Keynote speaker shares pandemic teaching story

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The Plum Creek Children’s Literacy Festival looked a little different this year.

The festival is usually held in the fall. Authors and illustrators come to the Concordia University campus to meet with children and adults in a variety of sessions. The 2020 festival was postponed because of COVID-19 and held April 15-17 instead.

Illustrators and authors visited area schools to meet students April 15 and 16. The adult sessions were April 17 at CU, with some attending via Zoom.

This year’s keynote speaker, Regie Routman, presented her remarks via Zoom at the April 17 luncheon. Routman is a literacy expert and most recently published “Literacy Essentials: Engagement, Excellence, and Equity for All Learners.”

Routman talked about the importance of storytelling and what the main story is that a reader takes.

She said educators need to be cheerleaders and coaches when it comes to reading and described her experience during the pandemic.

In June, she received a call from Ted, age 53, a man who had just lost his job and who struggled with reading. Ted wanted Routman to help him make his life more meaningful, she said.

Routman checked in with Ted every day, asking him how he is, writing down his answers and showing them to him so he could see what he said.

Using just two telephones, the two have met twice weekly for the past 10 months. Ted has a learning disability, but Routman said she changed her mindset from learning disabled to differently abled.

“We have to be opportunity makers,” she said. “We have to create opportunities to succeed.”

Finding the right text is a key to success, and that means a teacher has to get to know the learner.

“When you find the right book and the right support, kids learn to read,” she said.

Routman said she started by finding out what Ted could do. She found out he liked music, so their first book together was “Who I Am” by Pete Townsend.

After “Born a Crime” by Trevor Noah didn’t hold Ted’s attention, Routman and Ted read “Father Soldier Son,” a story about someone who had overcome tragedy. Routman said Ted could identify with that.

Then they read “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway. Ted loved it, Routman said.

She read the book aloud, and Ted followed along. It took about two months to get through the book.

Routman uses other tools to help Ted improve his reading skills. Audio recordings of the book are a great resource, she said. Ted can listen to the reader and follow along in his copy of the book.

He also reads aloud at home, something that makes him feel good, Routman said.

The key to improving reading skills is practice, Routman said.

Ted’s first book choice was “A Promised Land” by President Barack Obama. After reading the prologue, Ted decided the recording would be easier.

He then selected “One Life” by Megan Rapinoe because he heard a review of it on NPR, Routman said. She said Ted felt he could relate to Rapinoe and thought the book could help him make sense of life.

Routman said she’s expanded what counts as text, adding the crawl on TV news channels, newspapers and other print materials. She said it’s important to honor the choices a reader makes, but teachers can looks for others who can help the reader.

“Get them interested in a story they can relate to,” Routman said.

She said teachers have to love their students and evaluate them in ways they can succeed. Teachers should also celebrate their successes, she said.

“We’re not just teaching reading, we’re teaching readers. We’re not just teaching writing, we’re teaching writers,” she said. “We’re teaching human beings.”