In Teale and Gambrell’s article “Raising urban students’ literacy achievement by engaging in authentic challenging work”, they bring to light the brutal truth that students from low income areas with culturally diverse backgrounds are more likely to have trouble with success in reading.  However, they offer research that shows a few different programs that have proven to turn this situation around by implementing interactive and highly engaging activities that promote an interest in reading and participation. Specifically, this article focuses on a program called “In2 Books” (I2B).  This program allows these struggling students to correspond with adults that have voluntarily joined as pen pals to discuss books. I2B has had great results with improving performance rates at multiple grade levels. There are two keys to the program: the excitement of the interaction (writing a letter and waiting to receive one) and finding a text that is high-quality, age-appropriate, and appealing for the student.

I am not a teacher in a low income area and there is not a very diverse student population.  However, this article has sparked many ideas about different teaching practices I could implement in my classroom.  First, it has further instilled the importance of making sure students are choosing texts that fit them correctly. They are more likely to build adequate reading skills when they are interested and feel confident with the level of book they choose.  I also realized that no matter what age or background there is excitement in engaging in something special and specific to you. Those kids in the I2B program were happy to receive a letter that was just for them. It meant something deeper than just a reading lesson.  This year I am teaching World History to 11th grade students. They are going to learn about many different areas of the world. A pen pal based activity may spark the same interest in them as it did for the students in the article. It would make them more eager to learn the content because they feel a connection.