Donalyn Miller's Blog, page 5

Feeding Your Reading Life

Last month, I went to the ophthalmologist for an eye exam and new glasses. Describing my difficulties reading small print on menus, labels, and graphic novels (OK, I didn't mention the graphic novels); my doctor suggested it was time for bifocals.

He asked, "Do you read a lot?"

Snorting with laughter, I said, "You could say I read for a living. I'm a reading teacher."

He prescribed the bifocals.

I cannot imagine a day without reading in it. Reading for a living--discovering and sharing books with my students and colleagues, writing about books and reading--it's a reader's dream. Without question, I am a better teacher because I read. I pass books into my students' hands and talk with them about what they read. I model what a reading life looks like and show my students how reading enriches my life, and can enrich theirs, too.

Professional benefits aside, I would still read because I love it. I am happiest with my nose in a book, curled up in a chair, with a blanket on my feet. Author John Green said at the recent ALAN conference, "Reading forces you to be quiet in a world that no longer makes a place for that." The noise of my life demands that I find daily solitude within the pages of my books. I can think and grow and dream. Reading feeds me.

Captured in these quiet moments, reading seems like something I do alone, but it isn't. Every book begins and ends with other people--the readers who suggest the book to me and encourage me to read it, the talented author who crafted the book, the fascinating individuals I meet inside the pages, and the readers I discuss and share the book with when I finish it.

My personal connections with other readers provide me with a model for creating a reading culture in my classroom by showing me what an organic, inclusive reading community looks like. I understand how relationships with other readers can support my students' reading lives. So, how do reading communities benefit readers?

Reading communities

Foster connections with other readers who support you. Building relationships with other readers sustains our interest in reading because it reinforces to us that reading matters to a lot of people.

Challenge you to branch out and try new books, authors, and styles of writing. Talking with other readers about books broadens your horizons and exposes you to books you might not otherwise discover on your own.

Improve your enjoyment and appreciation of what you read. The only thing readers enjoy almost as much as reading is talking about books with other readers. Discussions with other readers help you clarify and deepen your understanding of what you read.

Increase how much you read. If everyone around you reads, you are more likely to read because reading is seen as a cultural norm.

Suggest titles for additional reading. What is the number one way readers discover books they would like to read? Recommendations from other readers.

Encourage mindfulness about what you read and share. Our fellow readers help us prioritize what we read. Hearing about a book from several readers heightens our interest in reading it and leads us to books that readers we trust have enjoyed. When suggesting books to others, we consider what we know about them as readers and how specific books meet their needs and interests, too.

Talking with readers of every age, many report that the absence of a supportive reading community reduces their reading enjoyment and how much they read. Additionally, I am often asked how I learn about books or connect with colleagues who like to read and promote reading to children. Here are some online reading communities that can feed your reading life:

Nerdy Book Club: Are you looking for a network of librarians, teachers, authors, reviewers and parents who share your unabashed joy for reading? Look no further than the Nerdy Book Club, a new blog that invites readers to write blog posts and reviews. The major beliefs of the Nerdy Book Club are:

If you read, you are already a member of the club.

Every reader has value and a voice in the community.

Vote for your favorite 2011 children's and young adult books in the first annual Nerdy Book Club Awards (the Nerdies). Buy a nifty Nerdy Book Club coffee mug or t-shirt with an original logo designed by author Tom Angleberger (merchandise proceeds support literacy organizations), or skim the extensive blog roll for the best reviews and commentary about reading and books.

(Twitter hashtag: #nerdybookclub)

Book-a-Day Challenge: Long time readers of this blog are familiar with my summer Book-a-Day challenge, where readers set a personal goal to read one book for every day of summer. If you have a staggering pile of unread books around your house or feel that you have fallen behind in your reading, consider joining me for the second Holiday Break Book-a-Day challenge. Set a goal to read one book for every day of your holiday vacation. The rules for Book-a-Day are simple:

Set a personal start date and end date.

Read one book per day for each day of holiday vacation. This is an average, so if you read three books one day and none the next two, it counts.

Any book qualifies including picture books, nonfiction, professional books, poetry anthologies, or fiction--youth and adult titles.

Participants keep a list of the books you read and share them via social networking sites like goodreads or Shelfari, a blog, Facebook page, or Twitter feed. You do not have to post reviews, but you can if they wish. Titles will do.

(Twitter hashtag: #bookaday)

Titletalk: Titletalk is a monthly Twitter chat that takes place on the last Sunday of every month at 8 pm EST. Each monthly discussion explores one reading topic like reading alouds, picture books, or launching a year of reading. The first half of Titletalk involves a conversation about instructional practices, resources, and ideas for working with young readers. The second half of the chat is a flood of suggested books from participants that relate to the chat topic. The Titletalk wiki houses archives of every chat, so you can access the information when you cannot attend.

**Because the last Sunday of December this year is Christmas Day, this month's Titletalk will take place on Sunday, December 18th.

For tips on how to participate in a Twitter chat, check out Colby Sharp's tutorial at the Sharpread blog.

(Twitter hashtag: #titletalk)

The Centurions: At the end of each month, almost 800 Facebook users converge on the Centurions page to share the books they have read over the past month. Centurions challenged themselves to read 111 books in 2011, but the page provides an excellent source of book recommendations even if you don't reach this goal. Growing beyond the monthly tallies, Centurions post book suggestions, opinions, and questions all month long. Add Centurions to your New Year's resolution list and join the new challenge in 2012.

goodreads: A social networking site for readers, I consider goodreads my reading brain. I would never be able to track or categorize the books I read without my goodreads shelves and my goodreads friends provide an endless source of recommendations and reviews that inform my reading plans. You can also follow authors' reviews and blogs, enter giveaways and contests, or create book discussion groups.

