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Good book, comfy nook

Donation makes it easy to recline and read a line

contributed

Students in Myla Harwood’s West Junior High English class take time for “self-directed, extended reading” in comfort, thanks to the gift of these cushions from Ethan Allen.

By Britt Combs | The McDowell News

Published: October 14, 2009

Seventh-graders in Myla Harwood's West Junior High English class can relax, kick back and spend some quality time reading in class. That's thanks to Ethan Allen, which donated the giant pillows that make Harwood's classroom so attractive.

Harwood said a growing obstacle between kids and learning is a lack of sustained, concentrated activity. Sustained reading is the opposite of TV or video games. It requires concentration and focus for at least half an hour as the student not only reads by processes, applies and predicts.

In order to create a space in her class that would be conducive to that kind of reading, she asked Ethan Allen for help.

Randy Rose, plant manager of Ethan Allen's Maiden facility, was immediately anxious to come to the aid of Harwood and her students. He just needed to know what kind of cushions and how many.

She asked for eight pillows, about 50 inches by 42 inches.

"About 10 days later," she said, "he said they were ready. This was the day before school started, and I hated to be away on the last work day."

Enter Harwood's friend, retired educator and School Board Member Kay Sinclair. She drove to Maiden to pick up the cushions. Not realizing how large they were, they could only get six in the back of her wagon. But, Harwood continued, Sinclair insisted they put the rest in the passenger seat. She would rather face an angry highway patrolman than fail to bring all the cushions back.

Harwood thinks they are beautiful.

"I though they'd be black or some basic fabric they might have left over," Harwood said, but no, the striped upholstery material is pretty, comfortable and durable.

"We do self-directed reading a couple of times a week," she added. "The kids use them and they take good care of them."

She said Ethan Allen's gift was very generous and was sincerely helping her kids become better readers.

"You have to ask for what you need. The worst anyone can do is say 'no,'" she said.

This is Harwood's first year teaching at West. Before that she was a literacy coach at East Junior High, but the state budget cuts over the summer meant McDowell County Schools had to terminate literacy coaches' positions.

Coming to West meant a return to the classroom for her. She taught high school English for many years.

Her son, Adam Harwood, is newly arrived in Afghanistan with an unexploded bomb squad. She has arranged for her students to learn a great deal more about Afghanistan in the coming weeks.

She said inspiring kids to read usually meant finding the kids' interests.

"I can usually go to a shelf and find something that will interest them," she said. Kids these days want non-fiction; they want something they can apply and get their hands on.

Given the severe budget cuts this year, and her success in asking Ethan Allen for help, Harwood is now turning to the people of McDowell for help. She hopes that those who have books will donate them to both East and West junior high schools.

A school and its classrooms can never have too many books, she explained. A lot of kids are waiting for the book that will truly interest them on their own level to learn the love or reading, and hence, the love of learning.