So I feel like the last couple of weeks I've been gathering pre-data. By "pre-data" I mean data that helps inform me on what reading interventions I will use, ie what strategies I want to test to see if they improve male literacy. I've seen huge increases in enthusiasm when boys read graphic novels, and when they get to partner read. These will be central components of my intervention strategy. For me, the question mark is whether these interventions can be coupled with increasing rigor and higher literacy performance.
I'm also having a hard time letting go of the soccer component that the program would have. It looks like the Urban Initiatives soccer program is going to be too expensive for my school to partner with. My principal is however willing to fund some part of my program, it's just that facilities, equipment, and transportation for soccer would be expensive, and demand a great deal of my time and energy, and that's already in short supply. On the other hand, I know students would be much more enthusiastic about joining the program if they knew soccer would be a part of it. Also, playing soccer together might give boys the chance to play together, expend energy and stress from their day, and build community and togetherness. At the end of the day though, there needs to be a solid connection between the soccer portion of the program and the reading portion. My friend Lloyd suggested "Loser" by Jerry Spinelli as having a main character who plays soccer. There's also informational books about soccer that might be interesting: The Everything Kids' Soccer Book, My Soccer Book by Gail Gibbons, and Kids' Book of Soccer: Skills, Strategies, and the Rules of the Game. These could be great shared reading texts during the first few weeks and they'd do a great job of helping boys see the practicality of reading as a way of improving one's life.
Another fork in the road is whether use high-achieving boy readers from my soccer team as mentors and tutors. I think the answer is yes, they would be really helpful as partner readers, especially when the shared reading is at a higher level.
So where does this leave me? What are my next steps?
1. Meet again with Mr. Morris to see what kind of budget he'd be willing to give me.
2. Meet with the athletic director to determine gym availability.
3. Ask 2nd-3rd grade teachers to recommend a few struggling male readers who might be interested in the program
4. Decide schedule for program and create pamphlet that includes details about the program and permission slip. Send this home with potential participants (2nd through 5th)
My goal is to do those 4 things by Friday.
This sounds incredibly cool...what exactly is the soccer component? And does it need to be a partnership with an already existing group or could you facilitate something? Also, does this mean you are planning to focus on an after-school initiative?
ReplyDeleteI think partnering students with high achieving students is an awesome idea (though I'm sure you've thought this through, how will "high achievement" be determined?). It would be especially cool to do some partner drills in soccer time where students whose strength may not be in reading and rather in soccer are highlighted as mentors/tutors in that context. Maybe see how that works out and carries over into the reading context...