Literacy Workshop ​“Elevates” Early Childhood Educators

“Mr. and Mrs… Sandwich?” puzzled a first-grader over a vibrant book in the basement of the Wilson Branch Library.

“Oh, Mr. and Mrs. Seahorse!” she corrected herself, before flipping to the next page of Eric Carle’s Mister Seahorse.

The reading session, held in the Hill branch Saturday, was the most recent installment in a series of ten workshops entitled ​“Elevating,” a literacy advocacy initiative led by early childhood educator and Kidz Kook founder Tennille Murphy.

By hosting three-hour conferences in libraries across New Haven, Murphy strives to redefine what it means to teach the next generation. 

“We need to dismantle this mindset that early childhood educators are simply glorified babysitters, and equip them with skills such as positive reinforcement, nutrition, multicultural awareness, lesson planning, and family engagement,” Murphy said.

Murphy was joined by literacy advocate and Reading Camp LLC founder Daisha Chatman, who was referred to Murphy during the series’ planning process.

“Kids associate summer camp with being fun, so by creating Reading Camp, I hoped to help them realize that reading is fun, too,” Chatman said, speaking to her and Murphy’s shared goal.

During the school year, Chatman serves as a follow-along tutor for students from kindergarten through first grade, challenging them to expand their language learning capacities. Her second-grade daughter, Andrea, is on track to be reading at a high fourth-grade level this spring.

By 1:45 p.m. — nearly an hour after the event was scheduled to begin — the turnout was looking bleak.Murphy was unfazed. ​“If we’ve got one [attendee], we’ve got enough,” she said of Brenda Fulcher, a childcare provider operating out of the West Hills neighborhood who was the first to arrive with her granddaughter, Harmony.

While waiting, Chatman shared her concerns about a low turnout with Talannie Ortiz, the event’s translator and Murphy’s ​“joined-at-the-hip best friend since 2000.” 

Referring to videos and pictures she had seen on social media, Chatman was disappointed by a concert earlier this month at College Street Music Hall headlined by GloRilla, a rap artist known for her intense and often explicit language, that ​“was flooded by parents and their little kids in inappropriate outfits.”

“But when you look at an event like this, where parents are learning how to help their children grow, they’re nowhere to be found,” Chatman said.

Her fears were soon quelled by the arrival of four more parents and educators with their children, eager to delve into reading.

Murphy wasted no time in striking up discussion, opening the event with a simple question for the kids in the room: ​“What’s your favorite book?”

Students were quick to jump in, their eyes lighting up as they took turns explaining the premise of each book. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin and John Archambault, an uppercase frenzy of lowercase letters attempting to scale a coconut tree, was a popular response, eliciting giggles when Murphy challenged the kids to ​“race to the top of the tree!”

One parent recalled an incident in which her daughter’s preschool refused to return the family’s copy on the insistence that the book belonged to the school.

In response, Fulcher had her own wisdom to share. ​“There is a stigma that people of color do not make time for their children — that they do not read to their children. I am glad you fought for that book because you should never let anyone ever take [reading] away from you and your kids.”

Chatman picked it up from there, emphasizing the importance of various reading habits: ​“Reading is everywhere. Whether they are listening to an audiobook on YouTube or reading the back of the cereal box, it’s still reading. Even if they are reading graphic novels, it’s better than them sitting in front of the TV for hours.”

Chatman’s passion for literacy stems from her childhood, when she was raised by grandmother due to her mother’s substance addiction and had limited access to reading material. Now Chatman’s two daughters enjoy their home’s collection of 5,000 books, ​“breaking the generational curse,” as Ortiz lauded her.

Chatman also stressed the necessity of monitoring the information kids consume.

“When my oldest daughter was in eighth grade, she came home with an assigned book containing sexually mature themes and vulgar language,” she recalled. ​“I told her teacher that I was willing to speak to the principal, the Board of Education, the mayor — and that I had an array of other diverse, appropriate books at home that she could read instead while keeping pace with her classmates.”

Diversity and representation in reading are especially important to Murphy, who grew up in a predominantly white private school and ​“rarely ever read books in which I could point out a girl who looked like me, or point out a Black person who was described as beautiful.”

Today’s selection of books featuring diverse characters is far more extensive, according to Murphy, who praised I Lost My Tooth in Africa by Brenda Diakite. ​“See, the main character has cornrows like Journey,” Murphy said, smiling at one of the kids.

Maxine Harris, a Hill community leader who began hosting Friday movie nights and a reading program for youth during the pandemic, brought four of her students to the workshop. ​“We’re currently reading Out of My Mind [by Sharon M. Draper],” she said, ​“Now, who can tell me what the book is about?”

All of her students’ hands shot up. ​“It’s about a girl who is very smart but people don’t listen to her because of her disability,” one explained.

Murphy applauded Harris and her students. ​“Kids can process big things, even if it comes from a different background.”

Chatman closed the presentation with advice on how to support children as a parent, suggesting home literacy corners for practicing both reading and writing and other habits to build confidence: ​“Don’t wait to have the discussions that come up during storytime. Answer your kids’ questions, and engage them by allowing them to share similar experiences in a way that develops their language skills.”

After an intensive discussion, educators and kids alike were equipped to apply effective read-aloud methods. Murphy led the group to several clusters of folding chairs, each circle sporting a large stuffed toy with keen listening ears and eyes.

The event ended with a story authored by the entire group. Sheets of paper sailed across the room every 30 seconds as participants scrambled to scrawl out their contribution to each illustration, ensuring that each author could leave their mark on all pages.

Once the papers had made their rounds, they were tacked up on a whiteboard for narration. Ortiz began the story, introducing three girls on their way to a CTown supermarket. The plot quickly evolved to follow a bear on his way home from honey shopping when he stumbles upon a surprise party thrown by all of the forest’s animals.

“That was a great story! But, I’m still wondering what happened to the CTown girls,” Ortiz said. Her curiosity was quenched by the reveal of a double-sided illustration, which Murphy used to draw the book to a close.

“There’s two sides to every story!” she said.

The event ended with a selection of sight-word games such as Bingo, courtesy of Chatman, and the opportunity for each attendee to stock up on books donated from Goodwill, New Haven Reads, and Connecticut’s early childhood funding legislation.

“I’m having the book distribution so that families and daycare providers can have their own books to build a home library,” Murphy explained. ​“In 2000, after the birth of my daughter, I said I want her to have 365 books — a book for everyday. I reached that number before she was three years old. Now, she is 23 years old and I have to sneak books into the house because she tells me do not bring anymore home. But I just can’t help myself!”

While orchestrating the distribution of over 200 books, Murphy managed to find a moment to appreciate the moment.

“Not to toot my own horn, but I am one of the best at what I do; Daisha is one of the best at what she does. But, we can’t teach every child. So, what I want to do is teach other early childhood educators how to implement the practices that have worked for us, so that they, too, can empower the next generation.” For Murphy, this is just the beginning of a reading revolution.