WE HELP BALANCE THE NARRATIVE
#BrownTeensRead is a literacy program that promotes reading, writing, social and cultural awareness among teens of color in high school classrooms around the world.
We have combined literary citizenship with education to improve the reading, writing, social and cultural literacy in classrooms and alternative learning environments around the world!
We raise money through donations, teacher book clubs and literary-themed social events to fund culturally responsive libraries in high school classrooms. Teachers who [DO SOMETHING] are eligible to be chosen to be funded so that their classrooms can receive books and a book case. Recipients must attend our professional learning workshop to learn practical, proven methods to increase engagement with reading. When teachers leave our workshops, they leave with a more vivid understanding of why reading diverse texts is important and how writing can liberate the imagination of their students. They also gain effective strategies for the following:
We have one goal in mind: to help teachers track and improve the reading habits of high school teens in vulnerable populations. We want to change the lives of black and brown teens and improve their reading, writing, social and cultural literacy at school and at home. They will begin to understand that reading and writing are their passports to be bold, to be beautiful and to be themselves.
We have combined literary citizenship with education to improve the reading, writing, social and cultural literacy in classrooms and alternative learning environments around the world!
We raise money through donations, teacher book clubs and literary-themed social events to fund culturally responsive libraries in high school classrooms. Teachers who [DO SOMETHING] are eligible to be chosen to be funded so that their classrooms can receive books and a book case. Recipients must attend our professional learning workshop to learn practical, proven methods to increase engagement with reading. When teachers leave our workshops, they leave with a more vivid understanding of why reading diverse texts is important and how writing can liberate the imagination of their students. They also gain effective strategies for the following:
- Making reading engaging
- Questioning how texts are written in addition to what they are about
- Making personal and global connections to what's being read
- Improved writing and critical thinking skills
We have one goal in mind: to help teachers track and improve the reading habits of high school teens in vulnerable populations. We want to change the lives of black and brown teens and improve their reading, writing, social and cultural literacy at school and at home. They will begin to understand that reading and writing are their passports to be bold, to be beautiful and to be themselves.
TYLER PERRY
In 2011, Forbes magazine listed American actor, director, producer and screenwriter, Tyler Perry, as "the highest-paid man in entertainment, earning US$130 million between May 2010 and May 2011."
Perry was slow-going to get there though. At home, he was beaten often by his father (who, he later learned through DNA testing, was not his biological father), he attempted suicide, was molested by a friend's mother and three men by the age of 10, and he never graduated high school. He earned his GED.
He found solace and refuge at church though, where his mother took him weekly. In his early 20s, Perry was watching an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, when he heard someone describe the therapeutic effects that writing can have to help the writer work out his or her own problems. That moment inspired Perry to forge a career in writing. He wrote a series of letters to himself, which became the basis for the musical I Know I've Been Changed and used his experiences in church to create one of the most recognizable women on television and in film, Madea.
Like Perry, writing can equip teens with the tools to change the trajectory of their lives with the stroke of a pen. They will quickly realize the viable career options that exist within the writing industry. They can be professional poets, rappers, novelists, screenwriters, content writers, bloggers, technical writers, grant writers and more! They just need creativity, drive and a chance!
Perry was slow-going to get there though. At home, he was beaten often by his father (who, he later learned through DNA testing, was not his biological father), he attempted suicide, was molested by a friend's mother and three men by the age of 10, and he never graduated high school. He earned his GED.
He found solace and refuge at church though, where his mother took him weekly. In his early 20s, Perry was watching an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, when he heard someone describe the therapeutic effects that writing can have to help the writer work out his or her own problems. That moment inspired Perry to forge a career in writing. He wrote a series of letters to himself, which became the basis for the musical I Know I've Been Changed and used his experiences in church to create one of the most recognizable women on television and in film, Madea.
Like Perry, writing can equip teens with the tools to change the trajectory of their lives with the stroke of a pen. They will quickly realize the viable career options that exist within the writing industry. They can be professional poets, rappers, novelists, screenwriters, content writers, bloggers, technical writers, grant writers and more! They just need creativity, drive and a chance!