BtB Celebrates Teacher Appreciation Day

Today, on National Teacher Appreciation Day, we would like to sincerely thank all of the teachers with whom we work – our programs would not be possible without your unwavering support!

Often, on this blog and in our programming, we focus on the students and their work, but today we want to focus on one teacher who epitomizes passion and dedication.

Mrs. Quinton [right, in green] and her 10th grade class from CHAH

Ms. Quinton is an English teacher at the Community Academy of the Heights, with classes in both 10th and 7th grade; this year, her high school class completed a program with We Were Here author Matt de la Pena. This was our first time working with Ms. Quinton, a four year teaching veteran, but we were continually awed by her commitment to the students’ success. We caught up with her late last week, to find out what makes a great teacher tick.

“I want my students to love reading and understand what they read,” she told us on the phone, emphasizing, “Proficiency is not the same as love. I want my students to curl up with a book at night.”

Following up on that thought, she adds that in High School, connection really makes a difference in developing a love of reading. “Seeing Matt, asking where he came from, my students are more engaged than before,” she notes. “The tone in my classroom has completely changed.”

Her own love of books prompted her, in part, towards her current career. She was not an education major in college, but a Literature teacher urged her to reconsider, since she was so passionate about the written word. When asked for book recommendations, she mentions Bad Boy and Warriors Don’t Cry, then adds “But I also love Shakespeare! I love Chaucer!”

It’s not just her love of literature that makes Ms. Quinton special, though. Her commitment to improving the neighborhood and the lives of her students is reassuringly heartfelt.

“I always want to help,” she stresses. “When I see something broken I want to fix it.”

Unafraid to ask “how can we do this better?” Ms. Quinton has a kinetic excitement about teaching that translates even over the phone. She believes that teachers are in a unique position to show their students that they can do more, pointing out “Kids pick up on passion.”

Her favorite part of being a teacher is watching students have epiphanies – “when they speak with excitement, when they get fired up, those lightbulb moments when you see them get it,” those are the moments that make teaching special. And with her passion for literature and dedication to her students’ success, we imagine that there are many such moments in Ms. Quinton’s classroom.

Happy National Teacher Appreciation Day, and thank you Ms. Quinton!

It’s National Volunteer Week!

This week is National Volunteer Week, and we want to thank all of the volunteers who make our programs possible. As a small non-profit with big goals, we rely on our many selfless supporters and the time they take to give back to the students who need it most.

From chaperoning field trips to helping students improve their writing, volunteers are an integral part of our mission to create readers for life. In the words of one student, who dedicated his story to the BtB writing mentors, “without them our stories wouldn’t have as much dialogue, detail and imagery.” We know how he feels – without volunteers, our programs wouldn’t have as much one-on-one engagement, or as many opportunities for growth, or such profound connections to the community.

Thank you, from all of us here at BtB.

Writing Mentors help out students at DeWitt Clinton HS

BtB recruited DWC alums to work as writing mentors with Mr. Pultina’s(far left) class.

BtB YEB member Alissa helps out at PS 76 in Harlem.

A BtB writing mentor helps this PS 76 student think hard!

BtB Mentor Brian works with a small group of 10th graders at CHAH.

BtB volunteers chaperoned this fun excursion into Chinatown with third graders at PS 376.

A writing mentor works with 4th graders on their bios.

Another writing mentor helps students begin the revision process.

BtB volunteer encourages and supervises a pair of students learning to use digital cameras.

BtB volunteer helps student look up at architectural details in his neighborhood.

One BtB volunteer per two second grade students on this neighborhood walk!

BtB YEB member Hillary works with 10th graders on their short stories

Volunteer with Behind the Book

We’re rolling out a new feature on our blog today: volunteer opportunities! Click on the “Volunteer Opportunities” link to your left for a comprehensive list of dates for our upcoming programs.

Why volunteer with Behind the Book? We’ll let some of our seasoned volunteers do the talking:

“Thank you for the opportunity to spend a really rewarding hour with those lovely students. I was paired with Mohamed who told me right away, “I don’t think I can do this.” But we persevered, and at the end of the hour, Mohamed had written his OWN (short!) biography of Michael Jordan.

This little story is just one of the many reasons I am so proud to support the great work Behind the Book does, and so grateful for the chance to be a part of it for a day. ” – Casey Cornelius

Casey volunteered in a 3rd grade program where students learned to write biographies with author Andrea Pinkney (they also went on an awesome field trip). Read more about our volunteer program here and be sure to check out the upcoming dates!

Become a BtB Writing Mentor!

On this blog we often highlight author visits or new student books, but today we’d like to take a closer look at a vital part of our programs which often flies under the radar: writing mentors. After the students have produced their first drafts, we bring in volunteers to work with small groups on improving those drafts and producing a final project; an incredibly valuable experience, especially since large classes are increasingly the norm in the high-need schools with whom we partner.

Writing mentors provide students with an opportunity to be reflective on their own work while they polish their pieces in preparation for publishing. As some of you already know, all of our programs are common core aligned, and both reflection and revision are required by the common core ELA standards across grade levels. More fundamentally, though, we believe these skills are an essential part of the writing process, plain and simple. We Were Here author Matt de la Pena confessed to revising his first novel over 100 times before it was finished! (If you’re looking for tips to get started, check out Matt’s 5 rules for revision.)

Being a writing mentor is a unique opportunity to help a student discover the possibilities of their own language. Last week, this blogger had a chance to volunteer at the Community Health Academy of the Heights, where several of our programs are ongoing; I worked with three tenth grade boys on honing their short personal narratives.

At first I was nervous, but with the students in front of me my worries disappeared. They were eager to share their stories and hungry to make them better. We joked about mistakes, discussed the possibilities of metaphors, and examined a book to puzzle out the rules of punctuating dialogue. I gave them time to sit and write, to elaborate on an anecdote or tighten up a conclusion, and then the boys proudly read what they had written; we could all see their stories taking shape. It was only an hour of my time, but the instant gratification of seeing their writing improve made it an intensely rewarding personal experience.

This year, take part in our mission to empower students’ creativity and enhance their literacy skills by volunteering as a BtB writing mentor during National Volunteer Week, April 21-27. Click here for more details on how to join us in creating readers for life!

March is for Role Models

March is Women’s History Month, tomorrow is International Women’s Day, and we’d like to celebrate all of the incredibly talented and dedicated women who have worked with us at BtB to empower students.

Our mission is to engage students in reading and writing because literacy and literature open up worlds parallel to and vastly different from our own. Literature is both a doorway to the wider world and a window to the soul; in stepping out to explore, or looking in to reflect, it is invaluable for young people in the formation of identity.

We all need great role models, especially the young girls with whom we work, and we are proud to bring real, successful, published authors into classrooms to inspire students. So, starting tomorrow and throughout the month of March, we’ll be running a series on this blog featuring our female authors. Be sure to check back often for great books by these amazing women!