(Twitter user name: @goodreads)

While these resources represent my online reading communities, my reading tribe includes my husband and daughters, my students and colleagues at school, the members of my monthly book club, and countless reading friends. Our shared interest in reading adds another facet to our relationships and forges bonds between us. In a guest post on the Nerdy Book Club blog, author C. Alexander London writes, "It's a fact: people can survive without books. People can even have wonderful, full lives without books. But they can't long endure without community, and community is built on stories."

Every book we read potentially connects us to other people. That's the best part of the story--the part that lasts long after the book ends.

Baggage Claim

Returning from the NCTE and ALAN conferences on Tuesday night, my husband, Don, and youngest daughter, Sarah, met me at baggage claim. As we waited for my suitcases to spin past us on the carousel, I warned Sarah that the bags were heavy. She didn't ask why. She knew. My carry-on luggage and checked bags were crammed with the books I bought and received during my trip. I sheepishly told my husband that I mailed another box home from Chicago, too.

I love these yearly conferences because I reconnect with colleagues and friends, attend incredible sessions that improve my teaching, and stalk my favorite authors, but bringing home a mountain of books for my students and me to read is a nice bonus. I plan to fill one suitcase with books and wheel it into my classroom on Monday morning, so my kids can unpack the souvenirs I brought them.

When packing for this trip, I struggled to select which books I wanted to take with me. Don gently asked me why I was taking ten books to a reading conference. Wouldn't I get some books while I was there? I spent almost an hour shuffling piles, deciding which books I could download onto my Kindle and which ones I could leave behind--trying to explain to Don why I needed physical books with me.

Gently, he said, "I understand. I do. You're going to be away from home for eleven days; you need your books around you because you'll be lonely and your books comfort you."

Can you tell he is a reader, too?

Even when I'm empty-handed, I'm carrying books with me--books that have taken up shelf space in my soul. Like the Cemetery of Forgotten Books from Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind, I am keeping many books alive because I remember them.

I carry Charlotte's Web, so Fern, Wilbur and Charlotte can remind me how to be a good and loyal friend. I carry To Kill a Mockingbird, so Atticus can advise me when I struggle to stand up for what's right. I carry Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, so I can smell a baby's freshly-washed hair and hold her long after my two daughters are too big for my lap. I carry Hound Dog True, so I can introduce Mattie to the children in my classroom who need her.

Sitting with Don and Sarah at dinner, we think about the books we carry with us. It is a quiet moment, each of us thumbing through our individual shelves, until Sarah whispers, "Go, Searchlight, go." That memorable line from Stone Fox connects us to a shared place--reading that book, cheering for Searchlight, and crying together at the end. All three of us carry Searchlight with us now, and we carry each other alongside her.

The baggage in our lives can weigh us down, but the books we carry with us somehow lighten the load. Thankfully, there isn't a weight limit. We always have room for one more.

What books do you carry with you always? How do they connect you to the people and ideas that have shaped your life?

Gearing Up for NaNoWriMo

October is here and my students have settled into the routines of our class. Our reading and writing community grows each day, as we talk, read, and write together. While reflecting on what we have accomplished so far this year, we also plan for the months ahead. Today, our whiteboard sports a countdown which reads, "14 days until NaNoWriMo", as we gear up for the annual National Novel Writing Month contest. During November, my students and I will dive into the fray, attempt to write novels and experience the hectic life of writers on a deadline.

This is my third year to host a NaNoWriMo Virtual Classroom and I cannot believe what a positive, energizing experience it has been for my students and me. Kids who love to write enjoy the challenge of it, while kids who are reluctant to write discover that they can write more than they ever thought possible. At the end of every year, my students list NaNoWriMo as one of the best things we do in class and many of them go on to revise, edit, and share completed manuscripts.

As young adult author Sara Zarr says, "Actually writing stuff makes you feel like a writer"-- my students and I grow as writers during NaNoWriMo because we commit to writing every day. NaNoWriMo gives us the space and the support and the opportunity to dream big. I have asked Chris Angotti, director of NaNoWriMo's Young Writers' Program to share the history of the program and the benefits this event provide young writers and their teachers. I hope you will join us in this crazy, exhilarating month of writing frenzy!

When I was in the classroom, I tried to embed creative writing in every unit I designed. I had required texts, and big topics to cover, but I knew my students always showed their best stuff on assignments where their imaginations had free rein. Sometimes, I could fit in just a small degree of creative work--an activity mining a novel's subtext to write an implied conversation between characters, for instance. Even these led to spirited lessons: we loved hearing the screwball ideas that others had devised.

I taught in New York City, and often rode the subway home late, my paper-laden tote weighing heavy. (Every teacher knows this exhaustion.) When I had creative assignments in my bag, I actually looked forward to settling in on the couch, reading one after another, and being moved by the students I hadn't realized were quite so amazing.

If only I knew about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) back then. Since it was founded in 1999, the event has encouraged countless authors to complete the first draft of a 50,000-word novel during the month of November. Here's how it works: On November 1 (often at midnight, occasionally without an outline), writers around the world hear the proverbial starter pistol and begin feverishly drafting. All month, they are spurred on by well-known authors, who contribute pep talks, and a strong community of others attempting the same feat. By the last day, many folks have brand-new manuscripts to call their own. Post-revision, some of these novels even become big books--like the bestselling Water for Elephants and The Night Circus.

