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MAIN CHARACTER by Carol Lynn Thomas |
Close your eyes. Picture the most reluctant, least skilled reader in your class. Does he usually recoil from books as if merely touching one would leave a slime trail on his fingers? Now imagine him engrossed in a book in which he is the main character, a stowaway on Neil Armstrong’s unforgettable Apollo 11 mission to the moon. Can you see another student, one who would rather eat liver and onions than read, whose nose is buried in a book about her adventures on a photographic safari in Africa?
Before you conclude that such a scene would be impossible in your classroom, consider how those most reluctant, least skilled readers would react to books or stories written personally for and about them. There’s more than a good chance that they would dive into them, isn’t there?
Building a classroom library of personalized books is a project well worth the effort. You may need to secure a corporate sponsor in your community or write a grant to provide the funding. It’s essential to decide on the scope of your project because finances will dictate the materials and printing choices.
The next step is to form your writing staff. Interested teachers could individualize their plans. Perhaps the reading and language arts teachers would like to do all the writing. If not, writers could be college and high school students as well as skilled volunteers from the community. Teachers could also contact local college reading professors. For a directory of Indiana reading professors,see <http://mgrn.evansville.edu/directrymgrn.html>.
Once the staff is established, teachers should design a brief survey followed by interviews with students to determine the kind of book or story they would like to “star” in. It would be each writer’s responsibility to match the student’s reading level with his or her story. With the stroke of a key, a computer will provide the story’s reading level. Teachers could decide whether or not to provide students with an opportunity to see the first draft of the book or story. Once the final draft has been written, students could illustrate it.
If finances permit, you could print two copies of each book, one for the student and one for the classroom library. Teachers could add their own creative touches to the project to personalize it for their schools. Publishing parties with students reading aloud from their own books is always a hit. If a teacher saves this project for eighth graders, he or she could coordinate special days with the youngest students in the school to hear the older students read aloud from their books.
This project need not be limited to struggling readers. Even the most motivated, capable students’ eyes would light up to see themselves as main characters in personalized books. Think about how much fun you could have if a writer wanted to write a book especially for and about you.