I was able to complete goals 1-3. Here is a report of progress:
1. The meeting with Principal Morris went really well. He helped me refine the focus of my program and not get so caught up in dealing with all the logistics of soccer. Basically, the meat of my program will be around graphic novels: reading them and giving boys the space to create their own. This makes so much sense to me, especially given what I've seen this week with one of my guided reading groups. I bought 5 copies of a graphic novel called Big City Otto. I'd already had 2 copies of it, and seen how quickly Tyshaun and Rashad were drawn to them. They began reading them together right away, but after a day or so, their enthusiasm fizzled. I think Rashad finished reading it, but Tyshaun did not. I wanted to reboot this graphic novel initiative with Tyshaun and Rashad, using their guided reading group as my vehicle. I used the wonderful templates that Ms. Hay gave me to help them consolidate their understanding of the setting, characters, and conflict of the story. The students were particularly enthusiastic about the sheet where they got to choose a frame to trace and do deeper thinking around what was happening in it, and what inferences we could make from it. I'll definitely carry this into the program. I realized that graphic novels have another very stimulating feature...the dialogue bubbles coupled with the consistent and detailed picture of the character speaking, facilitate students reading with expression, imagining the tone and timbre of their characters' voices, and inflecting their voices depending on their perceptions of the characters' mood and personality. Watch the video I'm posting to see what I mean. Notice at towards the end of the video how Olajuwon explains how he inferred that Otto's voice would be doleful with the assistance of the picture of his face. He was clearly constructing meaning from the pictures in a way that bolstered his comprehension of the character. Also, just notice how much fun they're having!
Also, the boys were so taken with book that I saw them clustered by the bathroom that day, and on the rug the following day during independent reading, forming their own spontaneous book clubs! I am going to let them meet more frequently :-)
Also, I noticed that Rashad and Tyshaun were excited to extend their reading of Big City Otto into writing. They began making their own graphic novel, which I'm excited about as well, but making sure their work is rigorous, connected with the mentor text in a deep way (ie transference of key author's craft, literary elements, character traits, etc)...this will be the meat of my instruction when we get to this during guided reading and the after school program. It will make a nice extension project to do after they finish the book, or even as they read, as a means to think through author's craft and deepen comprehension and appreciation of the book. I believe that creating parallel texts to those that they read, helps boys, and readers in general, appreciate the book they're reading and the craft it took to create it, to make it be meaningful. I'm excited... I also need to find a template
for creating graphic novel pages (one with lots of different frames). As far as what I'll have my boys do to plan out their graphic novels, I think I'll need to use something a bit more complex than a simple plot map (setting, characters, rising action, climax, etc.) I think the organizer will need to include a part that asks them to focus on a particular aspect of the author's craft from the mentor text, as well as which characters they'd like to carry over from the mentor text, perhaps an inference around that character (something they believe could have happened in their past or could happen in their future) that they'd like to write about...
Notice in this video how Tyshaun says "me", "my" and "real life". In the process of writing a parallel story he is making the book he's reading even more personally relevant to his life by finding commonalities, altering details and characters, and inserting parts of his life into the narrative. Truly deep literacy should involve a merging of the text and the self, when this happens we are truly deriving pleasure from the text.
2. Like I said, I'm growing less attached to keeping soccer as a central component of the program. My athletic director says that gym space is at a premium right now with basketball and volleyball going on. Maybe I'll just use soccer as a team builder and reward every once in a while.
3. Ms. Garrison and Ms. Pendley seemed enthused about recommending students for the program and I should get back their teacher surveys next week. When that happens, I'll do my own teacher surveys of the kids from my class that I want in the program, and then match these struggling readers with past readers I've had who I know would be great mentors for them. I've already got several in mind: Davion, Jamar, Cortez... and what a great final project it would be if we created our own graphic novel together. Perhaps that's what we'll do first in the program: read a graphic novel together and create our own parallel story together. It will be a great way to build community as well as model the strategies and thinking that I will ask them to do in partners/small groups later on. Sorry this is rambling, but this reminds me of another central component of my research: partner reading as a way to improve fluency, bolster motivation, and stimulate organic, comprehension-building conversations that students would not have had while reading alone. I'm thinking this is important because I've noticed how much enjoyment certain boys get to read books together during independent reading. They naturally gravitate towards it:
4. I created the teacher surveys and the parent surveys that I will use for baseline data and re-administer at the end of the program as a basis for showing growth.
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