What does this have to do with my creative former students? I wish I'd been able to introduce them to NaNoWriMo's Young Writers Program, which supports the noveling endeavors of kids and teens. I know they would have loved to be immersed in their own imaginations for a whole month--not just the length of an assignment--and I would have loved to read the results.

Luckily, as Young Writers Program Director, I get to live vicariously through our many educators. More than 2,000 will introduce NaNoWriMo to their students this year. Our participants range from kindergarten through twelfth grade, with each able to choose a challenging yet reachable word-count goal based on age and experience. They are fortified by our absolutely free resources: Common Core-aligned lesson plans; engaging workbooks full of planning activities; a classroom kit to mark and incentivize progress; and the online Virtual Classroom, a web interface to communicate with your students and other educators around the world. And that's not to even mention the vibrant online forums, or the set of exclusive pep talks written by favorite YA authors.

All together, we expect over 100,000 kids and teens--both in classrooms and on their own--to take part in 2011's NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program. It's going to be a lot of fun for them, first and foremost, but it will also have some real, long-lasting effects. We hear year after year that NaNoWriMo improves students' overall writing fluency and close reading skills: getting down so many words daily leads to a comfort that is hard to achieve otherwise, and they more easily apply concepts from their own work (e.g., plot structure and characterization) to later texts. Further, educators tell us that they notice growth in self-esteem, time-management techniques, and the willingness to attempt new and difficult tasks. We like to say that completing a novel in one month will have your kids and teens asking, "What's next?"

The coolest thing about all this is that it can work with any population. Many teachers of reluctant writers (including ESL educators) love NaNoWriMo because their students find creative writing less intimidating. At the same time, advanced students get to challenge themselves in an exciting way. It's a program that can be differentiated in all directions. Looking over a list of our participating classrooms, I'm proud to see everything from schools for the deaf, to alternative high schools, to Boys & Girls Clubs. As I saw in my own teaching, creativity is catchy.

At the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program, we believe that every student--and person for that matter--has a novel inside him or her. We're so thankful to our educators who help bring those books to life. I hope you'll consider being one of them this November.

Banned Book Week: The Downside of Being Up

Today, marks the final day of Banned Book Week, a national event recognizing the importance of free speech and the right to choose our own books. I have invited Alan Lawrence Sitomer, award-winning teacher and author, to share his thoughts about his new book, The Downside of Being Up. Alan's book will no doubt spark controversy because of its frank description of a boy going through puberty.

I admit the book made me uncomfortable. I learned euphemisms for "penis" I didn't want to know. On the other side of things, I don't think we should limit books to those titles that make us feel comfortable. Books should challenge us, provoke us, and stretch our thinking. Above all, The Downside of Being Up will strike a chord with its target audience--middle school boys. If we want boys to read, we have to give them books they connect with and enjoy. I appreciate Alan's willingness to discuss his new book and writing for boys through this guest post.

I like to think of my new book, The Downside of Being Up, as Judy Blume for boys. Simply put, it's a coming of age novel and the truth is, what could be more coming of age than going through puberty?

Yes, I am tackling a fairly taboo subject... or at least a subject that's usually only mentioned in hushed tones as if it's some kind of shameful secret. However, here's a newsflash for ya (Quick, cover your eyes!) adolescent boys get erections. There, I said it. Did the world just end? Doubt it.

This happens to ALL boys. It's not a red state/blue state issue. Tall, short, brown-eyed or blue, two parents in the home or child of divorce, none of it matters. Boys get stiffies and they pop up for us at the most inauspicious of times in our young lives. And when this first starts happening, WE FREAK OUT.

Yet, it's just Mother Nature. There's nothing "wrong" with us. We're not deviants, monsters, bad people or pervs. We're male. It's the way God made us.

Personally, I wish there was a book like this around when I was a kid if only for the sake of letting me know that what I was experiencing was normal. In a way, and I am entirely serious about this (remember, I was California's Teacher of the Year) this text is bibliotherapy and young adolescent males are going to find more than just penis humor in this novel; they are going to find identification.

Also, this is NOT A BOOK ABOUT SEX. In fact, there is no sex at all. This is a tale of a boy going through a very significant and very disconcerting right of passage on the journey to adulthood. It's a classic "character-driven text".

Admittedly though, I wanted to dig my writing heels in and go for, as they say, an LOL reading experience. Me, I love to laugh. However, I also feel that a lot of what people peddle as "comedy" in YA books today is lukewarm at best. I wanted to go for "spitting milk out of your nose funny". So far, the reaction has been pretty good and while I can't promise that everyone is going to find the book riotous, I can tell you that I laughed my own rear-end off while writing it. To me this is significant because as author I always believe I am the first audience. To paraphrase Robert Frost, "I am the first crier and if my work doesn't bring my own eyes to tears, why should I expect it to have that impact on others?" This is true of me as well. If milk isn't spitting out of my nose why would it ever spray through anyone else's nostrils?

The teacher side of me, though, also knows a heck of lot about the critical relationship between literacy skills, academic achievement and life success. Especially, for boys in this day and age. It can be argued - and it has - that we are raising a generation of non-readers, the implications of which are already proving to be calamitous for today's young men. Well, the only way to elevate a young person's reading skills is by getting them to read. And kids today, boys, will read if they are provided reading material that "speaks" to them in a meaningful way.

