Pernille Ripp's Blog, page 29

On Real Reading and the Kids We Teach

I asked our oldest daughter, Theadora, how many books she thought she had read this year.  Crestfallen and quiet she answered four.  Four?  I asked, confused.   How can you only have read four?  She reads all of the time, never without a book, always asking to read just one more page before the lights are turned off.

Don’t you mean real books, mom?

Real books? I said.  What are real books?  I mean all books, graphic novels included.

She lit up.  Fifty, Mom, maybe more, at least fifty though.

Fifty books for a child who didn’t think they would ever be a reader because reading was just too hard.

Fifty books for a child who has been in reading intervention for four years.

Fifty books for a child who wasn’t sure that she would ever get through a whole book on her own, at least not one with a lot of pages.

Thea is a voracious reader, and yet, if you were to believe some adults, all of that reading she does doesn’t really count.  If I were to listen to some adults, some teachers, then all of those graphic novels wouldn’t count as real reading because they had pictures in them.  Because they were too easy.  Because they were silly.

I would have to tell Thea that all of those books she loves aren’t real books and that it is time for her to read something real.  To read something hard.  To grow up a little.

Could you imagine?

Yet, this happens to so many kids in so many schools.  When they come to us proudly bearing their Captain Underpants, their Diary of A Wimpy Kids, their manga, we take one look and tell them that in this school, we need to read real books.  That this year, they need to grow as a reader.  That this year it is time to get serious as a reader.

We tell them it is time to try something else or else they will not really grow.

Thea became a reader because of Dav Pilkey.  Because of Dogman.  Because of finding a book where she could decode the images and then decode the words, synthesize the two and come up with meaning.  I will never forget the look on her face when she declared herself a reader.  Her teachers may not know that, there is so much we don’t know,  and I think of how many teachers do not understand the journey that some kids have been on to finally identify as readers.  That some teachers may not see just how big of a mountain becoming a reader has been to climb.  And so we dismiss their journey in the finality of our words as if real reading is only when a book is devoid of pictures or doesn’t make you laugh.

When we tell a child that the book they are reading is too easy, we have no idea how hard it just might be for them.

When we tell a child that the book they are reading is not challenging them, we have no idea just how much work they may be doing.

When we tell a child that it is time for them to try something else, we have no idea just how much they have tried before they finally had success with the book they are reading.

What if we instead reveled in their success?

What if we instead encouraged them to keep reading “easy” books knowing that at some point they will choose something else?

What if we instead told them how glad we are that they know themselves enough as a reader to know that this book, that this series is a great fit for them.

What if we instead gave them more books?  More time?  More appreciation for the work they are doing so that they could see their own success.

We are so quick to tell kids to challenge themselves.  We are so quick to dismiss their entire reading experiences.  We are so quick to tell them that what real readers do without realizing the damage our words may have.  It has to stop.

Thea is still a vulnerable reader.  A reader who finds comfort, courage, and strength within the pages of a graphic novel.  She grows her confidence in bursts and once in a while she branches into a book with no pictures.  She is on a journey.  My job is to support that journey, not destroy it through my well-meaning intentions.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers – The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child  Also consider joining our book club study of it, kicking off June 17th.  This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block.  If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book  Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students.      Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

 

 

 

 

Why We Need to Embrace Book Abandonment

In the spring of 2016, I asked 1,200 students aged eight through thirteen in North America to explain how they felt about book abandonment.  I was curious because I had realized that working with my own students, that something as simple as letting go of a book in search of another book was not second nature to them.  In fact, many of my students struggled with the notion of letting go of a book even if it meant they were not reading.  Even if it meant they avoided the book.

This struggle had prompted me for years to do an actual lesson on abandoning a book.  On giving all of our students specific permission to step away from a book they had either indicated they wanted to read or actually started reading.  To step away from a book without having to try it for so many pages, for so many days.  To step away from a book even if their teacher recommended it.  Even if their best friend loved it.  Even if they loved it at first.

When I asked those 1,200 students I had an inkling of what they would say and yet I was taken back to see the answers.  Out of 1,200 students, more than 400 of them reported feeling guilty and disappointed.  That’s 33% of the respondents reporting that something as simple as letting go of a book made them feel bad.

My follow up question was why they felt the way they had felt.  There were three main responses.  Some children reported feeling like they had disappointed their teacher, after all, it was the teacher that had recommended the book to them in the first place.  Other’s reported that they were disappointed in themselves for picking a “bad” book to begin with.  And some even reported feeling guilty about not liking the author’s work, as if the author would somehow know that they didn’t like the book.

We know there is a lot of emotion tied up with being a reader, but we should not have guilt be one of them.

Students should rejoice at first when they realize that a book is not for them.  They should celebrate this milestone knowledge and be happy that they have uncovered another part of their reading identity.  And then they should move to not caring. To simply seeing book abandonment as yet another part of being a reader.  Of knowing when to let go.  Of knowing when to search for something better.

