In this ISSUE of the GALA FOCUS NEWSLETTER:
1. GALA UPDATES & ANNOUNCEMENTS
- $500 Mini-Grants Call for Applications!
- Print & Cursive Handwriting Video Resources
- Share Your Literacy Highlights with GALA!
- Poetry Month Special! Preorder The Trouble with Heroes and receive a free virtual Author-in Residence program!
2. STUDENT BOOK TALKS!
- Eerie Elementary: Recess is a Jungle! ~ Reviewed by Sage from Joseph Marlin Elementary
- The Sweetest Sound ~ Reviewed by Liora from General Ray Davis Middle School
- Pinkalicious ~ Reviewed by Kayla from the University of North Georgia
- Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery ~ Reviewed by Collyn, Hayden, & Braxton from West Haralson Elementary
3. AUTHOR'S CHAIR
- Regret, Love, and a Stray Named Archer ~ Written by Isaac -10th grade
4. FEATURE ARTICLES
- Encouraging Family Literacy through Community Collaboration by Julie Kimble
When the Cup Is More Than Half Full: Flipping the Script for Multilingual Learners by Robert Griffin
Redefining What Research Looks Like for Ourselves & Our Students by Lisa York
5. K-12 BOOK REVIEWS!
- Mi Sueño de América/My American Dream (2008), Reviewed by Akeya T. Works
- Santiago Saw Things Differently (2023), Reviewed by William P. Bintz
- The Idea in You (2024), Reviewed by Jamie King
- Chester Van Chime, Who Forgot to Rhyme (2022), Reviewed by De Laine Murphy
The Georgia Association of Literacy Advocates (GALA) is excited to announce the opening of applications for two $500 Mini-Grants to be awarded for the upcoming 2025-2026 school year!
This is a unique opportunity to turn your innovative ideas and projects into reality, enhancing literacy education across our state. Whether you're looking to implement new teaching strategies, acquire innovative teaching tools, or start a local literacy program, these grants are here to help make it happen.
Apply now and let us help bring your literacy project to life!
Applications are due April 30, 2025. Winners will be announced in mid-May, 2025.
Kate Messner is offering a special this month, a virtual poet-in-residence program!
When you preorder Kate's new book, The Trouble with Heroes, and submit your receipt (from major retailers and local independent book stores) using this link, you will receive:
- A pdf of the first 40ish pages of The Trouble with Heroes to share with students
- Four mini poetry workshops - these are 10-20 minute videos that you can access on-demand to guide kids through poetry writing activities this month!
- An invitation to a live Zoom author visit with Q&A at 1pm EST on April 22nd.
- That's also Earth Day, so we'll be chatting about her new History Smashers book, HISTORY SMASHERS: EARTH DAY & THE ENVIRONMENT in addition to celebrating poetry month!
- The teaching & discussion guide for THE TROUBLE WITH HEROES, which has even more poetry activities.
- And a bonus, you'll also receive a pocket-sized poetry notebook with poetry writing prompts for your students! (while supplies last)
Written by Isaac, 10th Grade
Central High School
It’s been three months and the sleepless nights thinking about Archer keep coming. That white hotdog splashed with a couple of brown spots and a crippling fear of people, trotting up our neighborhood looking for food. Unfortunately, Archer’s fear of humans was too great for him to be caught by animal services.
After a while, we stopped seeing him, he was in all aspects a ghost, sporadically appearing to one or two of us at a time.
“Hey, Mom, I think I saw that dog today. You know the small one. I think he was by the woods.” My sister said on one occasion.
“Yeah,” I mentioned unbothered, “I saw the small dog eating cat food too.”
It continued on like that, all of us unintentionally avoiding doing more than leaving a cup of cat food outside for him. After a couple more sightings of him eating cat food and his deteriorating state. Inspired in some way, I said to my mom, “I’m gonna try and catch him!” with conviction and a halfhearted plan because deep down, I felt I wouldn't be able to, but how could I know?
I never tried.
Encouraging Family Literacy through Community Collaboration
Dr. Julie Kimble, Part-Time Instructor, Early Childhood through Secondary Education & Reading, University of West Georgia
Many years ago, our school superintendent placed all the county’s teachers on buses during our preplanning training. We drove through the neighborhoods where our students lived, and since our high school was classified as Title 1, we traveled through many economically challenged communities. This superintendent wanted us to see where our students lived so we could understand their particular needs and, hopefully, better teach them.
Understanding the Challenges of Family Literacy
We know the importance of family literacy, particularly in the top-down approach where background knowledge is integral in interpreting our new encounters with reading and text. Unfortunately, many of our students come from homes that are “book deserts,” where very little literature is available to them and where economically disadvantaged parents or guardians unintentionally continue this textless legacy with their children, affecting students’ ability to be prepared for school learning (Neuman & Moland, 2019). These adults also may not have had literacy-rich childhoods or school experiences. The result is that students do not have the support they need at home, not because of neglect but due to a lack of knowledge and access to reading materials.
When the Cup Is More Than Half Full: Flipping the Script for Multilingual Learners
Dr. Robert A. Griffin, Associate Professor of Literacy, University of West Georgia
Imagine a classroom where multilingual students aren’t asked to leave their cultures or languages at the door but instead are invited to bring every aspect of who they are into the learning process. This vision is at the heart of an asset-based approach to literacy—a mindset that sees multilingual students as human vessels or cups overflowing with linguistic and cultural strengths rather than lacking in English. Embracing an asset-based perspective has never been more vital, especially given the current political headwinds targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, as well as anti-immigrant and anti-refugee sentiments permeating some segments of society. Now is the time for educators to take a stand for the richness that multilingual learners (MLs) bring to our schools.
