FAMILIES—Interview | All of the families interviewed appreciated LitCamp’s emphasis on cultivating students’ personal strengths. For example, they mentioned the positive example set by literary characters who work through dilemmas relevant to youth. Parents also valued the opportunities to discuss bullying and hurt feelings with their children using the characters and stories from LitCamp texts to contextualize typical childhood experiences in meaningful ways. One set of parents observed that their younger daughter appeared to have more patience and act more politely since participating in LitCamp.
"Because if there’s characters inside of a book that come to a dilemma…it would be easier for my 10-year-old to…read it and understand it and then approach me with her questions, instead of us having to just come up with the scenario that probably would most likely not fit into her everyday life." – MOTHER
Implementation Findings Teachers’ survey responses reflected their perceptions of LitCamp resources before and after they implemented LitCamp and how well the training prepared them to provide LitCamp instruction in the classroom. In addition to information gained from classroom observations, information gathered during teacher focus groups provided further context for the teacher survey findings.
Teachers' Perceptions of LitCamp
LitCamp Resources The LitCamp Leader’s Guide lays out each lesson according to the following activities: Opening Campfire, Read Aloud, Bring the Text to Life, Reading Power, Bunk Time, Community Lit, Writing Power, and Closing Campfire. It lists the resources required and provides prompts for each activity (see Appendix A for a description of each activity). The Leader’s Guide also offers ways to support ELs in various activities. Teachers are encouraged to use the guide but may adapt the activities as needed. Each teacher receives a set of read-aloud books tailored to students’ grade levels.
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SCHOLASTIC RESEARCH & VALIDATION
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