Ramp Up to Literacy lifts freshman reading

LAFAYETTE, Ga. -- Jared Ramey never liked to read and had no interest in books of any kind.

But the 14-year-old LaFayette High School freshman says his teacher Sonni Brown's Ramp Up to Literacy class changed his course.

He started at the beginning of the school year and, by Christmas, the gift he asked for was a series of books where "you can lose yourself," he said. His mother got him the Orphan Train Adventures book series which he, in turn, brought to share with his classmates.

"I could really connect to them," Jared said. "I like to read more now because I find more books that just interest me."

The technique-building practice he gets in Ms. Brown's class translates into better grades, he said.

The Ramp Up to Literacy program is in its second year at LaFayette High, and Ridgeland High School is kicking it off this year on the north end of Walker County.

Ms. Brown said the trick is to give reading-averse students something they enjoy reading and teach them to interact with the story by visualizing, interpreting and questioning.

"They're passive readers, they're not interacting with the text," she said. "Once they're taught to interact with it, that's when they enjoy it more."

Books in the program are written around subjects that interest high schoolers but at a reading level they can achieve, she said.

She said the first English unit in the course takes on the book "Swallowing Stones" by Joyce McDonald, a murder mystery presented at a lower reading level.

The first book in Jared's Orphan Train Adventure book series, "A Family Apart" by Joan Lowery Nixon, is used in the social studies unit, she said. The books deals with a number of family and social issues at a third- to sixth-grade reading level, she said.

LaFayette High academic coach Lynn Robertson says Ramp Up to Literacy is part of the America's Choice school improvement program introduced at the school by Principal Roger Hibbs.

Some students stop reading once they leave elementary school because they never enjoyed it, Ms. Robertson said. And their reading level can stay right where they left it, she said.

"The kids that I put in (Ramp Up to Literacy) read at least two grade levels below where they should," she said. "Ultimately, it is an attempt to make them successful enough in school that they don't feel like they need to drop out."

Freshmen are selected for the program based on standardized state test results, she said.

There are 18 or so freshmen in three daily classes in the program, Ms. Brown said.

"I think everybody likes to read, they're just not choosing the right book," she said.

Literacy surveys filled out by the students at the beginning of the year contain comments like, "I don't like to read," and "Reading's boring," she said.

At the end of the year last year, those comments became "I love to read" and " ... my favorite series or my favorite author," she said.

Jared said he'll use his newfound love of reading to follow in his father's footsteps in law enforcement. His grades are "a lot better" and he knows he going to have to "study a lot and read" to pursue his career, he said.

As part of the class, Jared and the other students hone their skills by reading to first-graders at nearby elementary schools.

Jared offers them some encouraging words.

"I don't want them to fall into the same trap I was in ... not caring about reading," he said. "First time I went I told them, 'If you start reading when you're younger, it makes it better for the future.'"

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