Always seeking ways to spread Book Love

Last night I attended an event at my town's public library. It was a reception to introduce the community to the book givers for the Canton Book Project, which is the Canton Public Library's version of the now dissolved World Book Night. I was excited to be one of the people selected as a book giver for a program that seeks to reach out to residents who might not have been infected with reading bug yet. For me, I wanted to find a book that would appeal to middle school students who have yet to discover a love of reading -- or maybe they used to love reading but don't anymore. As a middle school English teacher, I see so often what school does to kills students’ love of reading. In our quest to "cover" all the material in our planned curriculum, we have left our students' love of reading and love of learning in our wake. So I have made it my mission to try to bring that love of reading back into my students’ lives.  

The book I chose to give out as a book giver in the Canton Book Project was  The Crossover by Kwame Alexander.

The Crossover is one of those few books that has universal appeal. The gateway is basketball but at its heart it's a story about family and growing up. You don't have to love basketball to love The Crossover. Kids love it. Adults love it. It appeals to lovers of language with its bouncing, rhythmical verse. It appeals to reluctant readers with its minimal text on each page and accessible use of poetic language. And yes, it appeals to sports lovers too. 

With the book givers and also, I'm a READ poster!

I have made it my mission as a middle school teacher to show students who think reading isn't for them, that it is for everyone. And so while I am grateful to be giving out copies of a book I think many kids will love, I'm also cautious. As universal as I think this book is, as a teacher, I also need to respect that there is no one book that appeals to all people. I want this book to be a conversation starter rather than shutting it down before the discussion even begins. I don’t want this to be yet another way for adults to force their “because it’s good for you, that’s why” agenda on kids' reading lives.  

So if you're a teacher and you care about your students' reading lives, I encourage you to discover what they like to read and talk with them about it rather than just force feeding them books that YOU like. If they don't know what they like, keep encouraging and nudging. Lots of reading lives are built on a teacher saying, "I read this book and I thought of you..." 

Also if you're a teacher and you want to build a classroom library but don't have the means, I encourage you to apply for a grant from the Book Love Foundation, which gives out ten classroom libraries per year. Applications are due May 1st. Even if you're not a teacher and you're reading this as a concerned  parent, feel free to share the Book Love Foundation website with your child's teacher or even make a donation to the foundation. Spreading Book Love takes a village.

5 things I loved about last week

 It's so easy to get overwhelmed and allow a sense of hopelessness take over when you're a teacher. The work just never seems to be finished. So in the spirit of Colby Sharp and Elisabeth Ellington, I'm going to focus on some of the amazing things that happened this past week.


1. Students owning their learning
My 8th graders are writing a reflective essay for their midterms and I'm having them use the comments feature in Google Docs to point out the skill-type things they learned like grammar, 6+1 Traits, etc. and in one period they pointed out to me things they had learned that I forgot to list on the requirements blog post or texts we had shared as a class. Apparently I missed an opportunity to create this assignment collaboratively since they were offering me things that I needed to add to the midterm. Note to self for the final exam.


2. Reading Epiphanies
I am going to pat myself on the back and say that I have been on my game as a writing teacher this year. But because I only teach writing, I haven't done so well motivating my students to read this semester. I want them to see the value of self-selected reading because I firmly believe it makes you a better writer, but having my classroom in a computer lab that is taking up precious bookshelf space (as well as precious space in my students' heads as to what they could be doing once they finish their work), I haven't been able to find a way to make books a part of our daily literacy diet.

Many of my students have said, "If books were actually about things I WANT to read then I would read them." A lot of them think that books aren't written with their issues in mind and clearly I haven't done a good job of communicating that there are lots of books out there for them. So I have decided that over Christmas break, I am going to reorganize my classroom library so that it is more appealing to my mature 8th grade readers. Clearly I am still in my 6th grade mindset and I need to move past that and appeal to my more mature readers.


3. But really, students are begging for books. I just need to pay better attention to their pleas.
To go along with #2, I have also been slacking on my read aloud this year. Students were so involved with NaNoWriMo for the month of November that we didn't read anything at all from Natalie Lloyd's A Snicker of Magic, and as December rolled around, we got busy doing things like preparing for midterms and having frank conversations about race through the lens of what is happening in Ferguson as well as the watermelon joke heard round the world at the National Book Awards that I lost track of our shared reading experience.

