By Project LIT educators Jarred Amato and Nikki Healy

Happy New Year, everyone! Before we look ahead to 2020, Nikki and I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the first semester and celebrate the fact that our incredible high school students read a combined 1,417 books. 

Before we can even do that, however, it’s important to go back to August 2016. My students, then sophomores at Maplewood High School, and I founded Project LIT Community with a simple goal—to increase book access and to promote a love of reading in our community. Over the course of the first year, we organized a book drive, expanded our own classroom library, designed and distributed LIT libraries across East Nashville and started a monthly community-wide book club. The original Project LIT “chapter” was formed, and by May 2017, we encouraged other schools—in Nashville, across the country, and around the world—to join our movement. 

One of the first schools to jump on board was Middle College High School (Nashville, TN), where their all-star English teacher quickly empowered her students as they launched a chapter together. 

For the past two years (2017-18 and 2018-19), Nikki and I collaborated across town, meeting after school at coffee shops to plan lessons, field trips, book clubs and professional development opportunities for Project LIT students and educators. 

In May 2019, our Project LIT founders graduated and my school experienced another leadership change. As a result, when an English position opened up at Middle College in early June, I decided to make a move and join forces with Nikki. 

We are a small school tucked into two hallways on the campus of Nashville State Community College, so Nikki and I literally are the English department. I have the honor of teaching our ninth-graders while Nikki looped with her sophomores. It’s been the most rewarding year of my decade-long career. Truly a dream job.   

Okay, enough context. As promised, let’s take a look back at the first semester. Time flies when you’re always reading and writing stuff that matters. 

Hopefully, educators can borrow from our playbook as they look to create a positive literacy culture in their classroom and school. 

First Semester by the Numbers 

Before students left for winter break, Nikki and I administered a survey via Google Forms. Here are the results:

Total students: 123 Books read this semester: 1,417

Student favorites: Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson; Born A Crime by Trevor Noah; Dear Martin by Nic Stone;  Hey, Kiddo  by Jarrett Krosoczka; Jackpot by Nic Stone; Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds; Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson; Nyxia by Scott Reintgen;  Scythe, Thunderhead and The Toll by Neal Shusterman; Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson; The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater; The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas; With The Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo. 

Here are a few student reviews:

“Hey, Kiddo reminds me of how tough families can be, and that I’m not the only one going through stuff like that.” 

“Jackpot told a beautiful story with plot twists and *sigh* romance.” 

“Speak was a really good read, and it focused on a very sensitive topic that should be spoken about more.”

“With The Fire High was my favorite because I relate to Emoni’s passion for cooking, and I enjoyed her journey of balancing life.”

Here are the results from our winter survey, administered via Google Form. (Tip: Feel free to administer a similar survey with students as we kick off the second semester, and then follow up again at the end of the year!)

We also asked students to reflect on their growth as readers and writers and to share the literary moment(s) and experience(s) that stood out to them. In our next blog post, Top 10 Highlights From Our First Project LIT Semester, we’ll share their favorite moments from the semester (and ours), plus our final takeaways with you!

Jarred Amato and Nikki Healy are English teachers and Project LIT chapter leaders at Early Middle College High School (Nashville, TN). You can follow them online at @jarredamato and @mrsg_mchs.)