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Profiles Mon Sep 10 2012
"Bottled Up Rising Up" Follow Up
Joseph Sanchez, a ChicagoQuest middle school student, meets each day with a great desire to learn and connect to people and to the world around him. But, like too many young people today, he also meets each day with the struggles of ADHD. His mother, Miriam Sanchez, says that Joseph's ADHD often causes him to feel frustrated with daily tasks and the academic learning processes that have become standard. ts result, Joseph struggles with nervousness, acts out, and has trouble making friends.
This spring, Joseph joined the Open Books program, "ReadThenWrite," and was exposed to literature reading, writing and thinking critically to discuss the effects and possibilities of fiction.
"He liked the fact that he was able to create his own story," Sanchez said. "He really enjoyed the creating part of the program." Joseph made several friends in the program and developed new ways of coping with and addressing his ADHD and nervousness. His confidence grew and, as he became an avid reader, so too did his knowledge of and interest in the world around him. "Now that he knows how to, he can be a writer," Sanchez said.
Open Books' literacy programs connect young people with mentors, successful artists, published literature, the cultural and social networks of Chicago, and to inner strengths. Their perspectives expand as they reimagine the environments that surround them every day and the ways that they can relate, connect, and contribute to them. Joseph Sanchez is just success to come out of the program; the adult volunteers who make the Open Books literacy programming possible, benefit too, sharing in the learning and discovery that comes from working closely with others.
You can be a part of this fun and exciting intellectual relationship-building by becoming an Open Books volunteer.
