Fund Teachers for the Dream Grant Proposal and Application

Fund Teachers for the Dream Grant Proposal and Application

The Fund Teachers for the Dream grant was again awarded to the Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of English and Language Arts (PCTELA) by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)! Just like last year, we are using this grant in order to mentor pre-service teaching candidates and new teachers within their first three years of teaching.

Our goal is to select teachers of color who are enthusiastic, academically ­driven, and passionate about this profession! We want to support these teachers in developing and implementing a mentoring opportunity for students so they can grow professionally and share that flare for learning with students across Pennsylvania.

We will be selecting two pre-service teaching candidates and/or new teachers within their first three years of teaching from Pennsylvania to mentor as they develop and enact an activity for students in a “pay it forward” play on professional development.

The teaching candidates and/or new teachers selected for this opportunity will receive:

• Up to $100 to purchase materials for your proposed activity with students

• Complimentary registration fee to attend the NCTE Affiliate Leadership Meeting in July 2018

• Complimentary one ­day registration to the Annual PCTELA Conference in Pittsburgh, PA on October 19-20, 2018

• Complimentary attendance at our PCTELA Board Dinner on October 19, 2018

See the full details and timeline for more information!

If you’re interested in applying for this fantastic opportunity, please don’t delay! Applications are due by Friday October 20, 2017.

You do not need to be an English or Reading teacher to submit a proposal! We welcome all teachers with a heart for using literacy in the classroom (reading, writing, speaking, and listening standards) at any grade level!

APPLY HERE

 

Friday Five: Reasons We’re Excited for the NCTE Affiliate Meeting

Today, NCTE affiliates from all over the country will meet in Atlanta, Georgia. There are so many reasons to be excited about this convergence of educators. Here are a few:

1. Sharon Draper will be making the keynote address tonight! A former teacher and now award-winning author, she spoke at our 2016 PCTELA conference as well as the 2016 NCTE conference and is sure to be an engaging and energizing speaker.
2. Informal conversations between affiliates. This, like those informal conversations at conferences, is often where we find out best ideas. Collaborations and conversations with other educators in other states is the goal here, and we’re excited to see what ideas the synergy of our conversations generate.
3. The agenda is packed full of areas for improvement with more formal conversations around: membership, diversity, social media, advocacy. Like in our classrooms, our organization always has room for growth, and we look forward to the presentations and conversations afforded by this convergence of educators and affiliates.
4. On Sunday, Millie Davis & Leila Christenbury will be presenting about Intellectual Freedom, a topic we’re particularly interested in right now.
5. It feels like Thanksgiving in the summer! The energy and excitement of meeting other teachers and making connections in the summer is like attending the annual NCTE conference. We’re grateful to be a part of this organization and to add our voice to the conversation.

Posted by Kate, Blog Editor and Book Reviewer for PCTELA

PCTELA Fund Teachers from the Dream Reflection #3

PCTELA was awarded the Fund Teachers for the Dream grant this year. NCTE was extremely generous in awarding this grant. They’ve given us the opportunity to mentor three fabulous pre-service teachers from Pennsylvania. In this series you’ll hear directly from them about their experiences this school year with engaging students in discussions about diversity and self identity. They each used grant funding to develop and facilitate programs in their selected schools. One pre-service teacher chose to establish a book club with fifth grade students reading The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake. Another chose to read, discuss, and create dynamic texts meant to guide students through tough discussions and self discovery. The third pre-service teacher offered movie nights to her high school students and used movies like Crash and Schindler’s List as spring boards for discussion. One of our mentors also wrote a blog post about her perspective, and that will be part of this series, too. Join us at our Annual Conference  this October 20-21 in Greentree, PA to hear these three pre-service teachers give a panel presentation about their projects and what they’ve learned.

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Written by: Samantha Corza

Role: Grant Recipient

I watched  Kayla* shut down as Jamie* raised his voice and dismissed her commentary about her experience as a young female of color in a largely caucasian town. “That doesn’t happen here,” Jamie said loudly. Her body tensed up and I saw her pull away as she became visibly frustrated. She placed her All American Boys book on the floor and did not offer to speak again for the rest of the discussion.

Saddened and concerned by this interaction, I thought back to my conversation with Kayla before class. Kayla had seemed unsure about our whole-class discussion surrounding diversity, white privilege and the Black Lives Matter movement.  She verbalized her discomfort in participating, “I just don’t want to feel like I have to talk because I’m the only Black person in this class.” I assured her that she didn’t need to participate if she didn’t feel comfortable but reminded her of the power of her first-hand experiences. How would the other students ever come to know, understand or empathize with her experiences and perspective if she didn’t have the courage to share?

