The statistics are troubling. Only about 16 percent of students in Harlem pass the New York State English Language Arts exam. And just 31 percent of children across New York City pass it. But one group is changing that.
The Reading Team, a Harlem-based literacy organization, is working to make children who are at high risk of reading failure active and excited learners. And it’s finding success: In 2015, 80 percent of Reading Team children passed the New York State English Language Arts exam.
How are they doing it? By making literacy relevant to every activity. Watch the video above to see how the organization uses computer coding, chess, and more to support the children’s success in school and in life.
Tag: reading
With Books in Hand, These Students Are Going on a Ride
There’s a movement traveling through school classrooms across the country. Literally.
Stationary education is becoming a thing of the past as schools are discovering the benefits of blending exercise and learning. Through the Read and Ride Program, health- and grade-boosting exercise bikes are becoming fixtures in schools — and they’re proving their worth.
It all began five years ago at Ward Elementary School in Winston-Salem, N.C. Instead of desks, Ward has an entire classroom filled with exercise bikes. Periodically throughout the day, teachers will bring their students to the room to ride and read.
Not only does the program encourage and promote reading at a young age, the exercise factor improves students’ brain functioning, too. In 2010, Ward Elementary students who were in the program achieved an average 83 percent reading comprehension, while those who weren’t averaged just 41 percent, reports Fast Company.
Due to these standout results, solo exercise bikes are being added to classrooms to use as a “reward” for students or to just allow them to release some excess energy.
“Riding exercise bikes makes reading fun for many kids who get frustrated when they read,” program founder Scott Ertl tells Fast Company. “They have a way to release that frustration they feel while they ride.”
Looking beyond the educational benefits, the bikes also provide great exercise for kids who are confined in a classroom for six hours a day.
“Many students who are overweight struggle with sports and activities since they don’t want to always be last or lose,” Ertl explains to Fast Company. “On exercise bikes, students are able to pace themselves and exert themselves at their own level — without anyone noticing when they slow down or take a break.”
Since 2009, the Read and Ride program has gone national with chapters in 30 other schools. Russell Jones Elementary in Rogers, Ark., is one of those schools. In 2011, students who were a part of the program had an average growth rate of 113 points, whereas those who weren’t scored an average of 79 points.
They say that reading can take you anywhere, so the only question is: Where do you want to go?
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For Kids That Struggle with Reading, Digital Literacy Programs Show Promise
Can an electronic device actually improve literacy skills?
Schools with high percentages of low-income students are seeing promising gains in reading ability and enthusiasm since they’ve introduced tablet reading programs in about 30 schools in Brevard County, Fla.
Mackenzie Ryan of Florida Today writes about Christopher Jamian-Fleck, a student at Emma Jewel Charter Academy, who earned his own tablet computer last year and became an ebookworm with the help of a reading program called MyON.
While home sick, Jamian-Fleck began exploring the program’s library of 20,000 books and learned to read with the help of a program that highlights each word as it is read. (Other features that can assist kids with dyslexia or those that simply need extra help include the ability to increase font size or listen to the book read aloud.) The eight-year-old zoomed ahead from struggling with literacy to reading above grade level.
His grandmother Marcy Fleck says, “He wasn’t a reader before this, and now he’s enjoying it so much. He finds out things he never knew he was interested in. And he can go at his own pace.”
In fact, Christopher wouldn’t be able to check out books from his school without the tablet program because it doesn’t have a library. The charter school couldn’t afford to build one, so it used funding from the United Way to pay for MyON and Kindle e-readers for kids. Many of the families in the school don’t have Internet access or computers, so the e-readers make it possible for them to read e-books.
The program appears to be working even at schools with well-stocked libraries; Ryan writes that one principal noticed check outs of old-fashioned books at the school library increased once the digital program sparked the kids’ interest in reading.
Teresa Wright, who directs Brevard’s Early Childhood and Title I programs is working to secure funding to allow more low-income schools to get the program and the tablets it requires. “We’re hoping that students will have access before the holidays,” she says. “Reading is like a sport, the more you practice the better you get.”
MORE: Can Texting Help Improve Childhood Literacy?
