February 2005 Table of Contents Cover Story Can All Your Kids Read? Features 'Hands Off, Heads Inside!' A Better IDEA 'She's My Mental Health' No Laughing Matter Departments Spotlight ESP Health & Fitness Bulletin Board People Last Bell Editor's Note President's Viewpoint Up Front Leading the Way State Report Debate Resources Books by NEA Members Reader Services Weigh in on Debate Topics Change your address Write a letter View past issues Check out our bonus edition

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Can All Your Kids Read? Helping kids understand—and love—the written word has never been the exclusive task of the elementary teacher. Yet the hubbub around instruction and motivation often stops in the early grades. Which raises the question: What do you do when Johnny, the seventh grader, isn't getting it? More...

Photo by Danny Peck

Also in this story... Reading by the Script: What's All the Fuss About? Reaching Teens: Back to the Future Tempting Teens NEA's Read Across America: Is There a Doctor in the House?

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Think for a moment: When was the last time you read a comic book or pored through a slamming book of poetry? Been a while? It might not be a bad idea to reacquaint yourself, as more and more educators are doing in an attempt to put some spark into the reading lives of their students. With the demands to raise reading scores front and center under the so-called No Child Left Behind law (NCLB), many are finding a new urgency in trying to reach reluctant or struggling readers, young and old.

And while many say testing is hardly the right incentive—no one test can determine whether someone will be an accomplished, lifelong reader—educators across curricula and grade levels know they all have a stake in how kids develop as readers. After all, they say, once Johnny leaves Mrs. Murray's kindergarten class, his ability to read will play a large part in his success or lack of it when he shows up in eighth-grade science.

So on the eve of the kickoff of NEA's Read Across America events, NEA Today takes a look at the latest reading trends from kindergarten through high school. Find out how NEA members are taking the struggle out of reading—and putting the fun back.

Reading by the Script:

What's All the Fuss About?

by Sabrina Holcomb

Photo by Nathan Ham

With penalties looming under NCLB, educators are increasingly using 'scripted' reading programs to teach budding readers, but this newest trend in reading instruction has fast become a lightning rod for controversy.

As if sparks had hit midway through their reading lesson, the cheery kindergartners pop up from their seats and strike an attitude. Pretending to hold a mirror with one hand and brush their hair with the other, they sway their hips side to side and with a touch of Southern sass chant, "Look-in' good, look-in' good!"

It's not just comic relief. These students at Baseline Elementary School in Little Rock, Arkansas, are looking—and sounding—good, indeed. Their reading scores have soared in the last few years, and this jazzy cheer is their celebration—one of many they've happily learned, courtesy of the scripted reading program Baseline's teachers credit for the reading turnaround. "For years, we had one of the lowest reading scores in the district," says third-grade teacher Wilfred Dunn. "This year, we showed the greatest gain of any school in the entire state."

For Baseline, scripted reading programs—on the rise across the country—have been a boon, and some teachers can't sing their praises enough. Typified by standardized instruction, formulaic lessons, and an intense focus on phonics—these highly structured programs, say boosters, stand as the best defense against a rising illiteracy and the demands of standardized testing.

By the Script: The Pros and Cons When it comes to scripted reading programs, value is definitely in the eye of the beholder. Supporters say scripted programs . . . provide consistent, reliable instruction provide a solid foundation for beginning readers are strong on phonics help guide beginning teachers require less preplanning and set-up work for teachers help raise test scores Critics say scripted programs . . . are weak on comprehension and good literature are inflexible and not well-balanced leave no room for individualized instruction shortchange beginning teachers limit teacher choices lead to declining test scores in the upper grades

A Debate Rages

But not everyone is so enthused. Far from it. In fact, this latest trend in reading instruction has sparked a debate so fierce that some educators question whether kids being taught today will ever become thoughtful, discriminating readers who can actually grasp a book's real meaning—much less subtext.