Boys like to laugh. This is why a comedy which sympathizes with a universal tragedy through which we all suffer, has always felt to me like a solid project on which I ought to hang my hat. The Downside of Being Up is a book that can hopefully be used as a tool to not only convert young male readers from skeptics who "don't like to read" into "fans of reading as long as they are given a 'good' book". As the old saying goes, if you build it they will come.

Now, does it take a male writer to reach boy reader? Of course not. However, this book speaks to an almost universal male awkwardness we all go through at the cruel hands of puberty. There are smiles to be mined from pain and, like death and taxes, certain aspects of growing up when you are a guy prove to be unavoidably befuddling and anxiety producing. This also makes them downright hysterical. Often, we cope with fear, hurt and emotional wreckage through laughter. (There's poignancy and emotional relief to be found in smiling.)

Yet, is there bathroom humor? To that I ask, how well do you know the substance of the lion's share of conversations being held between middle school boys? One answer shall lead to the other. (*wink-wink*)

Breadcrumbs Blog Tour

After reading Anne Ursu's Breadcrumbs this summer, I knew I wanted to share this outstanding book with the readers of this blog. I love fantasy books and my students do, too, but I often think that fantasy is marginalized as less literary than other genres. The existence of eternal human themes mark great works and many of the books that resonate for my students and me are fantasy tales that explore our human triumphs and failings.

At its core, Breadcrumbs is a story about childhood loneliness and friendship. I love that Hazel is the only person who realizes what has happened to her friend, Jack, and sets out to rescue him because she has read fantasy books like Harry Potter, Narnia, The Phantom Tollbooth, Coraline, When You Reach Me and of course, "The Snow Queen". There are days when you need to beat the dragon, and equipped with her vast knowledge of fantasy motifs, Hazel knows how.

As part of the book release blog tour for Breadcrumbs, Anne has penned this elegant guest post about why she chooses to write fantasy for children. Her words remind us why fantasy matters and why teachers, librarians, and parents should celebrate and promote fantasy to the young readers in our lives.

Writing Fantasy for Children by Anne Ursu

In my younger and more foolish days I wrote novels for adults. My second book was about a family who takes their little boy to the circus and a clown accidentally makes him disappear. The magical element, I believed, allowed me to explore the very real issue of loss and how we cope with it in a more potent way than straightforward realism might. Then at a book fair I was sitting at a table behind a stack of my novels, and a very serious-looking woman with a very serious-looking pantsuit came up to me, picked up a copy of the book, and asked me, very seriously, what it was about. I told her and she knotted her brow, then put down the book. "Oh," she said, looking seriously disdainful. "I don't like that magic stuff."

So I started writing for kids. Who are, first of all, more polite. And they understand intuitively that there's no limit on what you can do in a story, and that there shouldn't be. A boy might sail off in a giant peach, or have an enchanted tollbooth appear in his bedroom one day; a girl could wander into a wardrobe and find it opens onto a strange winter world, or through a door in her drawing room and discover an Other Mother with buttons for eyes.

Fantasy provides kids an endless field for their imagination to roam on--it tells you that anything might lie behind that weird locked door, and then whispers a hundred possibilities in your ear. And, by enticing them to and immersing them in new worlds, it gives a generation of kids a shared experience--I think the Harry Potter books provide the same collective narrative that Star Wars did when I was growing up. More, by refracting real world themes through magic's lens, fantasy helps kids make their way through the world they are living in.

The magic of fantasy is taking internal struggles and manifesting them into external forces--it gives metaphor body, life, and breath. This was what attracted me to doing a retelling of "The Snow Queen" in the first place. In the fairy tale, a boy and girl are best friends, until the day a boy gets a piece of magic mirror in his eye and his heart turns cold. He's suddenly cruel to the girl, and then he ties his sled to that of the Snow Queen and disappears. This is a fable about growing up and the pressures it puts on childhood friendships; they splinter, and sometimes break off entirely.

In Breadcrumbs, fifth graders Hazel and Jack have been best friends for years, and their friendship has provided each a sanctuary in a year in which Hazel's father left and Jack watched his mom fall into mental illness. But the pressure is great, the sanctuary splinters, and then Jack meets a mysterious woman in white who offers numbness and escape, and he disappears into the woods with her.

Hazel goes into the woods in search of him and finds there manifestations of her heart's desires--a swan skin that loans beauty, a pair of red shoes that promises grace, a kind couple who offer belonging. And, like Harry Potter with the Mirror of Erised, Hazel learns how dangerously seductive desire can be. Almost as seductive as the complete lack of feeling the woman in white will give you.

It's a contemporary fairy tale, and by speaking of white witches and red shoes I could talk about very human struggles. That's what fantasy offers. By speaking in the language of pretend, it can engage with the world in the full scope of its beauty and terror. It tells you that the world can be hard and cruel--Aslan is tortured, daemons are severed, Charlotte the spider dies alone. It tells you that you're surrounded by forces you can't control--a Black Thing that's wrapped its way around the earth, a covetous white witch who puts a kingdom in perpetual winter. It tells you that people can be flawed, corrupt, monstrous, and worst of all, disappointing.

And it tells you that you can deal with it. Whether it's Meg saving Charles Wallace from IT because she's the only one who can, Frodo struggling his way to Mount Doom, or Milo saving himself from stultifying ennui, these heroes find the ability to meet the great challenges thrown at them. These kids struggle, they get scared, they face terrible choices, they doubt. But they push forward. And they overcome. "Fairy tales are more than true," the British novelist G.K. Chesterton wrote, "not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten."