It was after this incident that I noticed Kayla become more reserved in our class. She no longer participated in whole-class discussions and generally only interacted with one or two other students. It was evident that Kayla felt that she did not have a voice and was unsure of whom she could trust in our classroom. The judgment and combativeness that she met when trying to express her perspective on the issue of racial bias was enough to make her shut down entirely.

Upon winning the Fund Teachers for the Dream Grant, I was inspired to implement an after school film club with my students where my mentor teacher and I used visual media to focus on the exploration of cultural differences and bias through popular films such as Crash or Remember the Titans. Our goal was to provide a space for our students where they could learn to have constructive conversations about cultural and personal values, beliefs, and biases. With funds from the grant, we were able to provide refreshments and snacks for students to enjoy as we watched the films and engaged in meaningful discourse.

After our first meeting, I encouraged Kayla to join us and she began to attend our smaller discussions. I could see her opening up and gaining confidence within these smaller sessions and felt her gratitude for the outlet we provided for her. She began bringing her friends from other English classes and through our use of film and inclusivity, began advocating for her own truth in our English classroom.

The film club supported students in various ways. Its afterschool setting allowed students to feel more at ease and allowed them to begin speaking up and sharing their opinions about their own biases and beliefs. It also encouraged students who previously would have avoided a negative or unfamiliar experience, to respond with, “I’m sorry that happened to you,” or  “I never thought about that before.” The emergence of empathy from these film events extended into our whole-class discussions where my students were able to transform their thinking about groups of stereotyped people to realize these groups were made up of individuals with beliefs, values, and relationships that are similar to their own.

*student names have been changed

Promoting Reading at a Young Age

In February, through a connection with e.e. Charlton-Trujillo, PCTELA received a picture book donation from author Sally Derby, who donated several cases of picture books to Never Counted Out. PCTELA has chosen to distribute these in a number of ways to promote reading at an early age. Below, PCTELA Board member Allison Irwin recounts her experience sharing copies of King Kenrick’s Splinter by Sally Derby.

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It really takes a village to raise a child. I’ve never been so sure of that as I am right now. Walking into a community of people who know each other, as a stranger, and being welcomed with smiles and conversation, is just what my heart needed tonight.

I spent the last two hours sitting in a dining room at a local women’s and children’s shelter. Tonight was their monthly community dinner – which is very popular. In addition to meeting the women and children of the shelter, I got to share stories with people from the community at large. The hustle and bustle of little children running around while dinner was set up met with the rolling of stroller wheels, the tapping of canes and walking sticks, and the louder stomping of rough and tumble preteen boys play fighting with their cousins. As the gymnasium opened to serve the meal, the dining room filled with many eager to share in good food and fellowship.

Just before dinner I arranged the donated books on one of the tables. I also had some of my own books for the middle school and high school crowd. One mother stopped by to tell me her story. She has a little two year old boy and another on the way. He was adorable! But wouldn’t sit still long enough for me to even catch his name. Then two mothers of high school seniors stopped by to see what I was doing there. We chatted about their daughters’ interests, what they’re reading currently, and then I made some recommendations from my pile. This naturally transitioned into a conversation about their own interests, and each mother took a book for themselves!

One thing I found is that the value of reading is clearly not lost. I met strong, worn grandmothers who read to their grandchildren every day. One mother asked if she could take two books because she understood that if her seven year old son is reading the book to her three year old daughter, then her daughter should have her own copy to look at while he’s reading it to her. There’s something about knowing a book is yours that is pretty special at that age.

Two 6th grade girls came up to the table and talked with me about Twilight and some other recent favorites of theirs. One of the shelter’s Family Advocates who offered her time to sit with me this evening came right back with a book recommendation for them! She told them all about The Host by Stephenie Meyer and what a fabulous read that was for her.

As a high school reading teacher, I sometimes get bogged down by the feeling that we’re not doing enough to prepare our students for the real life reading tasks they will be faced with as adults. Knowing how to read strategically encompasses so much more than just interpreting text. It requires patience, logical thinking, stamina, and resiliency in the face of challenges.

Talking with these families tonight restored some of my faith in our ability to send the next generation off into the world with the soft skills they will need to be successful. If we work as a village, we might just be able to do this right.

