This year the Literacy Enrichment classes created a reading buddy connection with a local elementary school.  Every other Friday, two classes would walk about a half mile to a feeder elementary school and meet with selected readers from grades kindergarten to fifth.  The two classes designed a shirt that they would wear over the Fridays that were designated reading buddy days.  These shirts were paid for my the faculty under the "buy one, give one" idea.
    The first Friday our students met and got to know their new reading pal and read a pre-selected book to them.  From there on, the high school students always came prepared with other books to read, or some sort of activity that they selected to help their buddy with specific skills.  Other times, the elementary students would bring assignments that they needed help with or books they wanted to share with their buddy.  When it was raining, our kids insisted on walking over to meet with their buddies.  They knew that they were expected and did not want to disappoint the younger kiddos.   
    Well, our last meeting was this past Friday.  A local business donated a hundred dollars to purchase gifts, snacks, and materials for pictures to give to each elementary reading buddy.  The high school students created interview questions about the reading buddy program in preparation for a writing assignment.  Using the interview responses as evidence, each high school student will write an argument in whether or not to continue the reading buddy program. 
    As the the teachers involved reflected on the this program without the aid of the students, we realized that this was important connection not only to help struggling readers, but also to give the high school students the opportunity to be compassionate, empathic, and become mentors to younger students.  The students in the Literacy Enrichment classes are not the students who are most often called on to in those roles, this was a chance for them to grow as citizens and responsible students.  We are hoping that their argumentative papers will reflect some of those same ideas. 

I



got to spend the morning with Joshua Cohen, author of the award winning book Leverage.  He was fabulous to present with as he talked about bullying and his personal stories in dealing with this confusing and difficult topic.  He has has a great sense of humor, and I look forward to working with him again in the near future.  I would LOVE to get him to SKYPE or visit NHS to talk about reading and bullying with our student athletes. 

An inspiring man, scholar, and educator, Ernest Morrell does it all.  It was an awesome conference and this man was a big part of its success.  Looking forward to next year in D.C. already!