An interview with Alan Sitomer on engaging reluctant readers

By Alex Kajitani

Alex Kajitani was recently named 2009 California Teacher of the Year.

How many times, when teaching your at-promise students, have you handed out a worksheet to instant replies of, “I don’t get it!”?  Then, logically, you ask, “Did you read the directions?”  And the students mumble, “No...”

Often, getting our students to read even two sentences of directions is a major challenge, let alone a full-length story or book.  The reasons for this challenge aren’t new to us.  Many of our students come from families with parents who never finished high school, and may not be literate or speak English themselves.  In many of my own students’ homes, worries over whether or not they will eat that night far outweigh the need to read a book to the children before bed.

Of course, in a world filled with non-stop video games and television shows, we teachers are also competing against some pretty thrilling alternatives.  Yet, as we know, the ability – and willingness – to read is needed not only to survive in our society, but also to thrive beyond the circumstances from which many of these students want to break free. 

For this month’s column, we turn to Alan Lawrence Sitomer, 2007 California Teacher of the Year, and author of the 2008 book, The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez, the fourth in a series of not-to-be-missed teen-targeted novels.  Teaching literature to at-promise students at a Los Angeles-area high school, Sitomer quickly grew frustrated with their lack of motivation to read.  He realized that a striking shortage of interesting reading options targeted to this student population fueled their disinterest, and he set out on a mission to write his own books that could get his at-promise students excited about reading.  He now speaks around the country about how to engage reluctant readers in the classroom and beyond. 

I recently interviewed Sitomer, who revealed some invaluable ideas and strategies for engaging our at-promise students in reading – and expanding their horizons in the process…
 
AK: Why is reading especially important for at-promise students?

ALS:   Usually I like to endear myself to people by starting off with a little joke when I begin interviews such as these, but the fact is, this topic offers very little room for humor. I simply could not be more emphatic. Literacy is the great divider between the Haves and Have-Nots of society. Study after study proves that it’s not race, it’s not gender, it’s not cultural background, nor whether a child has two parents in a home. Nope. The number one, foremost, leading indicator dividing those who eventually escape poverty and end up in gainful employment and those who end up living in the lowest rungs of society’s socioeconomics comes down to literacy.

Do your kids read? It’s a simple question but one with profound and complex implications. Kids who do not read (and write) well are handicapped by a ceiling over their career opportunities that unfortunately lasts a lifetime. Kids must read – all kids. But at-promise kids (a term I really like, by the way) are especially important because many times they are stepping up to the batter’s box with two strikes against them anyway. Reading is essential. No joke!

AK: How do you find literature that resonates with this population?

ALS: Instead of being a “teller” – and by that I mean a teacher who tells my students what they ought to enjoy – I view myself as a “listener.” Really, that’s all it takes. I allow students to tell me what their interests are, where their curiosities are piqued, and then I do my best to match books with their likes. I mean the fact is, there has been a revolution in YA literature over the past decade. (Bless Harry Potter, right? I mean whoever heard of kids pulling all-night benders to drink down 900 page books with no pictures before Ms. Rowling came along. She showed us quite clearly: if you build it, they will come.)

Obviously, my experience in these matters helps a bit as well. Matter of fact, so many people ask me this question all the time, I have taken the initiative create a literacy curriculum that empowers educators to bring awesome YA books that kids love back into the classroom. For literature that is proven to resonate with kids who view themselves as reluctant readers, I have just the ticket. You can go to www.TheBookJam.com to find out more.

AK: You wrote your own books focusing on at-promise students.  What was your inspiration?

ALS: When I first started teaching, my students seemed to feel bereft of titles that spoke directly to them – so I wrote The Hoopster, a book I had a feeling my most reluctant students (my boys, especially) would want to read. And did they ever. I went from showing a rough draft manuscript of this book around my school to a three-book publishing deal with Disney all because, as it turns out, I was correct in my thinking that kids will read if they are offered materials that speak to them. (And in that way, how different are they from most of “us”?)

Since that time I have won all kinds of crazy teaching awards, been introduced to thousands of fantastic educators from coast to coast and even had one of my recent books, Homeboyz, named a Top Ten Book of the Year for Reluctant Readers by the American Library Association. Obviously, a person can’t plan for any of this kind of stuff. And still, sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe all that has transpired. Yet, at the end of the day I am still doing what brought me to this job in the first place. I love kids, I love books, and I love teaching. Turning on light bulbs for kids is a spectacular thrill for me and, for me, there is really no better feeling than having a young reader tell me that one of my works was the first complete book they had ever read cover to cover. Each book leads to another but as educators, we have got to do a better job across our nation of getting the ball rolling for these students. This idea revs my engine every day. 

AK: Your mission is to “Engage reluctant readers.”  Tell us more about what this means to you.

ALS: My whole career is dedicated to opening doors – particularly for young people. Simply put, I believe in the power of empowerment. And when I encourage reluctant readers to expand their intellects by benefiting in all the multitude of mental ways that one benefits from reading a book (benefits, by the way, that are well documented through scores of research by really smart people with PhD’s and the such), I believe I am giving kids more feathers for their wings so that they can fly high in their lives. (And featherless birds are a pretty ugly sight, you must admit.) We need our kids to do well and we need them to have passion.

AK: How does all of this apply to teachers of at-promise students who don’t specifically teach literature (like us math teachers!)?

ALS: Stop caring so much about what your kids are reading and realize that the oomph needs to be on just getting kids to read. After all, as an adult I never judge the literary quality of what other adults have by their bedsides. Some people read historical dramas, some read business books, some read Charles Dickens and some read Harlequin Romances. Really, what do I care? (And who am I to judge, anyway?) But when it comes to students, society – and teachers especially – are a bunch of haughty snoots. We think that if kids are not reading Book X then the sky is falling. But it’s simply not true. Magazines like Sport Illustrated can lead to short novels by authors like Walter Dean Meyers, which might then lead one day to The Great Gatsby. Who knows?

I believe in building bridges of relevance and accessibility for students and building a sustainable love for reading because once hooked, it’s a lifelong habit. And a good one, too. Again, I don’t really care what kids are reading as long as they are reading, and this mentality helps teachers across the curriculum because a rising tide lifts all boats. Have you seen the state tests? Before the math tests are reading comprehension and vocabulary tests. This is why turning kids into readers of something helps all subject area educators. A more proficient reader will inevitably do better in science, social studies and so on because so much of school – and life -- comes through the pipeline of the printed word. Of course there are exceptions, but on the whole, kids who read well inevitably do better than kids who do not across the board.

Alex Kajitani, M.A., is known around the country as “The Rappin’ Mathematician,” and was recently named the 2009 California Teacher of the Year (and a Top 4 Finalist for National Teacher of the Year).  His company, Math Raps, won the “Making a Difference” Award at last year’s RAPSA Conference.  Visit www.MathRaps.com to check out some of his rap songs!

Alan Lawrence Sitomer is California’s 2007 Teacher of the Year, an inner-city high school English teacher, professor in the Graduate School of Education at Loyola Marymount University, and a nationally renowned speaker specializing in engaging reluctant readers. Along with four young adult novels, he is the author of a classroom text HIP-HOP POETRY AND THE CLASSICS, and a teacher’s methodology book, TEACHING TEENS AND REAPING RESULTS IN A WI-FI, HIP-HOP, WHERE-HAS-ALL-THE-SANITY-GONE WORLD. Learn more and tap into the host of free educational resources at www.AlanSitomer.com.