Feature
Read on
Kiwanis’ month-long Read Around the World is only an introduction to the rewarding experience of literacy education
By Nicholas Drake
Once upon a time, the ability to read was considered somewhat superfluous to one’s overall worth. It really mattered not if you could grasp the dramatic flourishes of a William Shakespeare play or the high adventure of an Alexander Dumas story. Neither was going to bring home the bacon. Reading was a luxury afforded by those with too much time on their hands. To be literate was to be part of an elite class.
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No more. Today one can ill afford to be illiterate. While the Information Age has besotted us with new media marvels like podcasts, cell phones, streaming video, and movies on demand, it’s also given us e-mail, instant messaging, news crawlers, and blogs. The former requires listening and watching. The latter takes an ability to read. After all, it’s no good IMing your friends if they fail to understand your pithy prose. In one fell swoop the digital revolution has made reading a requirement for social and business success.
Kiwanian leaders have long understood the importance of reading. Since its founding in the early 1900s, Kiwanis has shared innumerable books with children far and wide. Some clubs founded their own reading projects. Others teamed up with well-known national programs. Regardless of the method, Kiwanians have demonstrated strong leadership in local reading initiatives for nearly a century. And that tradition still is going strong.
“Many believe the greatest gift we can give a child is the ability to read,” says Catherine Farley, a member of the Rochester Sunrisers, Minnesota, Kiwanis club, which helped create a Read Around the World project with local school district professionals. “I couldn’t agree more. Reading allows a child to learn, build confidence, grow independent, and ultimately succeed.”
Read Around the World is a Kiwanis International-branded service program designed to encourage Kiwanis members to boost children’s reading skills. The program runs from February 1 to March 3 and can include young children as well as elementary school students. Of course, any time is a good time to share stories with kids. While the official kickoff observance lasts just one month, many clubs participate in reading projects year-round.
Catherine and 50 of her fellow Kiwanians from the Rochester area take their Read Around the World project into elementary schools for the duration of the school year, with heavier emphasis during winter months. So successful is the project that the members are joined by an equal number of non-Kiwanians, bringing the total number of readers to 100 volunteers.
“There are three parts to this project,” Catherine explains. “First, we listen to children in grades one through five as they read aloud books based on their ability levels. Second, volunteers collect used books and organize book drives so students can take books home to read. Third, we promote a ‘Drop Everything and Read’ night. The idea is for children, parents, grandparents, primary caregivers, and others to drop TV, computer games, and so forth to read for one hour on a single given day of the year.”
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Such promotions largely are designed to pique interest among adult readers. Of course it takes a lot more than one hour a year to teach a child to read. Indeed, it takes long-term commitment. Catherine tells of one student who struggled with reading in the third grade.
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“Spencer couldn’t read a full sentence aloud,” Catherine says. “He stuttered a lot. He would ask teachers not to call on him to read in class. So we kept working with him. Three years later he’s reading with me, and I notice he’s no longer stuttering. I ask him about reading in class. He says no. I suggest he read a poem from his favorite book, My Man Blue. He’s says no again, but I can tell he’s interested. Poems have a flow he can follow much easier. However, he thinks his classmates will make fun of him for choosing to read a poem. He’s in fifth grade now. So we get his teacher to make poetry reading a class assignment. Spencer is the first to raise his hand. He gets up, reads his poem, and upon finishing puts his fist in the air and says, ‘Yes!’ He did it. Three years of working with him and he can finally read aloud.”
The Rochester Kiwanians receive a lot of positive feedback about their Read Around the World activities. Jefferson Elementary School principal Ron Pederson called the project, “the simplest, most innovative motivational reading tool to come along in years.” A mother of one child said, “This is an excellent program. Because our daughter considers the books homework, we read a new book every night. Her reading level increased dramatically.” In addition, the International Reading Association and Southeastern Minnesota Reading Council recently honored Catherine with a Celebrate Literacy Award.
Read Around the World began through a Kiwanis International collaboration with First Book and Reading Is Fundamental. Nearly a quarter of all Kiwanis clubs currently report participation in the program. Materials are available in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish languages.
