Archive for October 05, 2008 - October 11, 2008

When PJ Haarsma wrote his first book, a science fiction novel for preteenagers, he didn’t think just about how to describe Orbis, the planetary system where the story takes place. He also thought about how it should look and feel in a video game. The online game that Haarsma designed not only extends the fictional world of the novel, it also allows readers to play in it. At the same time, Haarsma very calculatedly gave gamers who might not otherwise pick up a book a clear incentive to read: one way that players advance is by answering questions with information from the novel.

“You can’t just make a book anymore,” said Haarsma, a former advertising consultant. Pairing a video game with a novel for young readers, he added, “brings the book into their world, as opposed to going the other way around.” Increasingly, authors, teachers, librarians and publishers are embracing this fast-paced, image-laden world in the hope that the games will draw children to reading.

Spurred by arguments that video games also may teach a kind of digital literacy that is becoming as important as proficiency in print, libraries are hosting gaming tournaments, while schools are exploring how to incorporate video games in the classroom. Read more in The New York Times online.

Another well-intentioned report on the future of American schools reached my cubicle recently: 21st Century Skills, Education and Competitiveness: A Resource and Policy Guide. It is available at www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php. It is full of facts and colorful illustrations, with foresight and relevance worthy of the fine organizations that funded it—the National Education Association, the KnowledgeWorks Foundation, the Ford Motor Company Fund and the Tucson-based Partnership for 21st Century Skills, a leading education advocacy organization that also produced the report and sent it to me and many other people.

So why, after reading it, did I feel like tossing it into the waste basket? Maybe this is just my problem. Maybe everyone else who obsesses about schools loves these reports. There certainly are a lot of them. I seem to get at least one a month. There must be a big demand.

The problem I have is that these major pronouncements often seem to have been conceived and written by people who are miles away from real classrooms. Many of the producers and writers, I am sure, have been educators. They know what it is like to work with children for whom the notion of a 21st-century classroom is as inexplicable—and maybe as laughable—as the school janitor coming to work in a spacesuit. But so little of that hard-earned knowledge of the grungy unpredictability of teaching ever finds its way into their big national studies. Read more of this opinion piece by Jay Mathews, education columnist for The Washington Post.

Ellen Rose's sophomore language arts students weren't just reading an Arthur Miller essay. They were taking it apart, scribbling in the margins of the text questions about the essay, highlighting words they didn't understand, recording their observations and making notes about interesting phrases.

These notes are a way for them to mark their impressions—and confusion—about a text. It builds their comprehension, and helps Rose, a teacher at East Detroit High School in Eastpointe, determine where students may need additional help.

It's just one of the many strategies area teachers are using to boost the literacy skills of secondary students. Because even as math and science grab the big headlines about high school achievement, there is growing realization that just as much focus should be paid to the literacy skills of adolescents. Read the article in The Detroit Free Press online.

David Bramlett had planned on traveling overseas after college to work with the underprivileged, until he discovered the need in the United States.

"I began to realize there were issues really close to home that I was overlooking, education issues that were injustices really close to where I was living," he said. "I became intrigued about these issues, and Teach for America provided a great opportunity to get involved."

Bramlett, a Georgia native and Wheaton College graduate, said his students have challenges to overcome, such as not knowing the alphabet. "Seeing examples of these 5- and 6-year-olds take off in reading, no matter the situation, their being able to step forward and really achieve is a great joy," he said. Read more about the work of Teach for America in Maryland in The Washington Post online.

For the first time in recent years, primary school students started a new school year on October 6 in Togo without paying enrollment fees. The government has waived primary school fees as part of a more than US$80 million investment in the education system. While parents celebrated the savings, administrators taken aback by the surprise announcement worry how they will pay for school operations the fees had helped fund. Read the article at IRIN News online.

What can you learn when you listen to a life? Young people can become more aware of their own dreams and goals--and what's needed to achieve them--when they hear the real-life stories of older adults. The annual Listen to a Life Essay Contest offers an opportunity to build closer connections between young and old as they get to know each other in new, often unexpected ways.

To enter, a young person 8-18 years old interviews an older person over 50 years old (cannot be a parent; they can be a grandparent, older friend, mentor, neighbor, nursing home resident, etc.) about their hopes and goals through their life, how they achieved goals and overcame obstacles, or how dreams may have changed along the way. What life advice can the older person share? The young person then writes a 300-word essay based on the interview.

The Listen to a Life Contest, which runs to March 30, 2009, is part of the national Legacy Project with the nonprofit Generations United in Washington, DC. There is also a free online activity kit filled with life interview ideas and goal-setting activities with curriculum connections that include Different Dreams, Goal-Busters and Goal-Getters, Life List, and Club of Dreamers.

The grand prize winner will receive a Lenovo ThinkCentre computer with $800 of Orchard Software and an iPod Clsssic, plus $25,000 of Orchard Software for his or her school. Twenty runner-up prizes of $400 of Orchard Software and an iPod Shuffle also will be awarded. For further information, visit the contest website.

Laura Bush decried illiteracy among women Tuesday, October 7, 2008, saying that midway through a decade-long U.N. education push nations have failed to make a dent in the numbers unable to read and write.

"The percentage of women who lack literacy skills remains unchanged," the first lady said at U.N. headquarters discussing progress on an initiative called the United Nations Literacy Decade. "If women are educated, everything across the board improves for their families."