What's the fuss about? The most fervent detractors say scripted programs cast publishers as producers, reading coaches as directors, and teachers and students as mere actors in someone else's play. Many complain they take away teachers' ability to make informed, creative choices for their students. "They take the professionalism out of the profession," says Dawn Christiana, a reading teacher in Bellingham, Washington. "You don't have to think; you don't have to modify; you just script." Others say the programs are nothing more than quick fixes for school districts on a desperate search for the Holy Grail of reading instruction—programs that raise reading scores in time to avoid penalties under the so-called No Child Left Behind law.

Notably, critics say, scripted programs are the ones that get the heartiest sanction under the rules of NCLB's Reading First legislation, which only grants federal monies to districts that use "scientific researched-based" reading programs. Since Reading First was launched three years ago, the use of scripted programs appears to have risen sharply and educators are taking note.

"NCLB is shaping the way reading is being taught," says John Cromshow, a Los Angeles kindergarten teacher whose district uses a scripted program despised widely by many of its educators. "Districts are feeling the pressure to use scripted programs that have been sanctioned by the current administration," Cromshow continues, noting, "There's lots of money to be made. The district spends millions of dollars on reading coaches, conferences, and program training."

Not All Black and White

Photo by Chris Dean

But there are areas of gray, and where educators position themselves in the dispute depends a lot on how their school districts have responded to NCLB demands. Although federal reading grants are targeted to schools that can least afford to lose them—those with the lowest performance and/or the largest proportion of neediest students—some districts have shunned the money and adopted more progressive literacy programs or kept the programs they currently use.

But where districts have complied and adopted scripted programs that have a Reading First "good housekeeping seal of approval," the viability of those programs, says Cathy Roller, director of Research and Policy for the International Reading Association, has depended largely on a potpourri of local decisions: which specific program gets chosen, the attitude of reading coaches, the availability of extra support and, most important, the extent to which teachers have a voice in the process.

Baseline Elementary in Little Rock, the teachers there admit, was fortunate to have the right combination of all these factors.

A Measure of Success

Photo by Bob Riha, Jr.

Even though Baseline's reading program, Success for All (SFA), is one of the most highly scripted programs on the market, Baseline's teachers agreed from the start that its structure was an advantage. "This program is the right choice for the kids in our community," explains teacher Wilfred Dunn. "It may not be right for the kids across town, but southwest Little Rock is the 'hood.' A large percentage of our kids are in foster care, so they don't have a stable home environment. Some come to school without any sleep or food. Our kids have no structure in their lives; they need the structure of this program."

Another plus: Baseline's teachers feel supported rather than "spied on" by their literacy coach and program facilitator, Mary Jane McDonald, unlike in other places where teachers feel put upon by coaches they bemoan as "reading police."

"Our coach asks for our input," says Barbara Garner, a third-grade teacher whose degree is in literacy. I don't feel Mary is critiquing me. I feel she's monitoring how the program works." McDonald makes sure the program is implemented according to the script but "the script is there to familiarize teachers with the lesson," she says, "not to be read word by word."

Photo by Bob Riha, Jr.

The relationship has paid off. Four years ago, 85 percent of Baseline's students scored below the proficient level on the state reading exam. Last year, 85 percent scored proficient or above. Which is why teachers at Baseline don't just love the program—"I'm obsessed with it," admits second- grade teacher Darrel Sharp, who has been teaching for 33 years. Notes Shantel Fells, one of Baseline's three full-time reading tutors: "I start working with them on the Word Board on Monday and by Friday, Bam!, my babies can read those words just like everyone else in the class."

In fact, the entire staff felt so strongly about the program that when they were encouraged to use Arkansas Reading First—a more flexible and less scripted program—during the 2003–04 school year, Principal Eleanor Cox successfully advocated for the return of SFA. "Impoverished children don't arrive here as astute grammarians," says Cox. "Their parents send us the best they have. We work with them and by the time they reach fourth grade, they've got a foundation."

