by Kevin T. McNulty

Calabasas Middle School

Rio Rico, AZ

Sitting next to my dad as a six or seven year old, we were watching T.V. one night when I started to doze. My Mom, on the love seat, caught me, and said "Kevin, go to bed." "No, no Mom, I'm o.k." and she patiently nodded and smiled. A few minutes later I started blinking again and was soon fast asleep when my Dad said slightly more sternly, "Kevin, go to bed." Knowing that argument was as futile as staying conscious another five minutes, I resigned the fight and started for bed. Being in the habit of kissing both my father and mother good night, I leaned over and kissed my Dad first for reasons of proximity. Not quite awake, I made my way back around the coffee table, and as I was sleepwalking past the voice coming out of the T.V., I placed my hand on the T.V. and bent over to kiss it good night. Realizing what I was doing, I stopped myself before the kiss was ever actually delivered, and when I turned to see if my parents caught me, I beheld an eruption of laughter that embarrassed me and made me laugh at the same time. I quickly kissed my mom good night and rushed off to bed.

I tell this story toward the beginning of every year, and it never fails to loosen my students up. They get such a kick out the fact that I, Mr. McNulty, Eighth Grade Language Arts Teacher, Speech and Drama Moderator, and boys basketball coach came so close to kissing a T.V. good night. How ridiculous! They know it is true; they know that they could call my parents who would chortlingly corroborate the story. I laugh too; it's a funny story. I have told it to so many classes now that I have to feign my embarrassment about it. The truth is I enjoy their laughter and see it as a positive sign that these students and I will be able to communicate throughout the school year. It is about appreciating a good story, whether it is told or read, and by my practices as a teacher, I try to cultivate this appreciation within them.

The Errant Kiss story is not the only one I tell throughout the year. I have a whole file of stories in my head. Many have made it to print, many are part of my oral tradition, and many more have not yet emerged from my fictional recesses. With story-telling I try to model the ancient art, and at the same time teach it. When they have a story they want to share, I always try to make a big deal out of it. Whether the student and I are one on one, or an emboldened young man or woman decides that they have a story worth telling before the whole class, I ask probing questions and display the appropriate reactions and emotions whenever I can, even when it doesn't come so naturally. We always have a lot of fun, and storytelling is certainly one of the most interesting ways to get to know my students.

From this oral practice I try to help my students appreciate the printed word as well. When we share a story, I talk with them about it as we read and thus combine the oral with the written to make the experience more rich. I help the author paint a picture in their young minds. I help the readers see what the author might have seen when he or she wrote the piece. I answer their questions with my own interpretations, and I pour my own energy into the reading as I expect the same of them. Now I have embarked on the project of getting my students to do the same with other students.

Recently seventeen of my eighth grade students embarked on a cross-age tutoring project in which they began reading a book with a sixth grade partner. After taking the many logistical steps it takes to setup a program of this sort, I paired up my students with sixth grade students whose teachers felt they needed a little extra help in reading and other skills. We began meeting on chilly November mornings, and after a couple of to-get-to-know-you meetings, I told them to go to the library where they were to check out a book that looked interesting to them both, and one that looked like it was at about the appropriate reading level for the younger of the two. I also recommended that they pick a fictional work knowing that the power of a story could really cement the type of relationships we were trying to establish between each of the participants.

Originally I told them to pick stories because it would be a good starting point for the students to begin working together. I knew the benefits of beginning with a book would be manifold. The stories would give the students shared experiences which they could talk about and enjoy commonly; more advanced reading would be modeled for the students trying to improve their own reading skills; second language learners would be hearing L2 daily and thus work on pronunciation and comprehension; oral reading skills would be practiced regularly and consequently improved; and a long list of other benefits might also be realized. And over the course of four weeks the students have shown that they are improving their skills.

So recently I asked my eighth grade students what they thought of starting in the library. More specifically I asked them if the story was an important part of the work they were doing with the sixth graders. Here is a sample of the answers I received.

Claudia felt that reading with Blanca, her sixth grade partner, helped Blanca improve her language skills.

The story is important to our work because it helps her learn how to pronounce the words and helps her on her language arts skills. She is also good to pronounce the words because she takes it slow and calm. That is a way of learning Language Arts.

Claudia, Age 13

Seeing Claudia, a very popular eighth grade student who could most certainly be socializing with her friends, working in a "slow and calm" manner with a sixth grade reader is inspiring. She sits next to her, looks over her shoulder and patiently helps her through the work. Blanca returns everyday on time to get to work, and I can see that a friendship has begun to flourish in the midst of it all. I consider the two of them successful participants because of the apparent social benefits that have resulted.

Daniela, an eager student that is always willing to help out Mrs. McNulty or me, entered the program willingly. She enjoys reading, but she also enjoys reading books over and over again. She was a student of mine in the sixth grade when I taught a reading enrichment class for students who needed to work on their skills, and her reading habits have not changed in two years as far as I can tell. I remember her favorite book being Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, and by her following comments I don't think she has strayed too far from that book's theme.

