During Wednesday’s Parent Group Connection, we were honored to have Julian Gooding join us.  Mr. Gooding is an award-winning producer, director, writer, and media artist. He has dedicated his career to providing outside the box concepts for ending illiteracy in rural and low income communities. On Wednesday, he presented on the topic “One Book, Many Lessons.”

Mr. Gooding began by sharing how his elementary school teacher had him re-read the same book over and over: “Harry the Dirty Dog”. It became an exercise that helped build confidence, overcome shyness, and spark a love for reading early on. He went on to discuss the many ways to delve into the same book using the children’s book “Stepping Stones” as an example. In working with children, he highlighted the artist of the book, created science activities involving different types of rocks, and even ultimately had children make their own stepping stones. With each activity, the children learned new and engaging material related to the book. As Mr. Gooding said,  “The layers of literacy are happening through creative play.”

Mr. Gooding also shared a number of creative ideas for engaging children with literacy — from art projects to “coffee can theatre” to embracing non-fiction and graphic novels.  He also discussed the many great opportunities in everyday life to focus on literacy, including things like reading a menu at a restaurant, street signs, and more. And finally, Mr. Gooding reminded us,  “Learning in literacy can happen at any moment!”