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One young girl I spoke with took me by storm. She came in with a large group. Breezed right by me the first time – headphones in of course – and then circled back. Without saying a word she began paging through the books on the table.

She eventually made eye contact and engaged me in conversation. I could tell from her vocabulary alone that she was a voracious reader. We shared book recommendations which of course led to deeper conversation. This is where I noticed her soft skills.

Resiliency. She related stories about her friends and the drama that she often needs to mediate. This young girl was adamant about not letting her friends use her as a “back up friend” when her core group was fighting. “I’m either your friend or I’m not” she claimed.

Patience. It’s hard for any teenager to be patient. But when her little brother walked into the room, I watched her demeanor soften as she addressed him. She waited to see if there was something he needed from her before returning to our discussion. Any teenager that can stop talking about herself mid-story to address the needs of her little brother exhibits a great deal of patience and empathy!

Logical thinking. So we started talking about dual narrators, and I mentioned the book 13 Reasons Why. In my opinion, the quality of the book in its original form far surpasses the Netflix series. All of her friends keep trying to get her to watch the Netflix series, but she only likes to do one or the other (book or movie, not both). I told her to definitely read the book in lieu of the series. She continued to ask me clarifying questions, and I could sense her brain shuffling through the data she was collecting from me. She didn’t cave in and watch the series because all her friends wanted her to, she spent time thinking through what would be right for her. (Happy to say she chose the book after our conversation! She liked the idea of the dual narrators, disliked the extra vulgarity and drama the Netflix series adds to the story, and hoped to actually get a sense of the characters inner thoughts and motives which she felt would be easier to grasp through text.).

Stamina. This girl walked straight from school to meet her family at the shelter for the community dinner. Her siblings are mostly younger than her. The school district she attends is underfunded. When she’s emotionally frustrated, she admitted to expressing that frustration poorly, and this causes a rift between her and her teacher. And yet… she spends her lunch break reading in the library. She provides her younger sister with a role model who dresses modestly and has respect for her own self image. She doles out advice and encouragement to friends in need. She smiles and expresses a bubbly, personable attitude while eating a free community dinner with a stranger. She still enjoys school despite all the mandated testing she’s faced with each year. This little girl has stamina.

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As teachers, we only see one side of our students. It’s easy to believe that it’s us against the world – fighting to educate the youth! It’s easy to forget that parents are exhausted and that kids navigate a precarious environment each day. I’m left wondering tonight about this little girl’s teacher. How would the teacher describe her as a student? Has she seen the depth of character that this young, teen girl expressed tonight, or does the girl’s classroom persona mask all but one or two shades of her character?

Our job, in addition to teaching the eligible content, is to make sure we’re our students’ cheerleaders. We need to have patience, we need to think logically, we need stamina, and we need to be resilient if we ever expect to teach these skills to our students.

We also need help.

As a village, and only as a village, we can strategically instill those vital soft skills into their literacy education both inside and outside of school.

NCTE Fund Teachers for the Dream Reflection #2

PCTELA was awarded the Fund Teachers for the Dream grant this year! NCTE was extremely generous in awarding this grant. They’ve given us the opportunity to mentor three fabulous pre-service teachers from Pennsylvania. In this series you’ll hear directly from them about their experiences this school year with engaging students in discussions about diversity and self identity. They each used grant funding to develop and facilitate programs in their selected schools. One pre-service teacher chose to establish a book club with fifth grade students reading The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake. Another chose to read, discuss, and create dynamic texts meant to guide students through tough discussions and self discovery. The third pre-service teacher offered movie nights to her high school students and used movies like Crash and Schindler’s List as spring boards for discussion. One of our mentors also wrote a blog post about her perspective, and that will be part of this series, too. Join us at our Annual Conference  this October 20-21 in Greentree, PA to hear these three pre-service teachers give a panel presentation about their projects and what they’ve learned.

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Written by: Dr. Jolene Borgese

Role: Mentor of Daecia Smith throughout the grant period

I am uncomfortable writing or talking about the different shades of skin color. But the young African American girls in Daecia Smith’s book club were not. Daecia is a senior at Temple University, majoring in secondary English. She is student teaching this semester at a high academic performing school in Philadelphia.