Now you may think, but what about those serial book abandoners?  The kids that never finish a book?  That haphazardly pick up a book only to leave it behind seemingly having checked off the reading requirement for a day?  They are a conversation waiting to happen; kids who do not know themselves as readers yet.  For ideas of how to work with them, please see this post. 

And while we need to teach students how to work through challenging text, we also need to give them opportunities to discover what love to read, what they cannot wait to read, what will bring them further into reading.  Book abandonment helps us with that if we embrace it as yet another skill that all readers know how to use.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers – The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child  Also consider joining our book club study of it, kicking off June 17th.  This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block.  If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book  Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students.      Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

 

 

Using Picture Books With Older Students – A How-to Guide

I have written extensively about the use of picture books within our classroom and yet there are still questions that keep coming up.  No worries as I realized that I had yet to make a central blog post about picture books and how I use them with older students and so while this post may be long, I hope it is helpful.  Note that really everything I write here about using picture books with older students also goes for using them with younger kids because as we all know there no is no too old for picture books.

I have written before of why I use picture books with my middle school students, the changes it has created for us as we build our community of readers.  I have shared lists upon lists of our favorite books as well, hoping to help others find the very best value in the books they bring in, hoping to inspire others to make them an integral part of their classroom.

How Do I Know Which Books to Get?

I am connected.  I am a proud member of the Nerdy Book Club and through Twitter  I am connected to many picture book loving people; teachers, librarians, parents, and all of the other amazing people out there.  I follow hashtags like #WeNeedDiverseBooks  #Titletalk, #pb10for10 #picturebookaday and #nerdybookclub to stay in the know.  And I tweet out asking for recommendations all of the time.

I keep a written list handy.  I have a journal book with me at all times, and while I often add books to my wishlist on Amazon, I like having the list in my bag.  I am always adding to it and will cross out as I either purchase or reject.  This also makes it easy for me to recommend books to others that they may not know about.

I read them beforehand, most of the time.  Many times we will wander to the nearest bookstore so that I can browse the books before purchasing them.  How do I know that this will be a great one for our room, well there are few things I look for…

Do I react to it in any way?  A picture book doesn’t always have to have a deep message for me to react to it; was it funny, did it make me think, did it leave me with questions?  All of these are things that I look for.

Is it easy to follow?  Sometimes it takes more than one read to really get a book and while I love those books too, most of the time, I am looking for a book that my students will get rather quickly.  At least most of them.  However, I do purchase picture books to use with smaller groups that have layers we can peel away.

Is the language accessible?  Yes, I teach 7th graders but their reading development levels range from 2nd grade to high school, so can all students access the text or will I need to “translate” it?

What purpose does it have?  I often look for picture books that can be used as community builders, self-connections, or conversation starters.  We also use them as mentor texts as we develop as readers and writers throughout the year.  But I also look for picture books that will make my students laugh, make them reconnect with being a little kid again, or help them get out of a bad mood.  I try to get a balance of all of these types of books in the hands of students.

Will we read it more than once?  Because I buy most of the picture books in my classroom, I look for enduring books that we will return to again and again.  Different things make books repeat reads; the illustrations, the phrasing, the story.  Bottom-line: it is a gut feeling most of the time.

Do we have other works by the author?  My students feel closely connected to the picture book authors and illustrators whose books we love so I try to expand our favorite collections as often as possible.  Some of our favorites are Jackie Woodson, Julie Flett, Peter Brown, Mo Willems, Peter H. Reynolds, Ame Dyckman, Jon Klassen, and Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

How Do I Organize our Picture Books?

Every hardcover picture book is stamped on the inside with a custom-made stamp from Amazon, which has been easily one of the best purchases I have ever made.[image error]

They are then also labeled with the first letter of the author’s last name on their spine.  That way as long as I know the author’s last name, I can quickly pull the book from that section.

[image error]

Picture books are typically not checked out by students as they are easy to lose, however, others teachers borrow them freely.

Picture books are shelved together in our classroom but not organized by theme or author.  I simply do not have room for splitting up the groups, so I try to display the picture books by theme in our classroom instead.  For example, whenever it is a new month or after a break, our display is always changed out.  I want students to want to read them as much as possible and a fresh new display helps entice them.[image error]

How Do I Select the Book to Use?

I first identify the purpose of the lesson of course and then go through either my lists of picture books or simply flip through our stacks.  As our collection has grown, I have started keeping a better eye on picture books that can be used for more than one purpose.

