Pernille Ripp's Blog, page 65

All The Things I Have Not Done

It is time for me to make a confession.  It is time for me to come clean.  Because it is easy to speak about all of the things we do in our 7th grade classroom, it is easy to share ideas, to give advice, to hopefully help others engage students more.  And yet…some of those things that I love the most we are not even doing.

We haven’t started blogging yet.  This monumental cornerstone of our classroom has not found its hold.  It lurks on the horizon, taunting me, reminding me of its presence, and yet, we are not bloggers.  We haven’t had many discussions of how to change education, how to share our voice with the world, how to make a change so that the schools we go to become better with us in them.  We have not been geniuses or innovators.  Nor have we Skyped much.  We have not taken the system apart only to put it back together.  And I am ok with that.  For now.

Because while we have not done all of those things, we have slowed down instead.  We have gotten to know each other, we have read picture books, we have book shopped for half a class.  We have written stories for our eyes only, the classroom so quiet I barely dare move.  We have talked about what it means to be a reader, a writer, a human being.  We have stopped when we needed to instead of forged on.  And the ease at which we now operate in our classroom is profound.  The conversations that slowing down has allowed me to have with my students are irreplaceable.

So while we are not global students.  While we are not innovators.  While we are not out there changing the world, I know that it is only a matter of time.  That my students will get to experience those things when they fit into our day.  When we feel the need to take our voices further than our own four walls.  I know it will happen, it just has not happened yet.  And I am ok with that.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my 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.

 

 

Filed under: aha moment, being a student, being a teacher, being me, student choice, Student dreams

Not Just for Little Kids – What Picture Books Have Taught My Middle Schoolers

I never thought of leaving picture books behind.  Of giving them away.  Of hiding them away in a closet, only to be brought out when the need was immediate.   To save them for a certain lesson or day.  When I packed up my 5th grade classroom my beginning picture book collection came with me.  No questions asked.  And when I unpacked my boxes of books, out they came, proudly on display, ready to be read and shared and remembered.    And since then the collection has only grown, only multiplied, and their hands keep reaching, and their eyes keep reading.  You can say we are a picture book classroom.

Yet, it is not just the books themselves that have made us love them.  It is not just the fact that they are on display, nor that they are oh so inviting to the students.  You cannot just buy a few picture books and then wait for them to do their magic.  The books are not enough, even if they a brilliant start.  For the real change comes in how we use them.  How they take center stage on the very first day and never leave.  How they allow us to build our community, to strengthen our trust, to have incredible hard conversations, and also allow us to laugh.

You can say that picture books are the thread that bind us altogether and we would say that you are right.  And yet, when I share this love some think I am crazy.  That picture books are too easy for 7th grade and not at all what they need.  That they need advanced texts that they can analyze and work with, that will test their skills of comprehension and push their thinking.  And so to those that do not quite understand.  To those that may doubt their place.  To those that think that picture books are just for little kids, I offer the following.

Picture books taught my students that being a better person can sometimes happen too late to fix a situation.  That every word matters and so does every action.  That stories do not always have a happy ending and that we make a choice every day to be better human beings or not.

Picture books taught us that someone finding their courage to be their true self in a world that wants to stop them need our protection and friendship.  That even though someone may choose differently than we would, does not make them less than.  Does not make them somehow wrong.  even if we don’t understand why.  Even if we cannot relate.

Picture books taught us that sometimes innocent illustrations are not so innocent at all and carry far more damage than can ever be expected.  Our job then is  to notice and pause and discuss and then do something about it.

Picture books taught us to trust ourselves.  To fight for our own beliefs and to have confidence in what we discover.  That the world has room for more than one right answer and that we all deserve to be heard.

Picture books taught us that reading should move us.  Whether to laugh, to think, to yell out in injustice.   They taught is that we still have much to learn and much to investigate.  That sometimes all we need is a short story for us to follow a path into a larger one.  That the world is filled with stories waiting to be discovered if we just start to pay attention.

Picture books taught us that reading does not have to be hard to be worthwhile.  But that we can handle the hard when it happens.  That we do not have to struggle through complex texts but can instead access them in smaller pieces and that doesn’t make us dumb, or bad, or any other label we may have had before then.

