Spaghetti Book Club

In Conversation with

Julie Rosemarin
(Founder/ Executive Director),
Gene Williams
(President at the Harlem Partnership)

Organization & Location

Spaghetti Book Club
[New York City, New York]

Website

About the Program

The Spaghetti Book Club is an afterschool language arts program that integrates reading, writing, art and A participant is reading a book with his group member. technology by teaching elementary and middle school youth how to write book reviews that are published on the Spaghetti Book Club website. With the help of the Spaghetti Book Club's standards-based curriculum, youth develop critical literacy skills as they are guided through the process of writing, illustrating and publishing book reviews. Youth participating in the program are excited and motivated to write and illustrate their book reviews, as they know that people around the world will be reading their reviews and seeing their artwork. The program is implemented in various school and afterschool settings, such as the Federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) and Community Technology Centers (CTC) throughout the United States and internationally. The Spaghetti Book Club is based in New York City.

The Goals of This Program:

To help youth develop critical literacy skills and reach many of the Language Arts Standards
To help youth increase their self-esteem and self-confidence as readers and writers
To provide an opportunity for youth to express themselves to a world-wide audience

Program Activities:

The Spaghetti Book Club's standards-based curriculum includes easy-to-follow lesson plans for educators to guide participating youth through the process of writing, illustrating and publishing their book reviews. Participants choose a book that they want to review. I think that the Spaghetti Book Club is really cool because our kids are able to have access to the Internet through this program and learn language skills in a fun and interactive way. - Gene Williams, Harlem Partnership President They then learn how to write reviews by discussing and analyzing strong examples from the Spaghetti Book Club web site that were written by other youth. Each lesson focuses on a different element of the book review writing process, including writing summaries, formulating and expressing opinions, making recommendations and using supportive details and examples to make reviews interesting. Each session includes a group lesson where the educator and youth read and discuss strong examples of reviews. Then, as a group, they practice writing part of a review together. Then the youth work independently and apply what they have learned to writing their own reviews. At the end of every session participants share their work with the group to get feedback and suggestions from their educator and peers. In addition to writing their reviews, participants create self-portraits and illustrations that are published along with their reviews. Participants are thrilled to see their work online for all the world to see. When the reviews are published, participants can receive feedback from family and friends and communicate with youth around the world through online message boards.

Funding Sources:

21st Century Community Learning Centers grants from participating schools
Community Technology Centers

Challenges & Strategies

Challenges:

A pair of participants is sharing their opinion and recommendations about the book they read.

Finding educators that are both familiar with technology and comfortable teaching language arts
Waiting for absent kids to catch up and moving forward to allow the rest of the group to publish their work (challenges reported by afterschool educators)
Continuously finding funding opportunities (challenges reported by participating schools)

Strategies:

Plan a Language Arts afterschool program that includes youth 'book reviews' based on a constructivist approach. more

Publishing on the Internet is the motivation and pay-off for the kids. They are motivated to do their best work because they know their reviews and illustrations are going to be published online. They feel so proud when they see their completed work online. Many kids express that they feel 'famous'. It's wonderful for students' self-esteem. - Julie Rosemarin, Executive Director

Set explicit criteria that integrate State Language Arts Content and Performance Standards. more
Motivate youth through publication of their book reviews and illustrations on the web. more
Allow time for youth to share their work with each other in order to receive constructive feedback. Create a supportive atmosphere where opinions can be freely expressed and feedback is welcomed. more
Engage parents and school administrators in the program. Invite families and administrators to the Publishing Celebration at the end of the program to support student achievement. Technology plays a good communicative role as a medium for the adults' feedback and support. more
Evaluate participants' progress and outcomes by having them complete pre- and post-questionnaires. Structure program so that youth can participate in the book review writing process at least twice, allowing them an opportunity to apply and practice what they've learned. more

Strategies in detail:

Plan a Language Arts afterschool program that includes youth 'book reviews' based on a constructivist approach.
"Our program is grounded in constructivism. The participants choose any book they want to read and review. Participants learn about the different elements of a book review by reading, deconstructing and discussing strong examples written by other youth. As they explore the various examples, they are able to discern what factors make reviews strong. The whole idea of the Spaghetti Book Club came from my own teaching experience. I wanted to create an engaging way for my students to reach the Language Arts Standards. Writing book reviews was a purposeful and meaningful way for my students to reflect on what they had read as opposed to traditional book reports, which require students to simply list story elements, such as the setting, plot, characters and conflict. With book reviews, students are reflecting on literature for a real reason - to share with other readers. Publishing on the Internet allows youth to share their thoughts and opinions with readers around the world."

