The cross-aged literacy program: Developing mediational activity to assist ninth-grade african-american students who struggle with literacy learning and schooling

In this article, I discuss the Cross-Aged Literacy Program as a mediational agent to assist adolescents who struggle with reading, writing, and schooling. Grounded within mediation theory, procedures and activities enabled ninth grade students to take the responsibility for the learning of younger children and thus themselves. Mediational strategies and activities were interwoven in the two major components of the program the preparation seminar and the cross-aged literary discussion groups. The two components entailed oral and written language strategies that heightened the social interactions within the program and focused on students' strengths to inform curriculum development.