But on Friday, through the fervor of working on midterms, I mentioned that next week we would get back into the swing of our read aloud, when an unlikely student, one who rarely speaks and I often question his engagement said, "But you could just read to us for five minutes." Clearly I have been shirking my "literacy is everyone's job" responsibilities this semester.


4. Reason # I've-Lost-Count that I love Literati Bookstore
Last week, Literati posted this picture on their social media sites with the following description:

Since he was accidentally left behind at our store, Teddy has been acclimating to his new life. He alphabetizes books and keeps our typewriter filled with fresh paper. But he's secretly hoping for a holiday miracle to be reunited with his person. He asked me to put up one more post, just in case someone recognizes him.



I mean, how can you NOT want to shop at a bookstore like that?




5. Baby grand pianos have lots of practical uses. A Christmas tree stand, for example.

Is this not the perfect vehicle for a small Christmas tree and a place to put gifts? And I love even more that I don't have to move furniture around.

As you have probably surmised, I am still quite smitten with Tori, the baby grand. I love that now when I come downstairs, this is what greets me instead of a cluttered dining room table.

















What did you love about last week? 

It's a marathon, not a sprint

Last Friday was a really rough day at school. The kids were out of sorts and nothing seemed to be going according to plan. I felt like writing a big fat F for Failure on more forehead. The end of last week left me questioning my ability to do this job well. I think all teachers have days and weeks like that.

Today, however, one of my students who has admitted to me that he pretty much despises reading, looked at our bulletin board where we put our favorite book quotes, noticed a quote from Christopher Healy's The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, and said to me, "Do you have this book in your library?" When I showed him the book, he immediately checked it out. What I loved about this encounter is despite this student's frequent admission to disliking books, he has not closed his mind to them completely. I see him entertaining the thought that he could love them again and I just pray that I don't mess this up for him.


Suddenly my memories of last week's ineptitude seem just a little bit more distant. I am reminded again why I'm here. Helping a student rediscover a love of reading. There's no better feeling.

A quote from a Christopher Healy book on our bulletin board intrigues a reluctant reader

Slice of Life is brought to you by Two Writing Teachers

Every day should be Read Aloud Day

Today is World Read Aloud Day. March is also Reading Month. While I love any excuse to celebrate reading, I also think every day should be read aloud day and every month should be reading month. Literacy isn't something we should just celebrate every once in a while. It is something that should be done with great joy and gusto every day of the year. By all means, let's use these opportunities to bring to light the importance of pleasure reading and shared reading experiences on this day and this month. But let's not reduce them to something we only do every once in a while, or God forbid, once a year.

So teachers, use this day to do something extra special: find an author to Skype with your class, have older students come and read to younger students, but please don't make the act of reading for pleasure or reading aloud a special occasion. These are experiences that are needed on a regular basis for students of ALL ages, not just little ones.

Book Review: Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller

Teaching is a career that can burn you out and drag you down. With so much political fervor in the education world today, not to mention faux research being purported as fact, it's hard to feel inspired anymore. That's where a book like Reading in the Wild stands out. Not only has Donalyn Miller done her research, but she has found a way for teachers and students to be inspired by learning again. And she doesn't just want it. She has found a way for you to do it in your own classrooms.

When I read The Book Whisperer almost four years ago, I felt inspired and empowered as a teacher. I knew the words I was reading about giving kids their reading lives back were important and just what educators needed to hear. I have never regretted a single day of completely changing the way I teach after reading Donalyn's first book.

But I, like Donalyn, initially lamented over the fact that once my students left my class, they stopped reading voraciously. Ever increasing homework demands coupled with lack of free reading time in their new classrooms left most former students barely reading five books a year, let alone the forty Donalyn invites her students to read under her tutelage. But Donalyn, being the ever reflective teacher that she is, recognized the need to pinpoint what behaviors lifelong readers possess and wanted to figure out a way to instill those behaviors in her students. How could she move her dependent readers to become independent readers. Thus Reading in the Wild was born.

I can't even begin to tell you what an important book this is. You just have to experience it for yourself. But I will say this: not only is Reading in the Wild inspiring, it is also practical. Donalyn shares her methods and her means of execution, sharing reproducible forms in the back of the book for you to use and implement in your reading workshop to help start you on the path to creating wild readers in your own classrooms.