Set explicit criteria that integrate State Language Arts Content and Performance Standards.
"Our program's success is a result of our curriculum and the explicit criteria that all the reviews have to meet in order to be published on our site. Visitors to the site have been impressed by the quality of our participants' book reviews. Some visitors do not believe that our youth can write such sophisticated book reviews. We have explicit publishing criteria that all reviews must meet. We require that all reviews include a summary, opinion and recommendation. In the summary, the participants include what the book is about and the important details. As for the opinion, participants are required to write more than 'I like the book' or 'I dislike the book;' they must also include why they like or dislike it. We provide open-ended questions to help our participants reflect on what they have read and formulate their opinions. Questions include: 'What is your favorite part and why?' 'How is the book similar to other books you've read?' 'How is the book similar to other books by the same author?' 'Does the story remind you of events in your life?' Our criteria require youth to summarize stories, construct meaning from text, make personal connections to what they read, compare literary works, write using supportive details and examples, and write for an intended audience. Our publishing criteria were adapted from state Language Arts Performance Standards, so when reviews meet our criteria, they are also meeting state standards as well."

Back to Strategies

Motivate youth through publication of their book reviews and illustrations on the web.
"In our program, technology is used as a tool to support learning. The Spaghetti Book Club uses technology as a means to get youth excited to reflect on, and write about, the books they read and develop critical literacy skills. We also use technology as a medium for youth to share their thoughts and opinions with a world-wide audience and allow them to receive feedback from their readers. The technology involved in our program is very simple. Participants use Microsoft Word to write their reviews and a scanner to scan their self-portraits and review illustrations. Educators submit the reviews through simple online forms. Publishing on the Internet is the motivation and payoff for our youth. The youth are inspired to do their best work because they know their reviews and illustrations are going to be published online. They feel so proud when they see their completed work online. Many kids say that they feel 'famous.' It is wonderful for young people's self-esteem."

Allow time for youth to share their work with each other in order to receive constructive feedback. Create a supportive atmosphere where opinions can be freely expressed and feedback is welcomed.
"During every session, participants share their works-in-progress with the other participants. A young person’s work is displayed on a large monitor and shared with the group. The participants give feedback such as 'Oh, you might want to include this.' or 'That wasn't clear.' The person sharing the review may then choose to use the feedback to revise his/her review, and with the assistance of the educator, make the changes on the computer displaying the review. This immediate feedback and assistance motivates youth to participate in the revision process - an often difficult part of the writing process."

Back to Strategies

Engage parents and school administrators in the program. Invite families and administrators to the Publishing Celebration at the end of the program to support student achievement. Technology plays a good communicative role as a medium for the adults' feedback and support.
"Our program includes families from the start. Families are required to give their consent to have their child's work published online. We suggest sending parents a consent letter with a sample book review if they are unable to visit the Spaghetti Book Club web site. The letter informs them about the program and what their children will learn. The final session in the curriculum is an exciting event we call a 'Publishing Celebration,' where the participants present their book reviews and illustrations to parents, family members and administrators. On the practical side, this is a great way to showcase what youth learn through the afterschool program to administrators who decide on the sustainability of the afterschool program. The young people love sharing their work with their families and friends. For the families, seeing their children's work online makes them feel proud of their accomplishments and gives them a way to continuously support their children's learning. Through the Spaghetti Book Club's message board, our youth reviewers have received feedback from family and friends and kudos from the authors of books that have been reviewed."

Evaluate participants' progress and outcomes by having them complete pre- and post-questionnaires. Structure program so that youth can participate in the book review writing process at least twice, allowing them an opportunity to apply and practice what they've learned.
"It typically takes between 4-6 weeks for the young people to complete their book reviews. We recommend that youth participate in the afterschool program for more than one cycle so they can write at least two reviews. Their second review is typically stronger than the first, as they apply what they learned from the writing the first review. By working through a series of lessons, the young people develop a habit of the mind - applying the critical thinking skills they have learned to their subsequent reviews and in their lives as readers. Pre- and post- questionnaires are useful to document participants' understanding and use of the literacy skills we want them to develop through the program activities. Low-functioning readers and youth with low self-esteem feel tremendous pride when they see their work published. This experience increases their interest and confidence in reading and writing."