The month of March is National Reading Month, which kicks off with a celebration of reading through the National Education Association’s (NEA) Read Across America Week. In years past, many of the Reich College of Education’s (RCOE) students have volunteered their time to visit classrooms to read books.
As part of the Outreach and Philanthropy Committee of the Appalachian Educators Club, elementary education majors and committee co-chairs, Madison Goodwin and Sydney Owens, led the project “App Ed Reads” to create a video collection of 23 students reading children's books aloud for PK-5 students in celebration of the Read Across America event.
"Encouraging a love of literacy is paramount for our future teachers,” said Goodwin. “By sharing social justice conscious books with local classrooms, students are able to practice analyzing books for their inclusivity and diversity, as well as how to access the university’s Instructional Materials Center (IMC)."
Each of the books selected was published by Scholastic Inc. with redistribution permissions acquired by the Director of PSP, Dr. Betsy Rosenbalm, and available for student check out in the IMC. Students then pre-recorded videos of them reading their selected book. The videos were uploaded to the RCOE’s YouTube channel, and a specific playlist was shared with elementary teachers in the PSP districts.
“It is so exciting to see our Appalachian Educators Club making connections with our P-5 partners,” said Rosenbalm. “Engaging with students through literature benefits both our pre-service teachers as the readers and our elementary students as the listeners. In this unique project, everyone is a learner!”
In addition to Rosenbalm, librarian Jewel Davis assisted with this project. "Because of their help, we were able to share resources for reading material that introduced important relevant topics including social justice and related material,” said Owens. “This also provided an opportunity for our pre-service teachers to get involved in reading enrichment for the students in our public partnership schools."
The PSP is a strong collaborative program between the university and area public schools to improve education. Other programs through the PSP are the Mountaineer Readers program, the NBCTApps program, APPVisory and Program Advisory Teams, the North Carolina New Teacher Support Program, and biannual Partnership Mini-Grant opportunities.
Housed in the James Center for Student Success and Advising, the Appalachian Educators Club is open to all education majors and anyone who is interested in supporting education. This project was part of the Outreach Committee, which plans events and activities around K-12 school visits to campus.
The IMC is a model Pre-K – 12 school media center serving App State students, faculty, and staff, as well as area educators and community members. The center is located in the Belk Library.
Check out the complete list of readers and books:
Reader | Major | Hometown | Title | Author | Illustrator | Publisher |
Alexus Adamiak | Elementary Education | Hickory, North Carolina | “The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet” | Carmen Agra Deedy | Eugene Yelchin | Scholastic |
Katie Adams | English, Secondary Education | Randleman, North Carolina | “The Greatest Treasure” | Demi | Scholastic | |
Journey Barnes | Elementary Education | Denver, North Carolina | Best Friends in the Universe | Stephanie Watson | LeUyen Pham | Scholastic |
Brook Boyd | Elementary Education | Mount Pleasant, North Carolina | What If You Had Animal Eyes? | Sandra Markle | Howard McWilliam | Scholastic |
Adam Caliri | Middle Grades Education | Aberdeen, North Carolina | “The Three Questions” | Jon J. Muth | Jon J. Muth | Scholastic |
Anna Curry | Elementary Education | Maiden, North Carolina | “Hector and Humming Bird” | Nicholas J. Firth | Nicholas J. Firth | Scholastic |
Bailey Davis | Elemetnary Education | Carthage, North Carolina | “Zen Shorts” | Jon J. Muth | Jon J. Muth | Scholastic |
Madison Dever | Elementary Education | Charlotte, North Carolina | “Waddle, Waddle!” | James Proimos | James Proimos | Scholastic |
Jenny Eure | Elementary Education | Winston Salem, North Carolina | “All Because You Matter” | Tami Charles | Bryan Collier | Scholastic |
Erin Fletcher | Elementary Education | Gastonia, North Carolina | “Wild, Wild Hair!” | Nikki Grimes | George Cephas Ford | Scholastic |
Leo Fowell | Elementary Education | Charlotte, North Carolina (originally from Auckland, New Zealand) | “Happy Birthday Martin Luther King!” | Jean Marzollo | J. Brian Pinkney | Scholastic |
“”Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem” | Amanda Gorman | Loren Long | Scholastic | |||
Katelyn Fullbright | Elementary Education | Asheville, North Carolina | “Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion” | Alex T. Smith | Alex T. Smith | Scholastic |
“Preaching to the Chickens: The Story of Young John Lewis” | Jabari Asim | E.B. Lewis | Scholastic | |||
Amy Henry | Elementary Education | Locust, North Carolina | “What If You Had Animal Feet?” | Sandra Markle | Howard McWilliam | Scholastic |
Maddie Huffman | Middle Grades Education | Raleigh, North Carolina | “Amanda Bean’s Amazing Dream” | Cindy Neuschwander | Liza Woodruff | Scholastic |
Taylor Larson | Middle Grades Education | Chapel Hill, North Carolina | “The Hunterman and the Crocodile” | Baba Wagué Diakité | Baba Wagué Diakité | Scholastic |
Sydney McKeaver | Elementary Education | Mount Airy, North Carolina | “The Marshmellow Incident” | Judi Barrett | Ron Barrett | Scholastic |
Matisse Notte | Theatre Arts Education | Cornelias, North Carolina | “A Dance Like Starlight:One Ballerina’s Dream” | Kristy Dempsey | Floyd Cooper | Scholastic |
Laura O’Sullivan | Biology, Secondary Education | Centralia, Illinois | “The Greatest Treasure” | Demi | Scholastic | |
Rebecca Pollard | Elementary Education | Winston Salem, North Carolina | “Robinson” | Peter Sís | Peter Sís | Scholastic |
Reagan Radford | Elementary Education | Wilmington, North Carolina | “And I Love You” | Ruth Krauss | Steven Kellogg | Scholastic |
Tori Shore | Elementary Education | Pfafftown, North Carolina | “Happy Birthday Martin Luther King!” | Jean Marzollo | J. Brian Pinkney | Scholastic |
Julie Stubbs | Spanish Education | Salisbury, North Carolina | “Will You Be My Friend?” | Nancy Tafuri | Nancy Tafuri | Scholastic |
“A Story for Hippo: A Book About Loss” | Simon Puttock | Alison Bartlett | Scholastic | |||
Brady Warlow | Theatre Arts Education | Pfafftown, North Carolina | “Maybe Tomorrow” | Charlotte Agell | Ana Ramírez González | Scholastic |
Emma Weeber | Special Education | Milton, Massachusetts | “March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World” | Christine King Farris | London Ladd | Scholastic |
App Ed Reads