This Little Girl Loves Books. Like Really, Really Loves Books
Once in a blue moon, an extraordinary person comes along to remind us of the importance of books. Today, this honor belongs to a third-grader from Cleveland, who passionately shared her love of literature to local station WKYC Channel 3.
Eight-year-old Madison Reid was promoting the city’s newest Little Free Library, which is a box full of books where anyone can check out a book in exchange for another. With a flair for the dramatic (and a cheeky wink to someone off camera), Madison declares, “The world needs books! What would the world be like without books? They fuel our mind like cars and gas! The cars can’t go without gas, our brains can’t go without books. The world needs books. We need books.”
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To Madison, a world without books is like a bucket without water, a brain without knowledge, or a file cabinet without papers. She adds, “It would break my heart if one book was lost, just a page, just a word, just a letter, was gone. I would be heartbroken! What would the world do without books?!”
FieryAntidote, a commenter on Jezebel, points out that Madison is not only pretty, cute, and smart, she’s clearly getting a whole lot of intellectual stimulation at home. “Let’s hear it for parents who read with their kids and give them access to a library.”
WATCH: Watch Neil deGrasse Tyson Give a First Grader Terrific Advice About Saving the Earth
Another commenter adds, “Madison is one of my former students! This makes my heart so happy to see this. I see lots of comments about how her parents must be doing the right thing; her Mom is a single parent, so it’s a feminist AND urban education win!” According to WKYC, Madison’s mom, Tracy, is a steward for one of the area’s five Little Free Libraries.
To no one’s surprise, Madison’s passionate speech has gone viral and gave some welcomed publicity to the Little Free Library movement (there are reportedly 10,000 Little Free Libraries all over the world). Co-founder Todd Bol laughs to WKYC, “She’s a way better spokesperson than I am.”
Clearly, the world needs more book lovers like Madison.
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B.J. Novak Wrote a Children’s Book That Has No Pictures
Young children are often drawn into the world of reading through picture books. Which is why it seems weird to hand a kindergartener a book with only words and no images.
But an innovative new children’s book by “The Office” actor, co-producer and screenwriter B.J. Novak called “The Book with No Pictures” encourages you to do just that.
As Novak writes early on in the book, “You might think a book with no pictures seems boring and serious,” but here’s what’s so genius about it: “Everything written on the page has to be said by the person reading it aloud. Even if the words say…BLORK. Or BLUURF.”
So sure, Novak’s book might be all text (albeit colorful and whimsical text) but it demands the reader to say some pretty silly, kid-friendly stuff. For example, when a reader says a phrase like “I am a monkey who taught myself to read,” you can already imagine a child reacting in hysterics.
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This book does two things: First, it removes the intimidation of picture-free big kid books, proving to children that words alone can be wonderful and awe-inspiring. As Novak tells Vanity Fair, “There’s a really exciting way to show kids that the written word can be their ally and that it’s possible to do something extremely powerful — which is overpower an adult and your experience with them, using only words — words that can be on your side.”
Secondly, because the book is designed to be read aloud, it puts the act of reading and listening to the forefront. It ultimately helps strengthen that oh-so important link between a reader and a listener. Not only that, studies show that the benefits of reading to young children are plenty: Doing so helps develop vocabulary, creates a bond between caregiver and child, improves a child’s ability to learn to read, enhances concentration and helps fosters a lifetime of love of books and reading.
“Reading, to me, at its most fundamental level, is freedom,” Novak says in an interview with The Atlantic. “Everyone who grows up loving books truly is much better off in life. The more curious you are about books, the more you self-educate. Kids start to get that in their teenage years — books can either be homework, or they can be fuel for rebellion. If it’s the latter, you love reading. This book is one way to show even the littlest kids, ‘This stuff is for you, buddy.'”
Click here to listen an audio snippet of “The Book with No Pictures,” or watch the video below of Novak reading his book to a room full of delighted children.
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How A Bike and Some Books Are Helping the Homeless
Back in 2011, Portland, Oregon’s Laura Moulton won a grant to fund a book bicycle that would serve as a mobile lending library to the city’s homeless population. From it, Street Books, a tricycle carting a chest full of books to lend, was born.