Plus, you know, dragons are awesome. And while fantasy can be very serious business, it's fun, too. And kids understand this, because they're awesome too, because they delight in imagining what might be behind that locked door, because they're eager to be enticed into the world of a story. Because kids are full of "that magic stuff," and fantasy just meets them where they are.

To celebrate the release of Breadcrumbs - Walden Books Press will be giving away an iPad and an iPad cover with Breadcrumbs cover art on Twitter (in a Tweetstakes). Visit their blog for details.

On Tuesday, 10/4 at 8pm EDT Breadcrumbs author, Anne Ursu (@anneursu) and Bigger Than a Breadbox author Laurel Snyder (@LaurelSnyder) will participate in a chat hosted by my #titletalk co-host, Paul W. Hankins (@PaulWHankins), called "Magic is Real: Magic, Fantasy, and Realism in Middle Grade" under the hashtag #magicisreal.

Additional Breadcrumbs Blog Tour Stops

Tuesday, 9/27 - Review and Book Giveaway at Mundie Kids

Wednesday, 9/28 - Review and Skype Giveaway at Great Kid Books

Wednesday, 9/28 - Book Giveaway at 5 Minutes for Books

Thursday, 9/29 - Interview at Bildungsroman

Friday, 9/30 - Review, Guest Post, and Book Giveaway at Bookalicious

Saturday, 10/1 - Interview and Skype Giveaway at Kid Lit Frenzy

Sunday, 10/2 - Review, Interview, and Book Giveaway at The Reading Zone

Monday, 10/3 - Guest Post at Galleysmith

Tuesday 10/4 - Review at Galleysmith

Tuesday, 10/4 - Guest Post, Review, and Book Giveaway at The Book Smugglers

Wednesday, 10/5 - Review and Illustrator Interview at A Backwards Story

Thursday, 10/6 - Guest Post at The Mod Podge Bookshelf

Friday, 10/7 - Interview at Book Rat

The New Normal

Our school district has suffered massive budget cuts this year and we are already weary of hearing about our "new normal"--slashed programs, reduced staffing, and fewer resources. Changes large and small chip away at teachers' morale and parents' confidence. I know that many of you are in the same canoe without a paddle this year. New Normal is just another way of saying, "doing the same with less"--a challenging prospect when we must educate children with a wide range of instructional needs and goals.

Looking at my new students this year, though, I realize that a different "new normal" is at work at my school--and I like it. At our campus the expectations for reading are high, and many of my new 6th graders are invested, engaged readers. They have reading experience. They know authors and genres and series they like. Parents understand the importance of reading at home. Lockers around our campus sport "I am currently reading..." tags. Kids and teachers regularly visit our growing, well-curated library. Language arts classes dedicate daily time for reading. No one uses scripted reading management programs. Kids choose their own books. We spend our limited ELA department funds on magazines and books for the kids to read.

Reading is normal. It's just what we do.

The environment in my classroom isn't special. I am just another teacher in my school with a lot of books in my room. I recall the days when my classroom was such a novelty that kids brought their siblings by to see my bookcases. But I don't miss the days when my classroom was an oddity worthy of a stop on the school tour. I want reading to be so commonplace that children don't see anything special about it. I want parents to have high expectations for their children's reading. I want administrators to value read alouds and independent reading as powerful instructional practices.

Because of the intentional efforts of our teachers and administrators over the years, we have a reading culture at our school. We didn't build this environment over night. It took years of discussion and implementation and reflection about our practices. We still argue and question and struggle. It isn't magical or perfect. Our school isn't Hogwarts or even Lake Wobegon. We are teaching real kids with real issues in the real world.

"Books may well be the only true magic," Alice Hoffman said, and I agree. Books possess spellbinding power that transports and transforms readers. But the existence of books in a classroom, or the opportunity to read every day, or the ability to choose your own book should not been seen as remarkable or rare.

I know how lucky I am to teach at my school and in my district, where teacher autonomy and reflective practice are valued. On a regular basis, I talk with teachers who struggle to create a reading culture in their classrooms with little support from their administrators or their departments: teachers who must beg for books and creatively comply with mandates in order to assure that their students grow as readers. Can we accept a new normal where children don't read much and SAT Reading scores continue to decline?

Literacy expert Kelly Gallagher asks, "What do we mean when we say we honor reading at our school?" A provocative question. Every school honors reading, yes? We honor reading and cut librarians. We honor reading and implement scripted programs that remove all teacher and student choice. We honor reading and provide children little reading time at school. We honor reading and pass out test prep workbooks instead of real books.

Perhaps, the question we should ask is, "How do we honor readers at our school?"

Would our answers be different?

Scholastic has invited me to write a monthly column about creating a school-wide reading culture for their new Principal to Principal e-newsletter. I encourage you to visit this free resource and share it with your administrator.

Making Room for Graphic Novels

In a recent online discussion, several teachers expressed concerns about their students reading graphic novels, claiming that students don't have to think when reading graphic novels and that these texts lack the rigor of traditional texts. I admit that I did not see graphic novels as valid reading for a long time. Although my husband and I devoured Neil Gaiman's groundbreaking Sandman series and the Pulitzer-winning Maus books, I couldn't see the connection between these adult graphic novels and the texts I wanted my students to read. Researching the topic, I stumbled across Terry Thompson's informative book, Adventures in Graphica a few years ago and received an education in the value of using this medium in my classroom. I now consider graphic novels a valuable addition to my classroom library and my reading instruction. Talking with teachers around the country, I know that many of you feel the same trepidation about using graphic novels with your students, so for the first time, I have invited a guest writer to this blog. Terry Thompson graciously agreed to share his research-based reasons for using graphic novels in the classroom and I am grateful for his expertise and insight.

