Literature Talk and Literacy Fact

Literature Talk
Recommended Nonfiction Book:
Rodriguez, G., & Glatzer, J. (2012). The Pregnancy Project: A Memoir. New York, NY: Simon &
Schuster.
Brief Summary:
Gaby fakes a pregnancy her senior year in high school to evaluate and observe the reactions of
the people around her, including in her school, community, and within her own family.
However, the book is not about teen pregnancy. It is about stereotypes and the labels put onto
people. This book is about rising above above what people expect (or dont expect) you to
accomplish and being true to yourself.
Recommendations for the English Classroom:

Conversations about equality, social status, what it means to be an individual

Empowering students to make a difference beyond the classroom
Anti-bullying workshops
Extended book analysis and discussion
Just about anything, really (Its an awesome book!)

Literacy Fact
Sources:
11 Facts about Literacy in America. (n.d.). Retrieved February 6, 2016, from
https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-literacy-america
Facts about Children's Literacy. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2016, from
http://www.nea.org/grants/facts-about-childrens-literacy.html
Impact of Illiteracy. (n.d.). Retrieved February 6, 2016, from
http://www.literacypartners.org/literacy-in-america/impact-of-illiteracy
Facts:
ONE IN FOUR CHILDREN IN AMERICA GROW UP WITHOUT LEARNING TO READ. Children who
read at home have a substantial advantage over children who do not. According to the National

MELISSA COOK
Teaching Reading in the Secondary School

Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a division of the United States Department of Education, the
more types of reading materials in a home, the higher students are in reading proficiency. They also
found that the more a student reads for fun on their own time, the higher their reading scores.
However, the percentage of 12th grade students reporting that they never or hardly ever read for
fun increased from 9% to 16% in less than 10 years. A poll of middle school and high school students
found that 56% of young people say they read more than 10 books a year. Two-thirds of students who
cannot read proficiently by the end of fourth grade will end up in jail or on welfare. Over 70% of
Americas inmates cannot read above a fourth grade level. More than 60% of all inmates are functionally
illiterate. This means they lack the literacy necessary for coping with most jobs and many everyday
situations. Nearly 85% of the juveniles who face trial in the juvenile court system are functionally
illiterate. The less education someone has, the lower their numeracy abilities, and, therefore, the lower
their financial skills are. A parents educational level is the greatest indicator of whether their child will
grow up in poverty. According to literacypartners.org, low literacy costs $80 billion in lost worker
productivity; $106 236 billion due to low health literacy; 77 million Americans have only a 2-in-3
chance of correctly reading an over-the-counter drug label correctly or understanding their childs
vaccination chart; $225 billion in unemployment benefits, lost taxes, and crime. Globally, illiteracy can
be linked to gender abuse (including female infanticide and female circumcision), extreme poverty (less
than $1 per day), and high infant mortality and the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other preventable
infectious diseases.

MELISSA COOK
Teaching Reading in the Secondary School