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Hello and welcome to SOE TV, that's School of Education TV. I'm your host, Dawn Crim,
the Associate Dean for External Relations here in the School of Education. Well, even
though it's cold outside, we have football on our minds because we are here today to
talk about the Badgers Spring Football game. This year the School of Education is going
to be partnering with UW Athletics to bring the Badgers Spring Football game to you. The
Athletics Department has decided for its fourth year to partner with an academic unit here
on campus and we have been chosen; we are honored, especially since Russell Wilson is
a graduate of the School of Education. Of course I had to get that in! We are going to be partnering and we are going
to be using the proceeds from the game to support our literacy efforts. We are going
to be improving students' literacy and we're going to do that through some of the initiatives
and programs that we have set up: technology, directly in the classroom, tutoring, summer
reading, teaching teachers how to better teach literacy, they're all on the list on how we're
going to help improve student literacy. But today, I have a special guest with me. I have
Jessica Doyle, former First Lady, married to former governor Jim Doyle, and an alum
from the School of Ed and a member of our Board of Visitors. Jessica Doyle, thank
you for joining me today.
Thank you, Dawn.
Well, Jessica's here because we have two co-chairs of the game--honorary, of course--Mark Tauscher,
and Jessica Doyle. So Jessica, what's it been like? How does it feel to be Honorary Co-Chair
of the Spring Game?
We held a press conference a couple of weeks ago with Barry Alvarez and Dean Julie Underwood,
and since then, enthusiasm has been really spreading. I think everybody in our community
takes a chance to look forward to Spring Game just because it signals an interest in football,
greater weather and a lot of hustle and bustle in our community.
You've got that right. Well, have you ever been in the Press Room before? Behind the
mic next to Barry Alvarez? How was that?
That was a lot of fun! And in front of a red background with W's all over? It's very interesting
to participate in those and listen to the high level of questioning.
Well, as I said, our theme is going to be "Supporting Students' Literacy" and I wanted
to talk with you because you are very passionate about literacy. What sparked that passion?
I think it probably began when I was a student at UW-Madison and I was finishing up my degree
in French, English, and Education. I knew I wanted to do something to enlighten students
about literacy and communications and this university really inspired me to move forward
and do that.
Wow! Well, while you were the First Lady, I understand you created a program, "Read on,
Wisconsin." Can you tell us a little bit about that program?
I really enjoyed that program and I can't thank enough the Children's Cooperative Book
Center (CCBC) for being a resource for that program. A lot of you might know about the
CCBC on campus; it's a great resource, especially for teachers across the state but also anyone
interested learning more about books. They have a copy at the CCBC of every book that
was written about Wisconsin, by a Wisconsin author, or a really knowledgeable person about
literacy that has happened to have gone here.
Wow! So tell me a little about how the program worked.
The program worked a little bit like this: I got together one summer a committee of teachers
and students and librarians from across the state and I asked them to help me start a
book club. Why a book club? I think everybody at some point in their lives have said, "I'd
really like to read but I just don't know a good book." So I thought this committee
could help me make recommendations for a good book and then also, I think people need to
have a motivator. So once a month, I invited a different school, often a set of schools,
to come to the residence to talk about the book and also, teachers across the state started
thinking of ways to motivate the students to read the books. That was the beginning
of "Read On, Wisconsin," an online book club that recommends five books each month to teachers
and students across the state. Five books because we have five different age groups;
it starts from 0-4 and it goes through high school, high school and adults, and it makes
recommendations like that and having the CCBC librarians ensure that we had books of good
quality was a really exciting experience for me.
Wow! So when you say "across the state" all 72 counties, the entire state of Wisconsin
was able to be a part of the program?
Was able to be a part of it. A person just went online to enter, and often teachers entered
their entire classroom, so I'd like to think we had thousands of readers every month.
Wow! Well, in thinking about the vastness of the state and the number of books in those
categories, what were some of the favorites that you recall?
Well, we had many favorites. By the way, sometimes we'd put a teaser in and discussion questions
to motivate the people to finish because as you know, both athletics and literacy have
a lot in common and it's important to have a reason to read or a reason to practice for
the game. So it's important to have a little motivator and a goal. I'd often actually go
to schools and show them the book, hold up the book, sometimes even leave a few copies
of the book. Really popular were books by John Coy, who has a variety of writing styles.
He has books for young children, "Two Old Potatoes and Me," actually has won an award,
and he has books for middle and high school students. The high school students, in fact,
tend to like books about athletics. A very popular book was "Crack Back" about a high
school football team and some of the issues that young people have to confront in high
school sports today. "Box Out," about basketball, of course, your sport, Dawn. And again, there
were a lot of lessons learned through sports but they were applied to life.
Well thanks for sharing those two examples! The reason why I said "my sport" is when I
started working here at UW-Madison, I actually came as an assistant women's basketball coach,
so Jessica Doyle knows about "Box Out" and I used to play Noon-time Basketball with your
husband! He was quite the player!
I hope you took it easy on him, Dawn!
I did, I did. But I'm sorry, I digress. We really are talking about Badger football and the
Spring Game. So Jessica, thank you so much for serving as an Honorary Co-Chair for the
game.
It's a lot of fun, Dawn.
With your experience in literacy and your background and love for the School of Ed,
such a natural connection!
So, Badgers fans, I'm inviting you right now, this minute to buy your tickets to join us
at the Spring Football Game on Saturday, April 12 at 3 p.m. It will be a great time! Come
to Camp Randall in the springtime, get a preview of the 2014 Badgers team and get to see Coach
Andersen walk the sidelines in-person! And all in the name of supporting literacy, a
winning combination! Badgers Athletics, the School of Ed and improving students' literacy.
So buy your tickets today and join us at the game!