Real Men Read :: Collaborative Learning Centers Project

The Real Men Read Project at McCosh:

Involving the Community,

Inspiring the Children

The Real Men Read Project is an on-going biannual event first organized in 1995 by the Primary Language Arts Team. Because a large proportion of McCosh students grow up in single parent families, many lack a male role model for the simple--yet educationally crucial--activity of reading books. To provide students with this experience, teacher leader Geralynn Wilson and her team organized Real Men Read.

At Real Men Read events, men recruited from the McCosh community, through teachers' contacts, and from partner institutions like Roosevelt University, first gather for breakfast and a short program and orientation to the school. Then first, second and third grade students, chosen because they are "Young Author" winners, escort them to classrooms where they read a story or two to eager children. The visit often ends with a spirited discussion of experiences the children and the visitor share.

Scout leaders, doctors, ministers, church members, professors, university students, teachers, and truck drivers have all left students with a wider understanding of their world and their possibilities as well as a greater appreciation for reading. The men also leave inspired to a deeper commitment to children and their education. Real Men Read strengthens school/community ties as well.

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The Real Men Read Project at McCosh: Involving the Community, Inspiring the Children
The Real Men Read Project is an on-going biannual event first organized in 1995 by the Primary Language Arts Team. Because a large proportion of McCosh students grow up in single parent families, many lack a male role model for the simple--yet educationally crucial--activity of reading books. To provide students with this experience, teacher leader Geralynn Wilson and her team organized Real Men Read.
	At Real Men Read events, men recruited from the McCosh community, through teachers' contacts, and from partner institutions like Roosevelt University, first gather for breakfast and a short program and orientation to the school. Then first, second and third grade students, chosen because they are "Young Author" winners, escort them to classrooms where they read a story or two to eager children. The visit often ends with a spirited discussion of experiences the children and the visitor share.
Scout leaders, doctors, ministers, church members, professors, university students, teachers, and truck drivers have all left students with a wider understanding of their world and their possibilities as well as a greater appreciation for reading. The men also leave inspired to a deeper commitment to children and their education. Real Men Read strengthens school/community ties as well.