Which book I choose to share depends on the lesson.  I treat it much like a short story in what I want students to get out of it so it has to suit the very purpose we are trying to understand. I introduce the concept by sharing a story and then I ask my students to come as close as they can to the rocking chair in our corner.  Once settled, whether on the floor, on balls or on chairs, I  read it aloud.  We stop and talk throughout as needed but not on every page, it should not take more than 10 minutes at most to get through an average size picture book.  If it is a brand new concept I may just have students listen, while other times they might engage in a turn-and-talk.   I have an easel right next to me and at times we write our thoughts on that.  Sometimes we make an anchor chart, it really just depends on the purpose of the lesson.  Often a picture book is used as one type of media on a topic and we can then branch into excerpts from text, video, or audio that relates to the topic.

Because I teach the same class multiple times in a row, I often switch out the picture books I use with the different classes.  There are some that you can still love reading after 4 times, while others get to be a bit tedious, so I adjust as needed.  This is why having a lot of great picture books to choose from is something I am committed to.

I do not have multiple copies of really any picture books, I don’t see it as needed.  Instead, I pick the picture book to read aloud and then find “companion books,” other picture books that share the same concept, for example easily identifiable themes. These are spread out on tables, waiting for the students to select them. This way, when I ask students to work with them they are truly testing out the skill and not just whether they can spot the same things that we just practiced together.  Often times, students can choose to work with a partner as they explore their self-selected books.

What Are Different Concepts You Can Use Picture Books to Teach?

Thematic statements

Using a picture book as an example, we read one aloud and work through the example together.  While many of my students can easily pick up on the theme “word” (Death, love, freedom), they have a much harder stretching that into an actual thematic statement.  So rather than just death, they have to write something along the lines of “In the picture book, Ida Always, the text is used to illustrate that the fear of death should not stand in the way of creating lasting bonds.”  While this may seem hard at first, the idea of doing this work with a picture book, rather than a longer book, alleviates some of the stress that my students have with the analytical work being done.  After we write our thematic statement and turn it into a full paragraph, the students are then given a stack of picture books to choose from to practice on their own.  This is, therefore, a way to assess their understanding without having to use a common text.  Students can then either hand in their thoughts as a written piece of work or choose to discuss it with me or record it using their device.

Writers Craft

The writing skills used in a great picture book are worthy of our close analysis.  I love finding a stack of small moment picture books and then having students really take the writing apart.  How did the author move the story along with such few pages?  If we were to remove the images would the story still stand on its own?  Why?  Other questions can be:

How does the author transition time or setting?
How does the author situate us?
How is the character described?
How are the words further explained through the illustrations?
How does the illustrator deepen the message?
How are words repeated?
How do we pick out symbolism and what does it signify?
How can we introduce all of the Notice and Note signposts through picture books?

These are just a few examples of separate lessons that can be done through a lense of writer’s craft.

Plot and Small Moment Stories

While my students can write stories, they do not always write good stories.  Sometimes they get bogged down in too many details, other times they have too few or their story is simply not interesting.  Using picture books we can study the art of plot, as well as how to encapsulate an entire story in very little language.  These are great primers for students to think of their own story craft.

Non-Fiction Focus

We have written nonfiction picture books in the past and one of my greatest joys is to get students read some of the incredible nonfiction picture books we have in our collection.  I think of books like Pink is for Blobfish, Growing Up Pedro, Gorillas, Giant Squid, or How to Be an Elephant.  These authors breathe life into their nonfiction texts and so I ask my students to study their craft.  How did they take all of this research and create something so accessible yet information-filled?  It is wondrous to see the lightbulb go off for my students when they can see what I mean right in the text.

Fluency and Expression

One of our favorite units of the year is when all of our students perform plays based on Mo Willem’s Elephant & Piggie books.  It is incredible to see these sometimes very cool 7th graders, truly connect with their silly side and go for it in their performance.  Reading aloud picture books, performing them, and putting your heart into it helps with all public speaking skills.

Introductory texts. 

In order for us to go deeper with text analysis and discussion, I need my students to sometimes gain some confidence.  Picture books are not scary.  They are inviting to kids.  So as we begin the year with an introduction or reminder of the signposts as discussed in the book Notice and Note, I use picture books to introduce every single signpost.  (To see the lists go here).  It helps me break it down simply for kids, to give them confidence, and then also to be able to transfer it into their own reading.

Inferring.

One of my biggest tools for boosting inference skills is to use wordless picture books.  After all, it is hard to read books like Unspoken or The Whale and not have an opinion on what just happened.  Another reason I love wordless picture books is that it levels the playing field for a lot of our kids.  They don’t have to decode the words to get to the story but instead have to decode the images.  I have found that some of my most vulnerable readers are incredibly good at this as this is one of the reading survival strategies they use daily.

Introducing Hard Content

There are incredible picture books that discuss topics such as death, jail, suicide, war, and even drug abuse and so we use these picture books to broach harder topics with students.  Seeing their stories or stories that are incredible foreign to them played out within the pages of a short book really allows for us to open up a discussion as well as connections to the pages.