When I wrote Adventures in Graphica just four years ago, it seemed comics and graphic novels were nothing more than a passing interest for most teachers.

Obviously, times have changed. I mean, look around - graphic novels are everywhere. From movies and television to traditional novels and even Broadway, it's hard to believe they ever weren't a dominant part of our culture. And they aren't just sweeping the entertainment industry. They've exploded on the educational scene as well.

In the past four years, we've seen an increasing number of graphic novels reviewed alongside traditional texts in our most trusted professional publications, and they currently represent the fastest growing section of most libraries and bookstores. More teachers than ever before are taking advantage of them, and our national and state literacy organizations offer more presentations each year devoted to integrating the medium into our instruction. It seems graphic novels are here to stay - and if they haven't yet, it's only a matter of time before they make their way into your classrooms and libraries.

This sudden influx of graphic novels paired with their nontraditional format may have you wondering where they fit in and what to do with them now that your kids are reading them. If so, you'll be glad to know that the graphic novel is a valid form of literature that correlates perfectly with the strong teaching and learning that's already happening in your classroom.

The instructional potential in graphic novels is most evident in the way they motivate readers, scaffold meaning, and adapt easily to a variety of learning situations and settings. Taken individually, any of these three factors might be enough to make educators sit up and take notice, but it's the intersection of these strengths that make the medium a perfect choice to support literacy instruction.

Motivation - Evidenced by increased library traffic, long check out wait lists, and a phenomenally growing popularity, graphic novels grab readers' attentions and drive them to read more.

Engaging graphics make the text more accessible and support readers in the act of making meaning
Since readership in other countries is high compared to the U.S., the medium may offer cultural significance to a variety of English language learners
Popular themes with current topics invite readers to keep reading
Connections to entertainment trends and the quality of the graphic design appeal to some of our most disinterested readers
The medium's unconventional nature attracts readers who feel disenfranchised
The innovative style and delivery entice readers who are indifferent to other media or genres

Scaffolding-- Inherent in their design is the way graphic novels merge text with visible representations of meaning that scaffold students as they navigate through the pages. Since the text and the pictures are interdependent, their effects become synergistic.

Comprehension strategies such as inferring, summarizing, and synthesis are accentuated through supportive graphics and design features
Creative teams intentionally design panels and pages to guide readers in determining importance
Even though graphic support may require less visualization, readers are immersed in experiences that fill their mental stores with what strong mental images can look like
Fluency is represented visibly through word art, speech bubbles, thought bubbles, and facial expressions
Picture support frees readers to practice a particular instructional focus such as plot, characterization, and theme
English language learners find illustrative support for unusual idioms and colloquial phrases that often confuse them in traditional texts
Embedded graphics can offer symbolic representations of concepts from content areas such as history, government, and science
Readers take on new vocabulary words they might otherwise skip, because their meanings are often illustrated alongside their written form

Versatility - Teachers often ask me how to use graphic novels instructionally, wondering if there's some special trick to it. There really isn't. The simple truth is that you can apply graphic novels to any situation where you'd normally use traditional texts.



They're perfect for whole group, small group, or individual settings. Graphic novels lend themselves easily to content area instruction. They easily adapt to genre studies and strategy lessons. Truly, the possibilities are endless. Graphic novels are extremely versatile and weave seamlessly into just about any instruction plan. They also offer the added bonuses of increased motivation and visual scaffolding.

Hesitant teachers worry that the engaging quality in graphic novels could backfire on them. They wonder if these visible representations of meaning could turn into a crutch that makes thinking obsolete. They're afraid that if we give kids graphic novels, they won't want to read anything else. But there's no evidence to support these concerns. In fact, research suggests the medium can actually facilitate heavier reading of traditional texts and that students who enjoy graphic novels score just as well in tests of reading skills as their peers who don't.

So, go ahead. Explore some titles. Get acquainted with this powerful medium, and clear a space on your bookshelves. Make some room in your instruction for graphic novels. You'll be glad you did.

And so will your readers.

Find award-winning and noteworthy graphic novels for your students by visiting the Young Adult Library Services Association's annual "Great Graphic Novels for Teens" lists and the Cooperative Children's Book Center's Graphic Novels page.

Reading, What's Love Got to Do with It?

Can you teach students to love reading? According to an Alan Jacobs, an English professor at Wheaton College, you can't. In an excerpt from his book, The Pleasure of Reading in an Age of Distraction, appearing in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Jacobs claims that, "...the idea that many teachers hold today, that one of the purposes of education is to teach students to love reading--or at least appreciate and enjoy whole books--is largely alien to the history of education. And perhaps alien to the history of reading as well." I have always believed that you can teach a love of reading and many of the teachers, librarians, and parents I know think you can, too. So, imagine my discomfort when after reading Jacobs' article, I realized that I agreed with him.

Are you surprised?

Defining "readers" as elite members of "the reading class" who "read lengthy and complicated texts with sustained, deep, and appreciative attention," I agree with Jacobs when he says, "the extreme reader, to coin a phrase, is a rare bird indeed." If the only people considered readers are those individuals who dedicate themselves to contemplative, intensive study of great literature, I don't think there are many readers. My school librarian, who reads several books a week and crowed to me yesterday that she finally made it to the top of the library reserve list for Janet Evanovich's Sizzling Sixteen, isn't a reader. My friend, who reads The New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times on a regular basis, isn't a reader. Although I have read almost 300 books this year, have ten bookshelves in my house, and spend more money at the bookstore than the shoe store, I'm not a reader. If you are not spending most of your time reading meaningful works of literary value, you aren't a reader, either.

