ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY - LITERACY BUILDING

LGBTQA+ READERS

Resources for LGBTQA+ Readers

New Resource 2019:

Ridgefield Recovery Village has a resource page dedicated to supporting LGBTQ+ through addiction. It includes guides for individuals and for their loved ones who would like to help but don't know where to start. 

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1. Website
   Gay Alliance has a website created to help educators maintain a safe zone for their LGBTQA+ students. It outlines the program and provides resources for better understanding the issues and how to best address common situations in the classroom. (Gay Alliance, 2016)

2. Website
   Stanford’s Library has a list of books that are made for children which have LGBTQ themes. This could be a good addition to any set of children’s books or picture books in a secondary school classroom, to help build literacy and storytelling abilities in the students.

3. Website
   Bustle has another list like the Stanford list, which focuses on teaching diversity to elementary schoolers. This could also flesh out the collection for a secondary classroom!

4. Strategy
   Open-Mind Portraits (26) – making a portrait of a character and then filling in the thought processes of the character. This builds connection and empathy, and can be shared with classmates in order to promote discussion and develop comprehension of the character as they’re written vs. how they are interpreted.

5. Strategy
   “All About…” Books (1) – making a small book introducing students to different subjects in a general unit of study. This could be done with characters in a book, or with the student themselves, in order to show information through image and also through text, both created by the students themselves.

6. Strategy
   Process Drama (30) – creating a purpose, establishing an imaginary dramatic world, dramatizing the event of the story, and then discussing what happened. This could be done with prior research, so that everyone comes to class with an idea of who their character is, and then can be put together in a large improvised dramatic event. Helps connect people through an artistic endeavor and gives creative souls some space to shine! (Tompkins, 2013)

7. Article
   Human Rights Campaign writes about how badly all students need inclusive sex ed in their schools – especially LGBTQA+, but not limited to them, because the entire school community would benefit from a better understanding of these students!

8. Article
   American Educational Research Association writes about the issues that LGBTQ students face in education, and the statistics that show it. (American Educational Research Association, 2015)

9. Article
   GLSEN - Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network wrote an article about the importance of the day of silence and how we can assist our students in reaching out to their peers. (Renna, 2017)

10. Book
    Perks of Being a Wallflower

11. Play
    Angels in America, Tony Kushner

12. Graphic Novel
    Fun Home

RESISTANT READERS

Resources for Resistant Readers

1. Website
   K-12 Reader has a list of strategies to help engage reluctant readers! (K-12 Reader, 2016)

2. Website
   Education World has another list of strategies to help! (Education World, 2016)

3. Website
   Teach Hub has four simple steps to get reluctant readers to engage with the text.  (Carol Brooke, 2011)

4. Strategy
   Interactive Read-Alouds (19) – reading aloud in the classroom can keep students engaged as the teacher uses dramatic effects and pauses at crucial moments to interact with the students in discussion. This builds comprehension and interest in the subject matter, and builds oral language abilities. (Tompkins, 2013)

5. Strategy
   Reader’s Theatre (36) – parse out a block of text for the students to divide amongst themselves, so that they can perform it in a sort of makeshift spoken-word group poem, or a slam poem. This way, they have time to rehearse with their group, they can decide who reads in what spaces, and it can be exciting to create a performance piece with their classmates rather than just stagnating in a read-aloud classroom activity. (Tompkins, 2013)

6. Strategy
   Word Wall (50) – if we build a physical word wall for the classroom and encourage everyone to use the vocabulary words during the course of the day, they will get used to learning new words and utilizing them in normal conversation! This builds their vocabulary in a fun way, because they can congratulate each other on the new words as they get more familiar with them.

7. Article
   A chapter out of one of my favorite educational books – How to Reach the Hard To Teach, by Jana Echevarría, Nancy E. Frey and Douglas Fisher. Every child achieves when there is an opportunity to learn. (Jana Echevarría, 2016)

8. Article
   Ed Week has an article on the importance of real reading for resistant readers: 

9. Article
   Kids Health also has an article on this topic. (Carol A. Quick, 2013)

10. Book
    Welcome to the Monkey House, Kurt Vonnegut (Short Stories)

11. Play
    She Kills Monsters

12. Graphic Novel
    March, or Maus?

MIDDLE SCHOOL READERS

Middle School Readers

1. Website
   TheatreFolk has a search component that will allow for middle school appropriate play scripts to show up! (Theatre Folk, 2017)

2. Website
   Pioneer Drama boasts the longest list of scripts for middle school-aged students! (Pioneer Drama Service, 2017)

3. Website
   Drama Notebook has a list of scripts that are suitable for a variety of ages, sorted out in the list by genre: holiday plays for young readers, fairy tale plays for middle schoolers, etc. (Drama Notebook, 2017)

4. Strategy
   Hot Seat (18) – great improv exercise as well as literacy building! This one is good for middle and high school students but can be especially helpful for readers who need to build their comprehension and oral language abilities. They become a character, introduce themselves, and the other students listen and then ask questions and make comments. Then, the hot seat character asks another student to summarize the main ideas that had just been said, to make sure everyone was paying attention! (Tompkins, 2013)

5. Strategy
   Prereading Plan (29) – builds vocab, comprehension, and content area understanding. This will help students to get a good exposure to the ideas of the text before they dive in, which is very helpful for students to gain confidence before they get overwhelmed by looking at a dense piece of material. (Tompkins, 2013)

6. Strategy
   Plot Profiles (27) – this helps students engage with the plot points in the story, building their comprehension of the material while helping them to visualize the graphic representation of how they perceive the story to be progressing along. They make a plot point for each chapter of the text and work together as they reflect on each reading assignment, to decide where in the plot these points where.

7. Article
   Hannah Purnell wrote an article summarizing different strategies used by middle school teachers for growing theatre curriculum, in order to support theatre education from earlier than just the high school years.

8. Article
   Harper Lee wrote an article about how to plan a middle school theatre event – Channeling Gumby, as it’s titled, incites exactly the feeling of flexibility and pliability that is required of middle school theatre educators. (Lee, 2016)

9. Article
   Hugh Fletcher wrote an article about producing theatre in the South Bronx, finding appropriate material for his students, and keeping them engaged in the classroom once he’d found something that would work. (Fletcher, 2015)

10. Book
    The Outsiders

11. Play
    Dear Edwina, Jr.

12. Graphic Novel
    Persepolis

WORKS CITED