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As an elementary school teacher,

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my mom did everything she could[br]to ensure I had good reading skills.

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This usually consisted of weekend[br]reading lessons at our kitchen table

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while my friends played outside.

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My reading ability improved,

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but these forced reading lessons[br]didn't exactly inspire a love of reading.

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High school changed everything.

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In 10th grade, my regular English class[br]read short stories and did spelling tests.

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Out of sheer boredom, I asked[br]to be switched into another class.

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The next semester,[br]I joined advanced English.

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(Laughter)

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We read two novels and wrote[br]two book reports that semester.

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The drastic difference and rigor[br]between these two English classes

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angered me and spurred questions like,

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"Where did all these[br]white people come from?"

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(Laughter)

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My high school was over[br]70 percent black and Latino,

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but this advanced English class[br]had white students everywhere.

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This personal encounter[br]with institutionalized racism

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altered my relationship[br]with reading forever.

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I learned that I couldn't depend[br]on a school, a teacher or curriculum

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to teach me what I needed to know.

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And more out of like, rebellion,[br]than being intellectual,

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I decided I would no longer allow[br]other people to dictate

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when and what I read.

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And without realizing it,[br]I had stumbled upon a key

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to helping children read.

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Identity.

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Instead of fixating on skills

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and moving students[br]from one reading level to another,

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or forcing struggling readers[br]to memorize lists of unfamiliar words,

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we should be asking ourselves[br]this question:

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How can we inspire children[br]to identify as readers?

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DeSean, a brilliant first-grader[br]I taught in the Bronx,

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he helped me understand[br]how identity shapes learning.

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One day during math,[br]I walk up to DeSean, and I say,

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"DeSean, you're a great mathematician."

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He looks at me and responds,

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"I'm not a mathematician,[br]I'm a math genius!"

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(Laughter)

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OK DeSean, right?

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Reading?

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Completely different story.

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"Mr. Irby, I can't read.

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I'm never going to learn[br]to read," he would say.

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I taught DeSean to read,

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but there are countless black boys[br]who remain trapped in illiteracy.

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According to the US[br]Department of Education,

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more than 85 percent[br]of black male fourth graders

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are not proficient in reading.

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85 percent!

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The more challenges[br]to reading children face,

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the more culturally competent[br]educators need to be.

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Moonlighting as a stand-up comedian[br]for the past eight years,

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I understand the importance[br]of cultural competency,

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which I define as the ability to translate

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what you want someone else[br]to know or be able to do

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into communication or experiences[br]that they find relevant and engaging.

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Before going on stage,[br]I assess an audience.

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Are they white, are they Latino?

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Are they old, young,[br]professional, conservative?

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Then I curate and modify my jokes

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based on what I think[br]would generate the most laughter.

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While performing in a church,[br]I could tell bar jokes.

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But that might not result in laughter.

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(Laughter)

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As a society, we're creating[br]reading experiences for children

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that are the equivalent[br]of telling bar jokes in a church.

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And then we wonder[br]why so many children don't read.

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Educator and philosopher Paulo Freire

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believed that teaching and learning[br]should be two-way.

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Students shouldn't be viewed[br]as empty buckets to be filled with facts

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but as cocreators of knowledge.

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Cookie-cutter curriculums[br]and school policies

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that require students to sit statue-still

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or to work in complete silence --

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these environments often exclude[br]the individual learning needs,

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the interest and expertise of children.

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Especially black boys.

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Many of the children's books[br]promoted to black boys

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focus on serious topics, like slavery,[br]civil rights and biographies.

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Less than two percent of teachers[br]in the United States are black males.

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And a majority of black boys[br]are raised by single mothers.

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There are literally young black boys[br]who have never seen a black man reading.

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Or never had a black man[br]encourage him to read.

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What cultural factors,[br]what social cues are present

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that would lead[br]a young black boy to conclude

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that reading is even[br]something he should do?

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This is why I created Barbershop Books.

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It's a literacy nonprofit

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that creates child-friendly[br]reading spaces in barber shops.

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The mission is simple:

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to help young black boys[br]identify as readers.

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Lots of black boys go to the barber shop[br]once or twice a month.

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Some see their barbers[br]more than they see their fathers.

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Barbershop Books connects reading[br]to a male-centered space

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and involves black men[br]and boys' early reading experiences.

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This identity-based reading program

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uses a curated list of children's books[br]recommended by black boys.

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These are the books[br]that they actually want to read.

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Scholastic's 2016 Kids and Family Report

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found that the number one thing[br]children look for when choosing a book

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is a book that will make them laugh.

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So if we're serious about helping[br]black boys and other children to read

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when it's not required,

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we need to incorporate[br]relevant male reading models

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into early literacy

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and exchange some of the children's books[br]that adults love so much

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for funny, silly or even gross books,[br]like "Gross Greg".

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(Laughter)

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"You call them boogers.[br]Greg calls them delicious little sugars."

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(Laughter)

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That laugh, that positive reaction

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or gross reaction some of you just had,

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(Laughter)

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black boys deserve[br]and desperately need more of that.

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Dismantling the savage inequalities[br]that plague American education

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requires us to create reading experiences

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that inspire all children[br]to say three words:

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I'm a reader.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)