When West New York resident and children’s poet Dr. Allan DeFina was in third grade, he was almost scared away from writing all together.
“My teacher said that I had too vivid an imagination,” said DeFina. “I was always afraid after that to express my imagination.”
Today, DeFina works to make sure that no other student is scared away from writing. DeFina is the author of When a City Leans Against the Sky, a collection of children’s poetry that he said is based on the panoramic view of the New York City skyline from the window of his Boulevard East apartment. He is also an associate professor of literacy education at New Jersey City University.
DeFina, who graduated from Memorial High School in West New York, has been a member of the staff at New Jersey City University since 1980. He served first as a special education teacher at the A. Harry Moore Laboratory School, a special education facility administered by the university. DeFina is now a member of the university’s Literacy Education Department faculty.
DeFina has spoken at a wide range of conferences throughout the world, including those presented by the World Congress of the International Reading Association in Auckland, New Zealand. He recently returned from a research trip to Cuba where he observed the literacy teaching methods in that country.
“I am intrigued with the way reading and writing instruction takes place in other countries,” said DeFina. Recently, DeFina was selected to serve on Governor James McGreevey’s task force on literacy education initiatives.
New initiatives
The state task force is part of McGreevey’s 10-point literacy plan, which also includes extra training for teachers, a governor’s book-of-the-month club, reading coaches, and changes in teacher certification requirements as part of professional development.
The 10-member task force is made up of a cross section of educators, including teachers, superintendents, principals and reading coaches.
DeFina, the only member on the task force who teaches in higher education, is representing the New Jersey Reading Association, the state reading-related professional organization for educators. DeFina is the president of this organization.
One of the initiatives discussed among the members was adding a literacy education course requirement to the education programs in the state’s colleges and universities. According to DeFina, this is already a requirement in New Jersey City University; however, it is not in many other colleges and universities across the state.
“Not many teachers really know how to teach reading and writing,” said DeFina. “Making this a requirement would automatically help teachers deal with the literacy problems they come across in the classroom.”
Another suggestion was setting up guidelines for the professional development hours that teachers now have to complete. According to state guidelines, all teachers must complete 100 hours of professional development every five years. However, the state does not say what these hours need to be comprised of.
The board is suggesting that some of these hours be dedicated to literacy education initiatives.
Starting in literacy
DeFina’s love of reading and writing started at a very early age.
“My father would write love poetry to my mother for her birthday or their anniversary,” said DeFina about what influenced him to begin writing. “In my house, words were given as a gift.”
DeFina said that his father wrote for a poetry column in The Jersey City Observer, the newspaper that was distributed in Hudson County before the Jersey Journal.
“The most important thing that anyone can do is a lot of reading and writing with children,” said DeFina. “From the earliest time you can, put a pencil or crayon in their hand.”
However, DeFina said that he did not begin his own education wanting to be a literacy educator. It wasn’t until becoming a high school English teacher that DeFina changed his mind.
“I had kids who hated to read and write,” said DeFina. “That bothered me so much that I wanted to find out what I could do. I wanted my students to enjoy reading and writing as much as I did and still do. I thought there has to be something better that I can do with these kids.”
That is when DeFina began working on his Masters degrees in Reading at New York University.
“The reality is that you cannot be a good student in science, American history or even math if you can’t read and write well,” said DeFina. “That is why I think that every teacher is a reading and writing teacher.”
DeFina has a Ph.D. in Applied Psychology specializing in the process of learning to read and write, an M.A. in reading from New York University, and a B.A. in special education from New Jersey City University, which was then Jersey City State College.