The afternoon I joined them at the elementary school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for their book club I asked them two open ended questions: “How’s the club going?” and “How do you like the book you’re reading?” Like a fire storm, these 11 year old girls all spoke to me at once – eager to tell me about the book and the characters. Aiming to be the one I heard, their responses became louder and more animated but they were all talking about the bullying going on in the novel, The Skin I’m In by Sharon Flake, and how it was all the about the lighter skinned character versus the darker skinned character. Without any inhibitions or fear of being politically incorrect they spoke to me candidly about the shades of being Black.

The teacher in me wanted to connect to these free spirited little girls so I shared with them what I knew about shades of skin color. I recounted quickly as to not lose their interest – “I am of Italian American descent and Italian skin color depends on what part of Italy you are from. The southern part of Italy is very close to Africa so if you are Sicilian- which I am part of – your skin is darker. Some of my sisters are very fair but my father, brother and I have darker skin.” They weren’t interested or cared. I got it. I was this white lady talking about getting a tan. I never got the chance to tell them that my mother sometimes wore pantyhose to the beach because her legs were so white.

The girls spoke with such confidence about shades of color that I asked them if they knew of this happening to people they knew or even themselves. With all of their heads nodding “yes” I realized why this was so important to them. Daecia gathered their attention back when she asked them to start reading. Having more girls than books they happily shared books and helped whoever was reading with words they couldn’t pronounce. They all followed along and listened carefully as their club members read.

Daecia would stop and asked them questions periodically about what they were reading. It seemed more like a conversation than comprehension questions because this was obviously important to them. They read for about 30 minutes never inattentive or disengaged. Reading the right book – the book that means something to the reader- was the key. It was obvious they saw themselves in the characters they were reading about.

At the end of the hour they cleaned up their snack wrappers (Daecia had provided snacks for them), collected the novels and journals. The girls put on their coats and headed out the classroom door. One little girl stopped and turned to Daecia and asked, “What are we reading next?” Daecia was exhausted from student teaching all day, and the extra hour she put in with these little girls, but she still managed a smile.

NCTE Fund Teachers for the Dream Recipient Reflection

PCTELA was awarded the Fund Teachers for the Dream grant this year! NCTE was extremely generous in awarding this grant. They’ve given us the opportunity to mentor three fabulous pre-service teachers from Pennsylvania. In this series you’ll hear directly from them about their experiences this school year with engaging students in discussions about diversity and self identity. They each used grant funding to develop and facilitate programs in their selected schools. One pre-service teacher chose to establish a book club with fifth grade students reading The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake. Another chose to read, discuss, and create dynamic texts meant to guide students through tough discussions and self discovery. The third pre-service teacher offered movie nights to her high school students and used movies like Crash and Schindler’s List as spring boards for discussion. One of our mentors also wrote a blog post about her perspective, and that will be part of this series, too. Join us at our Annual Conference  this October 20-21 in Greentree, PA to hear these three pre-service teachers give a panel presentation about their projects and what they’ve learned.

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Written by: Daecia Smith

Role: Grant Recipient

During my time at the elementary school with my book club of six fifth grade girls, I had many memorable experiences. One Wednesday afternoon, before we started the novel The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake, I decided to do an activity to introduce the book. I picked three videos to show to my students. One video was by Dove and embraced curly hair texture. The second video was a poem entitled “The Average Black Girl” performed by Ernestine Johnson on the Arsenio Hall show. The last video was of a three-year-old girl reciting the poem “Hey, Black Child!”

I chose videos pertaining to self-identity and struggle in the black community because those are the main themes in the novel. The front cover of the book is the face of a dark skinned African American girl, Maleeka Madison, the protagonist of the story. I was a bit apprehensive about bringing up this sensitive topic, but I deemed it necessary in order for them to fully comprehend the message of the book. Also, I thought this conversation was pertinent because it is very relevant to their lives as African American females growing up in Philadelphia.

They appreciated the videos in book club, but they were more interested in why I chose to show them. I explained my reasoning and then the girls started to talk about how hard it is being females of color in Philadelphia. They added that they do not like White people because they always mistreat them and because they are all racist. I tried to explain to them that their feelings of alienation are justified and that we will discuss this later on. I added that despite their instances with certain White people, their actions do not speak for the entire race. I asked them if they hate when other races make assumptions about Black people. For example, I asked “Do you hate it when other races say that all Black people are loud, ghetto, ignorant and eat pig feet?” First, they exclaimed their distaste and hatred for pig feet and then they agreed that they don’t like it when assumptions are made with regard to the entire Black community. I asked if they can see how other White people would feel since they made assumptions about their race based off a few bad experiences with specific people. They stared at me in dismay and I knew that based off of their hesitation, we were going to have an interesting time together.