At this moment, my 12-year old is reading and annotating Eoin Colfer's Airman, which is the assigned summer reading text for her seventh grade Pre-AP English class. My husband and I both read Colfer's science fiction epic and consider it a great book, but I doubt after scrawling endless marginalia on foreshadowing and characterization that my daughter will remember Airman fondly. Not every reading event needs to turn into a scholarly exercise. Not every book demands it, and I think it is intellectual snobbery to imply that the only books that are worth reading are those that need to be critically analyzed and slowly digested. For too many adults (and children), dissecting classics and enduring countless days in a classroom discussing every paragraph of a book is exactly why they hate reading and see it as a chore. Like Jacobs, I agree that people who survive this practice and still enjoy reading are uncommon.

Jacobs' stance evokes the need to reflect on my definition of teaching, too. If we see teaching as the design and delivery of lessons which result in students' mastery of targeted learning objectives (don't laugh, a lot of politicians define teaching this way), then no, I don't think you can teach children to love reading. We also cannot say taking care of a pet teaches responsibility or that volunteering at the soup kitchen teaches charity. Much of what we learn in life comes from the people around us and our societal norms and values. Teachers and the other adults in children's lives serve as role models and mentors of acceptable and desired behaviors. Teaching reading, in my mind, includes fostering and promoting reading habits and role modeling a reading life for children. As Proverbs 22:6 charges us, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Talking with hundreds of adult readers during my travels, most credit at least one person in their lives--a parent, grandparent, sibling, teacher, librarian, or friend--who nurtured and encouraged their love for reading at a pivotal stage during their childhoods.

Reading an excerpt of his book probably does Alan Jacobs a disservice. Looking at the publisher's description, it seems that his book is meant to support and encourage readers who may not have found a love of reading. Unfortunately, some people will simply skim the published excerpt, use the article title as a slogan, and make broad generalizations from it--exactly the type of surface reading that Dr. Jacobs criticizes. Perhaps, I have done this, too. I did read the article--closely and with great attention several times--I promise. Whether or not you agree with Alan Jacobs, I know that one of the reasons he sees so few readers in his college classes is because we don't send many readers his way.

Does every child in my classroom love reading when they leave? No. I am not naïve enough to believe this. Has every child who sits in my class experienced an environment that make this love a possibility? Yes. As I design my lesson plans for the upcoming school year, I consider lessons about the habits of readers, the language of readers, and the skills that readers need. What I also teach--through my actions, attitudes, and classroom conditions--is what a reading life looks like and the value and pleasure that reading brings.

Thinking about my students, I remember Kim, who was in my class seven years ago. Kim had recently moved to Texas from Hawaii, where her father had been stationed. Kim was heartbroken about leaving Hawaii and hated Texas. Talking with her during class, I struggled to uncover a topic that interested Kim enough to write about it, until our conversation revealed that she loved to swim. Kim's eyes lit up when she talked about swimming. She learned to swim when she was two. Her family spent most of their free time swimming, surfing, snorkeling, playing in the sand, and exploring the beaches around her home. Kim showed me several pictures of her family and in every photo--Kim was in a swimsuit. Kim's parents didn't make a concerted effort to teach Kim to love swimming, but they did provide the encouragement and environment that made this love possible. I am not sure that Kim would have developed her love for swimming in Kansas (without access to a swimming pool).

If there are few people in the reading tribe, I would ask whether or not many children receive the same opportunity Kim did. Do most children grow up in environments where reading is a desired behavior, a cultural norm? Do most children have reading role models? Do most children have the opportunity to read for sheer pleasure? Do we value all types of reading and embrace all types of readers? Do we expect children to read a lot? If not, then we exclude most children from developing a love of reading at all.

Words With Friends

I've been traveling since school ended on June 4th--speaking at the 8th Georgia Conference on Teaching Writing and Reading, leading staff development in several Texas and Indiana schools, and attending the All Write conference. I've visited with and learned from dedicated, thoughtful educators who are committed to improving literacy instruction for children--from thought leaders in our profession like Smokey Daniels and Debbie Miller to first year interns like Darian to long-term Twitter pals like Paul W. Hankins and Teresa Bunner.

Sitting in the Indianapolis airport, bemoaning the death of my Kindle, and playing Words with Friends, I considered how lonely and isolating being a teacher would be without friends to share my thoughts and questions with on a regular basis. That's what summer brings me--the opportunity to connect with other teachers in a relaxed way. Although I learn a lot from my colleagues at school, the hectic pace of the school year doesn't offer as many of these opportunities as I would like. By the end of the year, I am in desperate need of an attitude and pedagogical adjustment. Seeking out like-minded colleagues during the summer months advances my teaching and puts the steel back in my spine.

With limited time and funds, many teachers seek out online learning communities and free Internet resources as paths for professional development. This "armchair PD" provides us with the ability to learn from conferences far away, investigate new ideas, or connect with other teachers who are interested in the same topics. Via Twitter, I was able to follow both the International Society for Technology in Education and American Library Association 2011 summer conferences without leaving home. I am taking a deeper look at techology tools I implemented on the fly in my classroom this year like edmodo and Prezi, too.

Here are some free, online professional development opportunities that might interest you this summer:

English Companion Ning Summer Webstitute: Reading Classic and Young Adult Literature with Students, July 11th and 12th. Join the movers and shakers of the English teaching profession for this engaging online institute about integrating classic and contemporary literature in our classrooms. The ECN consistently provides outstanding teacher-led professional development through discussion threads, book studies, blogs, and forums for English and Language Arts teachers.