Wil Blechman, 1990-91 Kiwanis International President, believes Read Around the World can be a catalyst for not only enhancing children’s lives but also Kiwanians’ commitment to long-term literacy projects.
“The program provides an excellent opportunity to market the importance of literacy and encourage Kiwanians to be involved by creating a project emphasizing literacy during the period of February 1 to March 3,” Wil says. “Read Around the World by itself serves as a good advertisement for supporting reading programs for children.
“A large part of the success of any Kiwanis program depends on the appropriate provision of education about the substance of the program. If Kiwanians truly recognize the value and absolute need for children to grow into literate adults, I have to believe more and more of our members will be willing to enter into long-range efforts. This program will have no long-term effect unless Kiwanians involve themselves with literacy projects for children over a period of time.”
Among a long list of roles in a career of supporting children, Wil is director of Docs For Tots Florida, president of the Florida Association for Infant Mental Health, and a consultant to the Departments of Health and Children and Families. He stresses getting young children involved in reading before they start school.
“It would be good if more emphasis was placed on the preschool age group,” Wil says. “This is an age range when interest in books can develop or be inhibited, and can have long-lasting good or negative effects.”
The doctor also cautions not to go it alone. He says Kiwanians need to recognize that there are other groups also involved with literacy, some for profit and some not for profit, and collaborations with one or more of these groups may leverage Kiwanis’ collective results tremendously.
“First Book, Reach Out and Read, and Reading Is Fundamental are at least three groups Kiwanians have worked with to the benefit of all,” Wil says. “We should be partnering with libraries and identifying master teachers in reading to help us assess our efforts and results.”
Alix Harper is co-chairperson of the Youth Services Committee for the Kiwanis Club of Miami Beach, Florida, which hosts the Easy Reader Program for two elementary schools. She believes parents can help children thrive in school through ongoing reading activities.
“Research shows that if a parent or caretaker reads to his or her child for at least 30 minutes a day, then the child has a greater chance of succeeding in school,” Alix says. “As Kiwanians, we are role models for children in our communities. Some children have made it clear that their parents do have time to sit down with them and read. Children love opportunities to read with adults. It’s also an opportunity for adults to show children how important reading is in our own lives.”
At least 25 Kiwanians participate in the Easy Reader Program the second Tuesday of every month at noon. South Pointe Elementary School has welcomed club members for several years. There are plans to add two more schools to the list.
Lori Gold, president-elect of the Miami Beach Kiwanis club, was skeptical about the merits of reading programs before attending a Kiwanis International convention, where a reading expert changed her mind.
“I thought reading to kids was a feel-good project for Kiwanians and that it did not teach reading,” Lori explains. “After reflection and hearing a presentation at a Kiwanis convention by a woman from the Fred Rogers Foundation, I changed my view. We value the children. We value reading. Therefore we want them to value reading.”
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Students gather around a Devils Lake, North Dakota, Kiwanian for storytime. |
Glenda Deplazes is secretary of the Kiwanis Club of Devils Lake, North Dakota. Her club began an early-morning reading program in 1998 when local school district business manager Scott Privratsky, also a Kiwanian, asked fellow members to read one day a week during the school year to students at Prairie View Elementary School and Sweetwater Elementary School.
“There are currently 40 Kiwanians who volunteer to read to children on Wednesday mornings from 8 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. before school starts,” Glenda says. “Many parents need to drop off their children early at school so they can arrive to work on time. The Devils Lake Public School System implemented an early morning reading program in the school libraries.
“The program gets positive reviews from all involved, including parents, teachers, students, and school administrators. It give students exposure to many volunteers varying in age and occupations, all the while engaging them in a positive morning activity.”
Past International President Wil Blechman is pleased by the number of Kiwanis clubs showing leadership in supporting reading projects.
“It is obvious clubs are indeed involved significantly,” Wil says.
When asked about the books from his childhood, Wil reacts with surprise and then some obvious glee at the fond memories of reading as a kid.
“You really think I can remember back to the 1930s and 40s?” he says. “I don’t recall ages, but I do know I loved a book called The Castle of Grumpy Grouch. I assume I was in elementary school with that one. As I got older I remember The Hardy Boys, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and The Mysterious Island.”
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