This week I has been a busy one – and no signs of it slowing down for now.
I’ve read some awesome articles and texts and reflected on my learning for this semester. Just this week and next week left for the Spring semester!
On to the book!
This week I have been reading Grounded: The Adventures of Rapunzel, by Megan Morrison. I’m only about half way through (see my crazy week above), but I am really enjoying it.
Rapunzel is headed down her tower after a boy (definitely not a prince!) named Jack. She has to save Witch and keep Jack from saving Witch’s enemy.
When she travels after Jack, and then alongside him, she is confronted with tales of how Witch is actually evil and has been wiping her memory with magic. She also encounters all types of things she doesn’t know about – towns, parents, money, buying, tents…
I’m not sure what will happen next, but I am really loving following along with Rapunzel as she discovers who she really is – and who she will become.
I’ll fill you in after I finish it, but I recommend this one for all who love flipped fairy tales! So, what are you reading?
I’ve got two great bookish pics to share with you this afternoon!
Reading Response: Tweet an Author
This week I have been reading Grounded: The Adventures of Rapunzel by Megan Morrison. I’m only about 1/3 done but I am truly enjoying it. I thought I would tweet the author to see what her inspiration was for this flipped tale.
Snapshot Saturday
The first installment of my birthday money, book buying, summer bookshelf filling binge arrived. Here’s what came today!
It sure has warmed up today – it is currently sunny and 81 outside! The days of warmth and late day sun are finally upon us.
I am a planner. So the advent of summer also means that it is time to prepare my summer reading plan. I have been putting this blog off all week because I have LOVED YA Lit class so much that I don’t want it to end. This summer reading plan is one way I can continue the reading fun all summer long.
The Plan
The Idea:
This summer I am going to follow along with many readers out there and try to complete a book a day this summer. The #bookaday challenge is one that is championed by Donalyn Miller – one of my fave authors of professional development books.
The When:
I am starting my #bookaday on May 9, 2016. This is the first day of the May/Summer semester and the official end of YA Lit class (at least in my mind). I will read a #bookaday until 100 days have passed – August 16, 2016.
The What:
My 100 books will consist of a variety of genres, intended audience ages, and formats. I will, of course, keep reading my YA Lit TBR. However, I am going to read widely in a variety of formats this summer.
I plan to read/listen to at least 5 audio books. This is something I don’t normally do, but driving back and forth to NE each week will give me time to get to know this format well.
I am taking classes, so any textbook that I read at least 75% of for school will also count into these 100 books. However, my math books will not count.
I am going to read at least 3 professional development books. I’ve got an idea of where I want to go – Passionate Learners and The Book Whisperer are anxiously waiting to be devoured.
My other books will be from my ever growing TBR, old faves (been itching to re-read Wicked these last couple of days), and new finds from the library, browsing at the book store, or that Amazon (my friend/foe) suggests. I’ll also try to pick up whatever you recommend to me too!
The How:
So, how am I going to keep myself accountable? First, I am going to continue to blog right here! I’ll post my weekly It’s Monday! post and share my week’s reading with you. I hope that you readers will continue the conversation and make recommendations based on my weekly reads.
Secondly, I am going to continue to tweet my reading. I’ll bug you on Twitter with the #yalitclass and #bookaday hashtags. Follow me there to get more consistent updates on my reads.
Finally, I’ll continue keeping count on GoodReads. I will shelve books, group them by genre, audience, etc., and post reviews and star ratings.
So that’s my plan friends. I hope that you continue to journey through reading and writing on this blog, Twitter, and GoodReads. What are you reading now? What is your summer reading plan? Let’s chat….
I just finished reading Book Love, by Penny Kittle. I’m not going to lie – this book was inspiring, heart wrenching, and thought provoking. If you haven’t had a chance to read the book, you should go right now and read. Come back in a few hours. It’s worth it.
Lessons Learned
There were so many things that I highlighted, underlined, starred, sticky noted, and Tweeted in her book. These final few chapters did not fail to live up to my expectations. So, rather than bore you with my ramblings, I want to just outline the take-aways and lessons I have learned by reading Book Love.
Teaching a love of reading is hard. However, it is the kind of hard work that sometimes ends in disappointments. It is also the kind of hard work that ends in miracles like Crystal (p. 159-167).
Teaching a lifetime of reading habits is hard. You will find challengers and naysayers from surprising faces. You will find the surprise champion for implementing a culture of readers. You will cry. You will smile.
Teaching others that choice is essential for a healthy reading life – especially for teens or for reluctant readers – is hard. You will battle for the type of curriculum that allows choice, promotes readers workshops and writers workshops, and flips the whole idea of teaching on its head.
Teaching a love of reading is something that is a life mission. It is something that you must be passionate about and it is something that will permeate your entire life. Whether you are an English major, an English or Reading teacher, or the school principal (p. 141-146) – you are a teacher of book love.