My one goal while spending time with my students was to open their minds to the world around them. The broadening and expansion of their minds included the knowledge and accessibility to neighboring cities as well as acceptance, tolerance and conversation about race, gender and education. The novel The Skin I’m In helped me achieve my goal to have active and fruitful discussion about the world around my students. I wanted to provide them with instructions and advice as how to navigate their futures and the struggles that are uniquely theirs as young, black girls.

How to Boost Teaching and Engage English Learners with Technology

How to Boost Teaching and Engage English Learners with Technology

One thing every teacher asks when they have an English Learner in their classroom is, what more can I be doing to help support this student? Technology can be a great resource to help a teacher who wants to engage their EL as a literacy learner.

First and foremost, it is important to remember that learning a new language takes time. In our high-stakes testing environments, we want to have ELs reading on grade level as soon as possible. We see that they are intelligent and are curious about the world. We want to learn what they are thinking and share our passion for learning with them. We must remind ourselves that learning a new language, especially when there may be gaps in a student’s education, caused by time away from school due to travelling or differences in curriculum, which insist on us to give the student time to acclimate and listen first.

When the student is ready to work on literacy skills, there are digital tools that can support a variety of learning goals.

Communication: Teachers and students can make use speech to text programs. Tools like Google Translate and American Wordspeller & Phonetic Dictionary can support students communicating into their home language and converting language into English. Likewise, if a concept the teachers is talking about is unclear, it can be translated back into the student’s first language for better understanding. While not perfect due to issues in the connotations of all languages, it can help get an important message across.

Listening Vocabulary and Comprehension: Especially for entering, emerging, or developing listeners, hearing stories read aloud is essential. There are many resources with read aloud features:

• Scholastic’s Storia has a “read to me” feature for some of their e-books
• PebbleGo offers spoken-word audio and audio/video media to support emergent reader research
• Scholastic’s BookFlix pairs classic children’s storybooks in video format with nonfiction e-books
• Scholastic’s TrueFlix offers multimedia science and social studies readings for older readers
• Storyline Online, a free site featuring actors who creatively read books aloud
• One More Story a site that features high-quality oral reading and the ability to read books independently with support

A low tech, but very helpful suggestion is to encourage the family to turn on the closed captioning on their television. Students will see and hear English spoken this way.

For students who are ready to be stretched in their listening and speaking skills, the app Speaky allows them to practice language socially. There are also a number of language learning tools, some of which are game based, like Duolingo. With Duolingo one can learn over 20 languages through gamification. Many more languages are being added monthly. More importantly, English can be learned from many of those languages, making it accessible for the learner of English, not just for someone speaking English learning a new language. And it’s free. To support academic and content learning, Voice Thread allows multimedia to be accompanied with narration.

Most importantly, get to know your student(s), his or her family, and celebrate their heritage and culture. The best strategy is being patient and finding creative ways to engage the EL in learning.

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Aileen P. Hower, Ed.D. is the K-12 Literacy/ESL Supervisor for South Western School District. She also teaches graduate level reading courses for Cabrini University in Pennsylvania. In addition to teaching, she is the Vice President for the Keystone State Reading Association and conference chair for the KSRA 50th Annual Conference in Hershey, PA, in 2017. You can find her on Twitter at (@aileenhower) or on her blog (aileenhower.wordpress.com).

 

Book Review: Elena Vanishing: A Memoir by Elena Dunkle

Book Review: Elena Vanishing: A Memoir by Elena Dunkle

I picked this book up because e.E.Charlton-Trujillo posted on her instagram about it and I thought I would take her advice on what to read (she’s a discerning reader and knows all about great Young Adult literature, being a great YA writer herself). She wrote “There are about twenty books that I wish could be taught in every high school in America. This is one of them.” (The photo below is from her page.)

So, truthfully, it took me a long time to read Elena Vanishing from start to finish. I found myself reading 20 or 30 pages and having to put it down and walk away from it.  It was powerful and raw, but so hard to read about a young woman who cannot see her own beauty.

I have had students in the past who have struggled with an eating disorder, and although I remember telling them how smart and beautiful they were, I still never could really understand what they were grappling with and how they were feeling. This book has offered me a window to a struggle I’ve never really known. One quote to consider in this vein: “Where does thin become fat? Where does success become failure? Where does a great future become a horrible past full of heartache and regret?”