Cox recounts the remarkable progress of one fourth-grade student who was "reading" on a pre-K level in second grade but had caught up by fourth grade. This year, she ran for vice president of the student council, writing and delivering her own campaign speech. Cox admits this kind of success story would not have been possible without the buy-in of the staff. "If you don't have collaboration," says Cox, "you're just spinning your wheels."

A Different Perspective

It's a lesson the teachers and administrators in the Los Angeles school district have learned all too well. In sharp contrast to Little Rock, many teachers in Los Angeles bitterly resent Open Court, the scripted reading program widely used throughout the district and the state.

Phoebe Conn, a kindergarten teacher at El Sereno Elementary School in Los Angeles, describes what she sees as the main flaw in the Open Court program. "It's boring," she says flatly. "It stifles initiative and creativity and frustrates everyone—students and teachers. When they give the Teacher of the Year Award, they always give it to wonderfully creative teachers. They don't give it for reading a script—'This woman can really read like a metronome!'—and God help us, let's hope they never do."

"When we first piloted Open Court at my school," Conn adds, "six experienced kindergarten teachers all turned thumbs down. It wasn't age appropriate. It's a very slow program and four- and five-year-old children need to be more involved in learning."

Say That in Spanish

"As hideous as Open Court is in English, just cube that in Spanish," says outspoken bilingual kindergarten teacher Sheryl Ortega. Ortega teaches at Logan Elementary School, where 80–90 percent of the students are English-language learners.

When the Los Angeles school district decided to align its Spanish and English reading programs, Ortega was asked to serve on the advisory task force, along with 11 bilingual teachers and 11 district representatives. The task force reviewed two programs—McGraw-Hill's Foro Abierto (the Spanish version of Open Court) and Houghton Mifflin's Lectura. "We had four hours to pick a series, a process that usually takes months," says Ortega. By the end of the day, all but one member had voted for Lectura because Foro Abierto, explains Ortega, "is a literal translation of the English program and therefore linguistically incorrect in Spanish."

Shockingly, the committee's recommendation was rejected—mainly because schools were already using Open Court in English. After an uproar from bilingual teachers, the superintendent relented and allowed K–2 teachers to use Lectura. But Foro Abierto is still used in the upper grades, and while it's not desirable, says Ortega, "teachers have accommodated, as they've always done, inventing their own materials to make instruction work." When word gets around that the series is successful, "it's in fact due to teachers' professional expertise," she says.

Test Scores: Do They Add Up? Test results "make the grade," say supporters of scripted reading programs. Early studies suggested Open Court students performed better than students taught with a literature-based curriculum. An independent study commissioned by publisher McGraw-Hill maintained that California schools using Open Court showed marked jumps in children's literacy skills and significantly improved test scores compared with other programs. The test scores are misleading, say some researchers. One study done by Margaret Heiss Moustafa, a professor of literacy education at California State University in Los Angeles, found that the percentage of children scoring at or above the 50th percentile on California's SAT 9 reading exam was significantly lower in schools with scripted programs. Several studies have found that reading scores started to decline in the higher grades, as comprehension skills become increasingly important. But Siegfried Engelmann, author of the scripted program Direct Instruction (DI), counters, "The scores for all students—groups, not individuals—drop somewhat after third grade no matter what type of program you're using. When DI is well-implemented, the scores drop less than any other program out there." What about national vs. state scores? Experts caution that any good news about student reading performance must be put in a national context. For example, 80 percent of students in a state may test proficient on the state exam, while only 20 percent test proficient on the rigorous NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) reading assessment, which includes high-level comprehension questions that require an in-depth understanding of the text.

Teachers Make It Work

Although Ortega believes experienced teachers can make up for some of the deficits in scripted programs, she worries that beginning teachers aren't getting the training they need to provide rich, high-quality reading instruction. "We've got hundreds of young students coming out of teacher programs at the universities," says Ortega, "and they're only being trained how to deliver Open Court and not how to teach."