So when people act surprised that I would ever hand a picture book to a 7th grader, I ask them to try it.  To build a community that believes in the power of picture books and uses them for good.  To create a community where all reading counts, not just the assigned texts, not just the grade level books.  Where students are encouraged to read for fun, to read to learn, to read to challenge themselves and their opinions.  Where picture books help us become better human beings, not because the teacher told us we had to work on it, but because within their pages we saw something to strive for.

So yeah, picture books may be for little kids as well.  But for the big kids, for the ones I teach, they are an entirely new world that doesn’t judge, that doesn’t frustrate, that doesn’t make them hate reading.  That helps them become what we all hope they do; better readers, better thinkers, better writers, but most of all, better human beings.  All in the power of picture books.

PS:  Want ideas for which picture books to have in your classroom, here you are!

If you like what you read here, consider reading my 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.

Filed under: being a teacher

The Worth of You

Lynda Mullaly Hunt made me cry yesterday.  Right in the middle of a panel session on the community of the Global Read Aloud.  I had held my tears back all throughout as the authors had shared what it means to have their book read and loved by so many children on a global scale.  I had held my tears back as they had talked about the ways that their books had changed the lives of others, how children had found hope, courage, and determination through their pages.  Yet when Lynda told me that the slide showing a globe was for me because I had changed the world. I cried.  And then Lynda cried, and I sat there in awe because I  never set out to make a difference, I simply wanted to read a book aloud to my students and have them share their thoughts.

So I write this post not to gloat in the Global Read Aloud glory.  Nor to say that I am anything special, but more so to tell people that your ideas have worth.  That your ideas may make a difference to someone else.  That those ideas you carry inside need to be spoken because you will never know what type of difference they may make.

And yes, it is scary to speak a dream aloud.  And yes, it is scary to let others in .  And yes, it is scary to be proud of what you have created.  But it is worth it.  Even if your idea changes the course for one other person, or even if just changes yours, it will never change anything if you do not speak out loud.  If you do not share.

I never set out to make a difference, I wish I could say I had.  But it happened, if even just for my own students as they fell in love with a book year after year and wanted to make the world a better place.  Because I dared to speak aloud.  I dared to think that perhaps someone somewhere would see the beauty in this so simple idea.  And so the Global Read Aloud will continue to make a difference for so many kids, for so many teachers, as we gather in this time of terrorism, uncertainty and a world determined to be dark at times.  We need books to connect us because the world seems to be trying to tear us apart at times.  We need books to remind us that we are more alike than different.  We need books and experiences and emotions so that we can remember that we are humans first and that whatever difference we may have can be overcome.

I never set out to change the world, and I am not even sure that I have.  But I had an idea that I dared speak aloud and now cannot imagine a world without it.  Share yours; change the world.

 

Filed under: Be the change, being a teacher, being me, global read aloud, MIEExpert15

I Was Born A Reader

Some days I feel like I was born to read. To fall in love with stories.  To think deeply about the books that I carry in my heart, to get so consumed by the tale of someone else’s life that there is nothing that can penetrate my wall of immersion.  On other days, reading is the furthest thing from my mind as I watch my house fill up with dirty clothes, my children’s arms eagerly awaiting another hug, a song, some help.  Reading moves further away when the to-do’s pile up, the stacks of paper start to scatter, and my brain cannot seem to slow down.   That is when I am my most vulnerable as a reader.  When the world is too busy and sitting down with a book seems to be too much of a luxury.  I lose touch with the power of reading, but not for long, never for long.

So I continue to come back to books whenever I can.  I get through the things that have to get done so my ears can hear my to-be-read pile calling.  It is not hard for me to find  book, it is hard for me to choose which one next.  It is not hard for me to find a moment of quiet, where I don’t have to do anything but read, after all my kids go to bed early. My life has taught me that I am a reader, even if I am not reading.  That I am a reader even when I abandon a book, struggle with its meaning,or have no idea what to read next.  I am a reader because I have had so many amazing experiences with books that I cannot imagine my life without them.

Yet, how many of our students have that same experience?  How many of the children we teach know in their core that they are readers?  How many have experienced the freedom of choice in books that we have as adults?  How many of them have experienced what it means to abandon a book simply because they wanted to?  How many of them feel like finding time to read is an investment worth making because they know their soul will feel better?

It seems our classrooms are set up to cover curriculum, which in its simplest way makes sense, after all, we cannot be teachers if we do not teach.  Yet, within that curriculum we need to create reading experiences that allow students to fall in love with reading.  To read with wild abandonment because it is what they want to do, not just have to do.