Questions and Actions – How I will LIVE Book Love
Image courtesy Flickr Creative Commons
There is too much in this text to analyze or synthesize. I’ve learned so much that it is difficult to put it into a few hundred words. Instead, I think I’m going to publicly declare my intentions to be a teacher of book love.
My Declaration of Teaching Book Love
I hold firmly to the belief that we are all teachers of reading. I have an insatiable desire to share books and stories with all people – young and old, student and friend.
I also firmly believe that as a teacher of book love I must live by example. I will continue to read voraciously and to share these amazing (and sometimes not the best) stories through my blog and my Twitter feed. I will help people find THEIR book – that gateway to the door of reading – and get that book in their hands.
I solemnly vow that I will never stop asking this most vital question
What are you reading now?
For it is with that question that I will frame my expectations, that all people will be reading something, and that their reading lives are just as important as what they had for dinner. I will ask others for suggestions and will endeavor to ask this essential question multiple times a day and in every interaction I have.
This week was a long and short week. Could be that I didn’t do any homework on Wednesday because it was my birthday. Could be that the weather has been weird and makes me feel wonky. Who knows. But I certainly got my 4 hours in with reading The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.
This novel, by Sherman Alexie, follows the story of Arnold Spirit Junior. Junior (as he is known on the reservation) is a big-headed, strong minded Spokane Indian just trying to discover who he is and what his role in life will be. After getting suspended because he threw a book at a (white) teacher, Junior is encouraged and then demands to attend the white school in nearby Reardan.
When he goes to Reardan, Arnold (as he is known by his white friends and teachers) navigates the world of high school. We follow him through a tumultuous freshman year. His older sister Amy marries quickly and move to Montana. His grandmother passes away. His best friend Rowdy, and nearly all of the other members of his tribe, consider him to be a traitor. He is first ignored by the white students, then slowly becomes friends with them. He gets a semi-girlfriend. He navigates the boys basketball season – even being a freshman Varsity starter.
I loved this book. While many of Arnold’s struggles are specific to a Native American or other outsider, I related to so much of his life. His journey really is one that mirrors all of our journeys – discovering who we are, what our identity is, and the often confusing and hilarious struggle of our life.
Have you read this Sherman Alexie novel? What book have you read that mirrors the journey of discovering our identity? Let’s talk below…
This week I read a couple of book club books. I wish I had read more, but between work and my parents visiting, I only got through two books.
The first book was Scorpions, by Walter Dean Myers. I did a reading response Padlet with my thoughts and links. Check it out in the archives.
I have to say that the book was okay, but not my favorite. I felt like the character of Jamal was a bit wishy-washy and one-dimensional. I thought the adults in his life were kind of lame and didn’t have very high expectations of him. Finally, it seemed like Jamal acted the way that the people he was with expected him to act.
I know that all these things are things that we all do in real life. However, I was really feeling like the story was stuck in one place and never really moved forward. I think that lots of people will love this book, but it just wasn’t for me.
Now, the second book I read was a completely different story for me! Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer, by Katie Alender follows Colette and her classmates as they travel to Paris. Then, some strange things start happening. There is a string murders by beheading. Colette sees a ghost and gets the eerie feeling she is in danger.
This is a great read. Fast paced, full of action, and plot twists kept me engaged through the book.
That’s what I read this week. What was in your read pile? Let’s talk below…
This week I read some amazing articles on motivating students to read. I learned a lot and some of my thoughts about teaching reading were reinforced. I got some new ideas and thought critically about my previous beliefs.
I truly feel that our job as educators is to develop those life-long readers. It is our responsibility to help our students grow. We don’t have a choice in this matter – as educators it is our duty to motivate students and allow them to develop into readers.
But, how do we do that?
My Steps for Developing Life-Long Readers
I think there are four elements needed to create passionate, life-long readers. We must complete them daily, repeatedly, and in new and innovative ways. These steps are..
Talk about reading – their reading and our reading
Talking about reading is vital and essential! We need to show our students through our actions and our conversations that reading is important. We
should ask students what they are reading and honestly listen. We need to talk about elements of stories, interesting nonfiction, and allow them to teach us about what they love to read. We also need to allow our students to talk to eachother about their reading. Let them share with a neighbor the newest book in their hands or the book they stayed up too late to read. Validate their experiences with books they didn’t finish or didn’t like (we all have been there), but help them move on to the next book that might be a match. Conversation about reading is essential to developing life-long readers.
Share our excitement about books and drum up their excitement about books
This goes along with the first element – sharing our excitement about reading is sharing what we are reading with students. Book talks, book trailers, and conversations with students will show them that we practice what we preach. We should strive to be that crazy reading teacher who won’t stop talking about the newest book. We also need to encourage their excitement about reading. Let them do a book talk – not graded, just share what they read. Allow them to “sell” the book they LOVE to their friends. Excitement breeds excitement. This is true in life and especially in our reading lives.
Set challenging and realistic goals to motivate our students.
