Great Books News

Staples Supports Great Books Readers 2 Leaders

By: Scrowley

New Service Learning Program Pairs Teens and Younger Students

The Staples Foundation awarded the Great Books Foundation $10,000 to develop Readers 2 Leaders, a new service learning program that teaches high school students leadership skills, gives them experience teaching, and affords them an opportunity to explore teaching as a possible career. Twenty-two disadvantaged students at Marie Curie Metro High School in Chicago are the first students to participate.

In Readers 2 Leaders, high school students lead after-school Shared Inquiry discussions with elementary and middle school students in their communities. The older students develop leadership skills and serve as positive role models for the younger children. The younger students also receive the benefits of participating in the Junior Great Books program—reading and discussing outstanding literature.

The Curie students will lead discussions at their neighboring feeder schools, Madero Middle School and Edwards Elementary School. About 150 third- through sixth-grade students will participate.

Before meeting with the younger students, the high school students will develop their own skills in interpretive reading and practice leading discussions with one another. At Curie, their practice sessions are incorporated in their AVID (Ad-vanced Via Individual Determination) and International Baccalaureate CAS (creativity, action, and service) classes. A Readers 2 Leaders handbook will take them step-by-step through the process of preparing interpretive questions, planning for discussion, and managing a group of students.

Readers 2 Leaders grows out of the Youth Leadership Program (YLP), which was developed and piloted with support from the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, Chicago Community Trust, and Chicago Public Schools Office of Education to Careers. Readers 2 Leaders is more affordable than YLP and provides better support for student leaders so the program can be sustained by the high school and elementary/middle school partnership.

The program will be available to high schools and their partner schools this fall. Please contact us for further information.