Help me give my students an opportunity to participate in a workshop facilitated by a community person who used to be a marginal reader and is now a comic book author and illustrator.
This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
My male African American and Puerto Rican inner city middle school students emphatically state that they do not like to read. And they admit that their reading skills suffer from their lack of reading.
Thus, these young men are failing or barely passing courses that require fluid reading and comprehension, they minimally participate in classroom discussions, too frequently refuse helpful interventions by support staff, and rarely complete class assignments and homework.
My students are not motivated to read, have developed deficient ready skills and therefore are unable to fully participate in the classroom learning process. In the earlier grades they were able to conceal their deficits, but now these marginal readers disrupt classrooms, skip class and/or get suspended to avoid reading.
My students are at risk for dropping out of school!
My Project
Marginal readers often require non traditional and creative methods to become better motivated to improve their reading skills. And in middle school my students are guarded and less willing to take a risk and accept adult interventions. Thus, the reading gap widens and my students engage in dysfunctional behaviors to avoid reading.
This project called, "Reading Connection" addresses the problem with bold creativity where my students learn best when they connect with the teaching person, a relevant content and a non traditional interactive method of teaching.
The facilitator, just like my students is a graduate of Hartford Public Schools and went on to become a college graduate in Art. Also, like my students he did not like to read and spent many hours in his middle school classrooms drawing pictures rather than engaging in classroom discussions and required work. Until one day he discovered the comic book which he says changed his life!
My students will participate in a workshop that will give them the opportunity to 1) hear the personal struggles of a person who didn't like to read; 2) share their personal reasons, struggle and consequences of being a marginal reader and; 3) and set practical goals and specific strategies to initiate improving their motivation and skills in reading.
The author and illustrator will use his published comic books as a reading resource where he and students will read his books prior to each student getting an autograph copy of the comic book. Students (many who love to draw) will also have a opportunity to draw a picture reminiscent of the experience.
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