John Richter's letter to Robert Cormier

John Richter, the Youthful Offender Program Coordinator at the Orange County Corrections Department in Florida, writes to Robert Cormier about his Literature-N-Living class. He describes the class and the work students do including discussion, essay writing, and reading comprehension quizzes.

Richter also describes the value of We All Fall Down to this population's need to understand the victim's perspective. He states the students also learned about trust, thoughtful communication, perseverance, and leadership. Leadership was particularly important to Richter because many of the inmates were incarcerated because they are followers that bend to peer pressure.

The class also read Tunes for Bears to Dance To, and in their study, they focused on racism, prejudice, false testimony, and forgiveness. Richter states the book helped inmates think about how they will be perceived upon release and how they will have to present themselves in the face of prejudice.

Constance Cormier's reply to John Richter

John Richter's response to Constance Cormier

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation A - Tunes for Bears to Dance To

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation B - Tunes for Bears to Dance To

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation I - Tunes for Bears to Dance To

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation C - Tunes for Bears to Dance To

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation J - Tunes for Bears to Dance To

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation F - Tunes for Bears to Dance To

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation D - Tunes for Bears to Dance To

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation E - Tunes for Bears to Dance To

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation G - Tunes for Bears to Dance To

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation H - Tunes for Bears To Dance To

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation K - Tunes for Bears to Dance To

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation I - We All Fall Down

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation B - We All Fall Down

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation D - We All Fall Down

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation G - We All Fall Down

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation F - We All Fall Down

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation H - We All Fall Down

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation A - We All Fall Down

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation E - We All Fall Down

Literature-N-Living Oral Presentation C - We All Fall Down