As you can see, picture books are not just for show, and yet, even if they were, I would be ok with that.  After all, how many times does a child just need to fall into the pages of a picture book to remember the magic that reading itself?  What an incredible gift all of these authors and illustrators give us when they decide to spill their ideas into a picture book.

How Do you Assess Skills and Strategies Through a Picture Book?

Because we are a classroom driven by self-selected reading, it can be hard to figure out what students really know.  Picture books are again a central tenet of this.  Whether I have introduced a brand new skill or simply done a review, I can quickly assess students’ knowledge and use of the skill through the pages of a picture book.  All I have to do is gather up the picture books that all have the skill in them such as character development and then have students read them.  After that, they can either write, discuss, or record a response to show me their understanding.  That way I do not have to know the independent book they are reading but I can still see what they can do.

What Comes After the Reading?

Picture books are not just something we read, we write them ourselves in our epic nonfiction picture book project.  We study them.  We speak about them.   We get ideas and inspiration from them.  We carefully protect the time we have to read them.  They are the mentor texts we shape our instruction around.

What Are Some Current Favorites?

And because I cannot write a blog post about picture books and then not share a few favorites, here are some that I love at the moment.  For “live” recommendations follow my Instagram account. 

Drawn Together by Minh Le and Dan Santat

Heartbeat by Evan Turk

I’m Sad by Michael Ian Black and Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Prince & Knight by Daniel Haack and Stevie Lewis

The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson and Rafael Lopez

 

So there you have it, a little further explanation of how picture books are used in our classroom.  They become part of the tapestry of our room and something the students search out for solace when they need to feel like they are readers again. As one child told me after I had shared our very first picture book, “Picture books make you remember your imagination again.”  And I knew that these kids got it.  That they knew that this wasn’t just me having some fun, but that picture books will teach us some of the largest lesson this year.  That picture books are not just for little kids and laughter.  They are for readers of all ages, and in particular, those who have gotten lost.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers – The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child  Also consider joining our book club study of it, kicking off June 17th.  This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block.  If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book  Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students.      Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

On Becoming a Reader

My husband is not a reader.

By far, he is one of the smartest people I know.  He can fix anything broken, he can solve any problem.  He can dream and plan and build pretty much anything.  But reading, in the traditional sense of books, nah… not for him.

When I first met him, I couldn’t figure out how someone as smart as him could not see value in books.  How could you live a full life without books?  And yet, in the 17 years, we have been together, he has shown me how many facets there are to a full life.  But now he has been in school for the past two years, getting his degree as a Tech Ed teacher, and the other day after taking a particularly grueling test, he told me how much he felt like he wasn’t smart enough for the test simply because of his reading pace.  You see, the test was timed, and so when the time was almost up, my husband did what many of our students do all of the time; filled in as many unanswered questions with random guesses as he could.  Better answered then left blank.

He told me how he knew he could have answered them right had he had the time.  He told me how he felt this pressure at all times knowing that he wasn’t going fast enough.  He told me that he tried to skim as quickly as he could but then lost meaning and had to read it all over again.

If he had only been a faster reader, he would have been just fine.

It blows my mind still that we equate reading pace with reading comprehension.  That we allow standardized tests to teach our children that if they cannot read quickly, they cannot read at all.  Which jobs require us to read complicated materials within 90 seconds?  But that’s the reality we face and so at the end of our discussion, I gave him my best advice; read more books.  It is the one guaranteed way to increase your reading speed.  Find books you love.  Take the time to read.  And you will see, your reading pace will increase.

He told me how he just didn’t like books.  How he didn’t mind reading technical stuff (which he devours daily), but that books just had never caught his attention.  That they were too slow, too boring, too confusing.  That reading was never anything fun or entertaining but always presented as an assignment; read this book, do this work. Rinse, repeat.  He sounded exactly like my most resistant readers.  The ones we all teach that tell us loudly and proudly that reading is not their thing and we will certainly not convince them otherwise.

And so I did what I do every single day of the year.  I handed him a book, Orbiting Jupiter, and told him to try it.  To give it a shot and if he didn’t like it, tell me and I would try again.

He sat down and read into the night then woke up and finished the book.  He finished the book!  And then he asked me for another.  I handed him How it Went Down.  He started to read.

Today we went to my classroom to grab stuff.  He went to the bookshelves and started to browse.  Grabbed a few books, asked me about others.  Together we book-shopped.  He was open to whatever but had a few ideas, maybe some war history?  Maybe something with a fast pace?  Social justice lens?

[image error]Brandon’s To Be Read Pile – his first one ever…

I quickly grabbed my tried and true, added them to his pile and realized right in that moment that I was working with him like I would any resistant reader: offer choice, support, time to read, and most importantly communication.  At 41 years old, it seems that my husband is finally going properly through the motions of what it means to know yourself as a reader.  And I couldn’t be prouder.