When I finished, I handed it off to a ninth grade teacher and talked to some of them about maybe using it with Speak or for their memoir units. In the end, it is a book that made me uncomfortable, and I think that’s important to feel. I am consciously seeking that in my reading these days rather than defaulting to what I know I will love and what will not necessarily, as the kids say, help me be woke (or get woke? still learning that one).

Posted by Kate, Blog Editor and Book Reviewer for PCTELA

Adapting Shakespeare for Everyone

Adapting Shakespeare for Everyone
Erin McDonnell-Jones

Students across the state are, in their own words, “forced” to study Shakespeare in their high school English classroom. While they may not appreciate these canonical pieces of literature, through experience and adaptations, students can find relevant connections to their everyday lives. In a moderately sized high school in southeastern Pennsylvania, where forty percent of the student body is Hispanic and thirty-nine percent of the students partake in the Free and Reduced Meal plan, every senior student studies Othello. In order to encourage a love for the Bard, especially for students who are not college-bound, teachers here encourage the use of adaptations in the classroom in order to help students establish meaningful connections.

The unit begins with a brief introduction to Shakespeare and the play. Students are encouraged to recall what they know of their own experiences reading Shakespeare before being introduced to the essential background information of the text. Then, students begin to read utilizing the Othello Parallel Text Edition published by Perfection Learning. They are assigned nightly reading homework; however, the reading itself is structured slightly differently. They are assigned to read the more Modern English side of the text on their own and answer guided reading questions. Then, the next day, they are given a small reading quiz, utilizing the same questions. After completing the quiz, students stand and act out the scene that they read the night before, reading Shakespeare’s original words. By doing this, not only have they set a foundation for understanding on their own, but also they are hearing the words the Bard wrote and using their analytical deduction skills to decipher meaning.

Each day involves discussion and connections, but the most important point comes at the end of each Act. As Shakespeare intended his words to be seen, and not read, students view two adaptations of the play: “Othello” (1995) directed by Oliver Parker and “O” (2001) directed by Tim Blake Nelson. The students only watch one act of each adaptation at a time, but in addition to setting their own contextual understanding of the work they are enhancing their understanding by viewing the adaptations.

Upon completion of reading the text and viewing the adaptations, students are then assigned a research paper to answer the prompt “Which adaptation is faithful (or not), why or why not?” by responding in a five-paragraph essay offering outside academic research to support their thesis.

While many schools are moving away from the canonical texts in favor of more non-canonical works to help encourage a love for reading, the importance of classics cannot be understated. Regardless of whether or not these students will attend a prestigious four-year university after graduation, they should all have the opportunity to read with and connect to literature that helps them through their own tumultuous transitions of relationships and life altering events. Adapting these works to establish a sense of relevancy and meaning is important for every student at every level.

Bio:
Erin McDonnell-Jones is a teacher, reader, and avid travel enthusiast living in Chester County, PA. Follow her adventures @emcdonnelljones

Friday Five: Reasons to Read Diverse Books in 2017

Friday Five: Reasons to Read Diverse Books in 2017
Kate Walker

There are many reasons to challenge yourself to read outside your regular reading genre, favorite authors, or topic of reading. Here are 5 reasons to #readdiverse this year:

1. I often tell my students the best way to learn about other people is to travel and meet diverse people–and if you can’t do that, to read.  Try a book about a place you’ve never been to, written by a person who lives there.
2. Another reason to read diverse books this year is the sheer number of possibilities. So many new books being published this year, including the anthologies published by the organization We Need Diverse Books.
3. Studies have shown reading can help create empathy. Understanding each other is more important now than ever. Our society needs to be less fractured, and reading can help us understand others.
4. You could earn some fun badges if you’re a blogger or write goodreads reviews. The folks over at Read Diverse Books have a challenge this year where you earn a badge for your profile when you read and post at least 5 reviews of diverse books.
5. This is a new year’s resolution that you can actually accomplish pretty easily.  Losing 20 pounds or running a marathon can weigh on you more than a resolution to read a little differently this year. Trying new things keeps you sharp.

How can you find more diverse books to read? Ask your friends to suggest some books, or check out these links:

• We Need Diverse Books has a list
• Goodreads also has a list
• School Library Journal has a list as well

Posted by Kate, Blog Editor and Book Reviewer for PCTELA