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As an elementary school teacher,

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

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This usually consisted of weekend
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
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
read short stories and did spelling tests.

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

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The next semester,
I joined advanced English.

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(Laughter)

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We read two novels and wrote
two book reports that semester.

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The drastic difference and rigor
between these two English classes

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angered me and spurred questions like,

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"Where did all these
white people come from?"

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(Laughter)

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My high school was over
70 percent black and Latino,

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but this advanced English class
had white students everywhere.

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This personal encounter
with institutionalized racism

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altered my relationship
with reading forever.

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I learned that I couldn't depend
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,
than being intellectual,

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I decided I would no longer allow
other people to dictate

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when and what I read.

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And without realizing it,
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
from one reading level to another,

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or forcing struggling readers
to memorize lists of unfamiliar words,

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we should be asking ourselves
this question:

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How can we inspire children
to identify as readers?

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

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he helped me understand
how identity shapes learning.

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One day during math,
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,
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
to read," he would say.

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I taught DeSean to read,

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

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According to the US
Department of Education,

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more than 85 percent
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
to reading children face,

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the more culturally competent
educators need to be.

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

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I understand the importance
of cultural competency,

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which I define as the ability to translate

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what you want someone else
to know or be able to do

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into communication or experiences
that they find relevant and engaging.

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Before going on stage,
I assess an audience.

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Are they white, are they Latino?

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Are they old, young,
professional, conservative?

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Then I curate and modify my jokes

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based on what I think
would generate the most laughter.

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While performing in a church,
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
reading experiences for children

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

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And then we wonder
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
should be two-way.

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

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but as cocreators of knowledge.

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Cookie-cutter curriculums
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
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
promoted to black boys

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

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

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

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

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Or never had a black man
encourage him to read.

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What cultural factors,
what social cues are present

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that would lead
a young black boy to conclude

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that reading is even
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
reading spaces in barber shops.

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The mission is simple:

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to help young black boys
identify as readers.

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

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Some see their barbers
more than they see their fathers.

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Barbershop Books connects reading
to a male-centered space

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and involves black men
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
recommended by black boys.

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These are the books
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
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
black boys and other children to read

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when it's not required,

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we need to incorporate
relevant male reading models

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into early literacy

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

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

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(Laughter)

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"You call them boogers.
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
and desperately need more of that.

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Dismantling the savage inequalities
that plague American education

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requires us to create reading experiences

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that inspire all children
to say three words:

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I'm a reader.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)