So often we focus on these aspects of developing reader identify when students are young.  Before they reach middle and high school.  Once they come to us older, perhaps more jaded, more stubborn, we sometimes forget to go back to the basics.  To treat them as we would any developing reader.  To go back to choice, community, access to meaningful books and discovery of who they are as readers.  To find the time to actually help them become the reader they can be.  Too often the content gets in the way.  All of the little things that constitute what teaching sometimes becomes, rather than what it should be.  We assume that someone certainly will figure out how to help this child become a reader without realizing that that someone is us.  That we are the person who needs to somehow reshape the reading experience that they have had until now so that they do not become adults who do not read.

Today, I was reminded of how it is never too late.  How every child that we teach has the potential to see themselves as a reader by the time our year is up.  That even the adults that tell us that they are not readers can still become readers.   But that they need our help, not our judgment, our know-it-betterness, our confusion of how they could live without books.  Instead, they need what every reader needs; choice, books, community, time, personalization, and understanding.

My husband is not a reader, but that doesn’t mean he cannot become one, now.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers – The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child  Also consider joining our book club study of it, kicking off June 17th.  This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block.  If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book  Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students.      Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

Make Room For Both Types of Independent Reading

90 minutes.  This glorious amount of time awaits my students and me next year for our English classes. No more trying to cram everything into 45 minutes, no more rushing, no more skipping things.  90 whole minutes, and I cannot help but think of all we can become.

As I plan for these minutes, I realize that once again one of our central tenets will be the right to choose a book and to read it freely every single day.  With no post-its, no jots, no interruptions.  Just reading for the love of reading, every day, every child, no exceptions.  Because if we listen to Louise Rosenblatt, and I don’t know why we shouldn’t, she reminded us back in 1978 that children need to be taught that there are two types of reading.  Aesthetic reading which focuses on the love of reading, on living within texts so that we can create a relationship with the text.  On being with the text so that we can see ourselves as readers.  And also efferent reading, reading for skill, reading to work on reading.  The things we do with what we read.

For many years, it appears that we have focused mostly on the later.  The joy of reading has simply not been something we have made room for in our schools as we rush to utilize every single minute for instruction, for skill, for doing something.  And we see the direct results now.  The PEW Research Center reports that 24% of adults have not read a book in the last 12 months.  Scholastic reminds us that fewer and fewer children read a book for fun every day.  And we see it in our classrooms as students roll their eyes and tell us that books serve no purpose in their lives.  We see it when teachers tell us that they simply don’t have time for students to read in class because they have too much to cover.

We have lost our way when it comes to one of the basic premises of what teaching reading is really all about; reading for the love of it.  Reading to become a reader who reads without the threat of a grade or the promise of a reward.

We must do better than that.

And so next year, I will start once again with 10 minutes of uninterrupted reading time.  10 minutes where we simply work on loving reading.  Where we work on falling into the pages of a book and then staying there.  Nothing to do but read.  Then a mini-lesson and then we shift focus to the skills of reading.  There will be discussion, strategic lessons, small groups, and everything we love about the workshop model.  Students will know that they are now working on a different skill than before because it is within this knowledge they can see the difference.  They need to know there is a difference.

For too long we have lost too many kids in reading.  They have turned away from books because books meant more work.  More things to do.  More interruptions.  More accountability.  And while we need students who can apply the skills of reading, we more so need kids who will like reading once they leave us.  Who will not become a part of the 24& as we slide toward a more aliterate nation, a more aliterate world.  And it starts with the very decisions that we make every single day.  Where we look at the precious time we are given and get our priorities straight.  It was never about just making sure kids could pass tests, it was always about them becoming more than what they started as.  So we have to make room for both types of independent reading.  The one where kids “just” read and the one where they work while they read.  Otherwise, we will lose them.

It starts with the decisions we are making now as we reflect on the year ahead.  Make room for both because we cannot do the work if we don’t.  And if you don’t have the time, make the time.  Ask yourself what are you doing with the time?  how much time is lost simply in transitions?  In bell work?  In us teachers talking too much?  If we say we want students to become readers then that starts in our classrooms, not when they go home.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers – The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child  Also consider joining our book club study of it, kicking off June 17th.  This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block.  If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book  Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students.      Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

How We Gave Every Student a Book on the Last Day of School

If you follow me on social media, you may have seen this post…I know many have and many had questions.  So this is my attempt to answer those questions.[image error]

A while back, I realized that if I started collecting books, perhaps, just perhaps, I could give every single one of my literature studies students a book to keep on the last day of school.  But that would require 76 individual books.  As I pondered the idea, I realized the injustice.  Summer slide can happen to any child.  Every child we teach on our 7th-grade team could use a book, even if they already live in a book flood.  What if we were able to gather up 150 books, one for each student, for the last day of school?  Would my team be up for it?

