Book Launch in India

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Television Interview in the Bay Area

Beyond the Fields Release- Sanger

Left to right: Jyothi Bathina, Seth Gardner, Aaron Galbraith and Stacy Lazzari (Photo contributed)

Published: Thursday, May 20, 2010 8:23 AM PDTSanger Herald

A wonderful project is nearing completion at a local school in Sanger. The students at Fairmont School have been working on building literacy through using personal narrative, a unit designed by Dr. Jyothi Bathina, Director of Literate Voices, and a faculty member at Fresno State.With her guidance, English teacher Stacy Lazzari, Bathina’s student in the credential program and a former Fairmont student herself, has been working to implement the project in her eighth grade classroom. The project has proven to have amazing success at motivating, encouraging and inspiring students to read and write and engage in the literacy process.The student work will soon be published in book form as a Literate Voices anthology entitled “Beyond the Fields: Sanger Stories.”

The unit is designed to meet ELA standards while at the same time providing incredible opportunities for authentic learning. As they read and write, students are being guided through the process of Personal Action Research, through which students learn not only to voice their opinions but to analyze their world and effect positive change.

Students are applying grammar, syntax and literary devices in their writing and editing, knowing that they will soon be published authors. Students are also learning other relevant cross-curricular life skills such as designing their covers, marketing their book, creating promotional materials and calculating royalties.

The Literate Voices project is founded on the belief that all students learn best through finding and expressing their personal voice. The project resulted in a previous anthology “Dreams Are for Others,” written by students in East Palo Alto, Calif.

Bathina is currently guiding the process in a high school in Visalia as well, where students are working on an anthology called “Against the Odds: Visalia Voices.” For more information on current and previous publications and the mission of the project itself, see www.literatevoices.org.

The culminating event for all this hard work is a grand joint book launch to be held on May 27 from 6-9 p.m. at the Satellite Student Union at Fresno State. The budding authors from both Fairmont School in Sanger and Sequoia will attend.

Book Launch at Fresno State
 
booklaunchposter
Fresno State project publishes Visalia, Sanger narrative anthologies
May 24, 2010 ⋅ by FSNArchive 

The Literate Voices project will celebrate the coming publication of two books of Sanger middle school and Visalia high school students’ narratives at a launch party 6-9 p.m. Thursday, May 27, at the California State University, Fresno Satellite Student Union.

The project director is Dr. Jyothi Bathina, an assistant professor of literacy and early education in the Kremen School of Education and Human Development.

“The project has proven to have amazing success at motivating, encouraging and inspiring students to read and write and engage in the literacy process,” said Bathina, who worked with students at Sequoia High School in Visalia and Fairmont School in Sanger.

In June, “Against the Odds: Visalia Voices” and “Beyond the Fields: Sanger Stories” will be published.

At the May 27 event, budding authors from both schools will present their work and sign books. The event is free and open to the public, and will include live entertainment and refreshments.

The unit is designed to meet English Language Arts standards, while providing students opportunities to learn to voice their opinions and to analyze their world and effect positive change, Bathina said.

“Students learned to apply grammar, syntax and literary devices in their writing and editing, knowing they would soon be published authors,” she added. “Students also learned other relevant cross-curricular life skills such as designing their covers, marketing their book, creating promotional materials, and calculating royalties.

The Literate Voices project is founded on the belief that all students learn best through finding and expressing their personal voice. The project resulted in a previous anthology “Dreams Are for Others,” written by students in East Palo Alto.