As we close out the week, I wanted to share three quick stories from my classroom.
Let’s start with Tyasia, one of my wonderful freshmen. It was Thursday, and we had just finished our daily read aloud of Dear Martin when she pulled out her phone.
“Tyasia, put that away.”
“No, I want to show you something.”
And so, as the rest of the class took out their writer’s notebooks, I crouched down to check out her phone.
“What’s up?”
“Look at this email I sent.”
Tyasia had emailed Yale University. Even better, she had already received a response from one of their admissions officers, thanking her for expressing interest.
For those who have read Dear Martin, you’ve already made the connection. But, for those who haven’t, Justyce McAllister, the protagonist of Nic Stone’s phenomenal debut novel, is a high school senior bound for Yale. And because Tyasia can see herself in Justyce, she now sees Yale as an option.
In that moment – one of those moments that reminds me why I teach – I had to hold back tears. I’m still emotional now.
The good news? Tyasia’s story reminds us that books still matter, that they still have the power to change lives. That, this is what can happen when schools and teachers commit to building classroom libraries that value all students.
Bad news? There are thousands of Tyasias across our country who, through no fault of their own, cannot read and discuss books like Dear Martin, cannot see themselves in their classroom curriculum, and cannot attend their dream schools like Yale and Spelman.
We’ve got to do better. (Which is why I’m so excited to work alongside dozens of passionate, persistent Project LIT Community chapter leaders who are committed to the same thing: increasing access to diverse books and promoting a love of reading in our schools and communities).
The second story is about Adriana, another one of my freshmen. She walked into class today with a huge smile on her face.
“Mr. Amato, guess what?”
She pulled out a copy of Erika Sanchez’s I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter from her bag. She had taken it home Wednesday after spotting it in our classroom library (the beautiful cover – and title – caught her attention).
“I started this yesterday and I’m already on chapter six. Julia’s exactly like me. And her mom sounds just like mine.”
Adriana continued.
“I never used to like reading before this year.”
What’s the difference?
“You just have better books.”
The best part? Adriana returned at the end of the day with her friend, asking if she could borrow a copy, too.
“Of course.”
Story #3 is similar. On Wednesday, after our independent reading time, RK called me over to her seat as she held out a copy of Jason Reynolds’ Long Way Down.
“Mr. Amato, I finished this book in two days! I’m so proud of myself.”
Again, I did my best to keep my emotions in check. As we talked a bit about the ending (of course, RK wanted to know if Jason was going to write a sequel), RK began to hype the book to the classmates around her.
It’s one thing for me to sell a book, but when a student does it? So much more powerful.
The next day a student knocked on my door.
“Can I have a copy? RK told me I had to read it.”
That’s all I’ve got for now. Have a great weekend, everyone! And be sure to check out this conversation between Jason Reynolds & Trevor Noah. I think I’ve watched it 10 times already…
DR. JARRED AMATO 
Saw this on NorCalWP News. Great stories!
I had a moment earlier this week. Just a little background, I am trying something new that scares me a little. I’m going to get my Honors sophomores to publish and anthology on Kindle Direct Publishing. Each of them has 75 pages of writing in their Writer’s Notebooks. They were digging through their entries for what made them good and what made them . . . not so good. Then they were choosing 3 to move to a second draft.
Walking around, hearing all the conversations, seeing half-filled composition books on their desks that were opened up for revision was satisfying. And that was my moment. They have put a lot of hard work and pieces of themselves onto those pages. It’s a real accomplishment, and their going to keep going and accomplish more.
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Great post! So important that kids see themselves in the books they read! Spelman w/ one-L, right?
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Fixed! Thank you for reading!
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I sat in my office with tears in my eyes over this post. Amazing! This is why we do what we do. As a librarian, I get so excited every time a student asks for help finding a book. (We do A LOT with technology during the day.) We are just starting out as a part of the ProjectLIT Community, and I can’t wait to put more books like these in students’ hands.
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