Module 6: Incorporating Writing in Reading Instruction
Introduction
In Module 5, we discussed the need for young African American men to produce their own media. Here, we will examine their need to produce their own texts. According to Dr. Alfred Tatum of the University of Illinois-Chicago, we have to look at African American male literacy in a historical context to fully understand this need. In the late 1800's, African Americans began forming gender specific literary societies across the country to collect resources, educate members, and prepare the members to participate in public platforms. As you can see, the writing of members of these societies was very purposeful.
Dr. Tatum has identified four reasons why African American men wrote historically:
We need to focus on these historical reasons for writing because they are the same reasons African American male youth should be writing today, but this is not what writing instruction often looks like in schools. These children and teens need to have opportunities to express themselves through writing, to process their experiences and relate them to the experiences of others. They need to have an audience beyond that of the teacher or the anonymous assessors of state writing tests.
As librarians, we tend to focus more on the reading aspect of literacy, but the development of writing skills has the added benefits of giving purpose to reading and helping children and teens relate to authors and literary techniques and themes. School librarians already provide instruction that could possibly be adapted to meet the needs identified above, but in both school and public libraries, programming provides a wonderful opportunity to help young African American men develop their writing abilities.
Dr. Tatum has identified four reasons why African American men wrote historically:
- To define self.
- To become resilient.
- To engage others.
- To build capacity.
We need to focus on these historical reasons for writing because they are the same reasons African American male youth should be writing today, but this is not what writing instruction often looks like in schools. These children and teens need to have opportunities to express themselves through writing, to process their experiences and relate them to the experiences of others. They need to have an audience beyond that of the teacher or the anonymous assessors of state writing tests.
As librarians, we tend to focus more on the reading aspect of literacy, but the development of writing skills has the added benefits of giving purpose to reading and helping children and teens relate to authors and literary techniques and themes. School librarians already provide instruction that could possibly be adapted to meet the needs identified above, but in both school and public libraries, programming provides a wonderful opportunity to help young African American men develop their writing abilities.
Read: The Power of Writing
Top 5 Reasons Writing is Important for Kids by Pam Allyn: In this blog post, Pam Allyn (author and founder of LitWorld) gives us 5 reasons why children need to be writing more, describes several U.S. Dept. of Education studies that demonstrate the value of writing for children, and shows what writing can do to improve the quality of children's lives.
Simple Writing Assignment Improves Minority Student Grades by ScienceDaily: This brief article from ScienceDaily describes a 2006 study to determine the academic and psychological impact of asking middle school students to write about values that are important to them multiple times over the course of a school year. The study found that these writing prompts had a particularly positive impact on African Americans' grade point averages and sense of adequacy and success.
Simple Writing Assignment Improves Minority Student Grades by ScienceDaily: This brief article from ScienceDaily describes a 2006 study to determine the academic and psychological impact of asking middle school students to write about values that are important to them multiple times over the course of a school year. The study found that these writing prompts had a particularly positive impact on African Americans' grade point averages and sense of adequacy and success.
Explore: Young African American Males Write
Now, let's look at some examples of writing programs African American male teens have found success.
AFRICAN AMERICAN ADOLESCENT MALE SUMMER LITERACY INSTITUTE
For the last five summers, Dr. Alfred Tatum and the University of Illinois-Chicago have hosted a summer writing institute for Black male students between the ages of 12 and 17 in which they participate in a writing community of brother authors. There, he charges them all to:
LA YOUTH: THE NEWSPAPER BY AND ABOUT TEENS
This youth based newspaper operated for 25 years between 1988 and 2013 when the program ended due to lack of funding. At it's height, LA Youth produced six issues yearly, had a readership of approximately 350,000 people, and maintained a staff of almost 100 teens per year including young African American men. In addition to the website, print issues were distributed to schools and public libraries across the Los Angeles area. The site maintains an archive of past issues you can browse through to find additional samples of African American adolescent male writing.
