Posted on Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Twenty-one ¾¨Ó㴫ý elementary education majors participated in the 22nd National African American Read-In Feb. 23 at Farrell Elementary School.
The students are enrolled in a literacy methods class taught by Dr. Charlene Klassen Endrizzi, ¾¨Ó㴫ý professor of education.
The read-in is sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English to help students value diverse children's authors. ¾¨Ó㴫ý pre-service teachers selected books by African American authors to share with students in grades one-six. Each classroom received a copy of the book that was read, donated through funding from ¾¨Ó㴫ý's Drinko Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
"During the read-in, I could feel the students' cultural pride," said junior Genevieve Sieckowski. "They felt valued and loved."
Seniors Jenisa Jeblee and Lauren Ritter led far-ranging discussions on questions from fourth-graders that included "Why have blacks and whites not been viewed as equal in the U.S.?"
"Children can teach us so much," said junior Jessica Pardee. "We just have to be willing to listen."
In addition to current ¾¨Ó㴫ý students, several ¾¨Ó㴫ý alumni participated: Farrell Elementary literacy coaches Nicole Stabile Lombardi and Valerie Morrison organized the read-in in collaboration with Klassen Endrizzi; Japraunika Wright is elementary assistant principal; and Carole Borkowski is elementary principal.
Klassen Endrizzi noted the contrast between the experiences of recent ¾¨Ó㴫ý guest speaker Jonathan Kozol in the 1960s and this read-in 46 years later.
"In his first year of teaching in Boston, Kozol wanted his African American fourth-graders to know and love black authors, so he shared the work of Langston Hughes," Klassen Endrizzi said. "The following day, he was fired. Today, our ¾¨Ó㴫ý students went to Farrell with similar intentions and received rave reviews from students, teachers, and administrators."
"We have grown as a nation, yet racial tension still exists," Klassen Endrizzi added. "Our pre-service teachers offered a powerful demonstration of educators consciously choosing to share children's books representing marginalized people outside mainstream America."
Klassen Endrizzi, who has been with ¾¨Ó㴫ý since 1993, earned undergraduate and master's degrees from Fresno Pacific College and Ph.D. from the University of Arizona. She is the author of Becoming Teammates: Teachers and Families as Literacy Partners.
Contact Klassen Endrizzi at (724) 946-7189 or e-mail endrizck@westminster.edu for more information.
