More Book Love

The inspiration continues . . .

I wanted to create this post as a reflection of the big ideas I am taking from the next couple chapters of Penny Kittle's Book Love.  I hope this posting encourages teachers (of all grades) to pick up this book to get more information and to inspire the way reading will touch and change the lives of the students in their classroom!

Chapters #5 - "The Power of the Book Talk"

1. "I usually talk about four or five books a day during the first week of school because I want to put a lot of titles out there.  I need to help the many students who will struggle to find a book at first.  I expect students will keep a list of what they want to read next on the last page of their writing notebooks.  I check for this every time I read their notebooks."
2. Book Talk Essentials - A) Hold the book, B) Know the book - summarize its theme, central conflict etc., C)  Read a short passage, D) Keep records - posting the title of this book talk in the classroom, E) Accept help - students, parents, other teachers, librarians, bookstore owners, and even administrators could do book talks, and F) Remember how important you are - your passion is contagious!
3. "Reading is oxygen for a student's future success." 
4. "A key difference between readers and nonreaders is readers have plans.  A list they created will lead them more quickly to that next book.  I am always teaching and organizing towards independence for students and the to-read-next list is critical."
5. "Students read in my class for three critical reasons. First, I need to see their engagement with their books.  Second, while the students are reading, I have time to confer.  Third, students need to practice this central skill."
6. Our Classroom Community - "We read, write, talk, and think together in this place.  There is collaboration and interdependence in our work, these kids belong together.  Everyone belongs. Building classroom community is dropout-prevention work."
7. Building community - A) Assign seats, B) Change seating assignments every month, C) Build talk into everything that happens in the classroom.
8. "Ive always said the books do the work to capture readers.  And equal to that, the community of readers and writers carries the energy in the room.  Over there on the sidelines, cheering them on?  That's you and me."

Chapter #6 - "Conferences"

1. "A student says, for example, 'I'm not a reader.'  I say, 'Oh, I expect you just haven't found the right book yet.' This is the intentional language of conferences."
2. "Reading conferences fall into three categories:  A) Monitoring the student's reading life, B) Teaching strategic reading, C) Helping the student plan the complexity and challenge of her reading.  My goal is to place my teaching where it can be most helpful."

In chapter #6, teachers are given specific questions that they can use in their conferences with the  students.  The important piece I discovered in this chapter was that if conferencing is not a comfort for teachers - this chapter would provide structures that will build that confidence.  Penny Kittle provides questions on "Conferences that Monitor a Reading Life," "Conferences that Teach a Reading Strategy," and "Conferences that Increase Complexity and Challenge."  Great ideas!

iTunes U FLEX Questions & Answers for GCISD

Today Janie and I worked on creating a question and answer session using Google Hangout.  We were hoping to create a way for teachers to become a little more comfortable with this new district initiative, GCISD Induction & FLEX Program. It is a course that encompasses the many significant features of the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District.  The course will help all employees have a better understanding of our school district and the requirements of its employees in order to be compliant with local, state, and federal requirements.  Accessing this course for the first time could have its challenges because it is a new tool for our district employees.

This was my first time actually using Google Hangout.  I have to give Janie full credit as it became an experiment initiated by her.  We had our ideas ready to go - and then started the session.  It was a great way to address concerns from teachers in a different format.  I knew we were going to be "live" as it was being recorded on YouTube - but I was thinking it was just going to be our voices that would be recorded.  I wasn't aware that video of ourselves would be part of the recording or I would have been a little more focused on the camera (not leaning or scratching my head - ugh!) and I would have tried to sit up straight throughout the session.  Oh, well . . . now I know and will make sure that my next Google Hangout is a little better.  I like the idea of using Google Hangout and look forward to finding another opportunity to dabble with it!

Search for the GCISD Induction & FLEX Program in iTunes U!