Ortega's co-workers agree the "teacher factor" is a critical component in the ultimate success of a scripted program. James Lopez, a fifth-grade teacher at Logan, confesses, "I go off-script. How else will all my kids get individual attention?" "It's more work," says fourth-grade teacher Felix Quiñónez, whose classroom is down the hall, "but personalized instruction has a greater impact."

Like many teachers in the higher grades, Quiñónez worries that scripted reading programs overemphasize phonics at the cost of comprehension. "I teach to understand," says Quiñónez, who is currently working on his National Board Certification. "You can't have breadth with no depth."

But Siegfried Engelmann, a professor of education at the University of Oregon and author of the scripted program Direct Instruction, vigorously disputes this portrayal of scripted reading programs. "Direct Instruction's comprehension performance exceeds its decoding performance. You don't teach comprehension through reading in the early grades; you teach comprehension through oral instruction. "

The comprehension issue is a particular concern to critics who note the widespread use of scripted programs in low-income, minority communities, where administrators have felt the most pressure to raise reading scores. Many now ask: Will low-income kids suffer in the upper grades without access to the same rich, multifaceted reading instruction their peers currently get in more successful schools? Some educators say there's a reason to be concerned. Studies of scripted programs over the last five years have found that reading scores are declining in the higher grades and that poor and minority students in some districts are as far behind as they ever were.

The Bottom Line

When it comes to teaching Johnny to read, there's a growing consensus among educators that no single magic bullet will lead to reading success or failure. Many teachers believe the best reading instruction allows teachers the flexibility to address the full spectrum of reading skills and diverse student needs.

NCLB has created a need for reproducible reading instruction that guarantees quick results, says NEA reading specialist Barbara Kapinus. "But in all of our emphasis on raising test scores," she cautions, "we can't lose sight of the fact that one score on one reading test does not equal being able, or willing, to read."

Reaching Teens:

Back to the Future

by Thomas Grillo

How teachers are using old favorites to hook the newest generation of reluctant adolescent readers.

Illustraton: DigitalVision

Terri Kirk, a high school librarian in Paducah, Kentucky, was looking for a way to inspire adolescent males to read more, so on a whim she asked a student to recommend a few comics and graphic novels. Now, she says, "I can't keep these books in the library. I can hardly check them in before they're checked out. The kids just devour them."

For Kirk—and surprisingly, many of her colleagues across the country—pointing students to the likes of X-Men and Elektra has been one creative, and apparently successful, inroad into a problem many say demands out-of-the-box thinking.

Face it: Some students spend several years in school and still have trouble reading. A recent RAND Corporation survey shows that in most states, a third or more of the middle school students don't read "proficiently," according to the state's own definition of that term.

Of course, middle and high school educators don't need a study to tell them they have poor readers. But what's a teacher to do? Many feel ill-equipped to help older non-readers, as it's in the primary grades where the perennial fights over best strategies percolate—and where educators find most reading research focused. But increasingly, middle school and high school educators are crafting new approaches using everything from comic books to poetry slams to reach and help that student who can't or won't find fun and facts in a book.

Grant it, teachers aren't replacing Shakespeare with Spiderman. But in an age where students are raised on images in movies, TV, video, and computer games, educators find comics connecting with students in a way traditional literature can't. 

Maryland education officials recently announced plans to start using comics statewide next school year, from kindergarten into high school. "You see kids reading comic books, buying comic books, and they seem totally engrossed," Maryland state schools Superintendent Nancy Grasmick told The Washington Post. "It looks like there's really some potential here."

Comics aren't limited to superheroes. Art Spiegelman's Holocaust memoir Maus, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992, tells in chilling detail how his parents survived the Holocaust. There's a Maus study guide online.

Photo by Nathan Ham

Kirk's students especially like a Japanese comic form called "anime" (short for animation) that's become wildly popular over the last few years. Anime, known for its highly stylized and intricate artwork, spans a wide range of topics. "The students reading anime are not poor readers," says Kirk. "Anime comics are not easy to read because you have to read them back to front."