The former teacher and librarian appeared as part of an attempt to gauge progress since the U.N. General Assembly declared a 10-year global literacy initiative. Bush urged nations to focus on increasing literacy skills particularly for girls, women, children not in school and people in remote areas. Read more of this Associated Press article online.

Nominations for the third annual Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards (the Cybils) are open now through Wednesday, October 15. The goal of the Cybils team (some 100 bloggers) is to highlight books that are high in both literary quality and kid appeal.

This year, awards will be given in nine categories: (Easy Readers, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fiction Picture Books, Graphic Novels, Middle Grade Novels, Non-Fiction Middle Grade/Young Adult Books, Non-Fiction Picture Books, Poetry, Young Adult Novels). Anyone can nominate books in these categories (one nomination per person per category). Nominated titles must be published between January 1 and October 15 of this year, and the books must be in English (or bilingual, where one of the languages is English). The winners will be announced on February 14, 2009.

Among the past Cybils winners are Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman (Non-Fiction Middle Grade/Young Adult Books) and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (Young Adult Fiction).

Please visit the Cybils website for more details on nomination.

The popular television show Arthur has begun its 12th season on PBS. This year the series will focus on Arthur and his friends learning the importance of getting out, getting active, and getting involved in their community. All-new episodes will include topics concerning religion ("Is That Kosher?"), bike safety ("Room to Ride"), and local history ("On This Spot"), among others.

Based on the best-selling children's books by Marc Brown, Arthur is the highest rated weekday children's series on PBS among children 6-11. It has won numerous awards, including the George Foster Peabody Award and six Daytime Emmys.

Please visit the PBS KIDS GO! website for more details.

Teen Read Week is an initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association. Started in 1998, this year marks the 11th celebration of Teen Read Week. It will run from October 12-18, under the theme "Books With Bite @ your library."

Research shows that teens who read for pleasure have better test scores and are more likely to succeed in the workforce. More than 4,800 school and public libraries registered to participate in Teen Read Week last year.

For more information, see the Teen Read Week webpage.

While literacy rates have been rising globally, slow progress in South and West Asia and in Sub-Saharan Africa remains a concern. A lack of financial aid for literacy is a problem as well. These are among the conclusions of the mid-decade review report for the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012), being presented by UNESCO today at the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Global progress has been made in the last five years, notes the report. The number of adults who are not literate decreased from 871 million during the period 1985 to 1994 to 774 million from 2000 to 2006, pushing the global adult literacy rate up from 76% to 83.6%. The report underlines that some countries took decisive measures to increase policy commitment to literacy, including Venezuela and Senegal, which tripled its literacy budget.

While encouraging, these figures mask considerable regional disparities. More than 75% of the 774 million illiterate adults live in only 15 countries, including Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, and Nigeria. Unless progress is significantly accelerated, most countries in sub-Saharan African, South and West Asia, and the Arab States will miss UNESCO's target goal for adult literacy by 2015.

The report is available in six languages in PDF format here.

Every year, the Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs (CLASP) gives up to two awards to books that authentically portray Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latinos in the United States. By linking the Americas, the intent is to reach beyond geographic borders, as well as multicultural-international boundaries, focusing instead upon cultural heritages within the hemisphere.

The books may include fiction, poetry, folklore, or non-fiction, and are judged on the following criterai: distinctive literary quality; cultural contextualization; integration of text, illustration, and design; and potential for classroom use. Publishers are invited to nominate titles for the 2008 award, and may send review copies to the committee by January 15, 2009.

Last year's winners were Yum! Mmmm! Que Rico!, by Pat Mora, and Red Glass, by Laura Resau, who received one of this year's IRA Children's Book Awards.

Please see the award website for more details and submission information.

 The Literacy Coach's Compansion, PreK-3 by Maryann Mraz, Bob Algozzine, and Brian Kessel highlights the expanding role of literacy coaches in implementing early and elementary literacy programs. The authors present practitioner-friendly guidelines and evidence-based strategies for sustained professional development, protocols for classroom observations and teacher conferences, and vignettes offering solutions to common coaching challenges.

This new resource, copublished by IRA and Corwin Press, illustrates how coaching professionals can define an effective, proactive role in promoting literacy initiatives; strengthen content knowledge and coaching skills to support teachers’ efforts and students’ literacy development; collaborate with teachers and school leaders to establish productive learning communities; and communicate the coach’s changing role to administrators.

The Literacy Coach's Companion, PreK-3 (IRA stock no. 9199) is available at a cost of $22.95 for IRA members and $28.95 for nonmembers. To browse the book's contents, to read a sample chapter, or to order, visit the following page on the IRA website.

Amid concerns about the economy, healthcare, and national security, education has become a forgotten issue in the 2008 presidential election campaign, according to an article by Kathleen Kingsbury appearing on Time.com. The latest evidence is the decision of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation to stop funding the "Ed in '08" campaign, designed to make education a key election issue.

The campaign was originally authorized to spend up to $60 million to promote education as a key issue, but funding has been curtailed at $24 million. A program officer at the Gates Foundation said that the project has achieved its stated goals on the smaller budget. Others believe that the suspension of funding marks a realization that education will remain overshadowed by other issues this election year regardless of efforts to raise its profile.

For further information, read the full article on Time.com.