Unfortunately, the grant money only lasted for three months, but Moulton knew she couldn’t quit.
“At the end of that first summer I arrived late for one of the last shifts and Keith, a regular patron, was waiting for me with his book,” she tells Rebecca Koffman of The Oregonian. “I realized this wasn’t a service that could be suspended because an art project had come to an end.”
So Moulton founded a nonprofit to keep Street Books pedaling — purchasing books and funding three librarians who cover three-hour shifts, three days a week at locations accessible to many homeless people.
Street Books doesn’t fuss if a book isn’t returned (though most are). “We decided to operate the library on the assumption that people living outside have more pressing concerns than returning a library book, and that every time a return came in, it would be cause for celebration,” Moulton writes on the nonprofit’s website.
Moulton says that the book bike attracts all kinds of people, and that it’s often the catalyst for someone to start a conversation with a homeless person instead of avoiding eye contact. When people approach to find out about what Street Books is, “one of our patrons will be there,” she says, “ready to set down his or her backpack and talk about books. It’s an opportunity for people to step out of their prescribed roles.”
Diana Rempe, one of the librarians, tells Koffman, “There are so many really obvious assumed differences, assumptions that because you don’t have a roof over your head and some basic needs are not met, doesn’t mean that you aren’t interested in ideas, the life of the mind, the joy of reading. That’s right up there with nourishment of other sorts.”
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One of Street Books’ regular customers is Ben Hodgson, a formerly homeless veteran who now lives in Section 8 housing. While he was on the streets, the literature Street Books provided brought him comfort, and now he works on Fridays as the inventory specialist, helping the librarians sort books. “Street Books didn’t get me the heck off the streets; no-one can do that for you,” Hodgson says. “But it was, what do they call them? Street Books was one of those tender mercies.”
MORE: The Bicycle Is Not Just For Exercise Anymore
Why Every American Should Read Harry Potter
Can reading a fantasy story about a British kid with glasses who befriends half-giants, house elves, goblins and mudbloods (aka wizards whose parents have no powers themselves) lead to greater kindness toward minority groups facing discrimination?
Turns out, it can.
New research suggests that reading J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” books correlates with less prejudice among young people toward minority groups, including immigrants and homosexuals, and a greater ability to understand their perspectives.
The research comprised three separate studies. In the first, a team led by Loris Vezzali of the University of Modena gathered 34 Italian fifth graders and assessed them on their attitudes toward immigrants through a questionnaire. For six weeks, they met in groups of five or six with a researcher to discuss passages from “Harry Potter.”
Some groups read passages pertaining to prejudice, while others read sections about a different topic. After that, researchers interviewed the kids about the extent of their Pottermania (to determine how many of the books they’d read and movies they’d seen) and asked whether or not they identified with Harry and wanted to be like him. Kids who identified with Harry and read passages pertaining to prejudice showed “improved attitudes toward immigrants,” the researchers write.
Another study found that high school students who identified with Harry (as opposed to the villian Voldemort) were less likely to show prejudice against gay people. And a third study focusing on college students in England discovered that those who did not relate to Voldemort were more likely to have accepting attitudes toward immigrants.
So in the melting pot that is America, it’s easy to use these findings to make our country a little bit better. After all, these studies demonstrate that we don’t need magic to reduce prejudice and racism and increase empathy. Instead, all that’s required is a library card (and a magical wizard to read about).
MORE: Can Reading A Book Make You A Better Person?
The Innovative Service Bringing the Digital Revolution to Libraries
Adapting to the digital age is a persistent challenge for many institutions — and libraries, which have historically housed countless paper books, are certainly no exception.
Streaming movies, listening to music, or reading e-books on digital devices has been popular for some time now. But a new service called Hoopla is bringing a digital revolution to libraries in hopes of changing how they deliver digital content across the country.
Here’s how it works: Hoopla allows users in existing library networks to use their library cards to rent audio books through either Hoopla’s website or mobile app in a format similar to Netflix; many of the titles up for grabs were previously only available on discs that needed to be physically checked out from a library.
