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improve student

outcomes and

strengthen teacher

effectiveness.

Medley’s plan was

to augment and

increase the

number of books

children read, in

addition to required literary works, and

help them develop a lifelong love of

reading.

“Action research is important because it

gives teachers opportunities to become

school leaders and work collaboratively,”

says Michael Chirichello, chair of the

Department of Educational Leadership. “It

creates a school-wide mindset for

improvement, and empowers those who

participate.”

Medley enlisted the help of seventy

students and parents, and three other

language arts teachers at School No. 6, and

incorporated children’s self-selection of

books into the school’s 2003-2004 lesson

plan. It allows the students to alternate

between reading an assigned book and a

choice of their own, and the results have

been positive.

“When children were asked why they

selected a particular book, their responses

were almost always the same,” says Medley.

“They’d say, ‘It was something I could

relate to’ or ‘The story was about a

teenager like me.’” Two students, one from

the Dominican Republic and one from

Costa Rica, chose books with plots

containing events that were similar to those

happening in their respective countries.

“I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the

results,” says Medley, who found that

children will read if given the right

motivation and interest. His study showed

a definite increase in both the number of

books the students read and their reading

time.

Medley, 41, took the alternate route to a

teaching career after spending fifteen years

as a marketing executive at AT&T. He

always longed to be a teacher. “For me, the

biggest impact is whenever you touch

another life in some way,” he says. “You

make a difference, and that’s what I wasn’t

getting in the corporate world.”

Medley earned his bachelor’s degree in

business administration from William

Paterson in 1984, and always found

opportunities to teach. While attending

college, he worked as a substitute teacher at

Passaic County Technical School for two

years. “I had my own class and absolutely

loved it,” he says. He knew then that he

would eventually return to education.

During his years at AT&T, Medley

worked in the consumer marketing

organization and relished the occasional

opportunity to teach corporate classes.

“I would train the telemarketers, and I’d

come back with such a feeling of ‘Yes!’”

The ultimate realization came when he

received a master’s degree in

communication from Fairleigh Dickinson

University, and the institution hired him

to teach communication courses as an

adjunct professor. “It was only one night

a week, but whatever night of the week

that was, that’s the day I couldn’t wait for,”

says Medley. “So the teaching was driving

everything.”

When he is awarded his master’s degree

in educational leadership in May, Medley

will be qualified to become an educational

administrator, such as a principal or

supervisor. Would he miss the classroom?

Medley quotes Chirichello, his mentor, who

has taught him to view it as an opportunity

to “teach teachers.” “When you go into

administration, you not only have an

opportunity to help a class of thirty kids,

you’re helping a school of 1,200 or whatever

the size. In other words, your message can

be much broader. That’s something I

constantly think about,” he says.