I shouldn’t even have wondered, of course, they were because one of the things I love about working at Oregon Middle School is the dedication of all to joyful literacy experiences.  Is the dedication of all staff to help students become or remain readers who like reading.  And so we realized that we now needed 150 books.  And not old, worn out copies.  Not books that no one would want to read, but instead books that would entice.  Books that would actually be a possibility for a child to want to read, without a nagging teacher around, with the competition of everything summer holds.

So we started to collect books.  I am in the lucky position that some publishers send me books and so I knew I could use a few books from there.  But, it wouldn’t be enough.  We needed books that would work, not just any old book.  My next stop was Scholastic.  We knew I would be able to use my bonus points to get more books for the kids.  I also spent my own money to add it up to receive bonus books and get more points.  Slowly the collection started to grow.  Finally, I asked our team for money.  Could we take money out of our team fund for this endeavor?  Once again, they were onboard and excited for the idea.

[image error]

And so we went to Books4School – a warehouse here in Madison, whose owner’s sole mission is to get high-quality books in the hands of children for cheap.  He buys up overstock from publishers and then sells them to the public and online for less than $2.  Yup, less than $2.  Because he is not in it to make a huge profit but instead to ensure that more children have books in their hands.  So armed with our team funds, I bookshopped.  Filled an entire cart with titles like Speak, Noggin’, Day of Tears, Sunrise over Fallujah, Backlash, and See You at Harry’s.  Filled it with books that I knew represented a diverse wide of readers.  Books we had loved this year.  Books we had loved in the past.

As the pile grew in our classroom, the students were curious.  Why may we not bookshop those?  What are those for?  We held our tongues until the very last day when we gathered them all around for our final team meeting.

Surrounded by books each equipped with a hand-drawn bookmark from Kevin Sylvester, who writes one of our very favorite book series Minrs, we told the students just how thankful we were for them.  Just how proud we were.  How we would miss them.  How we wanted to thank them and we knew just the way.

We then told them to look around because in a moment they were going to have a chance to select whichever book they wanted to keep.  To stand up and browse all of the tables and then o please find a great book and read it this summer.  That is was the very least we could do.

And then something surprising happened.  The students cheered.  These sometimes too cool to read kids actually cheered.  And there was a mad rush to grab the book they had noticed.  There was a mad rush to find just the book they wanted to read.  Kids walking around with each other sharing ideas.  Pointing out favorites.  One child telling me that she grabbed a book she had already read because she knew it was so good she had to read it again.  Another child telling me that he had wanted to read this book all year but never had the chance.  Almost every single child leaving with a book in their hands.

At the end of the day, I wondered if the students actually cared about the books or whether it was just one more thing we had tried that didn’t really make an impact, yet as I looked around our team area, I only found three books left behind.  Three books out of 150.  Three books that someone had forgotten.  These kids that sometimes could not remeber to bring a pencil a class actually brought their books home.

This morning, I received an email from a parent thanking us for the year.  She wrote about the change she had sene in her child this year.  How “…he even told me yesterday that before the kids were allowed to pick out their free book, that he purposely sat close to the book he wanted to make sure to get, so he could read it this summer.”  This from a child who was not sure that reading was something he cared about before this year.

The mission for us at Oregon Middle School is to create opportunities for kids to love reading, or at the very least like it.  Handing them all a book on the last day of school was the very best thing we could have done.  It showed our commitment to their future lives as readers.  And who knows, perhaps that book will be THE book for that child one day?  May every child be given a book on the last day of school.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers – The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child  Also consider joining our book club study of it, kicking off June 17th.  This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block.  If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book  Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students.      Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

What We Can Give

Today, we gave our 141 students a brand new book.  As a way to entice them away from the dreaded summer slide.  As a way for them to relax. As a way to thank them.  Thank them for all they gave us this year, for all that they brought to us.  While we gave them just a book, there is so much more that we, as educators, can give our students every year.

We can give them our time.  Always when they want it and sometimes when they don’t.

We can give them our respect.  Always when they earn it and even when they don’t.  Apologize when we need to and set high expectations for all.

We can give them our trust.  Always when they prove it and sometimes when they don’t.

We can them give room to grow, to try, to not succeed at first and to stretch themselves into the bigger version that they hoped to be.  Give them space to be challenged, let them in on the process, and then listen to them as they give us their feedback so that we can grow right alongside them.

We can give them our love.  Even those who swear that they will never want to willfully be a part of our classroom, sometimes, we love them just a little bit more loudly.

