Today’s Literacy Headlines

The U.S. Department of Education has released a how-to guide for educators who use educational technology to work with English-language learners. The toolkit, titled “Using Educational Technology–21st Century Supports for English-Learners,” offers basic advice on what educators should know and ask when using and searching for tech tools to support students who are learning the language. The five-step guide, which was commissioned by the department’s office of English-language acquisition, or OELA, offers a list of resources and potential questions that classroom teachers, English-learner specialists, and district administrators should consider.

After more than four million votes cast, America’s “Best-Loved Novel” is…To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. PBS’ The Great American Read spent months discussing books with authors, celebrities, and everyday readers. A panel of book experts compiled the Top 100 list from results of a public poll, and viewers were asked to vote online for their favorite. The Top 5 novels were: To Kill a Mockingbird, “Outlander” (Series), Harry Potter (Series), Pride and Prejudice, and Lord of the Rings. Complete results from 1 to 100 show that, for the most part, voters leaned on the classics of the literary canon. Eight of the Top 10 were written by women.

The hometown of Helen Keller, our most famous resident, Tuscumbia also boasts a rich Native American heritage and was the first frontier railroad town west of the Alleghenies. The Trail of Tears passed through a young Tuscumbia, and the residents at the time, aghast by the horrors of the Indian Removal, were the only ones on record to petition the federal government to allow the Native Americans to stay and live among them rather than continue west onto reservations. The Alabama Music Hall of Fame, a tribute to the famous Muscle Shoals sound of the area, is in Tuscumbia. The Northwest Alabama Reading Council, the local affiliate of the Alabama Literacy Association and the International Literacy Association, capitalized on these rich community assets to organize a series of STEAM events for local teachers and students, presenting ideas for using and integrating these assets across the curriculum in local elementary classrooms.

A small intervention to increase early literacy had a big impact on families that received pediatric care at a clinic in San Francisco. That was the major finding of a study that examined the Talking is Teaching: Talk, Read, Sing program, which is an early literacy intervention led by Too Small to Fail, an initiative of the Clinton Foundation. Too Small to Fail partnered with doctors and nurse practitioners at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital’s Children’s Health Center, an outpatient pediatric clinic, to provide information and materials encouraging parents of children from birth to age 3 to talk, read, and sing to their children. The healthcare providers helped the parents to see how interacting with their children supported the child’s brain development.

Finding the right book for the right reader is a constant goal of librarianship, but the import of diverse books is bringing new meaning to that effort. “Along with giving students choice [in reading], diversity is the most important issue in the field of teen and children’s literature right now,” says Elaine Fultz, district library media specialist at Madison Jr/Sr High School in Middletown, OH, and among those who responded to SLJ’s survey. That research, fielded in April 2018, revealed that the majority of librarians, 81 percent, consider it “very important” to have a diverse book collection for kids and teens. Some libraries have adopted diverse content as part of the institutional mission. Fifteen percent of librarians find it “very difficult” or “difficult” to find suitable titles to round out a diverse collection. Portrayals that are the hardest for them to find? Characters with disabilities, Native or Indigenous peoples, and English language learners top the list.

With five years of test scores showing little benefit from North Carolina’s Read to Achieve program, researchers from N.C. State decided to dig deeper for hidden gains. They found nothing. That’s grim news for a state that has spent more than $150 million on a third-grade reading campaign, believing it could set young children on a path to academic success. In a study released last week, researchers from N.C. State’s College of Education found no benefit to holding students back if they couldn’t pass reading exams by the end of third grade, nor to giving them free summer reading camps. State leaders say the report — titled “Is Read to Achieve Making the Grade?” — signals a need to improve the program, not to scrap it. And they say they’re already working on that. For instance, state Superintendent Mark Johnson says summer reading camps have been expanded to first- and second-graders, testing has been reduced and schools are doing more to work with parents.

After writing and illustrating 12 Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, author Jeff Kinney wanted to keep his new endeavor fresh. Always looking for a new topic to explore, he decided to put hero Greg Heffley and sidekick Rowly Jefferson in a war-like challenge. Influenced by “Lord of the Flies,” Kinney has Heffley’s neighborhood shut down by a massive snowstorm, leading to an epic fight for survival with towering snow forts and chilling snowball fights. Kinney describes his 13th book, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the Meltdown,” as a disaster story where “anything can go wrong” and readers worry if Heffley can survive. “It’s like a kid-friendly ‘Game of Thrones,’” he said. The book will officially be released Oct. 30, but fans can read one chapter for free at www.wimpykid.com.

We asked two principals to document everything they did on one work day—Sept. 12, 2018. They recorded details of the expected—and unexpected—kinds of events that can make any day of a principal’s job a time-management and leadership challenge.

“There’s a lack of awareness of the number of black authors and illustrators who are creating literature for children,” said Kelly Starling Lyons, a Raleigh children’s book author and one of the organizers of Celebrating Our Voices. “We want to change that by showcasing the outstanding authors and illustrators in North Carolina.” Calling Our Voices will start as a symposium from 9 a.m. to noon, exploring why diversity matters and how to build home and school and library collections that reflect the legacy of black children’s literature, Lyons said. The panels are titled “What Makes a Good African-American Children’s Book,” and “What are the Challenges of Preserving the Literary Legacy.”