Steve Replogle, himself a lifelong comic book fan, introduced Bone comics to his Denver fourth graders nearly five years ago. The Bone series, by Jeff Smith, tells the story of three cousins who find their way into a hidden, pre-technological valley filled with wonderful and terrifying creatures.  

"I use comics specifically to reach kids who don't like books," he says. "I needed something cool and different that's not as intimidating as a page of text." The response from his students? "They love it. Some kids dive into it with a real joy. Even the kids who love books like comics, too."

The New York City Comic Book Museum offers a comics curriculum for classroom use at no cost. Challenging Objective Minds: An Instructional Comicbook Series, is being used by dozens of school districts nationwide for elementary, middle, and high school students. For more information, go to www.nyccbm.org.

Robin Brenner, a librarian at the Carey Memorial Library in Lexington, Massachusetts, operates a graphic novel Web site with age-appropriate  recommended novels. "Many people still equate comics with trash. But the fastest growing segment of libraries are graphic novel collections because they are visual and engaging and reach reluctant readers," Brenner says.

Tempting Teen Readers Hot Tips from School Librarians When it comes to enticing teens to read, middle and high school librarians are borrowing a page from the mega-bookstores that are the favorite new place to "chill" for readers and non-readers alike. Members of the American Association of School Librarians and the NEA Library Caucus share trade secrets. Cool Picks. "Students will listen to their peers," says Terri Kirk at Reidland High School in Paducah, Kentucky. Stack an entire bookshelf with student picks (just like the staff picks at Borders and Barnes and Noble). Or attach cards with student book reviews to the bookshelf under targeted books. Attaching Amazon.com reviews also works. Location, Location, Location. Remember the three most important things in real estate? "Make sure you use prime space in the library to display good books," says Jackie Gould of Regional High School in Mullica Hill, New Jersey. Gould worked with the school's marketing teacher and students on a project to "sell" library books. Their ideas: Keep new books at the circulation desk, where students can see them as they're checking books out. Set up separate shelves for mystery, science-fiction, and fantasy, the topics most popular with teens. Gould also makes the most of artifacts: Last September she added poetry and art by students to a display case of books on the events of September 11. The Play's the Thing. Chris Gustafson, at Whitman Middle School in Seattle, Washington, uses reader's theater plays to introduce books during her fall library orientation for incoming students. Students read from scripts Gustafson has written, based on passages from books. "The students love it," says Gustafson. "It's a fun way to introduce them to the books they'll read during the year. Gustafson has written three books on reader's theater for teachers and librarians. Here's more... Coffee Can of Probability. Another Gustafson brainstorm. She selects 50 titles that have won some sort of prize or recognition the previous year to be the focus of a year-long reading promotion. The books, which include a variety of genres and reading levels, are housed in a separate bookcase with a special spine label to identify them. When a student reads one of the books, his or her name goes in a coffee can. Two names are drawn from the can each week and the winners receive a gift certificate donated by a local bookstore or fast food restaurant. Winners' names are posted on the circulation desk and published in the school bulletin. Pump Up the Volume. Audio books can be a real help to struggling readers, who benefit from hearing, as well as seeing, the written word. Students can listen to books as they drive their cars back and forth to school and work. An added benefit: listening and comprehending is a core curriculum content standard in many states. Give It a Face-Lift. Order new editions of old favorites. No one wants to read grubby copies with dated book jackets and pages falling out of the seams. Don't underestimate the power of a beautiful new book jacket with up-to-date artwork, say librarians.

Conventional print can also hook a student who's steered clear of reading for years. It may just be a matter of finding something that's irresistible.

If your students can't relate to books written by John Steinbeck or Jack London, check out Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, published by the Young Adult Library Services Association.

The notable books that made this year's list include: Sharon Flake's Begging for Change about a teen's ambivalent feelings for her drug-addicted father; and Nightmare, by Joan Lowery Nixon, about a 16-year-old who's sent to a camp for underachievers where she discovers a murderer.