And we can give them all the benefit of our doubt.  A clean slate for the next class, for the next day, and for the new year.  Sure, give us tips about the incoming students, but don’t tell us what they can’t do.  Tell us what they can.  Tell us how they have grown, their strength and what they are still working on.  Don’t tell us, “Good luck…” or “Good riddance…”

We can give them our very best, even when it is hard, even when they are hard.  Becuase didn’t we all become teachers to do just that?  Be better than what we were before?  What better way to prove it than to grow.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers – The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child  Also consider joining our book club study of it, kicking off June 17th.  This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block.  If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book  Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students.      Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

 

Lessons From Ten Years of Trying….

[image error]The night before my very first day as a teacher.  This is what terrified looks like.

Ten years ago, I said thank you to my very first class of 4th graders.  Thank you for their dedication.  Thank you for their persistence.  Thank you for their love.  I know I cried as I hugged each and every one of them, thanking them for our year.

Today, I will hug as many 7th graders as I can.  I will thank them for a year filled with laughs.  With challenges.  With growth.  With love.  Teaching is by far the best thing I can do with my professional time.  When I look back on ten years of teaching, I cannot help but think of all the things I have learned.  Of how I have grown.  Of how I am still growing.  There is so much to learn, still.

But ten years has also taught me a lot about what it means to be a teacher.  What it means to get up every morning and do this job.  Not just because you have to, but because you can.  And as always, the kids I have had the privilege of teaching are the ones who have taught me the biggest lessons.  The ones who have made me who I am today.  They taught me…

That’s it’s not about me.  That the needs of the students should always be my focus.  That when I am wondering what I need to change, they are where I start.  That my assumptions, while sometimes on point, will never be as accurate as what they will actually tell me.  That their advice, if we only take it, will transform our teaching for the better.

…but sometimes it is.  Sometimes I am the problem.  Sometimes I am the reason a child hates school.  Sometimes my decisions, even if made with the best of intentions, will harm rather than build.  It is my job to make sure that I know that.  That I realize the immense power that we have over the future of the very children we teach.  That I ask the hard questions in order for me to grow and to create an experience that works for every child as much as humanly possible.

They have taught me…

That a smile will always go further than a well-developed lesson plan.  That my attitude when it comes to the very kids I get to teach is a choice.  That saying hello, that smiling, that telling them how much I love this job, how much I love them, will make a difference.  Even to those who push the hardest.

….but sometimes a well-developed lesson plan can move mountains.  When students plan lessons with us, offer up their ideas, and invest their energy, we are already further than we could be without them.  That lessons need choice, relevance, and challenge.  That every child deserves to be held to high expectations, and every child needs a second chance when something doesn’t work.

That those who push you the hardest, leave the biggest marks.  That often those kids who see no value in school, no value in you, are the ones you will fight the hardest for.  That it is not your job to save them from their lives, themselves, or their circumstances, but that you are there to love, to offer up ways to navigate their lives, and to remind them that they have worth.  That in this world, they matter.

…but sometimes they don’t want you to be in their corner.  And that’s ok, too.  We can try to connect with every child we teach, knowing that for some we may be exactly the type of teacher they do not want.  The biggest gift we then can offer up is, besides not giving up, to help them forger connections with others.  To help them have someone they connect with, so they know that they are not alone.

They have taught me…

That I don’t know it all.  Especially the more I teach, I realize how little I know.  Ten years ago I didn’t think about my privilege.  I didn’t think about how marginalization hurt the very kids I taught.  How inequitable our school system is.  How white skewed my classroom library was.  How I didn’t know everything.  But I grew, and I will continue to grow.  I will continue to admit when I screw up, and it happens a lot, and I will continue to apologize, to use the power I have been given to fight for others and with others.

…but I do know some things.  I know that love matters.  That research matters.  That conviction matters.  That sometimes being the sole voice for change is scary, but necessary.  That we grow best through kindness, but sometimes kindness will not tear down walls.  That what we believe in directly influences how we teach, but that our bigger job is not to give students our opinion, but instead make space for them to develop their own.  That every day I get to work with kids is a better day.  That there is hope.  That this new generation of kids we are raising are changing the world.  That I would rather be a part of the fight, then safe on the sidelines.

I became a teacher because I hoped to make a difference.  I hoped to create a classroom where every child felt safe, where every child felt loved.  I don’t know if I have succeeded, but I do know that teaching has changed me.  That I would not be the person I am without the influence of the many incredible children I have taught and who have taught me.

I came into this profession to make a difference but in the end, it was the kids that made the biggest difference to me.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers – The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child  Also consider joining our book club study of it, kicking off June 17th.  This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block.  If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book  Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students.      Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

 

 

Join the Passionate Readers Summer Book Club Study

While summer is definitely a time to unwind without guilt for me, it is also a time where I want to grow as an educator.  Where I want to think of new ideas, come up with a plan, and maybe even make a few connections.  And I am not alone.  When I asked the educators in our Passionate Readers Facebook group what their plans were for re-energizing themselves over the summer, every person who answered had some sort of professional learning they wanted to do.

