Will this spark kids interest in writing?

LIGHTING THE FIRE
"In Education, Motivation is EVERYTHING!" copyright 2020 Mark Gura

The work of Jason Reynolds, is the sort of instructional opportunity that makes my heart race.  Jason is an author who has written a number of young adult novels that resonate deeply for kids from upper elementary grades to high school.

Jason is a natural performer, a story teller and seems to sense that for those who would learn to write, it’s important to start with telling stories rather than beginning with the types of formal instructional often practiced in our classrooms - reading stories. In this way his approach is different from many teachers.

But beyond authoring a raft of highly engaging books that kids tend to love, he has also taken on the mssion of getting kids to write as well as to read.   

Jason was named by The Library of Congress’ “Ambassador for Literacy “ Think about that, an Ambassador for Literacy…

LINK: https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=jason-reynolds-named-national-ambassador-for-young-peoples-literature-library-of-congress

The dictionary tells us that an Ambassador is “a person who acts as a representative or promoter of a specified activity.”

And yes, sadly, we need an ambassador for Literacy.

The Last published Nation’s Report Card (NAEP – National Assessment of Education Progress) informed that:
Only About one-quarter of students perform at or above the Proficient level in writing in 2011.

• Eighty percent of eighth-graders and 79 percent of twelfth-graders performed at or above the Basic level in writing in 2011.
• Twenty-seven percent of students at both grades 8 and 12 performed at or above the Proficient level in writing.
• Three percent of eighth- and twelfth-graders in 2011 performed at the Advanced level.

So, to restate, yet again what educators already know, America’s young students (and I’m sure their peers in other countries, too) don’t write well. Further, this isn’t due to lack of effort on the part of their teachers who expend a good deal of time and effort in getting them to write and write well.

LINK: https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/writing_2011/summary.aspx

What jumps out at me about this, and I was a publics chool classroom teacher for 2 decades before moving on to supervising instruction, the creation of curriculum,  and professional development is that kids love communicate, that’s what writing’s all about and yet, the way writing is presented to them somehow simply doesn’t resonate strongly enough for them to engage them in ways that get them to learn the skill set and internalize it.

Let’s take a quick look at Jason Reynolds’ career and work as Ambassador of Literacy…

By the way, in the theater some performers are spoken of as ‘Triple Threats’ those who can act, sing, and dance… In the world of Literacy Education, Jason is a triple threat, as well

Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in neighboring Oxon Hill, Maryland, Reynolds found inspiration in rap and began writing poetry at 9 years old. Over the next two decades, he published several poetry collections before publishing his first novel, When I Was The Greatest, in 2014.

Jason Reynolds, Triple Literacy Threat

1) He’s a poet (started out that way…)

2) He’s an author of young peoples’ books

and

3) he’s the creator of Literacy Instruction Videos

An important thread that runs through all of this are the stories and storytelling

Here’s a small sample of Jason books in which this is immediately apparent: 

Long Way Down

 https://www.simonandschuster.net/books/Long-Way-Down/Jason-Reynolds/9781481438261
“…takes place in sixty potent seconds—the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother.”

https://youtu.be/lC6W88wgYDY

 

The Boy in the Black Suit

“Just when seventeen-year-old Matt thinks he can’t handle one more piece of terrible news, he meets a girl who’s dealt with a lot more—and who just might be able to clue him in on how to rise up when life keeps knocking him down—in this “vivid, satisfying, and ultimately upbeat tale of grief, redemption, and grace”

https://www.simonandschuster.net/books/The-Boy-in-the-Black-Suit/Jason-Reynolds/9781442459519

When I Was the Greatest

“In Bed Stuy, New York, a small misunderstanding can escalate into having a price on your head—even if you’re totally clean. This gritty, triumphant debut that Publishers Weekly calls “a funny and rewarding read” captures the heart and the hardship of life for an urban teen.”

https://www.simonandschuster.net/books/When-I-Was-the-Greatest/Jason-Reynolds/9781442459489
 

Quotes are taken from the website of Simon & Shuster, Reynold’s publisher

Grab the Mic is the name of the Jason’s program for the Library of Congress

Of interest here is his series of videos titled "Write, Right, Rite"

https://guides.loc.gov/jason-reynolds/grab-the-mic







 

I became aware of Jason’s work and the great potential it holds for Literacy Learning from my colleague Dr. Rose Reissman, a literacy coach at a Brooklyn public middle school. (bio below). 

What follows is an interview I did with her about Jason’s work and promise…

Questions (June 10)

I)                what qualifies you to discuss Jason’s work?

I am a published permanently licensed teacher of English Languish Arts still teaching Title 1 middle school studnts over a three decades career.  I served as a literacy coach in District, 1, 2, and 10 (in NYC’s inner city) plus have consulted for Random House and aligned for authors Sharon Draper, Todd Strasser and Trudy Ludwig. I review YA literature for various journals including NYSUT magazine and Colorado CLAS. 

