What is ProjectLIT (and why you should have a chapter)

Two years ago I started seeing “ProjectLIT” all over my Twitter and IG feed. I didn’t know much about it so I did some research. In 2017 Jarred Amato started ProjectLIT with the goal to get diverse, inclusive and empathetic books into students’ hands so that kids could use these books as windows, mirrors and doors. He started the ProjectLIT Community Chapters so that other educators and librarians could form their own chapters in their communities around the world. What started in 2017 has now grown into a global phenomenon.

So what is ProjectLIT all about? We are a national, grassroots LITeracy movement, a network of dedicated teachers, librarians and students who are committed to increasing access to culturally relevant books and promoting a love of reading in our schools and communities. We work together to:

• Empower students as READERS and LEADERS in their school and community.

• Host monthly or quarterly Project LIT Book Clubs.

• Flood our schools and communities with high-quality, culturally relevant books.

• Champion & celebrate reading daily.

• Inspire and support one another through sharing of lesson plans, resources, strategies, and book recommendations.

• Create opportunities for students to connect with peers around the country.

• Advocate for policies & practices that will help our students become lifelong leaders.

In order to become a ProjectLIT chapter leader you need to apply here. Once accepted, chapter leaders access our resources and checklists and connect with our community to develop a game plan for their school. From there, they empower their students to organize Project LIT Book Club events and engage in service & project-based learning that address literacy needs in their community. Through the process, our Project LIT educators & students become passionate readers and leaders who change the world.

Starting ProjectLIT at my campus is one of the most rewarding things I’ve done in my career. It’s made me pay more attention to the books I purchase for my library to make sure I’m buying diverse books for all of my patrons. It’s helped me recommend books because I’m reading so many different types of books with a wide variety of marginalized characters that need to have their stories told. I’m reading more #ownvoices books so that those who lived their stories can tell their stories and have readers see themselves in books. I hope I’ve created a more empathetic group of readers on my campus who are learning from other cultures and voices through reading ProjectLIT books. I’ve been able to also nominate a lot of these titles to be chosen for future years’ lists.

I was lucky enough to have a 7th grade teacher on my campus, Melanie Jaramillo, who partnered with me to start our ProjectLIT Book Club last fall. We had over 50 members for our first year. Together we worked with Cassie Thomas, Kim Nichols, and Megan Traeger to partner with a local elementary school and the other middle school in our town so students could pair up and read a ProjectLIT book together since we didn’t have enough books to have everyone read the same one. Students communicated through email and Flipgrid to talk about the books they chose together and which ones they wanted to read next. We met once a month during lunch to debrief and talk about the books students were reading. This worked well, but we still have some things we want to tweak this school year, adding Samantha Goldstein to our crew too!

Due to COVID-19, our chapter is going to look different this year and that’s okay. We hope to partner kids virtually and Zoom after school so they can all “meet” one another. We would like to have an author Skype visit as well. This will take some practice and flexibility, but we still hope to have a successful chapter this school year. The second announcement of ProjectLIT books for 2020-2021 will be in October so follow ProjectLIT on Twitter, FB, and IG to see what the newest books will be. Previous lists can be found here. Please reach out if you have any questions or need help starting a chapter on your campus!