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Posted: 5/27/21

TAMIU Students Craft Children’s Books, Donate to University’s Lamar Bruni Vergara Literacy Partnership

 

Dr. Kaitlyn Culliton
Dr. Kaitlyn Culliton  

Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) students are making a difference in the lives of children, one book at a time.

Students enrolled in the Multilingual Children’s Literature course this past Spring 2020 semester crafted a series of children’s books that will be used by student tutors involved in the TAMIU-Lamar Bruni Vergara (LBV) Literacy Partnership. 

A total of 42 books were created by 42 University students for donation to the TAMIU - LBV Literacy Partnership. The student authors provided the children’s books to the TAMIU - LBV Literacy Partnership tutors during a Book Hand-Off event Tuesday, June 1  in the Great Room, located inside the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library. 

The collaborative service-learning project was formed after Dr. Kaitlyn M. Culliton, assistant professor of English in the University’s College of Arts and Sciences, sought to offer students enrolled in the course an opportunity to take part in their education. 

 “The fact that these students are future teachers and will be responsible for inspiring a love of literature in the next generation of students made it feel particularly important that this class be something special,” explained Dr. Culliton. 

She continued, “Together, we came up with the idea to have the Children’s Literature students write books that the TAMIU-LBV Literacy Partnership could use to tutor their students. We are working together to encourage literacy in young readers by increasing access to children’s works that authentically represent the Laredo community.”

Throughout the collaborative process, students wrote, illustrated, and published their original picture books that engaged with their community and reflected on their own experiences.

Most importantly, students gained an acute awareness of the literacy needs affecting young readers and focused on addressing these pressing issues through their honed creations, Culliton noted.    

“Significant research has demonstrated that early literacy is the best way to offer students lifelong academic success and to bridge achievement gaps between students. However, early literacy acquisition is subject to several social and cultural challenges. The TAMIU-LBV Literacy Partnership provides tutoring to address early achievement gaps by reading with students in weekly tutoring sessions. The books that the Multicultural Children’s Literature students create help to address other factors,” Culliton explained.

These books focus on additional factors of representation, language, and authentic cultural expression that are found in Laredo, and how these issues are portrayed to young readers.

The book sets will reside in literacy centers in TAMIU-LBV Literacy Partnership schools across Laredo. Additionally, a featured read-aloud of the books will be available via YouTube at TAMIU-LBV Literacy Partnership.

Student authors are currently generating quizzes that will be used to supplement the school’s Accelerated Reader (AR) collections. Through the read-alouds and potential AR point accumulation, Culliton hopes to additionally expand the project’s reach and further integrate the books into the local community. 

“We want to continue to increase access to these books. We are seeking funding to be able to subsidize copies of the books that students can bring home to their own families. Eventually, we hope to add additional community partners that would benefit from the donation of additional book sets,” Culliton reiterated.  

Future endeavors also include publishing opportunities with publishing houses to make these children’s books accessible to a larger regional, national and international audience. 

The TAMIU-LBV Literacy Partnership is a community engagement initiative of Texas A&M International University funded by the Lamar Bruni Vergara Charitable Trust. Through the LBV Trusts’ generous support, the Partnership provides one-to-one tutoring to children throughout Laredo and professional development targeting early literacy. The collaborative effort includes support from Laredo College, Laredo Independent School District, and United ISD. Together, the TAMIU-LBV Partnership has established literacy centers throughout Laredo to better promote grade-level reading in early elementary years.

For more information, contact Dr. Culliton at 956.326.2647 or email kaitlyn.culliton@tamiu.edu

Additional information on the TAMIU – LBV Literacy Partnership is available online at https://www.tamiu.edu/engagement/lp/index.shtml.  

a group of TAMIU Children's Literature students pose with their newly created books

Students enrolled in the Multilingual Children’s Literature course this past Spring 2020 semester crafted a series of children’s books that will be used by student tutors involved in the TAMIU-Lamar Bruni Vergara Literacy Partnership (TAMIU-LBV). The books were handed off to the TAMIU-LBV Literacy Partnership during an in-person event that included a children's book display, at the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library Great Room.