Notes from The Max

Teen Read Week

The American Library Association (ALA) and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) are celebrating Teen Read Week this week, using the theme "Books with Beat" to encourage teens to consider reading poetry or books about music or even to listen to audiobooks. The goal of Teen Read Week is to remind teens just how fun reading for pleasure can be.

During this particularly difficult year for libraries due to budget cuts, this year YALSA teamed up with publishers to offer mini-grants to school and local libraries so they could purchase much-needed materials and books for teens. 10 libraries across the country were awarded $450 for projects and programs specifically aimed at teen readers.

As always, part of Teen Read Week involves the unveiling of the Teens' Top Ten, a list of favorite books selected by and for teens. This year, all of the Teens' Top Ten were written by women and the list included well-known novels such as Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson and If I Stay by Gayle Forman. According to YALSA, more than 8,000 teens voted for the top ten list.

For more information about Teen Read Week, please visit YALSA's website.

Their America, 2010

On Friday June 18th, about 30 ninth-grade students at the Jeremiah Burke High School in Dorchester presented their final projects from The Courage of My Convictions program to their teachers, fellow classmates and friends from The Max. These students, led by teacher Caitlin McGrail, read from essays they had written about their America, following the example of LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman from one of the 9th grade anchor texts, Our America.

Similar to the students who presented last year, the students were asked to take a "long and hard look at their communities," describing in detail the sights, smells, sounds and feel of their homes, neighborhoods, towns and cities. Once again, we were honored to hear stories about Boston's neighborhoods that were honest, realistic, heartfelt, moving and hopeful. Some students also prepared additional components, ranging from maps, posters and photo collages of their homes to Power Point presentations, complete with music and animation.

In the coming weeks, we hope to be able to share excerpts from these essays with you on this blog, as we did last year. We provided the students with stenographers' notebooks and pencils, to encourage them to continue to observe and write about the world around them, to be reporters for their America, just like LeAlan and Lloyd.

"On even the darkest days in our beloved Boston, you remind me that there is hope for a brighter tomorrow. These texts have ignited an academic spark in all of you that I have have created a generation of young citizens who are aware of your ability to have a voice in your community. Thank you for your courage in sharing your America."

-Ms. McGail's letter to her 2010 ELA 9 students, in the preface to their collection of essays and poems

LAL 2010 Winners

A diverse range of authors, including Francisco Jimenez, Laura Ingalls Wilder, J.D. Salinger and Dr. Seuss were the imaginary recipients of letters written by young readers across the country in the 2009-2010 Letters About Literature contest.

The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, along with Target, hosts this annual writing contest, which asks students across the country to reflect on the books and/or authors who have had a significant impact upon their lives. Emphasis is placed on creativity and originality; the students are asked to be reflective, rather than critical or analytical.

Two national winners were chosen from each of the three competition levels (Grades 4-6, Grades 7-8, and Grades 9-12). Along with the designation of National Winner, the students received a $500 Target gift card and a $10,000 grant for their local or school library. 12 additional students (four in each level) were chosen as National Honorable Mentions.

The 2010 winners come from a variety of states and towns, including some local towns. One Honorable Mention student in the Grades 4-6 level was from the Boston suburb of Needham. The contest is open to public, private, independent, and religious schools as well as homeschooled students. According to the organizers, more than 69,000 students participated this year, a significant jump up from last year. 

In the fall of 2010, the LAL reading-writing contest will once again begin to accept submissions for the 2011 contest. For more information, please visit the Letters About Literature website.

Reading Aloud

Reading aloud to young children has long been a useful and important part of learning to read and developing literacy skills. Now, some researchers are encouraging middle school and high school teachers to read aloud to adolescents as well.

A recent article in Education Week explores the benefits of reading aloud to older students. Long thought to be the purview of early childhood education, reading aloud is now gaining popularity among teachers of middle grade and high school students. With increased attention and focus on adolescent literacy, proponents of the practice are hoping to convince more teachers to read aloud in their classrooms.

The benefits of reading aloud, even to teenagers, are well documented. It can help equalize a literature lesson in a classroom where there is a wide range of reading levels among the students. It can help introduce new ideas or ease students into subject matter that may be complicated. And some teachers find that reading aloud from picture books, for instance, can supplement textbook material and communication a great deal of information with a condensed way.