If you teach reading in any capacity, please pick up this book. And when you're finished, give it to your administrators to borrow. The conversations about creating lifelong readers need to be happening among more people than just teachers. Administrators are the ones responsible for where the money goes and Donalyn has advice and recommendations for the people controlling the purse strings too.

It amazes me that when I first read The Book Whisperer, I didn't even know who Donalyn was, and now after following her on Twitter and meeting her at conferences, I can say that one of my teaching mentors has become a friend. That might make me biased about what an important book I think Reading in the Wild is, but I want to point out that it also shows how accessible Donalyn is to her readers and fellow teachers. I am grateful for The Book Whisperer and Reading in the Wild, but I am equally grateful for how available and amiable Donalyn is outside the pages of her books.

Follow Donalyn on Twitter: @donalynbooks

Review cross-posted to my book review blog A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust

Reading in the Wild: The Book Whisperer's Keys to Cultivating Lifelong Reading Habits by Donalyn Miller
Published: November 4, 2013
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Pages: 273
Genre: Nonfiction
Audience: Educators
Disclosure: Purchased copy

When you give students choice...

As I read through my students' end of the year reading reflections, as I always, I was excited and my heart was full by their responses. It's amazing what growth you find in your students when you give them choice in what they read.

My students and I are celebrating our reading for this year

Yesterday I took pictures of my students holding up a sign with the number of books they completed during the school year.  It was so heartwarming to see their proud smiles, relishing in their accomplishments.

Rather than writing a manifesto on why setting aside time in class to give students choice in what they read is important (which I have done many times before), I thought I'd let you hear directly from my students...

Lauren K:
My reading preferences changed this year because I used to not know what kind of books I liked . Now I know my favorite types of books are historical fiction.

Elizabeth Z:

My reading life poster looking rather worn out

My goals at the beginning of the year were to like reading and achieve more in the year. I now love reading and I achieved more this year than any year ever.

I hated reading. I would never read. Now I love reading. I think it is one of the best things in the world. Also one of the most important. I hated fantasy and I would not go near the Harry Potter series with a ten foot pole. My dad wanted me to read them forever. Then Mrs. Shaum assigned Harry Potter as a lit circle book. Now I love fantasy!

(Side note: in a reading conference with Elizabeth, she told me that she thought her dad had talked to me and that's why she was assigned Harry Potter as a lit circle book. I knew nothing of her dislike for the series other than the fact that most kids I assign this book to are in the same boat I was: wanted NOTHING to do with the series, were coaxed into it, and then ended up loving it.)

Vicky S:
Now instead of reading before bed, I read at the dentist, doctor, in the car, instead of watching TV, in my room when I'm punished (most of the time) AND before bed.

Nicole S:
Mrs. Shaum got me to read (well listen to) The Hunger Games and she got me to really like authors I have never even heard of: John Green, Christopher Healy, Ruta Sepetys, and especially RJ Palacio. She also got me and my mom to have reading competitions.

Mickey K:
My reading habits have not changed very much. I still read often at home. My preference for books changed when Mrs. Shaum came back from NCTE with a bunch of books and did book talks on them. Another time they changed was when our classmates did book talks. 

Grace R:
My reading habits have changed over the year. I am now reading young adult books. Last year I was reading books below my grade level. I'm glad I'm reading more. Young adult books give me ideas for stories too.

Bea B:
When I started I really only liked realistic fiction and mystery. Now I have grown to like fantasy and historical fiction. I also used to only read when I was told to. Now I read whenever I have the chance.


What these students have to say show exactly why lower test scores don't always equate to lack of progress:

Maria H:
My reading rate went down but I can explain. I'm reading a biography that's a very tall book with small text. The other books I read were shorter and even bigger text. I probably would have done better if I read the same book from my last encounter of doing reading rate.

Tommy S:
Throughout the year my reading rate went down. I was reading harder books. I also started to think about the words more so I understand all of the story.

My reading habits have changed because during the summer I used to read every morning. Now I read whenever I can, which is never in the morning. I used to absolutely only read fantasy, but now I also read some realistic fiction and historical fiction. Not to mention mystery and classics.