AFRICAN AMERICAN ADOLESCENT MALE SUMMER LITERACY INSTITUTE
For the last five summers, Dr. Alfred Tatum and the University of Illinois-Chicago have hosted a summer writing institute for Black male students between the ages of 12 and 17 in which they participate in a writing community of brother authors. There, he charges them all to:
- Write prudently and unapologetically, not only for yourself, but for future generations.
- Become part of a storied lineage of Black authors.
- Create a new national vision by putting [your] voice and vision on record…write new beginnings. (Tatum, 2011)
LA YOUTH: THE NEWSPAPER BY AND ABOUT TEENS
This youth based newspaper operated for 25 years between 1988 and 2013 when the program ended due to lack of funding. At it's height, LA Youth produced six issues yearly, had a readership of approximately 350,000 people, and maintained a staff of almost 100 teens per year including young African American men. In addition to the website, print issues were distributed to schools and public libraries across the Los Angeles area. The site maintains an archive of past issues you can browse through to find additional samples of African American adolescent male writing.
Activity
In the introduction for this module, you looked at Dr. Tatum's list of reasons why African American men wrote historically. For this activity, you will examine the types of writing you do, look for the purposes behind it, and compare your reasons for writing with those of modern African American male writers. Knowing why you write and why African American men are currently writing will help you design authentic and relevant writing instruction and programming for your African American male students and patrons.
- Think of the types of writing you do, both personally and professionally. Don't limit yourself to just the "most important" writing--ANY type of writing counts. In my case, writing would include letters, emails, websites, lesson plans, newsletters, policy statements, texts, social media posts, flyers for events, and the occasional poem or short story.
- Now brainstorm a list of reasons you have for writing in these ways. You may find it helpful to go back and look at some examples of your own writing to identify the purposes behind each one. For example, you might look at a Facebook status update and consider why you wrote it and what you hoped your audience of "friends" might take away from it.
- Find an example or two of recent writing by an African American male writer. It does not have to be a lengthy example--an article, poem, song, short story, or blog post would be fine for this task. Think deeply about the reasons the writer might have had for writing this piece and for publishing it in this specific medium. Consider both what the writer personally might have gained by writing the piece and what his audience might gain by reading it.
- Compare your list of reasons for writing with the reasons you identified in the sample you chose for step 3. Are there any similarities or differences? Why? Think about writing instruction or programming you may have done with African American male youth in the past. Did the writing they were asked to do reflect any of these reasons? Would the participants be able to identify the reasons they were writing? How can you use this knowledge to make writing programs or instruction more purposeful for African American male youth?
Summary
Writing, when made authentic and relevant to the life of the writer, has been proven to be very helpful for children and teens by allowing them to explore and develop their own identities, learn more about the world around them, communicate and connect with others, and express their own ideas and voices. It also helps them develop their reading comprehension skills by giving them tools to relate to authors and better understand literary themes and techniques as they try to incorporate them into their own writing.
For African American male youth, writing has an important added historical connection to the literary societies that developed after the civil war and to its use in the civil rights movement. Librarians can take advantage of the possibilities writing presents for the advancement of literacy skills by offering additional writing instruction and programming aimed at young African American men that is relevant to their lives and gives them further opportunities for genuine self reflection and expression.
RESOURCE
Tatum, A.W. (2011). Brother author: Writings from the African American Male Summer Literacy Institute. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/tsr/too-important-to-fail/brother-author/
For African American male youth, writing has an important added historical connection to the literary societies that developed after the civil war and to its use in the civil rights movement. Librarians can take advantage of the possibilities writing presents for the advancement of literacy skills by offering additional writing instruction and programming aimed at young African American men that is relevant to their lives and gives them further opportunities for genuine self reflection and expression.
RESOURCE
Tatum, A.W. (2011). Brother author: Writings from the African American Male Summer Literacy Institute. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/tsr/too-important-to-fail/brother-author/