FACULTY GRANTS COMMITTEE
	REPORT FORM

Name: Dr. Aileen Hower and Dr. Sarah Jackson                                                                                                                                                

Department: EMEE                                                                                                                                       

Title of Grant: “Studying the effect of language and culturally responsive training and the use of strategically chosen picturebooks with in-service teachers who are working with students enrolled in a summer literacy camp”

Date of Award (e.g. Fall 2018): Spring 2021

Category of Award (e.g. Travel to Present): Research, Publication, or Other Grants                                                                                      

Amount of Award: $400                                             Amount Encumbered: All                          

REPORT:

(150 words) An abstract of a presentation or a report of a manuscript can be substituted and attached where appropriate.

Prior to this course being held, graduate students were given an overview of the goals for how to spend the monies on purchasing books for the students who were scheduled to attend the BEST Reading Clinic starting on July 5, 2021.

During the first week of reading camp, after teachers met with their students, they wrote about their initial impressions of their student and their interests. They were then prompted to choose books that were published recently, written by authors of diverse and authentic backgrounds, and on topics that aligned to the students’ family, community, and/or life experiences.

Five books were chosen for each student. The instructors (Drs. Hower and Jackson) provided feedback to teachers regarding their choices, when they might have included more “classic” or traditional texts, to revisit the goals of the grant and initiative, to choose books with which they were potentially less familiar, but that were more representative of the students’ family, community, and/or life experiences and written by authors from marginalized backgrounds. 

Graduate students participated in a book study to develop their thoughts about how to see the potential in their individual student and about opportunities to use positive language in the classroom.

At the end of the reading clinic, graduate students gave the five books to the students with whom they worked, some of whom mentioned that these were the only books they had ever been given to own. Then, at the end of the course, the graduate students wrote reflections about the book choice process and the book study.