As an educator, we are rarely surprised by the results of educational research.
In fact, most of the time we rebuttal with “Did they really need a study to figure this out? They should have just spent a few days in my classroom!”
Being a educator for more than 2 decades, I’ve seen my fair share of educational research findings. Most don’t surprise me. Most I shrug off with a simple, “I could have told them that.” However, there is one research study that haunts me. In 1988, researchers provided students with a reading assessment focused on the game of baseball. It is often known as “The Baseball Experiment” or “The Baseball Study.” In the study, they asked students to retell a story about the game, searching for what would be the biggest impact on their ability to recall. What is their reading comprehension skills? Or what is their knowledge of baseball?
I wasn’t surprised to discover that the students with the strongest reading skills and vast knowledge of baseball scored the highest overall.
What did surprise me was the students who scored just as high–students with low reading skills, but lots of baseball knowledge. In fact, they did better than those students who had above-average reading skills, but who didn’t really understand the game.
So, why does this haunt me?
There are a million topics in the universe. How do I focus my efforts on exposing my students to as many topics as possible? How do I ensure equity and ignore the harsh reality that my students are all in the same ocean, but they each have a different boat?
I’ve spent many restless nights thinking about how to increase students’ background knowledge. I’m unimpressed with Language Arts basal readers that focus on one topic (like bats) for an entire week. I’m frustrated with online software that introduces students to non-fiction text but in the most boring way possible. My students LOVE to read fiction and HATE to read non-fiction. And while there is certainly a place for fiction, most fiction texts don’t expand their background knowledge of the world around them.
Take for instance, Diary of a Wimpy Kid series! My own son would hide in his closet past bedtime, with a flashlight, just to get in a few more seconds of reading time. He became completely obsessed with Greg (the Wimpy Kid) and his life. His adventures. His challenges. His successes. My son entered into Greg’s world and found himself unable to put down the books!
What if while “experiencing life” with Greg, my child could also be exposed to a variety of topics? What if Greg could go to real places and learn about our real world? What if Greg was a real boy? What if he went to real places, and while sharing about his adventures, challenges and successes, my son read factual information? What if instead of reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid, my child read the diary of a REAL kid?
That’s when my newest idea came to me!
It’s been years in the making, but I finally decided to take my love for creating and solve this problem for my students. Each diary entry is written from the point-of-view of Benjamin Jones, a real boy. Students will follow along as his family adventures across the United States, visiting museums, National Parks & outdoor attractions. Ben introduces students to geography, social studies and science topics, sharing REAL information from the places he visits! Each diary comes with a collectable sticker, postcard to Grandma Pat, comprehension question options & a “Fact-Checker” to help students learn more about the non-fiction topic at hand.
Is Ben a REAL boy?
Yes, of course. He is my son, Benjamin Jones. The other main characters–Mom, Dad & Grandma Pat–are all REAL, too. And everything Ben experiences is REAL. I should know…I was there!