Edutopia Summer Rejuvenation Guide. Edutopia's outstanding annual list of ten suggestions on how to use the summer months for learning, rejuvenation, and personal growth. In addition to this guide, Edutopia includes abundant resources on its site--including a New Teacher Workshop and Project-Based Learning tutorials.

Choice Literacy: With podcasts, interviews, book lists, instructional tips, and classroom videos from literacy leaders like Brenda Powers, Franki Sibberson, Ann Marie Corgill, Aimee Buckner, Katie DiCesare, and The Sisters, Choice Literacy's resources are worth the inexpensive subscription cost three times over. Sign up for the free weekly newsletter, The Big Fresh, for a weekly dose of inspiration and learning delivered to your email inbox every Saturday morning.

Twitter Chats: #engchat (every Monday at 7 pm EST) and #titletalk (the last Sunday of every month at 8 pm EST). I learn more from my colleagues on Twitter each week than I do from an entire year of district-level PD. Dive into a Twitter chat this summer and pick up incredible ideas for implementing technology tools, meet teachers from around the world, keep abreast of policy debates, or follow your favorite children's and young adult authors.

As much as I like to plan for the upcoming school year and expand my teaching knowledge, I also see the need for teachers to relax and play. While I miss my students during the summer, I know that I am a better teacher because I spend my vacation reconnecting with my non-teaching self, too. Visit a museum. Ride bikes until dark with your kids. Wake up after 6 am. Savor a meal that lasts longer than 20 minutes. Stick your toes in the sand. Enjoy a marvelous summer. You deserve it.

***The half way mark for my Summer Book-A-Day challenge (#bookaday on Twitter) arrives next week and I already read some illuminating and entertaining books. I will share a list of my recent reads in my next post.

Words with Friends

I've been traveling since school ended on June 4th--speaking at the 8th Georgia Conference on Teaching Writing and Reading, leading staff development in several Texas and Indiana schools, and attending the All Write conference. I've visited with and learned from dedicated, thoughtful educators who are committed to improving literacy instruction for children--from thought leaders in our profession like Smokey Daniels and Debbie Miller to first year interns like Darian to long-term Twitter pals like Paul W. Hankins and Teresa Bunner.

Sitting in the Indianapolis airport, bemoaning the death of my Kindle, and playing Words with Friends, I considered how lonely and isolating being a teacher would be without friends to share my thoughts and questions with on a regular basis. That's what summer brings me--the opportunity to connect with other teachers in a relaxed way. Although I learn a lot from my colleagues at school, the hectic pace of the school year doesn't offer as many of these opportunities as I would like. By the end of the year, I am in desperate need of an attitude and pedagogical adjustment. Seeking out like-minded colleagues during the summer months advances my teaching and puts the steel back in my spine.

With limited time and funds, many teachers seek out online learning communities and free Internet resources as paths for professional development. This "armchair PD" provides us with the ability to learn from conferences far away, investigate new ideas, or connect with other teachers who are interested in the same topics. Via Twitter, I was able to follow both the International Society for Technology in Education and American Library Association 2011 summer conferences without leaving home. I am taking a deeper look at techology tools I implemented on the fly in my classroom this year like edmodo and Prezi, too.

Here are some free, online professional development opportunities that might interest you this summer:

English Companion Ning Summer Webstitute: Reading Classic and Young Adult Literature with Students, July 11th and 12th. Join the movers and shakers of the English teaching profession for this engaging online institute about integrating classic and contemporary literature in our classrooms. The ECN consistently provides outstanding teacher-led professional development through discussion threads, book studies, blogs, and forums for English and Language Arts teachers.

Edutopia Summer Rejuvenation Guide. Edutopia's outstanding annual list of ten suggestions on how to use the summer months for learning, rejuvenation, and personal growth. In addition to this guide, Edutopia includes abundant resources on its site--including a New Teacher Workshop and Project-Based Learning tutorials.

Choice Literacy: With podcasts, interviews, book lists, instructional tips, and classroom videos from literacy leaders like Brenda Powers, Franki Sibberson, Ann Marie Corgill, Aimee Buckner, Katie DiCesare, and The Sisters, Choice Literacy's resources are worth the inexpensive subscription cost three times over. Sign up for the free weekly newsletter, The Big Fresh, for a weekly dose of inspiration and learning delivered to your email inbox every Saturday morning.

Twitter Chats: #engchat (every Monday at 7 pm EST) and #titletalk (the last Sunday of every month at 8 pm EST). I learn more from my colleagues on Twitter each week than I do from an entire year of district-level PD. Dive into a Twitter chat this summer and pick up incredible ideas for implementing technology tools, meet teachers from around the world, keep abreast of policy debates, or follow your favorite children's and young adult authors.

As much as I like to plan for the upcoming school year and expand my teaching knowledge, I also see the need for teachers to relax and play. While I miss my students during the summer, I know that I am a better teacher because I spend my vacation reconnecting with my non-teaching self, too. Visit a museum. Ride bikes until dark with your kids. Wake up after 6 am. Savor a meal that lasts longer than 20 minutes. Stick your toes in the sand. Enjoy a marvelous summer. You deserve it.

***The half way mark for my Summer Book-A-Day challenge (#bookaday on Twitter) arrives next week and I already read some illuminating and entertaining books. I will share a list of my recent reads in my next post.