Not only does this method make content more easily available — since an unlimited number of library members can check out any given item at once — but it can also reduce the cost of purchasing hard copies of audio books and videos, according to the Library Journal.
Hoopla doesn’t work exactly like Netflix — library networks pay per circulation, causing many to cap the amount of items a user can rent from Hoopla in a given period of time. But despite these restrictions, which are usually reasonable (Boylston Public Library in Massachusetts limits their users to 10 items per month), Hoopla significantly expands content access to communities across the country.
Hoopla, which is still in beta mode until July 1, has been incredibly successful so far. Kevin Glandon, a Library Assistant at Long Lake Public Library in Long Lake, New York told NationSwell that many patrons travel up to an hour to access the services there. By allowing libraries to reduce inventory cost for audio books and videos, as well as eliminating the need to physically check out and return items, those who live a long distance from a library or have no means of getting to one could now have the ability to access the resources they deserve.
Does this sound like something you’d want in your community? Here’s how to bring Hoopla to your area.
The Bicycle Is Not Just for Exercising Anymore
The summer slide isn’t a piece of playground equipment or even a toy at the local town pool.
While it sounds like something fun, it’s anything but that. Rather, the summer slide is something that parents need to fight against during these warm months.
The summer slide is the well-documented decrease in reading ability that occurs when kids don’t engage in learning over the summer. When children take a break from reading, their abilities recede and as that loss compounds over the years, some kids are left years behind their actual grade level.
To combat the summer slide, one community is looking to a bright yellow bicycle for answers. The city of Longmont, Colorado is launching a book-bicycle-centered outreach effort to try to reach kids whose parents don’t bring them to the library. Friends of the Longmont Library funded the $6,000 BookCycle that features a bubble machine and handle-mounted pinwheels, as well as a cargo hold for dozens of books and a Wi-Fi station that anyone can use.
Library employees will pedal the BookCycle to public events this summer, where they will host story times; they’ll also have the ability to make library cards on the spot. “We’re hoping the mobility will allow us to reach underserved areas and bring the books straight to them,” Elektra Greer, head of Longmont Library’s children and teens department, told Whitney Bryen of the Longmont Times-Call.
People in this Rocky Mountain community can expect to find the BookCycle at the farmer’s market, free public concerts, the First Friday Art Walk on Main Street, and many other events.
Now the librarians just need to learn to steer it — which can be difficult when the BookCycle is loaded up with books. So in preparation for pedaling season, the staff is taking lessons from Longmont Bicycles.
With any luck, they will return to the library from each of their outings with an empty BookCycle, leaving behind many kids with their noses buried in books.
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Take a Look! Levar Burton Tearfully Thanks Supporters After Donations Revive Reading Rainbow
You might have heard that Levar Burton, the delightfully charming host of Reading Rainbow (or Geordi La Forge for you Trekkies out there), reached his fundraising goal to revive the classic PBS show, after a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign.
Burton, in the video below, watches as the online donations rapidly tick past the $1 million goal. With tears in his eyes, he says, “I am so proud that this community has come together to support this effort, and it’s a people’s thing. It’s the $5, it’s the $10, it’s the $25, it’s the $1 pledges and it’s unbelievable. Or actually, it’s very believable.”
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“We are literally changing the world, one children’s book at a time,” he concluded.
Incredibly, the Kickstarter is now well past $3 million and there’s still an entire month of fundraising left to go.
After the beloved show was pulled off the air in 2009, the Roots actor bought the rights to the franchise, re-launching it as a tablet app in 2012. But, of course, not everyone has an iPad, leaving Reading Rainbow unavailable to many.
With the donations, he is trying to bring Reading Rainbow and its extensive library of books and interactive games to the Internet so needy classrooms around the country can have access to it online for free.
As Burton says in his Kickstarter, one out of every four children in America will grow up illiterate and we cannot afford to lose generations of children to illiteracy.
Burton told People that he wants his product to reach as many schools as possible. “The more money we raise, the more of an effect we can have on the way we are educating our children in this nation, in the classroom – where it really makes a difference.”
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