Exploratorium 2012: Umanskaya, Alla
Be a Lunatic for Reading: How One Website Ignited a Reading Frenzy at Walt Whitman Middle School
Table #6 Be a Lunatic for Reading: How One Website Ignited a Reading Frenzy at Walt Whitman Middle School
Audience: All
Presenter: Alla Umanskaya
Walt Whitman MS 246
72 Veronica Place
Brooklyn, NY 11226
Library Web site: http://www.ms246library.org
E-mail aumanskaya@schools.nyc.gov or librarian@ms246library.org
Description, Goals, Intended Outcomes:
Using Scholastic website “You Are What You Read” as a starting point, the school librarian can implement an inspirational reading initiative involving the entire school community. Although ideally the initiative is designed to evolve into a year-long literacy program, any part of it could be implemented separately during a short period of time with varied and specific learning focuses.
The goal of the creative use of “You Are What You Read” is to boost reading motivation and nurture reading exchange and communication.
Intended outcomes:
1. Students will learn how to navigate the website “You Are What You Read”.
2. Students will be motivated to read books that celebrities claim as their favorites.
3. Students will practice how to locate books in the library and create a book display.
4. Students will select books and produce written and video book talks.
5. Students will participate in library competitions based on the “You Are What You Read” website and projects.
6. Teachers will participate in a guessing game and test how well they know their students’ reading interests.
7. The program will have 2nd, 3rd and more rounds as more and more kids create video book hooks.
8. Students will improve listening and presentation skills as they walk through all stages of the program.
9. Students will practice communication skills while interviewing teachers and other students.
10. Students will develop the habit of reading blurbs from unknown books to form their future reading decisions.
11. The program creates an environment for sharing and constructive communication among students and between students and teachers.
Process to Develop and Implement This Project:
1. Getting familiar with website.
Introduce and promote Scholastic website “You Are What You Read” to as many students as possible during Library Open Access periods. Make it interactive -- ask, for example, the name of a celebrity who picked Esperanza Rising as her favorite book. Encourage students to find their “heroes” on the website.
2. Figurative Language
Start a discussion on how students understand the meaning of “You Are What You Read” and whether students agree with this statement. I thought it was going to be so easy but it was not. One seventh grader, for instance, said that the statement was not true as she likes to read books on animals but she is not an animal . . . so we spent time trying to understand the figurative meaning of the concept.
3. Don’t work alone
Have a small group of students help you create book and photo displays, prepare and conduct a “Mish Mash Match Game” (see below) and serve as judges. In my case, I worked with the Library Crew, but you can invite your active readers or monitors.
4. “Mish Mash Match Game”
Ask your helpers to print and separate celebrities’ names, photos, and their Bookprints. Let them create a flyer and matching samples. During Open Access, attendees matched on provided paper celebrities’ photos, names, and book lists guessing or using “You Are What You Read’ website. There is one very important principle that librarians need to explain to all participants: each person should be represented by one book. On the Scholastic website, celebrities were asked to come up with 5 book titles they liked when they were young people. Discuss it with your participants and assign one book per person based on book availability in your library.
5. Photo Gallery and a Book Display
Have your helpers explore website “You Are What You Read” more deeply and identify what books named by celebrities could be found in the library. Ask students to locate and organize a display of these books, type the list of celebrities’ names and create a photo gallery of celebrities whose books were found and shown.
6. Matching Celebrities and Their Book Picks
Create buzz around the school by posting flyers and inviting teachers to join in the guessing game.
7. Your Students Are Future Celebrities
Ask your avid readers to choose their favorite book from the library collection and write a book talk on it without releasing the title of the book. Take pictures of these students, print them, and make the second display of your book lovers and their reading choices. Now the school is invited to play two games: matching celebrities with their book preferences and matching our students with their books.
8. Student Celebrities Require Different Strategies to Reveal Their Reading Choices
In a celebrity’s case, students can check their guesses online. How can they guess what our students picked? Students who were represented by the book did a video book talk without disclosing the title and the author. Students videotaped each other, and videos were playing on a loop during Open Access. Listening skills were boosted as each student tried to get a clue and win.
The other option to guess was to interview a student if (s)he were present in the library. Students could practice communication skills. Ideally the librarian scaffolds an interview as a guided practice and then encourages students to follow the model independently.
9. How Well Do Teachers Know Their Students?
Teachers were invited to join and participate in both games. You will enjoy watching how teachers tried to uncover their students' book picks. If they allow, videotape this process.
10. Second, Third and Fourth Rounds
You will see that more and more students want to be on display along with their favorite books. Here you can increase requirements: students need to read at least three books in order to choose the best one and be on display. Since you have already ignited a reading frenzy in your school, keep going with the second, third and more rounds of the game.
11. Challenge Teachers for a Teacher Appreciation Week.
We usually create a display of our teachers’ favorite books during a Teacher Appreciation Week. Now it seems boring. I offered students to interview teachers and staff about their favorite book and ask teachers to do a book talk or a video book talk. Teachers followed the same rules to create a video book talk:
One person is represented by one book.
The selected book should be in the library collection.
The title and author of the selected book should be kept secret.
While I am working on my presentation, this part of our program is in development. Students are excited to videotape and photograph their teachers, guess their book choices and prepare a display for a new matching game. All teachers visited the library to choose a book. They had a chance to browse our collection as it was necessary to choose a book from the library.
12. World Reads: More Role Models for Scholastic Website “You Are What You Read”
Since students did not find some celebrities on website “You Are What You Read”, we contacted Scholastic and were offered to create a list of prominent people who will be interviewed on behalf of our students. Right now we are compiling this list. You are welcome to do the same with your students.
Budget: None
Timeline: You Are What You Read could be one a month activity or a year-long program. I started planning and promotion in December 2011, and the program is still evolving – attracting more and more participants. Now students match teachers and their book choices based on video book talks or written clues.
Evidence of Outcomes, Possible Adaptations, Lessons Learned:
Increased reading activity is the best outcome I could dream of. Most books have been “swept” from the displays. It is significant for my school as most of these books did not get attention prior this program. In addition, dozens of book talks have been written and videotaped.
We learned much from this project:
- The increased reading activity proves that role models are factors in reading motivation.
- Librarians always need to find creative ways to bring teachers to the library and entice them to be effective collaborators.
- It is unnecessary to use multiple educational tools to achieve your teaching goal. You can achieve your goal by using a single professional tool thoughtfully and creatively.
Common Core State Standard(s) addressed:
Key Ideas and Details:
· Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting
details and ideas.
· Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
Compare and contrast a text to an audio, video, or multimedia version of the text, analyzing each medium’s
portrayal of the subject (e.g., how the delivery of a speech affects the impact of the words).
Information Fluency Continuum (IFC) Skill(s) addressed:
Students create and share reading experiences and responds in a variety of ways and formats.
Students read independently.
Students respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline.
Students use technology and digital media strategically and capably.
Students develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
Students use technology, including the Internet, to produce writing and to interact and collaborate with others.
Students follow rules for collegial discussions, set specific goals and deadlines, and define individual roles as needed.
Skill(s) taught:
- Independence in decision-making (selecting materials, book talk formats);
- Communication skills (explaining the project; interviewing each other and teachers);
- Presentation skills (book talks);
- Writing skills (writing and editing book talks)
- Technology skills (video cameras, video and audio software, website navigation)
Resources Used: