Julie Malm – 3rd Grade Teacher, McAuliffe Elementary, 10 years in district

"More than 400 students will have access to new books and program materials, supporting their studies in their classes and encouraging a lifelong love of reading. Without the 'What If' grants, there is no way we would have any of this," Julie Malm, a teacher at McAuliffe Elementary, says.

It is a huge challenge to teach reading because students are at such different levels. You want to challenge the students furthest ahead but you also want to make sure each and every one learns the fundamentals and joys of reading.

This year, McAuliffe Elementary students will have access to an expanded library that encourages challenging reading for all abilities and the kind of flexibility that discourages pigeonholing or labeling. Beginning with an initial Hastings Public Schools Foundation grant for Julie Malm's classroom in 2003, this "guided reading" program is expanding. A second grant award to several teachers will result in a special guided reading area of the school library filled with quality, skill-based literature – from dinosaurs to presidents – hand-picked with assistance from Library Media Specialist, Pat Schultz.

Although students are initially placed in small groups by interest and reading abilities, they can float between groups depending on the chosen book. By offering six to eight books of each title, the program teaches discussion skills and is linked to classroom studies (such as synonyms) as well as 70 "literacy centers" that offer additional projects to challenge any student.

"After the first grant, we learned that more teachers were using these techniques, and we needed a more central location for teachers and students to access materials," Malm explains. "We have fiction and non-fiction, so students learn to read both for information and pleasure. Teachers love it because we see children who love to read. Parents love it because they feel their kids are really being challenged no matter what their abilities."

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