II)              who Jason is (what qualifies him to be the Ambassador and what justifies his taking the time and attention of young people?

Jason is a multiple Coretta Scott King awardee and winner of other YA distinctions including Newbery-- see his site and the wins noted on the Smithsonian.  Within last 10 years he has become the successor to the deceased Walter Dean Myers as a prolific and identifiable role model and speaker for YA literature.  His focus is mainly middle school ordinary kids with typical age and grade and culture and economic needs and secrets not identifiable on the surface unless observer is a teacher, guidance person or the child. He is the voicer of the ordinary in the speech of authentic inner city kids. His literature has insider jokes and reference to nose picking,pickpocketing, bullying and death or dying as well as money needs and serious illnesses. The stuff of real life.  Among his best known works are the defender tracl series for middle school readers, long way down, the boy in black, American Boys and Look both ways.  He is perfect for this honorary role to be rap star of literacy and build audiences, since he uses media well, raps and dances and skates.  He projects a cool dude and insider image to kids. A larger grown acclaimed version of themselves. 

III)             LONG: Our Interview Conversation (the questions below I think are indicative of the direction I want to go with this!)

Q; In a nutshell, What is Jason hoping to provoke kids to do through his prompts/activities in W.R.R?
Follow up - Do you think he will succeed at that?

I think as he states in an article in the Washington Post which you should use, that he wants to shift the traditional role of the Ambassador to get kids to read more and to get their peers to read- to having kids become their own storytellers and in a sense authors themselves who share and spread storytelling .  This is a form of oral tradition spoken workshop.  A part of writing workshop but only a small one.  

No I am certain he will not succeed. Times are too troubled and this approach is too different and teachers will not grasp it unless they are already his fans and therefore accessing kids to his works and him.

I do not think his kid fans object of this approach will find the series put up by the Smithsonian on their own and even less likely minus teacher prodding participate. 

Q: Jason is the Library of Congress ‘Ambassador of Literacy’ – Why do we need an Ambassador of Literacy? (makes it sound like the state of Literacy is a foreign land… and I guess for so many kids, it is!)
Certainly like any ad campaign our country needs a spokesperson for reading for young persons who is NOT TEACHER GETS PAIDto teachbut logicallyauthor who writes for and about kids.  They have selected best selling and well regarded authors as the other sic before him . He was selected bya committee that included Jacqueline Woodson who knows him and of themknow or knew each other.  They usually go on talkshows andpush reading per se andthe joys of and meaning of reading about oneself and theworld. He and Jacqueline are edgier andovertly about racism and deportation and job of peaceable protest.Job requires use of media and ease of working with tools. He performs. None of the others did and  he devised this video series.

Q: *Describe Jason's activities and the way he presents them!

He stares straight into the camera- plain and simple in your face cool dude Jason and in under 4 minutes usually between2 and 3 minutes gives a pure writing prompt in a charming way.  So a kid gets two unlike objects and puts them together as an invention with a set story scenario- a helicopter and a bed or tells stories about tiny persons who live in small houses or comes up with a great  first line for a story.  Then he ends each segment with a knowing aside about the child's family members or his own family.

Jason has somehow barged into the child's home and life to share the strategy for under 4 minutes.  I love it but I doubt actual traditional English teachers post Covid will.

WILL Jason’s ‘Writie.Right.Rite’ program motivate kids to write (or perhaps better, will it get them to write when teachers use it as a resource?” 
It will get them to write something.  Better or build on it needs a teacher or a child who was already writing and storytelling.

And Why do kids need motivation to write???

Because for most there is no connection to their real lives in the disconnected prompts given. When for last issue I asked kids to write about what furniture in their closed classrooms and smartboards and devices were doing them they had plenty to write and when I asked them to write how the quarantine how turned from a cherished school closure dream into a nightmare they had plenty to write.  When I taught them hope is poem byEmily Dickinson and asked what hope was for them at this historic time they had plenty to  say.  Jason is providing prompts connected to their inner and familyand 11-13 year old lives.

Q: How can teachers use Jason’s program best? 
As a starter or extention assignment with peer sharing .  Some of the prompts like write about house objects and react to art and write a letter to older or younger self and inventions can tie to other works of literature being taught including his work.

Q: What about Student Publishing… if kids write, should their writing be published? Won’t publishing help them make more sense out of the process of writing and provide yet more motivation to write and keep writing? 
Jason is not focused on that and i think his point is being a storyteller who tells stories to others not sits down and does a word doc or a power point or writes for my newsletter but maybe does an audible

DIRECTION: Select 2 – 3 of Jason’s practices (W.R.R. prompts) that you like to discuss and I will do the same (and we can share which ones we chose ahead of the interview)

I would talk about the objects in one's house he has framed one of his grandmother's wallet his frame prompt and also his great first line POOP one he has great first line in his Look Both Ways book