"This story is really important for me because it's about slavery and I care a lot about slavery because they were so cruel to the black. Well, it (the story) helps because I learn more words and she gets more help, so it's helpful for both. Well, it helps her more in her English because she is a Mexican and she knows a little bit of English."     -Daniela, Age 14

By her last statements, I think Daniela shows her appreciation for the second language learner's process of acquiring L2. For most of my students, English is a second language that is learned at school and forgotten at home. That's how it was for Daniela, and she is very familiar with her partner's experience. I think that the c.a.t. setup is good for second language learners because readers like Daniela understand what readers like Ninel (her partner) are going through and what they need to become proficient in English.

I think it is also important to see that Daniela probably steered Ninel towards a book about slavery. She wanted to read what she was interested in, and maybe she felt that she could generate interest in this subject in her partner. I applaud her efforts, even if she has read the book before. She is using what she considers "comprehensible input" to take another English Language Learner and teach her as she herself was taught. My guess is that slavery narratives played an important role in Daniela's English Language Acquisition, and she as a mentor is striving to give her partner the same experience because she considers it valuable.

Liliana conversely writes about the absence of of the story in her work. Lili loves to read and her comments can be read as she wrote them, lamentably.

"My partner and me were reading a good story about two sisters who were pirates, but my partner didn't seem very excited, so she turned in the book without telling me. So now I'm helping her do long division and measuring. The story was important to us because I was teaching her how to read because Cynthia is in 3rd. or 4th. level reading."     -Liliana, Age 14

I have told the students that they have the option of studying other subjects, that they are not required to just read, that preparing for semester final exams would be a good idea. Cynthia knew this, and she made a choice that didn't break any written rules of the project. Knowing Lili like I know Lili, however, I know that she is not happy about Cynthia returning the book, especially without consulting her first. There is definitely a feeling of sharing that goes with this project, and this quote typifies that. The story, for most of the pairs, has become a mutual point of interest, and so it has become an essential part of the learning process. Without it, reading, as in this case, all too often gets dropped.

Euss talks about work ethic and acquiring writing skills as he discusses the story's importance in his work.

"The role that the story plays is that without the reading there wouldn't be any writing. I think that Luis takes this as a joke, but I'm going to make him take it as a serious thing. I'm going to get him to write and speak really good in English. The story is really important because without it I wouldn't have known how Luis writes."     -Euss, Age 14

Euss and Luis have the best attendance of any two participants; they have not missed a day since day one. I had know idea that Euss thinks Luis is not taking it seriously because whenever I observe them, they are always on task, even when they don't know I am observing them. I think Euss is a good role model, and though Luis may slack off every once in a while, I think that he is learning how to have a work ethic by how Euss insists on sticking with the story they are reading together.

Finally, Beatriz echoes what Euss is saying but she articulates why the story is important to accomplishing goals.

"The story we are reading plays a very important role in the tutoring because if we don't read they (the tutees) are never going to learn to write. If we don't read a book, it's going to be harder to teach them how to read and write. The story is very important because if the story is boring, our student will lose interest in the tutoring. So we need to get books that are interesting to them so that they get more interested in learning and reading the story."    -Beatriz, Age 14

I think Beatriz hilights what is most important about the use of stories in the classroom or learning setting: the stories must be "interesting to them." If they are not, the students will return the book to the library, and the tutor will be left feeling like Lili, alone and left out.

I think that sentiment really shows how much of a sharing process reading can be. When reading stories is done in pairs and groups, there develops a bond between the people who have experienced the story. This creates an mutual dependency effect where the people involved use each other to continue to enjoy the story and to make more achievement in reading skills. Humor becomes making references and links between the story and the events of real life. Lessons from the book move into a real life situations, and the students learn from their experiences. I think this is what a story does for the successful classroom; it requires each student to engage in a common importance, and by doing so makes the classroom and its atmosphere more educational.

I think the student comments in this essay indicate that students are willing to share good stories with teachers, parents, members of their own classes, and younger people who need help in learning to appreciate the written story. These kids are telling us that learning to read is important, but only if it is interesting too.

The story is important to the Cross-Age Tutoring project because it gives those students opportunities to share. Both teacher (tutor) and learner (tutee) become reader (sharer), and as readers (sharers) they help one another enjoy the story more. The speed is "slow and calm;" the mood is "nurturing;" and the resultant cooperation is, if nothing else, pleasing to observe. If the practice of mixing students to help one another in reading by reading does not improve the reading skills of both students, and does not aid second language acquisition, and does not give two students an interesting saga to look forward to everyday, then at the very least it brings two students together who wouldn't normally come together to learn from one another. Even if they don't take reading skills from one another, they are doing something that should always be encouraged by us, sharing.