Their Cups Are More Than Half Full
In today’s polarized climate, conversations around immigration and language diversity can easily slip into fear-based narratives. The truth, however, is that multilingualism isn’t a hindrance—far from it. Research keeps telling us that speaking multiple languages strengthens problem-solving skills, fosters empathy, and helps students become more adaptable thinkers. When we view MLs through a lens of strength, we invite them to thrive, rather than merely survive.
Redefining What Research Looks Like for Ourselves & Our Students
Lisa York, Doctoral Student - Georgia State University
How I Came to Embrace the Identity of Researcher
When I first embarked on my doctoral journey, viewing myself as a researcher was not an identity I enthusiastically embraced. Sitting through too many “data talks” as a classroom teacher, my previous experiences with “data” seemed hyper-fixated on quantitative aspects: student EOC (End-of-Course) scores, “sub-group” performances (aside: I hate that this is the reductive terminology used to talk about our multifaceted and diverse students), comparisons of one school’s test scores to other schools’ test scores in the district. These metallic numbers left a bitter taste.
The problem with quantitative research and data is that it tells an incomplete story and leaves out much of the robust flavors one finds in qualitative research. One of my favorite poems, Walt Whitman’s “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” seems to capture this nuance:
When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the
lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
Show me facts and numbers, and I will grow unaccountably tired and disinterested. Show me people’s stories and experiences, and I will revive. The experiential often feels much more consequential than textbooks, graphs, and internet searches. When I learned in my qualitative research classes that interviews and focus group transcripts and photographs and cookbook recipes and acoustic sounds and objects could all become part of a data set for my research, that all these “forms of data represent the diversification of ways of communication and documentation of individual and social experiences” (Flick, 2014, p. 5), I was hooked. I, at last, could envision myself as a researcher. In the same way that a doctoral student can be inspired to see herself as a researcher, educators in the K-12 setting need to present possibilities for qualitative research to our students so that they can also embrace this identity.
Mi Sueño de América/My American Dream (2008)
Reviewed by Akeya T. Works
Lead MLL(ESOL)/IEL Teacher
Hillside Elementary School, Fulton County Schools
Teaching About Personal Narratives? Try This Bilingual Autobiography on for Size!
As the current lead ESOL teacher for an elementary school in a major school district in Georgia, my job entails not only data administration but also ensuring our multilingual learners gain access to grade-level standards, making activities semi-adaptive and differentiating to students’ varying English language proficiency levels and needs. I am the writing and reading teacher of record for a class of some great fourth graders hailing from Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, the United States, and El Salvador.
Many of my students, whose ages range from five to eleven years old, have had struggles I cannot even imagine having to contend with as an adult. It is often a struggle to get and keep them motivated, to help them find value in what we are teaching and how this knowledge can improve their lives. I remind them daily that literacy is a critical tool, and that writing can be an effective vehicle of communication when spoken words are not enough.
The Idea in You (2024)
Reviewed by Jamie King
Pre-K Teacher
Jefferson Elementary School, Jefferson City Schools District
Young children are natural storytellers, filled with curiosity and big ideas. The Idea in You by Questlove (2024) is a charming and inspiring book for young writers. It invites kids to tap into their creativity and share their unique ideas with the world. The story follows a young boy who discovers a tiny glowing star, which is his idea, and learns how to nurture it. But as he faces challenges and moments of doubt, he wonders if his idea is good enough. Through persistence and self-belief, he realizes that ideas need time, care, and confidence to shine.
Santiago Saw Things Differently: Santiago Ramon y Cajal, Artist, Doctor, Father of Neuroscience (2023)
Reviewed by Dr. William P. Bintz
Professor
Kent State University
Recently, I was traveling by commercial aircraft to visit relatives over the Christmas holidays. While waiting to take off, I started a pleasant conversation with my seatmate. I learned that she was a doctoral student at Stanford University, and her field of study was the history of neuroscience. I asked her how she developed an interest in neuroscience. She said she was inspired in high school to be a neuroscientist while reading the work of Santiago Ramon y Cajal. I admitted that I knew very little about neuroscience, but did know about Santiago Ramon y Cajal. She made a big smile and asked, “How do you know about Santiago Ramon Cajal if you aren't a neuroscientist and know very little about neuroscience?”
Chester Van Chime, Who Forgot to Rhyme (Murphy, 2025)
Reviewed by De Laine Murphy
PreK Teacher
Mount Yonah Elementary School
About the Book. Avery Monsen's Chester Van Chime, Who Forgot to Rhyme (2022) is a delightful children's book about a young boy named Chester, renowned for his extraordinary rhyming talent. One day, to his utter dismay, Chester finds himself in a bewildering predicament – he can no longer rhyme! This sudden loss leaves him feeling frustrated and unsure of himself, as rhyming has always been an integral part of his identity.
The story follows Chester as he embarks on a journey to rediscover his rhyming abilities. Along the way, he learns valuable lessons about accepting challenges and being patient with oneself. With encouragement from his friends and a bit of determination, can Chester rediscover his rhyme? You will have to read to find out.
FOCUS: A Newsletter of the Georgia Association of Literacy Advocates (GALA)
Dr. Bethany L. Scullin, FOCUS Newsletter Editor
FOCUS Editorial Reviewers
Dr. Jennifer K. Allen
Dr. Robert A. Griffin
