National Voter Registration Day

 

 National Voter Registration Day

Below is a very informative and complex site … which (as far as I can tell) is non-partisan. 

I explored the Toolkit for Organizations and found a cool interactive map of the U.S. that shows state by state the voter ID rules.

I love the positive message of this site and applaud the intense effort of getting potential voters registered and voting!

 https://nationalvoterregistrationday.org/about/#

Here is a little about National Voter Registration Day:

 National Voter Registration Day is a nonpartisan civic holiday celebrating our democracy. First observed in 2012, it has quickly gained momentum ever since. Nearly 3 million voters have registered to vote on the holiday to date. 

Celebrated on the fourth Tuesday of September, National Voter Registration Day will next take place on September 22, 2020. The holiday has been endorsed by the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED), the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), and the National Association of Election Officials (The Election Center).

Every year millions of Americans find themselves unable to vote because they miss a registration deadline, don’t update their registration, or aren’t sure how to register. National Voter Registration Day wants to make sure everyone has the opportunity to vote. On Tuesday September 22, 2020 volunteers and organizations from all over the country will “hit the streets” in a single day of coordinated field, technology and media efforts. National Voter Registration Day seeks to create broad awareness of voter registration opportunities to reach tens of thousands of voters who may not register otherwise.

Boys and Literacy (references)

 

References

American Library Association (ALA). (2007). Retrieved July 27, 2007, from http://www.ala.org/

Ann Powell-Brown. (2006). Why can't I just see the movie? Intervention in school and clinic, 42(2), 84.

Brenner, R. (2007). No flying no tights. Retrieved July 27, 2007, from http://www.noflyingnotights.com/

Brozo, W. (2006). Bridges to literacy for boys. Educational leadership, 64(1), 71.

Conlin, M. (2003). The new gender gap. Business week, (3834), 74.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper & Row.

Dotinga, R. (2006). 'Tweens' curl up with graphic novels [Electronic version]. The Christian Science Monitor from the August 16, 2006 edition, Retrieved July 29, 2007, from http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0816/p16s02-bogn.html

Fredrick, T. (2006). Choosing to belong: Increasing adolescent male engagement in the ELA classroom. Changing English, 13(1), 151.

Gurian, M., Henley, P., Trueman, T. (2001). Boys and girls learn differently (1st ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (The Gurian Institute can be accessed at http://www.gurianinstitute.com)

Knowles, E., & Smith, M. (2005). Boys and literacy: Practical strategies for librarians, teachers, and parents. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited.

Miedzian, M. (1991). Boys will be boys: Breaking the link between masculinity and violence (1st ed.). New York: Doubleday.

National Association of Comics Art Educators (NACAE). Retrieved July 28, 2007, from http://www.teachingcomics.org/

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). (2007). Institute of education sciences: Special analysis 2006. Retrieved July 29, 2007, from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2006/analysis/sa03b.asp

National Institute for Literacy (NIFL). (2007). Retrieved July 29, 2007, from http://www.nifl.gov/

Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). (2007). Retrieved July 29, 2007, from http://www.pisa.oecd.org/

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). (2007). Retrieved July 29, 2007, from http://timss.bc.edu/pirls2006/index.html

Pollack, W. (1998). Real boys: Rescuing our sons from the myths of boyhood (1st ed.). New York: Random House.

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Smith, M. W., & Wilhelm, J. D. (2006). Going with the flow: How to engage boys (and girls) in their literacy learning. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Smith, M. W., & Wilhelm, J. D. (2002). "Reading don't fix no chevys”: Literacy in the lives of young men. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Sommers, C. H. (2000). The war against boys: How misguided feminism is harming our young men. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Spiegelman, A. (1997). Maus: A survivor's tale (1st ed.). New York: Pantheon Books.

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Young Adult Library Service Association (YALSA). (2007). Retrieved July 28, 2007, from http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/yalsa.htm

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Boys and Literacy (part 11 ... final)

 

 Perhaps the strongest intervention that surfaces in the research on arresting the falling literacy of boys is their connection with caring adults. Teachers, librarians, coaches, and parents that provide a social context for reading and writing realize more success with all adolescents but especially the boys. Often the discovery and growth goes two ways, as is the case with the story William Brozo (2006) tells about Rickey, a recently retired Navy pilot who mentored Marcus, a struggling 13-year-old. Brozo points out that Rickey was an ideal mentor for Marcus because gender-matched role models have the most positive effect on academic outcomes and are sorely needed in the lives of many boys. Marcus, who had been in and out of juvenile detention facilities, was reading at a 4^th grade level. He was gently introduced to increasingly challenging and meaningful literary projects of his own choice, all the while shepherded and encouraged by Rickey. Marcus began to read and compose letters about a subject he knew and felt passionate about, racism in the juvenile detention system, and began to feel empowered, competent, and active. Authors Smith and Wilhelm (2002) would say that Marcus was feeling flow. The mentoring relationship was a success for Marcus. His attitude toward reading and his test scores improved, and perhaps most importantly, through Rickey’s efforts, Marcus began to think of himself as a reader, determined to continue to improve. 

 Realistically, this is how this war against the growing illiteracy of boys will be fought. Battles will be won by caring adults utilizing creative and boy-specific strategies to engage young men in active and social literary pursuits that afford them a sense of competency. Ideally, the successes boys experience will build and transfer into self-images of being readers.  Education models of intervention techniques geared toward students at risk are really only as effective as the administrators who adopt them and the teachers who administer them. If the public, administrators, teachers, or parents, interpret this attention to boys as skewing some kind of gender parity in education, these interventions will fail. Education is never equal, and like a pendulum it swings in directions hemmed by public opinion, funding, and accountability. Girls have made tremendous strides because of the focus placed on raising their literacy in math and science. Ideally if those intervention successes were self-perpetuating, girls should now be able to continue improving on their own, utilizing the skills and support millions of federal dollars have afforded. The government could shift its support in a new direction. Boys are that new direction, but awareness of their rising underachievement in literacy is still the domain of specialized study and scholarship. Thirty years ago the attention focused on girls following embarrassing national reports and articles just at the time when the women’s movement was at its strongest. Perhaps such a recipe is needed now to move boys to the center ring. Without anxious public opinion influencing national educational reform to benefit boys exclusively, battles will be won, but boys in general will continue to fall further behind in literacy.