More than 4,000 teachers have registered at Adopt-An-Author, a Web site that links authors and classrooms. It was founded by novelist Steve Alten, who learned from teachers that his first thriller, MEG: A Novel of Deep Terror, best described as Jaws meets Jurassic Park—connects with students in a way that classics could not.

Then there's poetry, which Lynne McGrath, a seventh-grade teacher at the Hanscom, Massachusetts, Air Force Base uses successfully to reach unwilling readers. "Poetry engages students who don't enjoy reading because poems are not as intimidating as text,'' she says.

McGrath introduces poetry from Shel Silverstein to Emily Dickinson. Students write down lines they enjoy and what poems they like and dislike, and then talk about the work.

The finale is a poetry slam where students present original poems while dressed in black "beatnik'' style. One 13-year-old student wrote a poem to express his crush on a girl in the classroom, recalls McGrath. "It was modeled after Lord Byron's and began "She walks in beauty, like the night…''

Okay, those ideas might work in English class. But what if you teach science or social studies? Well-designed visuals and experiential learning can help, but almost all teachers depend on the printed word to get much of the curriculum across. So what can you do about students who can read a passage, but just can't seem to get the idea?

Pamela Tobiczyk, along with more than 300 other teachers in Arkansas, Virginia, and Michigan, may have found an answer with a new training program geared to adolescents.

The Michigan Content Literacy: Assessments, Standards and Strategies (MiCLASS), is a 24-hour training program for teachers in all content areas on strategies for helping weak readers get more out of what they read.

"These strategies are about getting students to organize information and think about it, not just memorize it," says NEA reading specialist Barbara Kapinus. "In the process of organizing and reorganizing, you think about it more deeply so you understand it better.''

Tobiczyk, a sixth-grade teacher in Clinton Township believes her students benefit from what she learned in MiCLASS. For years, she has taught Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt's classic novel about young Winnie Foster's choice of whether to drink from a fountain of youth. But today she's teaching it differently.

She used to have students answer questions about plot and setting. Now, Tobiczyk's classroom is alive with debate about whether it's a good idea to live forever and whether breaking the law is ever justified. (Winnie helps one character escape from jail.)

"We still examine story elements, but I encourage debate,'' she says. "During a heated discussion one student asked,'Why would anyone want to live forever if their family would be dead?' Another said, 'if you had forever, you could see the world.'"

Jon Obermeyer, a middle school special needs teacher in Roscommon, Michigan, and a MiCLASS proponent, says the program changed his approach. "I was always the person who gave the knowledge and I decided what they would learn. Now, the kids are taking responsibility for their learning," he says.

NEA's Read Across America:

Is There a Doctor in the House?

by Rachael Walker

More and more Americans are choosing not to read. Which is worse? Not reading because you can't or because you won't?

Photo by Read Across America

When was the last time you picked up a book and read for your own pleasure? Not a magazine. Not a Web page. An actual book with characters and a plot. Can't remember when? You could be one of the millions suffering from aliteracy.

That's aliteracy, not illiteracy. Aliteracy strikes those who can read but choose not to. According to the National Endowment for the Arts, more than half of America's adult population isn't reading literature, and this malady isn't limited to adults. Aliterate students may never become strong, fully engaged readers.

NEA's Read Across America and the March 2 birthday celebration of Dr. Seuss provide a day of reading excitement to focus attention on reading. But the good Doctor can't inoculate against all the ills of aliteracy, so NEA offers a year-round calendar of activities, programs, partnerships, and resources to help get kids of all ages wanting to read. Here are just a few of the partners and programs that have kids reading across America all year.

Prescription for Soon-to-be Readers

Photo by Sandy Schaeffer

What's the cure for children as young as two years of age who watch more than three hours of television daily? Doctors and nurses who participate in the Reach Out and Read (ROR) program think they've found it: regularly prescribe reading and make sure there are books in the home. The Reach Out and Read program trains medical providers to advise parents about the importance of reading aloud and to give books to children at pediatric check-ups from six months to five years of age. The more than 2,000 ROR programs throughout the country also depend on volunteers to demonstrate the joys of reading aloud to children by sharing books with families in pediatric waiting rooms.

