Here's an email Shawn Welcome sent out after hearing Margaret Beale Spencer November 16, 2006
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Good day all,

It took me a minute to get this email out but I finally managed to squeeze in the time. At the last Atlas conference on Nov 16th where Dr. Margaret Beale Spencer conducted what I considered to be an extremely essential workshop that provided deep views into the issues facing us today regarding education the Black male, some of us decided to do something. This is the beginning of that something.

Before I begin, let me say that I included some folks on this distribution list that I may not have spoken to as of yet, but I recognize that they have the skills or resources or vision necessary to help us develop something revolutionary.

As a reminder, I am Shawn Welcome-Director of Arturo Schomburg Satellite Academy H.S, and my ultimate goal is to design an inter-state consortium between schools and arts/cultures professionals to meet the following objectives:

Expose young Black ( African-American and Latino ) males to different cultures, environments, social experiences and realities
Initiate an E-pal program with possible video conferencing capabilities that would enable us to start relationships with young men and schools, both international and national, in order close the divide between our men, their environments, and the rest of the world. Vision here: Enlighten, deconstruct differences, build connections, initiate metacognition on societal roles/realities, affects of it on us and us on it
Incorporate the arts: choirs, theatre, restaurants, social etiquette, instrumental arts, vocal arts, performance arts, etc
Trips that connect Ny to Boston, Boston to Ny, Both to international regions unknown to our young men ( Damon Smith is already well ahead of us with this one--I'm sure he will share his process and progress )
I have included Dr. Spencer and Mr. Walker on this distribution list because I think it essential that they are aware of wherever we go from this point forward. I recognize them as extreme resources and mentors.

I included Kim Park because she has connections with performance artists that are interested in working within urban schools.

There was a woman at the meeting who runs a boy's choir, ( I forget her name) but I remember that she was interested in joining in on this idea. If anyone has her email/contact information, please forward it to me or forward this email to her. She was in our work-group.

Finally, I added some other African American educators whom I believe have an interest in this work.

This is the beginning of conversations, it is a collaboration. Feel free to add to the list of objectives or share thoughts on adjustments needed to be considered. I figure that we may need an essential question to start this conversation. I offer this one; How can I and my school help in the creation of this consortium?

I am excited at the future that this may create for our young men.....let's start the conversation...

More from Dr. Tatum:
Principals have to have a school that enables students to read at grade level

support teachers to develop expert procedures
systemize reading instruction-there needs to be a limited number of expert strategies.
place the focus on academic excellence and identity development
question under treatment

Role of Literacy Development

Healthy Psyche
Modern Day Awareness of the Real World
Collective Struggle
Roadmap for the Future

You need to find an entry point in the text that connects to the reader.

Some specifics of reading strategy:
Word Development-
The word needs to be central to the text being used and transferable to other texts and situations. Students need to be able to identify what it is; what it isn't, and give an example of it.

Cueing System

decoding
structure of the text
monitor comprehension
background knowledge

Change conditions and break down conditions that thwart struggling readers

The most difficult questions are those whose answers are in more than one line of the text.

Tatum says we have to hold African American Youth accountable but we have find ways to help him. We need to have a commitment to helping and never lessen that commitment. They need to find resilience to stand on their own two feet.

Instead of an achievement gap we should see it as a "Life Outcome Gap"

Dr. Tatum used the accountability model and turned it slightly:
Besides AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) we need to focus on YP (Young People) and stay away from OYP (Overlooking Young People).

The ACORN Community School is using Dr. Tatum's book "Teaching Black Adolesecents to Read. Anyone else using this book?