We need to give them enough incredible experiences with books so that they can become readers at their core, and not just because their teacher told them so but because they know it will better their lives.  We need to give them enough moments with books that they choose so that when their reading slows down, when they meet a text that does not entice them, they will not give up on reading but rather know that they are in a lull and that this too shall pass.  That being a reader means that we don’t always read but we cannot imagine a life without it.

I was born a reader, or so it seems, because my mother never told me what book to read, my teachers never told me my level, and I was never ashamed to admit when I read slowly.  The least I can do is offer my students the same thing.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my 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.

 

Filed under: being a teacher, being me, books, Literacy, student choice, Student dreams

Well Hello #NCTE15

For a few years I have sighed every November when it seems like every literacy genius that I follow have headed to NCTE and then shared all about it.  For a few years I have thought that maybe I would go, but then when it comes to be time, there never seemed to be enough time.  And so I haven’t.  And I have been fine, but boy ,have I felt like I was missing out.

So thanks to the amazing Lynda Mullaly Hunt who thought that maybe we should propose a session on the Global Read Aloud.  Thanks to all of my amazing Nerdy Book Club friends who told me that this was the best conference ever, thanks to my district for believing fervently in professional development, and thanks to Skype for believing in me and the GRA, this is the year I get to go.  And I am counting down the days like it is a countdown to Christmas.

So where will I be?

On Friday, I get to be on a panel with Franki Sibberson, Ruth Ayres, Bill Bass, Ann Marie Corgill, Katie Muhtaris, Katherine Hale, Colby Sharp, and Kristin Ziemke.  Yup, I am so honored to be presenting along these amazing minds on Keeping Reading Authentic and Student-Centered with Technology at 11 AM.

Later that day, I get to do my 3rd ever Ignite.  And I am nervous; how can you not be when you only get 5 minutes to share what you are passionate about?  But at 2:30, I am going to try.

Saturday at 8 AM, it is then to the session that started it all; The Global Read Aloud.  I will be the one pinching herself when I get to sit with Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Sharon Draper, Kate Messner, Jenni Holm, and Katherine Applegate, as well as Michelle Kedzierksi as we talk about the project and more importantly the community that it creates.

Now for some reason none of these come up with my name in the app, which actually feels rather symbolic, after all, I cannot believe that I get to go. I cannot believe that I get to learn and be inspired finally at this conference.But trust me, they are happening, I will be there, and I will be grinning from ear to ear.

So if you see me, and I look pretty much like me, please say hi.  Please tell me which book you are reading, tell me what you’re up to.  I will be the one amazed at simply being there, surrounded by so much passion.

 

 

Filed under: being a teacher, being me, conferences, connect

Great Picture Books to Use for Notice and Note – All Signposts

Yesterday I posted my final picture book post for all of the signposts in the amazing book  Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst.  It has truly been awesome finding picture books to go along with the strategies that can be used for many grade levels and through so many lenses.  I thought it would be nice to gather all 6 posts here for easy reference and also to highlight a few rockstar picture books that can be used for more than one signposts, that way if you have a limited budget for book buying (don’t we all), you can start with these few and still cover a lot.

Here are the links to the original posts, make sure you check out the comments as even more picture book ideas were shared there.

Contrast and Contradiction

Aha Moments

Words of the Wiser

 Tough Questions

Again and Again

Memory Moments

And here are some of the best picture books that can be used with multiple signposts:

The Creatrilogy by Peter H. Reynolds featuring Ish, The Dot, and Sky Color will cover almost all of the signposts.  All you have to do is add You and Me and The North Star and you can teach all 6 signposts using picture books that Peter H. Reynolds and Susan Verde has created.  How is that for the power of amazing picture books.

You Are Not Small by Anna Kang showed up on several lists.

So did a lot of Eve Bunting’s books, Fly Away Home is one of my favorites.

Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson breaks my heart every time I read it and was mentioned several times.

The Yellow Star by Carmen Agra Deedy also was mentioned several times.

Which books are you must have’s?  Which books are the ones you can use for more than one signpost?  Please share your ideas.