The practice does have its skeptics. A few educators are cautious, advising advocates to make sure the practice isn't overdone. They want to ensure that it doesn't replace a student's regular reading, but rather that it acts as a tool to encourage students to continue to read on their own.

Still, as adolescent literacy gains more attention, it's likely that more teacher will explore the idea of reading aloud to older students. In addition to its various benefits, reading aloud provides students with an important and positive example: seeing others visibly demonstrate a lifelong love of reading and literature. 

Letters About Literature

For many of us, there are books we never forget, books that made such an impression on us that we'll always remember reading it. Books can stir up powerful and emotional experiences and sometimes, a particular story can affect us profoundly.

The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, in partnership with Target, is giving students across the country a chance to express their feelings for specific books in the Letters About Literature writing contest.

The contest asks students in grades 4-12 to "write to an author whose work (fiction or nonfiction, a short story, a poem, an essay or a speech) has somehow changed the child's view of the world or self." This contest isn't about writing an essay or book report; rather, it's about writing from the heart. Creativity and originality are valued in these personal, reflective letters. Students are asked to converse with the author, explaining how the author's work has affected their lives. 

The writing competition is divided into three levels: Level 1 = grades 4-6; Level 2 = grades 7-8; Level 3 = grades 9-12. Each state will have a panel of judges to select the winners in each of the three levels. Those three students then advance to the national competition judging. For the national contest,judges will select 6 National Winners (2 from each level) and 12 Honorable Mentions (4 from each level). Winners and Honorable Mentions receive Target gift cards and grants for their local or school libraries.

Teachers, librarians and homeschooling parents are all encouraged to consider having their students enter the contest. For the 2009-2010 year, letters must be postmarked by December 12, 2009 and received no later than December 24, 2009. State winners will be announced in March and National winners will be announced in April.

For more information, including official contest rules and instructions on how to submit a letter, please visit the Letters About Literature website.

Teen Read Week

From October 18th to October 24th, the American Library Association’s Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) will celebrate Teen Reed Week, a national literacy initiative.

During the week, librarians, teachers, parents and guardians promote teen reading unrelated to school work, asking teens to take the time to read books, magazines, graphic novels and more. The 2009 Teen Read theme is “Read Beyond Reality,” which encourages teens to read something out of this world (literally or figuratively) for the fun of it.

One of the highlights of Teen Read Week is the announcement of the Teen Top 10 list of 2009. Selected by teens across the country from a pool of nominees, the Top Ten books represent the most popular teen books of the past year. Nominees this year include best-sellers The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins), Graceling (Kristin Cashore), Breaking Dawn (Stephenie Meyer) and The Graveyard Book (Neil Gaiman).

Teen Read Week began in 1998 as an initiative of YALSA to promote teen reading and remind teens of its importance. Today’s teens have so many choices when it comes to entertainment; reading often falls low on the list of preferred activities. Research shows, however, that teens who read for fun have better test scores and are more likely to succeed in the workforce. Teen Read Week strives to reinforce the importance of reading for all ages.

In conjunction with Teen Read Week and to encourage teens to continue reading, even after TRW, YALSA and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) have teamed up to create the WrestleMania Reading Challenge. Open to students in grades 5-12, the contest challenges teens to read 10 items in their free time between October 18th and January 19th and to keep a log of their reading. The contest will be implemented by local librarians, who will select three students to continue on to the final round. Finalists will be eligible for the grand prize, which includes $2,000 for their library and a trip to WrestleMania 26 in Phoenix. More details about the contest can be found on YALSA’s website.

Karuna's Courage in My Life

The following is an excerpt from an essay written by Karuna, a Thai student studying English and participating in the Courage Curriculum at the Prince Royal's College in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It is a companion essay to the one posted on Monday. The views expressed are solely her own. We are honored to share her essay with you.

Please do not copy, republish or repost the following content without express written permission from The Max Warburg Courage Curriculum.

Man is not perfect. Everyone has a sore point. Some have only one or two, while others have many. How do they deal with it? For my case, I was born in Singapore and lived there until I was one and a half. English is my mother tongue and first language. Because of my parents’ mission to start a church in Thailand, we moved to Chiang Mai.