Ever really want something that is just outside of your ability? Didn’t you work hard to attain that goal? We should set goals with our students that ask them to expand their horizons, stretch their reading comforts, and be something that has high interest for them. We should help them to set goals that they can reach when they put in that extra little push of reading muscle. Maybe their goal is to read a certain number of books. Or a certain number of pages. Or to read widely and read various genres. Maybe their challenge and goal is to find that one book they can not believe they never read. Maybe their challenge is to write about what they have read. There are endless goals out there – it is our duty to help students articulate these goals and create plans to reach them.
LET THEM CHOOSE!
If you are a long-time reader of Oz and Other Lands, you will know that I fully support the concept of choice reading. You will also notice that I cite Donalyn Miller (The Book Whisperer) and other educators who advocate for not creating lists of “required reading”. If you haven’t read all of those gems (rants?), go visit the archives and find some of the thoughts these wonderful educators have inspired.
But, here is the long and short of it: let students choose. Countless authors, researchers, teachers, and bloggers have found that when students choose their reading, they are more engaged and they actually want to read the books they have. Choice reading should be encouraged in all classrooms – reading or any other subject. If you have done justice to the other three elements (talking about reading, drumming up excitement about books, and setting challenging but attainable goals), this probably has been one of the key tools you have used. If not, you should try it. I promise that your students will surprise you, read things they never would have read before, and develop and grow into life-long readers.
That was a bit longer than I expected, but I find that I am super passionate about this. We are obligated to create a generation of humans who read, share their knowledge, and act compassionately. It is vital to our well-being and to our society. Talk about books and reading. Get excited about the topic with students. Help them set goals that are attainable but still challenging. Let them choose what they read to reach their goal.
I firmly, wholeheartedly believe that when we do that, we do justice to our profession and students.
This past week I finished reading Scorpions, by Walter Dean Myers. I gathered some thoughts and resources as I was reading through the Padlet website. You can find it below here (hopefully) or at this link!
This week I made a decision that is very rare in my book life – I have set aside two books for a while!
I have enjoyed exploring Hollow City, by Ransom Riggs. I love his style and the intriguing writing based off of vintage photos. I really liked Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, but I just couldn’t get into the sequel. So, it is set aside for now.
I also really was getting to the stories of Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke. The story of Mo, Meggie, and the other interesting characters in this world were good. I just found that my TBR was calling me, so Inkheart is set off to the side for now too.
Now, on to what I read this week…
We went the poetry route for book club this week. Paint Me Like I Am is a collection of poetry written by teens as part of the WritersCorp program. This programming provides underprivileged teens an opportunity to express themselves through writing.
There was such depth and breadth to the poems and there were some that truly touched me. We spent much of our book club discussing how we could use these poems to inspire our students, encouraging them to write, and tying writing prompts into cross curricular projects. It was a quick read, but a good collection of poetry.
I also read Yellow Brick War, by Danielle Paige. This is the third novel in the Dorothy Must Die series and it was just as good (or better) than the first two. In this installment we find Amy working with the Council of the Wicked to find Dorothy’s original silver shoes. They travel back to modern-day Kansas where Amy reunites with her mom, runs afoul of the principal, and makes unlikely friends with Madison (former enemy of Amy’s and new mom to Dustin Jr.) and Dustin.
Danielle Paige’s style is both gritty and engaging. The often dark events are painted with wonderful word choice. I created a picture this reading response because there were too many parts that I could envision not to do this response. However, my wonderful art skills are :::cough::: lame ::::cough:::, so my illustration does not do justice to Paige’s prose. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves a twisted tale, and fantasy writing that blends reality and magic.
Well, that’s where I was reading wise this week! What did you read? Do you have any new books for me to add to my TBR? Let’s talk below…
This week I has been a busy one – and no signs of it slowing down for now.
When she travels after Jack, and then alongside him, she is confronted with tales of how Witch is actually evil and has been wiping her memory with magic. She also encounters all types of things she doesn’t know about – towns, parents, money, buying, tents…
TBR. However, I am going to read widely in a variety of formats this summer.
I have to say that the book was okay, but not my favorite. I felt like the character of Jamal was a bit wishy-washy and one-dimensional. I thought the adults in his life were kind of lame and didn’t have very high expectations of him. Finally, it seemed like Jamal acted the way that the people he was with expected him to act.
Now, the second book I read was a completely different story for me! Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer, by Katie Alender follows Colette and her classmates as they travel to Paris. Then, some strange things start happening. There is a string murders by beheading. Colette sees a ghost and gets the eerie feeling she is in danger.
I have enjoyed exploring Hollow City, by Ransom Riggs. I love his style and the intriguing writing based off of vintage photos. I really liked Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, but I just couldn’t get into the sequel. So, it is set aside for now.
day Kansas where Amy reunites with her mom, runs afoul of the principal, and makes unlikely friends with Madison (former enemy of Amy’s and new mom to Dustin Jr.) and Dustin.
OZ and Other Lands 