Filed under: books, Literacy, notice and note, Passion, picture books, Reading

Great Picture Books to Use For Memory Moments – Notice and Note

One of the main texts we use to guide our reading instruction is the amazing Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst, and I have loved gathering all of these picture books to be used with this amazing book. This is therefore the last installment of these posts,  Please keep sharing your ideas in the comments because I know many are looking for great picture books to use with these deeper reading strategies.

The first post was on Contrast & Contradictions, then followed Aha Moments,Tough Questions, Words of the Wiser,  Again and Again, and now, finally, the last one for Memory Moments.  Here I really tried to find picture books that have a true memory moment, which means a character stops the story to share a memory, these can be harder to find.  Happy reading!

Both The Day the Crayons Quit and its follow up The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers have great memory moments as the crayons tell Duncan how they were used and what they remember.  Considering these are must have picture books for any classroom, since there are so many things you can teach with them, I am thrilled that both can be used for this strategy as well.

The retelling of the story of King Christian X in The Yellow Star by Carmen Agra Deedy and illustrated by Henri Sørensen is an example of a memory moment in the lesson that we are all to glean from it.  The fact that the story is not true does not hinder its deeper meaning.

The books of Peter H. Reynolds has been featured in all of my signpost picture books, and it speaks to their incredible versatility.  You and Me written by Susan Verdi and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds is a memory moment from the start as the characters reminisce about what would have happened had their day not unfolded the way it did.  A beautiful story of friendship and serendipity.

A beautiful memory moment exists in the pages of A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams as we learn the story of the chair.

Memories abound as the Wolf shares the story of what really happened with the pigs in Tell the Truth B.B. Wolf by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Jotto Seirold.

As always, I turned to the awesome Notice and Note community on Facebook and asked them to share their favorites as well.  Here they are.

Storm in the Night by Mary Stolz and illustrated by Pat Cummings.

Tough Cookie by David Wiesniewski

Christmas Tapestry by Patricia Polacco.

Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox and illustrated by Julie Vivas

When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Diane Goode.

Saturday and Teacakes by Lester Laminack

A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote

Train to Somewhere by Eve Bunting and illustrated by Ronald Himler

As always, please add your favorites for Memory Moments in the comments.  Also, did you see the new Notice and Note for Nonfiction?  I am so excited to read it.

Filed under: books, Literacy, notice and note, picture books

A Few Ideas for Better Writing Conferences

Thea, our oldest, missed her bus today which meant that I missed my morning prep as I drove her to school.  Missing my prep is usually not a big deal, but this morning I was feeling rather sleep deprived (thanks to the amazing book An Ember in the Ashes which I just had to finish last night) and overall rather discombobulated.  My very first instinct as I tried to get ready in the 4 minutes before the students showed up was to cancel the writing conferences I had planned with the kids, after all, I was not ready.  I had not pre-read all of their drafts, made copious amounts of comments in them, nor had I carefully selected who I would meet with.  Surely, I could not lead their conferences.  Surely, they could would get anything out of it if I did.

Yet, a tiny voice inside me kept whispering that I had promised them a writing conference and I had to keep that promise.  That perhaps this was my chance to not lead their conferences.  To not have all of the answers, but instead be ready to listen and support.  To let them tell me what they needed rather than vice versa.  So I did, and it felt like I held my breath all day, but it worked.  It worked!  And I could not be happier with the outcome.  So what did we do?

I had the students sign up to confer.  Rather than me telling them to meet with me, I left it open for those who wanted to meet.  This meant that those kids with burning desires to show their work got a chance to do so.  In the one class where I didn’t have a lot of students sign up, I walked around and did mini-conferences as they wrote, only interrupting when there was a good moment to ask my questions.  At the end of the day, I marked down whom I had conferred with so that I can keep track of who I still need to meet with and will plan accordingly in the days to come.

I asked them what our purpose was for the conference.  Using the question, “What would you like me to look for?” really helped students narrow the focus of our conference.  Often times, a student will tell me they just want my opinion, but through follow up questions, we were able to narrow it down.  Some kids had an immediate idea of what they needed from me, others needed a little more prodding.  Typical requests became wanting to see if they had too many details, if their flow was choppy,  or other specific needs that were important to them.  Because they had to describe what they needed, they had to reflect on their piece and purposefully weigh those needs.  Rather than just having me read it for an opinion, they ended up with specific feedback that could support them as they continued writing.