I went to the local kindergarten because my mom thought that I should learn my father’s language, Thai. But after having lice on my head three times, my mom took me out of school. She could not stand lice. I was home schooled – my mom taught me in English.

I started going to a proper school again at five. It was hard for me to speak Thai, since I only spoke English at home. I could not speak Thai clearly or fluently like the other kids. On top of that, I have a middle name which other kids do not have, and so I was made fun of. Many times my friends laughed at my Thai and that was my sore point. I did not want to go to school anymore.

But my mom comforted me. She told me to take courage because that is the real world out there – just ask the Thai kids if they could speak English. I took heed to her words and took courage to speak Thai and ignored my friends’ teasing. At the end of the term, my Thai marks were higher than those who teased me. I was not shy to speak Thai anymore and now my Thai is much better than my first language!

Courage is a mental or moral strength which helped me overcome my sore point.

Karuna's Definition of Courage

The following is an excerpt from an essay written by Karuna, a Thai student studying English and participating in the Courage Curriculum at the Prince Royal's College in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The views expressed are solely her own. We are honored to share her essay with you.

Please do not copy, republish or repost the following content without express written permission from The Max Warburg Courage Curriculum.

Imagine you were lost in a forest alone on a dark night. You tried to find your way out, but you ended up in the same place. You were now discouraged, tired, lonely and scared. Scared of the darkness. Scared of the wild animals. Scared to be lost in the forest forever. Without courage, you would never find a way out.

Courage is a mental or moral strength that enables you to go beyond fear, worries, and difficulties and push through it all. Courage helps people to survive because it provides them with the strength to fight on with their problems and live on. Courage is to think positively because when facing a problem, positive thinking will remove stress and help one start to see the way out.

Many people get stuck with their problems and cannot move on. Yet many others are able to get over their problems because of courage. So take courage and move on!

Jaturong's Courage in My Life

The following is an excerpt from an essay written by Jaturong, a Thai student studying English and participating in the Courage Curriculum at the Prince Royal's College in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It is a companion essay to the one posted on Monday. The views expressed are solely his own. We are honored to share his essay with you.

Please do not copy, republish or repost the following content without express written permission from The Max Warburg Courage Curriculum.

My natural habit is to be quite courageous. I dare to go bungee jumping, ride jet skis and do other extreme sports. There are a few things I fear. One is a fear of narrow places. Sometimes, I’m too bold and it causes me to get into trouble.

One example of courage that I can remember happened three months ago. After school, I rode my motorcycle to the Seven Eleven (7-11) in front of school. When I arrived at the cross road, I tried to get ahead of a car next to me that was turning left. Without watching that there was a red car coming, I made a long scratch on the left side of the first car. But I didn’t ride away. I stopped and negotiated with the driver. A few minutes later, a policeman came and he told us we were both wrong. I gave the driver a telephone number and ID card and told him that I would pay half of the damage fee. That evening, he phoned me and told me I would have to pay 1,000 Baht [Thai currency].

That is my courage story. That day, I could have ridden away, but I didn’t. I also paid the 1,000 Baht by myself. It makes me think that it takes courage to be responsible for something.

Jaturong's Definition of Courage

The following is an excerpt from an essay written by Jaturong, a Thai student studying English and participating in the Courage Curriculum at the Prince Royal's College in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The views expressed are solely his own. We are honored to share his essay with you.

Please do not copy, republish or repost the following content without express written permission from The Max Warburg Courage Curriculum.

If you look for the word “courage” in the dictionary, it will tell you that it is “the quality of mind that enables one to face danger with confidence, resolution and firmness.” We cannot live without it.

In real life, you will face problems everyday and it will challenge your courage. Somehow, if you decide to do something or solve any problems, you must have the courage to face them. In a dangerous situation, you have so little time to think about what to do next; without courage, you cannot succeed.

For me, there are many kinds of courage, such as courage to accept your faults, courage to be responsible for what you have done and courage to start a new thing.

Courage is an essential thing for your life. Experiences will teach you how important courage is. That’s what courage is for me. What does courage mean to you?