Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Monday, February 09, 2009

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Former UK linebacker Wesley Woodyard called a youngster to join him up front as he read to fourth-graders at Maxwell.

Maxwell students kicked off Black History Month with an African-American Read-In, featuring a visit from a pair of NFL players with local ties.

“It means a lot when they see somebody from the community coming back. We try to stay tuned in to community service,” said Wesley Woodyard, a former University of Kentucky outside linebacker who now plays for the Denver Broncos.

He and former UK teammate Keenan Burton were among about 20 volunteers who spent an hour on Monday reading to kids at Maxwell Spanish Immersion Magnet School.

“Hopefully the kids will know that people outside the educational system care about them, too,” said Obiora Embry, who has a fifth-grade daughter at Maxwell.

Burton, who played receiver for the Wildcats and is now with the St. Louis Rams, said African-American children can sometimes feel outnumbered and overshadowed in school. “It may be different to see some black person who is successful,” he said. “That shows them it is possible.”

During the Read-In, visitors fanned out to classrooms around the building to share books written by and about African-Americans. Burton, for instance, read “Joe Louis: America’s Fighter” to one fourth-grade group while Woodyard read “Follow the Drinking Gourd,” about the Underground Railroad, to other fourth-graders next door.

Emmett “Buzz” Burnam, UK’s director of diversity undergraduate recruitment, was back for a second year. “I like the enthusiasm the kids have. They really seem to embrace the stories and are pretty intent on listening,” he said.

The annual African-American Read-In has been spearheaded by the black caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English for 20 years. Schools, churches, libraries, bookstores, interested citizens, and community and professional organizations are urged to make literacy a significant part of Black History Month by hosting Read-Ins in their communities.

At Maxwell, the effort was coordinated by parents Jamie Nebbitt and Phillip and Vivian Bibbs. “We hope to broaden their awareness of African-American opportunities and broaden their scope of knowledge,” said Nebbitt, whose son is a second-grader.

Teachers planned to follow up with literacy activities to highlight each book. Also for Black History Month, Maxwell’s morning show is offering a daily quiz about famous African-Americans such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama.

“We try to focus on all areas – inventors, politicians, actors, sports stars,” said Lolita Collins, the reading intervention teacher. For the Read-In, “We tried to get books that went along with that so they’d have some background knowledge as well,” she added.

Later in February, Maxwell will host a theatrical performance about civil rights leader Ida B. Wells, as well as an African-American ventriloquist. Nebbitt also will send newsletters to parents with Black History Month facts, features on African-American inventors, the story of Rosa Parks, and word scrambles.

Principal Heather Bell noted that February’s activities help show children that African-American history is not just another content area to study. “It’s valued in the community, too,” she said.