I didn’t write suggestions.  I purposefully did not add my thoughts to their document in front of them, nor will I for a while yet.  I think with the advent of Google Docs our comments/suggestions/edits have become just another checklist for fixing their writing, rather than supporting them in becoming better writers.  As my friend, Jess Lifshitz  pointed out, “We need to teach students how to be writers, not just follow our directions to fix their writing.” (paraphrase)  I couldn’t agree more.

We kept it short.  Because I was only given one purpose, students and I spoke briefly and then they were off to work again.  Because I was not editing their work, we quickly got to the point of their needs and they could continue working on their vision for their piece, rather than be tainted by my ideas.

I held my tongue.  I have a wide variety of writers in our classroom, many who identify themselves as non-writers.  I therefore knew that this very first writing conference would set the tone for the rest of the year and further fuel their relationship with writing for better or for worse.  I therefore stopped myself from pointing out all of the things they could work on, all the mistakes that should be fixed, all of the things that should get attention.  We will get to it later, right now they just need to write.

I didn’t give them my opinion.  And not one asked for it either.  Often our opinion is what students strive to hear, to get that seal of approval.  Yet, I have seen what an honest opinion can do to a child that is still drafting their story.  How even the most carefully wrapped sentence can totally stop a child from writing.  Instead, I kept it to the chosen focus.  I asked them their opinion, I asked them to speak about their piece.  And they did.  And I listened, and then they found their own path rather than attempting to walk on mine.

At the end of today, I was excited, not exhausted as I normally would have been.  It was not me who had done most of the talking, it was the students.  It was not me who had set the purpose, it was the students.  Not once had a child asked me if their story was long enough.  Not once had a child asked me whether their story was good enough.  Instead they had told me how excited they were to write, how they could not wait for me to see the final version, how they might try a new story if this one doesn’t go as planned.  Just as I had hoped.  Just like it should be.  Perhaps being discombobulated on a Monday was not such a bad thing after all.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my 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.

Filed under: aha moment, being a teacher, student voice, writing

The Things That Matter the Most

I have spent a week listening to my students as they told me what they were proud of and how I could change to make 7th grade English a better class for them.  Child after child.  Conversation after conversation, and although my brain is tired from all this sitting, and I am ready to go back to working with all of them, I could not help but notice the things that kept coming up in as we spoke.

They told me that they are becoming stronger readers.  That they have these goals that they need to accomplish, perhaps with some help from me.  That class is fun (at times).  That it is not as bad as they thought it might be.  And over and over and over they tell me about the things that have mattered the most to them…

Having books in our classroom.  They know that when they finish a book, another one is  right there.  That if they need to abandon the one they have selected, that many others await.  That they love our school library but are so thankful for the library we have as well.  The books seem to call out to them as they sit in our room asking to be read.

Having time to book shop.  Once every few weeks we spend half a class simply book shopping.  We lounge in our time with the new (and old) books waiting for us on the tables.  I book talk a few and then watch as they meander along the piles, picking up book upon book and gazing at the pages.  Writing a few down, sharing them with others.  Book shopping is an event, something to look forward to and they ask for it as they see the piles of books grow by my table.

A list of books to be read.  We have several pages in our readers notebook dedicated as our to-be-read list.  The students are now getting in the habit of using it whenever they need a new book.  They are sharing them with each other too, “Did you add this book yet?  Oh, we have the same book listed.”  They do not forget about the books they are waiting for (right now Orbiting Jupiter and Crenshaw have a very long wait list) and with their list in hand they always find their next read.

A shared love of picture books.  All students are accomplished readers in our room because they can all pick up a picture book and “get it.”  They can all discuss the problem of Mustache Baby.  They can all discuss the theme of Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great.  They can all learn about courage from Malala and Iqbal.  Because those stories are found within picture books.  Because picture books allow us to love reading.  To access complex texts that no one has ever told us is not at our level.    To remember that reading is meant to be fun, even if it is a sad book.

And finally, they told me that the teacher matters.  That they need a teacher that does not judge.  A teacher that loves books.  A teacher that reads.  A teacher that does not give up.  A teacher that hounds them at times and holds them accountable.  A teacher that sees them, even when they try to be invisible.  A teacher that I try to be, even when I feel I fall short.

And those are the things that mattered the most.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my 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.

Filed under: being a teacher, being me, books, picture books, Reading, students

A Story of A Boy and a Book

This originally was posted on The Reader Leader Blog from Scholastic.  You should really see the other posts on the blog!