July 4th Trip to Washington, DC

My annual summer trip to Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Washington, DC is exactly four weeks from today!  I never get tired of this feeling . . . the build up to this trip and all of the preparations that have to be made.  Experiencing the excitement of fifth graders and their parents on this trip is a feeling like no other for me.  This will be my fourteenth trip making American history come to life for students (and parents!).  It is a very powerful experience for me as an educator when I can offer this type of education beyond the walls of the classroom.  History will come alive as we travel back to the first permanent English settlement of Jamestown in 1607 as we walk on the very spot where these men settled.  We will feel like we stepped out of a time machine when we walk onto the Duke of Gloucester Street in Williamsburg and trace the steps of those before us learning about colonial life of the 1700s.  Our final three days will be exploring the many sites of Washington, DC - such as Mount Vernon (George Washington's home), wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, JFK's gravesite, touring the Capitol, or even the firework extravaganza as we sit on the mall area by the Washington Monument with the fireworks exploding overhead.  Trip of a lifetime!

The plans for the trip are right on schedule.  I'm looking forward to the next few weeks finalizing all of the details.  This year's t-shirt has been designed by Mrs. Weston, Mrs. Engle, and myself - and the order has been submitted.  The shirts for this year will, once again, make us stand out in the crowd on the Fourth of July!

Book Love

I have had this book for several months and I'm just now making the time to read it.  I have found myself reading it - and needing to stop often to tweet out something important based on what I just read.  As a Reading teacher - this book is very inspiring.  As I'm poring over the pages - I keep thinking that EVERY secondary teacher (but not excluding elementary teachers) should be reading this book.  High school teacher, Penny Kittle, writes in a way that will truly change the way we teach children!

She and I share the same philosophy with independent reading - students need to practice their reading daily if they are going to improve.  There is no guarantee that students will read at home - so allowing time every day for students to read from their self-selected book choice is one of the most important parts of the day.  All lesson planning should start with time allocated for silent reading practice time.

Important ideas/quotes that have impacted my thinking from this books thus far:

1. "A college professor stated that he didn't care whether all students read any particular book, only that they read a lot so they would have a variety of experiences to draw on and the ability to handle the volume of reading expected in college.  If students are readers - they are prepared."
2. "Most of the literature we study in high school ... is not interesting to almost all teenagers.  The casualty of disinterest is not reading."
3. "Life lessons live in fiction.  Reading a book takes us inside a time, a place, or an idea."
4. "Book Love focuses on managing, sustaining and building an independent reading life in middle and high school." 
5. "My measure of success is how students talk about themselves as readers - as self-engaged, curious readers."
6. "Until they're turning pages independently, they won't apply what we teach them in close reading.  Guided practice with texts isn't enough; students need daily independent practice.  We have to expect more: expect more reading and then expect more difficult reading."
7. "This is the calling of a English teacher for me: give each student books that teach them, challenge them, and lead them to places they'll never know otherwise.  Take them across the world on a journey of thought.  Make every student think, and think really hard.  Lead them to see books as allies, not enemies."
8. "Books let us walk through our deepest fears and emerge on the other side.  In books we can imagine strength."
9. "If there were evidence that determining everything students should read at each grade level produced successful independent reading year after year, I would understand why English teachers get so frustrated with what I'm suggesting here.  But there is so much evidence that kids aren't reading in high school.  Controlling what students read stifles readers."
10. It is not too late to lead a nonreader to reading in high school.  It's never too late."
11. "I never skip the book talk (3 to 4 minutes scheduled each day)."
12. "Altering our plans in response to what is happening in the classroom is the art of teaching.  I know what is most important; students need to be reading and writing more than they need to be listening to me talking."

And that is just within the first four chapters.  It gets even better!  I am reveling in the way she explains in detail how she makes this love for reading happen through the lessons in her class.  Again, this book is very powerful and so important in our schools today.

I'm excited about the the way this book (and The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller) are energizing what some of the classrooms in our district will be doing next year!  More to come soon . . .