy

  

Promoting Literacy

Using Books in the Classroom/Library

This week - I'd like to turn to planning how to focus on a book of literature in the classroom/library without killing the enthusiasm or interest in reading.

A well-known author once said to me that it is..., "Best to have the great discussion than the great inquisition." -- and I certainly agree. 
It is always best to keep any guide that you personally are going to use to one page:

• Helps the user focus on READING not using one book to teach a multitude of skills or to address a shotgun approach to the standards.

• Promotes and forces concise language - use an economy of words and make good use of each one.

• Write out each standard (do not just use the standard #, few will actually know what that # represents.

• Use a 12 point (Times New Roman) font to keep the readability of the guide, 1 inch margins all around.  Headlines can be larger but not smaller.

• Keep the guide to one page (not one word over).  This is to facilitate sharing.  One page is easy to share, and should be sufficient; two pages difficult to keep together and the final sentences get overlooked.-----
  
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I am forever perplexed by teachers/test developers who think they "know what an author was thinking" without ever asking the author.
I'd like you to meet Sara Holbrook whose work is used with the Texas standardized test.  Sara could not answer the questions about her own work.  It is worthwhile to read what she has to say:

       Greene, P. (2019, Apr 28). The Writer Who Couldn't Answer Standardized Test Questions About Her Own Work (Again)!  Forbes.com.  Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2019/04/28/the-writer-who-couldnt-answer-standardized-test-questions-about-her-own-work-again/#2d3c48a64e8c.  

One quote, in the article, summed up test takers who ask for readers to conclude what the author's intent was/is finds themselves in this situation.  "Anytime we ask questions about author intent, we have stepped off the pedagogical sidewalk and into muck" (Holbrook as quoted in Greene, para 5).

 When you create a guide for using the book to meet core standards, avoid the inquisition and lean more toward the discussion.

Promoting Literacy

 "Books make great gifts because they have whole worlds inside of them. And it's much cheaper to buy somebody a book that it is to buy them the whole world." ~ Neil Gaiman

Part of promoting literacy involves more than offering books in the classroom/library -- so when you give books as gifts (baby showers, wedding gifts, holidays, and just because...) you may want a bookplate -- this site http://www.myhomelibrary.org has bookplates "donated" to the site by authors and illustrators and is organized by author Ann Fine.There are tons of great book plates available, including one by Aliki (in the color plate section) that has a scene from the "Making a Book." Of course you can also use these bookplates for "school" books as well. Many of these are from "children's books" but there are many still that would be appropriate for YA Lit (esp. the paperback choices). And of course, those who promote literacy will be doing that for people of all ages. Just for fun -- hope you have a gift to give that one of these can go into.
And give the ultimate gift to children you know by reading to a child for 15 minutes a day. See this site http://www.readaloud.org/
And -- when giving a book to a child/parents include a copy of this reading brochure with the book - it will help get the message to parents about the importance of reading. Go to McBookwords > Resources > Read Aloud Brochure (PDF) http://www.mcbookwords.com/resources/

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End of Newsletter - week 10