He came to me with anger seeping out of every pore, a cloud of dismay surrounding him. Looking at us with eyes that told the world that he was not afraid, that he knew that we could not make him do whatever it was we intended to ask. That he would fight us with every cell in his body just to stay in control. Yet, for all of his anger, for all of his glances directed my way, he wasn’t one of mine. I didn’t have the pleasure of teaching him. He was in a separate English class, trying to be taught all of those things he had missed because of his anger and outbursts.

He wasn’t afraid of me, nor very angry. I posed no threat since I was not one of the ones asking him to please do, please sit, please stop. So every day I greeted him, smiled when our paths crossed, and told him that all of those books I had in my classroom could be his if only he wanted to read one. That even if he wasn’t mine, those books were still meant for him. Every day, he smiled and went on his way, seeing little need for any of the books I might have to share. As the weeks passed, he grew. He pushed his boundaries as children can do so well, always inching along that very fine line of control and struggle. I watched from afar; after all, he was not mine, so all I could do was smile and nod and remind him of the books that awaited.

One day, he didn’t just smile, but instead asked in all earnestness, “When can I be your student? When can I come to your class?” It wasn’t because he didn’t like the class he was in, or the teacher who taught him, but the books were calling, as they often do to so many kids that feel lost. I smiled and shrugged, repeated that the books were there for him whether he was mine or not. For weeks this played out until one day, he entered our classroom and I held my breath; after all, now he was mine, now I was one of the ones that would ask him to stop, to sit, to do. And I was scared of what would happen.

He sat quietly that first day in class. Bent his head and wrote ever so slowly, picking out his words with care, wanting so much to fit in and not just be known as that kid with anger issues. As the other students cleared out, he lifted his head, looked at the clock and asked, “Is it now? Can I pick my book now?” And he walked to the shelf of the book he had eyed and grabbed it, holding on to it as if I would ask him to put it down. “What do I do now?” he asked. “You read it,” I said, “And then you bring it back.” “That’s it?” “That’s it.”

So he left that morning, clutching Amulet: Book 1 to his chest as if it were a safety blanket. And I figured that the minute he left our classroom, that book would be forgotten; his day would develop, and soon our conversation would be a distant memory as his ingrained behaviors clouded his judgment once again. So I wasn’t surprised when at lunch he walked up to me and handed me back the book. “Did you not like it?” I asked, already running a possibility of other titles in my head that I could offer him. “I am done,” he said. “Done? But I thought you were so excited to read it?” I asked, my voice laced with confusion. “I did…I loved it…Can I have the next one please? I promise to bring it back.” He had read it already. He had fallen in love with a book. He was ready for the next one. For one moment in that day, he was just a kid who loved a book, just a kid like all the other kids, asking for the next book in a series that had spoken to him. So we walked into our classroom, found the next book and he left, clutching it to his chest once more, ready to wrestle anyone who would try to take it away.

We fall in love with books when they speak to us. When within their pages, we find a piece of ourselves we didn’t know we were missing. We clutch these books to our chests long after we have stopped reading them as a way to shield us from a world that we sometimes do not understand. Books become absorbed into our identity and allow us to risk, to love, to care about something even when we feel the most vulnerable. Even when we feel the world is not for us, we can find safety within the pages of a book. That is why my classroom is filled with books–so that every child has a chance to find a piece of armor, so that every child has a chance to find a vessel that will hold his dreams and protect them when they need to be.  My students may not understand each other’s pasts, each other’s behaviors, but they understand books, and so when a child falls in love with a book and it becomes part of him, it builds a bridge for others to understand that child better. For others to be let in.

Books provide us with the magic that we dream of as teachers. Books, whether fiction or non, chapter or picture, give us the building blocks that we need to connect with our hardest students. To connect with those that we sometimes feel at a loss to reach.  That boy didn’t stop being angry. He didn’t stop feeling that the world was out to get him, but he did start believing that somewhere in the world was a place for him to fit in. That he too could be a reader, that he too could belong. That his anger would not be the only thing that defined him, even when it spoke the loudest. That boy knew he had a home with us whenever he needed it. He still does, even though he is no longer around. My door is always open, the books always calling out for anyone who needs to belong, if even for a moment. I will never forget that boy and his book.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my 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.

Filed under: aha moment, being a teacher, being me, books, Literacy, Passion, students