Middle school faculty participates in a reading challenge
During the 2021-2022 fifth and sixth grade retreat at Woodlands Camp, Middle School Principal Joseph Antonio and Sixth Grade Boys Chair John Creed were inspired to challenge the middle school faculty to participate in a division-wide reading challenge. The challenge came to fruition within the camp coffee shop as Antonio and Creed asked the baristas about their bookshelf. The baristas told the pair about their staff book challenge at camp, and that is when Antonio’s and Creed’s wheels started turning about how they could replicate the challenge among Wesleyan’s middle school faculty.
Coincidentally, prior to the conversation, Antonio and Middle School Librarian Shonda Duke had been talking about how to increase the reading culture among middle school students.
“After doing much research on her end, [Duke] shared that the best way to increase a reading culture among the students is to have a reading culture among the faculty. So, that’s why we started with the adults,” explains Antonio.
The reading challenge consisted of five categories of books that allowed for a focus on Wesleyan’s mission and an emphasis on important topics. The categories included leadership, spiritual and Christian Life, teaching and learning, the G.R.A.C.E. model for Diversity, and young adults/student guided.
“As we thought about what books to put on the list, we drew from our own reading lists, and we also engaged our faculty to ask about their own book recommendations,” describes Antonio.
Duke advocated for including a young adults category because she observes that many young adult and middle grade books tackle serious issues; they just do so in a way that is accessible for adolescent students.
“When we were meeting about the reading challenge, stories of Ukrainian refugees were in the news every day so we thought Alan Gratz’ Refugee was a timely choice,” explains Duke. “We also chose books about child labor in Bolivia, grief, and what it would be like to get a chance to restart your life. My favorite young adult choice is John Hendrix’ The Faithful Spy. It explores the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in a genre-defying format that is heavily illustrated but does not use the typical cartoon-like frames found in most graphic nonfiction.”
Many staff members rose to the occasion and participated in the challenge. Physical education teacher Leslie Stuart participated in the challenge by reading Refugee and Worthy: Celebrating the Value of Women by Elyse Fitzpatrick and Eric Schumacher.
"The reading challenge helps with cross-disciplinary education,” states Stuart. “Worthy: Celebrating the Value of Women teaches about the key role that females play in the Bible, and I have been able to apply it to P.E. class to empower girls to increase their physical strength and confidence in who the Lord created them to be.”
Check out the middle school faculty reading list here!
Check out the middle school faculty reading list here!
Way to go, middle school faculty!
