Real-World Reading
By Mary Ellen Bafumo

As the school year winds down and the end-of-year testing and report card frenzy nears, summer looms large. If you have the good fortune to be in a school that isn't year-round, and you aren't working on college credit or at a second job, just picture yourself leisurely having breakfast or lunch instead of gulping it down. Imagine the luxury of poring over the daily newspaper and savoring that stack of unopened magazines and catalogs. Such reveries are good for maintaining sanity in the crush of year-end routines.

Getting back to reality, you can double the value of these relaxing activities without missing a moment of your vacation. As you indulge in reading daily newspapers, magazines and even junk mail, you can also stockpile valuable reading and writing materials for next year's students.

Real-world materials
If your classroom is as diverse as most are, you teach students who have difficulty with reading and writing, whatever the grade level, and students who need to be challenged in these areas. You need materials and strategies that differentiate learning. If you read newspapers, junk mail, magazines or catalogs this summer, you'll have these materials at your fingertips. Better still, they're free, motivating, colorful and engaging. They are authentic, real-world materials that bridge the gap from classroom to life. The strategies that go with them can be adapted to work effectively from kindergarten to grade eight and beyond.

What to look for
Start collecting pictures from the materials that you read this summer. You're looking for colorful, high-interest photos, although black-and-white newspaper items work well, too. Look for sports equipment, athletes, cars, bikes, clothing, perfumes, celebrities, politicians, beaches, mountains, families, siblings, mechanics, chefs, physicians, bankers, flowers, animals…you get the idea – anything that is of interest to students. Don't forget food labels, cereal box fronts and fast-food logos.

An extensive assortment
You could amass an extensive assortment of photos during the summer. Junk mail is an especially good source, because some of this mail contains letters that make excellent alternative text. Be sure that whatever you save is age-appropriate. Humane societies send photos of healthy and neglected animals, along with compelling text. Veterans associations pitch service and patriotism with photos and stories of veterans and their families. Local car dealers send photos of the latest-model vehicles along with prices of tune-ups. Health associations mail diagrams of the human body and information about nutrition to promote health. Food stores have weekly ads with photos or drawings that tout their products along with prices and weights. Now that you know the sources, what do you do with all the photos?

How to read photos
Students who are learning to read or have difficulty with text can be empowered through success in "reading" photos. I clip together a series of photos and put them in an envelope, no more than three for young ones. The size of each photo doesn't matter, although larger, easy to identify photos are preferred over small ones. Young children get categorized photos – families, homes and food, for example. Older students get to choose five or more with which they'd like to work. The task is as follows:

1. Ask your students to study the photos carefully.

2. They should then develop a logical sequence for them.

3. Students create an oral story about the photos. It can be real or imagined, serious or humorous.

4. Paste, tape or staple the photos to a storyboard.

5. Students then write the story or dictate the story to you.

6. Each child shares the story with peers and listens to their stories.

7. Audiotape the stories for others to hear as they follow the photos on the storyboard.

This activity can be done individually or in pairs. The resulting sense of accomplishment is often a springboard for more focused effort on learning to read and write. This strategy also works for able students.

Ramp up reading
Challenge students to create poetry or write an original movie script about the photos. Sports lovers will be more motivated to read the sports column than regular reading materials. Even struggling learners display creativity when using these materials and strategies; with able learners, the sky is the limit. Try this activity with your students to ramp up reading and writing instruction in the new school year.

Mary Ellen Bafumo is a Program Director for the Council on Educational Change, an Annenberg legacy group.