Recent research shows that ROR is having direct effects on literacy development: children are more experienced with books and have the language skills they need for reading acquisition. Educators in the Virginia State Reading Association have recognized the benefits ROR brings into the classroom, have adopted several Virginia ROR sites, and are working hard to spread the word in their communities to all doctors. Says Elli Sparks, the coordinator for the Virginia Coalition of Reach Out and Read programs, "Educators know their communities so well. Without their outreach, we couldn't begin to reach the doctors whose patients can really use the ROR program. Their help in providing books, volunteers, and funding to local clinics and hospitals ensures a regular dose of reading for hundreds of low-income children."

Exercise for the Body, Mind, and Soul

Photo by Charlie Welch

Movies and popcorn go together, kind of like teachers and classrooms. But soccer and poetry? Sometimes it takes an unusual combination to get kids' attention. America SCORES thinks it has found the right mix, and so do the thousands of kids who benefit from the innovative after-school program that uses soccer games and poetry classes to help urban students score in the classroom and on the playground.

How does this combo work? America SCORES sets up a soccer league at a public school. Students who sign up for the league play soccer three days a week and get creative writing instruction the other two days from teachers who serve as writing and soccer coaches. The rules are simple. No poetry, no soccer. Fortunately, that's not a problem because poetry classes have become a huge hit with the children. "The kids love it because poetry has no parameters, there's no judgment," says Eden Mendel, national director of Public Relations, Marketing, and Education for America SCORES. "It's the opposite of testing. The kids are motivated and encouraged to express their ideas and emotions when teachers have the freedom to say yes."

America SCORES—started 10 years ago by a Washington, D.C., teacher—has grown from a local grassroots project to a nationwide program. Educators from around the country attend an intensive 10-day workshop at the University of Iowa where they learn new methods for using poetry as a gateway to literacy.

A Dose of Their Own Medicine

When their most important issue is what to wear to school tomorrow, picking up a book and reading for fun doesn't always occur to middle school kids. So it's up to teachers and parents to help these reluctant readers connect the worlds they don't know to the worlds they do know.

Since television and the Internet are often the main pull away from books, educators can use multimedia to help students recognize the relationships between their culture and other communities. PBS TeacherSource can direct educators to a wide variety of multimedia opportunities to engage students. For example, a search for middle school and American literature leads you to the series American Roots Music. Here they can find a video series, a teacher's guide, and a companion Web site to talk about the diverse musical styles of blues, gospel, traditional country, zydeco, tejano, and Native American pow-wow and relate them to the American storytelling tradition and literature.

Infectious Reading

Photo by Viet Youth board

"Readers are Leaders" is more than a catchy reading promotion slogan—it's true! The National Endowment for the Arts reports literary readers are more committed to their communities than those suffering from aliteracy. They are more supportive of cultural events, visit museums, and are more than two-and-a-half times as likely to do volunteer or charity work.

Since 2000, NEA has encouraged and celebrated literacy service by America's young people and honored them for doing reading-related activities that benefit others. In partnership with Youth Service America (YSA), thousands of dollars have been awarded to student-led literacy projects through the Youth Leaders for Literacy program.

"Being able to read makes everything else possible, including the ability to make meaningful, lifelong contributions to your community through service," said Steven A. Culbertson, YSA president and CEO. The Chandler High School Social Studies Council in Chandler, Arizona, knows that's true. They paired trained Council members with fourth graders at Galveston Elementary to help beef up students' reading skills, teach them about citizenship, and offer them opportunities to participate in community improvement activities. What they found was that stronger leaders and readers emerged from both age groups—fourth graders' interests and skills went up and high school mentors' interest in reading grew as they shared reading and built relationships with a younger reader.