Urban Students

The article “Raising urban students’ literacy achievement by engaging in authentic, challenging work” by Teale and Gambrell focuses on the implementation and results of a reading program called In2books. The program was designed to address the “performance gap” and to increase reading and writing achievement for students in low-income and culturally diverse schools. The goals of the program are to motivate students in second through fifth grade to read, write, and think about texts at a higher level through authentic experiences in reading and writing including reading texts that are highly engaging, pen pal letters, and class discussions.

There are several key components that contributed to the success of In2books. One of the biggest contributing factors to the success of the program was the selection of high quality, age appropriate, and engaging texts. When selecting books, the designers were sure to select texts that posses quality features of literature, were culturally diverse, ranged in difficulty levels, showed children solving problems and were overall uplifting. Teachers and students were engaged in repeated reading followed by various skill-based activities that promoted comprehension, writing, and higher-level thinking. Repeated readings also promoted increased fluency. Writing letters to an adult pen pal provided students with a real life audience and gave them an authentic, real world reason to be writing. Students knowing they would receive a letter encouraged and motivated them to write and incorporate new ideas gained from class discussions and activities. It is important to note that it takes persistence, authentic and engaging tasks to develop growth in the reading and writing, and that it is not solely a result of the program selected.

My biggest take away from this article is the importance of providing students with authentic experiences in reading and writing. Teale and Gambrell discussed the significance of selecting books that were engaging and culturally diverse. This is just one of the ideas I plan to implement into my classroom. My students will be able to context with the text on a new level and therefor engage in deeper learning. I would love to have my students participate in a pen pal activity to discuss literature but this could be difficult with kindergarteners, especially this early in the year. However I think I could set up a book buddy system with an older grade at my school to read quality and engaging literature, have partner, group, and whole class discussions about the book. Having the older students assist my kindergartners with writing as a way to reflect and comprehend the text after it has been read and discussed could be an authentic and engaging follow up activity.