I am a teacher at the Juvenile Detention Center. Unfortunately, incarceration leaves my students with a lot of downtime. Fortunately, they become avid readers while here. Many of my students are below grade level in reading and I love to offer them high interest/low readability books. The kids will check books out of my classroom library (which I have built using my personal funds and donations from friends) and take books back to their rooms to read at night. My students will put their names on a waiting list to be next in line to check out a classroom favorite (many Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Bluford novels).
Reading is the key to a successful future for my students. Reading and academic success go hand in hand. The Department of Justice states, “The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is welded to reading failure.” If I can help my students increase their literacy level while they are with me, they will go back to school more confident and ready to achieve. According to a special report, Early Warning, from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, “…the process of dropping out begins long before high school. It stems from loss of interest in middle school, often triggered by retention in grade…and that, in a great many cases, is the result of not being able to read proficiently as early as fourth grade.”
I want to build a larger library, with more choices, and a reading program that will entice my students to read more and become more successful in their educational programs.
Students will be offered incentives for books read and book reports completed. They will be able to earn bookmarks, stickers, pencils, and a pizza party to celebrate their achievements. Certificates will be given to them that they can present to their parents and judges.
I want to be able to build a reading corner with a shelf overflowing with teen novels. I want students to learn to love reading as much as I do.