5 things I loved about this week

1. It's finally grilling weather!
Lately I've had zero motivation to cook dinner when I get home from work. I think it's because I am ready for warm grilling weather and Michigan has been a total punk about that. FINALLY today it was warm and sunny enough for grilling and reading on the patio... or both at the same time.



2. NCTE proposals accepted!
For the past couple years I have had an inkling of an idea for an NCTE session that I was hoping SOMEONE ELSE would propose because I really wanted answers to a certain question. After scheming with Kevin English at NCTE last November and getting Amy Watkins, Lindsay Grady, and Dave Stuart on board, it looks like we're going to be seeking the answers to this question on our own in a session called Doing More Isn't Doing Better: How to be an English Teacher and Have a Life. If you want something done you gotta do it yourself, amiright? ;)  I'm excited to be presenting with such passionate teachers.

I'll also be presenting in two other sessions, an Ignite session, which I did last year as a last-minute addition and had a blast, as well as another teacher advocacy session with Cathy Fleischer, the professor whose grad class inspired this blog.


3. Canton Book Project books delivered

On Thursday I visited Amanda Davies in her classroom to give her students copies of The Crossover as part of the Canton Book Project. Amanda's students gave copies of Brown Girl Dreaming to 5th graders in the district this week so I was elated to give these books to some of her deserving students. Amdanda texted me on Friday with two pictures of students she had given the books to with the following message:

3 books delivered. [One boy] actually cheered when I gave him the book. He said it's the first book he's ever owned. [Another boy] looked at the first page and said, "You can write poetry like that?" And then talked about who he's going to incorporate the structures from the book in his own writing.

My response to her?

OK, I am officially crying now.


4. Bearing witness to book love
Last week I had my new friend Victor, who is a rep for Simon and Schuster, visit my classroom and booktalk some of their upcoming YA books as well as some old favorites. He also brought a bunch of books to share with my students, which I then raffled off. Given how much I have struggled this year to motivate kids to read and choose their own books, I was over the moon when all of the kids who won books have been carrying them around from class to class with them this week.



5. Poetry Month celebrations
Every year I end poetry month with students performing a poem of their own choosing from memory. This year I thought about not doing it just because I'm running out of time with my 8th graders. Based on yesterday's blog post, you can see why I'm glad I didn't abandon this tradition.

Speaking of Poetry Month, check out my post on the NCTE blog from Thursday: Will Poetry Be Done Tomorrow? 

Celebrate This Week was established by Ruth Ayres

Celebrate Book Love

When I returned to school this week from my time at ALA Midwinter, I noticed a shift in my classroom community. The struggle I had been experiencing with my 8th graders to motivate them to read independently seemed to be waning. As students wrote about their favorite choices for this year's Caldecott awards, I observed something extraordinary: not only were they talking about books, but they now seemed to be enjoying it. Something I've learned this past week from having students write about their favorite Caldecott pick? No matter what grade you teach, to foster book love, start with copious amounts of picture books!


I loved the debate the boys in the photo above were having  about what was really happening in Aaron Becker's wordless picture books Journey and Quest. I especially loved that the student who had to explain to me just what the heck was going on in Quest needed me to explain Journey to him. A moment of reciprocity in our little teacher/student dynamic.

The student on the bottom left was very possessive over his Caldecott pick, Baby Bear by Kadir Nelson.

The student on the bottom right is a kid who has been begrudgingly opening books for the past few weeks. He wasn't reading at all at the beginning of the school year and said the only stories he likes are ones that come from TV and movies, not inside the pages of books. He has said in no uncertain terms that he hates books. So usually when he finishes his work in English class, he dawdles. He attempts to use that time chatting with classmates or playing computer games. A reading life? Nonexistent. So I looked over at his computer yesterday and noticed that he had finished his Caldecott essay and was actually engrossed in the pages of a book. He had seen the movie American Sniper and wanted to read the book because he had heard that the book had more of a backstory and so he wanted to know more. Never underestimate the power a movie can have on a kid to read a book. Now I have a place from which I can talk to this kid about a building a reading life.

Yes, indeed. It seems Book Love has finally infiltrated Mrs. Shaum's 8th grade English class. 

Celebrate This Week was established by Ruth Ayres