So in order to start a conversation.  In order to help each other grow.  In order to renew, refresh, and reinvigorate, I invite you to join us for an informal four-week book club centered around Passionate Readers.  We will discuss teacher reading identity, student reading identity, classroom libraries and of course, share must-read, must-add titles for you to consider adding to your classroom.

The book club is free, all you need is your own copy of Passionate Readers and to join our Facebook group where the questions and discussion will happen.

Once a week, I will join do a Facebook live conversation where I can answer questions, highlight books, and share ideas.

The book club will kick off June 17th and run for four weeks wrapping up July 8th.

1st-week focus – Teacher reading identity and how our habits influence our teaching.

2nd-week focus – Classroom library and must add book titles for the year.

3rd-week focus – Student reading identity – choice, goals, and independence.

4th-week focus – Conferring, lessons, and getting ready for the year ahead.

So if you would like to join, get your copy of Passionate Readers ready, join the Facebook club, and get ready to share.

 

7 Must Do’s at the End of the Year

With just a few precious days left with the kids I have gotten to call mine for the year, my body is bone-tired.  I think we all are.  Yet, my mind is eager, I am excited to send these kids off for summer, and yes, I am also excited for the next group of kids coming our way.

So within these last few days lies an incredible opportunity to grow.  To prepare for the next year even if this year is not quite over.  I have seen some great posts on things to reflect on as the year ends for so many of us and thought I would share what I plan on doing.  Perhaps, you could use a few ideas yourself?

I plan on surveying my students.  While our school does both a home and student survey, I also need to know what I can work on.  Every year, the words of my students help me shape the experience to come.  Every year, the words of my students help me grow as an educator.  Don’t let the kids leave without helping you grow.

I plan on keeping certain experiences.  Looking through the year and reflecting on what really worked, whether it was a lesson, an idea, or simply a moment, helps me think of the year to come.  Don’t let this year end without you realizing what worked.  Whether you go through lesson plans or simply write a bullet list, take note so that when the time comes for your ideas to come back, you have a place to start.

I plan on getting rid of certain lessons.  While our experience inevitably changes year after year, there are also certain things that despite our best intentions simply didn’t work.  So I am getting rid of them both physically and mentally.  goodbye curation project!  Goodbye identity journals!  Goodbye to you so that I can make room for better things.

I plan on freshening up the room.  In fact, I already did that.  Last week, my husband and I moved all of our bookshelves so that I could reclaim the front of the room as part of our teaching area.  It has made a huge difference to the feel of the room, how welcoming it looks.  Why wait until next year?  Try it out now and see how it feels.

I plan a focus.  This summer, I get to both teach others and learn from others and so I need a focus.  Where does my craft need to grow?  Writing is what comes to mind, as well as the hard work of equity and social justice.  And so I go to conferences with a few goals in mind.  I read PD books with these goals in mind.  I reflect, invent, and write down ideas with these few goals in mind.  In the past, when I have had a broad focus, I feel I have learned little, but when I have a few questions in mind, such as how will I continue to help students understand their role in the world or how we will we create more joyful writing experiences, then I leave summer with a few tangible ideas that shape our experience together.

I plan a challenge.  Every summer, I try to discover the work of new amazing leaders in education.  One year it was educators like Val Brown, Dana Stachoviak, and Cornelius Minor, another it was diving into the work of We Need Diverse Books and figuring out how to work through my own biases and change the way I taught.  Every year, I pick a challenge that will push my thinking, make me realize my own mistakes, and also help me become a better educator.  It can be hard at times, but it is definitely worth taking the time to realize the gaping holes you have and then actually doing something about it.

I plan a break.  Teaching is amazing, it is my favorite thing to do as far as work., but it is also exhausting, heartbreaking at times, and hard.  So summer is time for a break, and not a kind of break where I still work, but one where I feel no guilt for not checking my email.  Where I feel no guilt for reading whatever I want even if it is slightly trashy.  Where I feel no guilt for not checking in, creating something, or coming up with new ideas.  But you have to plan for it or it won’t happen.  We know how consuming teaching can be, how it can spill into every part of summer, but don’t let it.  Allow yourself to detach completely so that you can get excited.  So that you can let ideas marinate in the back of your mind.  So that you can remember what it means to have a life, if even for a little bit, outside of teaching.  Because if you never leave, then you cannot get ready to come back.

Summer is a break.  A much-needed one for many.  But it is also an incredible time to become something more than what we ended as.  To remember why we entered teaching.  To get excited, to catch up on sleep, and to become the very best version that we can be of ourselves so that when September rolls around, or whenever our students come back, we can say, “I am so glad you are here,” and truly mean it.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers – The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child.  This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block.  If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book  Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students.      Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.