new posts in all blogs
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: professional reading, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 18 of 18
How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: professional reading in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.
I have been trying to fit more professional reading into my life lately. There are so many great professional books that have been piling up. I have found that if I focus on one book at a time and try to read 20ish pages a day, I can finish a professional book in a couple of weeks. The 20 pages a day happened because I wanted to give myself a doable amount of reading to do in a day to get more professional reading in. But what I've found is that 20 pages a day gives me a good chunk of information to think about and a good amount of time to study a topic. So when I dig into a new professional book, I am thinking about the topic for two weeks, really giving myself time to digest and reflect on what I've read. In the past I have sometimes rushed through new professional books, reading them in a weekend and this seems to be a better way to read and digest the new thinking. The 20 pages also makes sense for my reading life. I don't have to "give up" fiction reading to read professional books if I am just holding myself to 20 pages a day. I can fit in both with that expectation of myself.
This week, I am reading Kylene Beers' and Bob Probst's new
Nonfiction Reading: Notice and Note Stance, Signposts, and Strategies and I am so glad that I am taking my time to read it and not rushing through it. I am not far along as the book just arrived a few days ago but already I find myself rethinking much of what I thought I understood about nonfiction reading. I am doing just what the writers hoped I would do. As they state on page 1 of the introduction, "And we do want this book to challenge you. We want you to pause to consider new ideas, mull over comments we make, mark passages you want to reread and discuss with colleagues."
I want to share with you the reason my new strategy of reading 20 pages a day of a new professional book is making good sense to me. I started the book over the weekend. On the first day with the book, I did a pretty heavy preview--looking through the book to see what to expect. Then I dug into the first 20 pages. And then I stopped for the day. On reflecting, I was amazed at how much I had to think about with just 20 pages of reading.
-I am thinking about the students we teach today and how their experiences are quite different from my own at their age. Beers and Probst state, "By 2016, every student in school will have been born in the 21st century. They will have grown up with the world at their fingertips."
-I am thinking about the idea of stance that is part of the subtitle of this book and what it means as a teacher of nonfiction. Beers and Probst state, "This book had to discuss a stance that's required for the attentive, productive reading of nonfiction. It's a mindset that is open and receptive, but not gullible." I have read and reread this line several times and love the idea of what it means. One sentence that says so much about something far more important than the traditional ways I've been thinking about teaching nonfiction.
-I am processing the 5 day cycle of lessons that the authors share and how to build Big Questions along with understanding of signposts to build more time and engagement with nonfiction text.
-I am excited to look at the videos that show these things in action. Throughout the book are QR codes that lead readers to videos that go along with the thinking in the book.
-And I am fascinated by the authors' explanation of the way in which nonfiction has been defined over the years. "It's really not surprising that the meaning of nonfiction has shifted as well. What was once a term used by librarians to signify that the text simply wasn't a novel morphed into meaning "not false" and even "informational". While note surprising, we do wonder if this shift has served us well." This section of the first 20 pages fascinated me and made me think about the way in which I have defined nonfiction for myself and for my students and how that might evolve.
As you can see, my 20 page strategy is working for me. Giving myself time to read and think about the professional books that have been on my stack seems important. Even though I am dying to keep reading, I know that this is a better way for me to take in most professional books. This particular one is so packed with great thinking that I'd hate to rush past some of it.
I am excited to continue this first read of this book as I know my teaching will change for the better because of it.
If you don't have this book yet, I already highly recommend it. The first 20 pages are worth the price you'll pay--trust me.
Heinemann has some great videos of Kylene and Bob talking a bit about the book as well as some great Sneak Previews to give you a sense of what to expect.
Making Nonfiction From Scratchby Ralph Fletcher
Stenhouse, available late November 2015
When I got the
Stenhouse Publishers Newslink email last week (sign up now if you don't get them -- they always contain juicy tidbits) and saw that Ralph Fletcher has a new book coming out soon...AND Stenhouse is offering a
free online preview of the entire text...AND we are just starting our unit of study on nonfiction writing...well, it felt like the universe was aligning.
There's so much to love about this new book. Of particular note:
Chapter One -- fun parable, then check out those headings -- minilessons, here we come!
Chapter Three -- interview with Louise Borden
Chapter Six -- NF read aloud
Chapter Eleven, page 94 -- what a final draft could look like
If you preorder this book by Wednesday of this week with the code NLDH, you'll get $10 off. What are you waiting for? I know you'll want your own copy to mark up and flag with stickies!
In honor of this book and our unit of study on nonfiction writing, tomorrow and Wednesday I'll have two more nonfiction posts.
I have been doing a lot of professional reading lately. I am reading three professional books that are really helping me think about how best to teach reading to my students. No matter how much I know and understand about teaching reading, there is always more to learn. I am excited about these three books because they are really helping me tighten up my instruction by helping me understand some subtle things about comprehension. I think these books are all amazing no matter what level you teach. The ideas in these books cross levels and ages of our readers.
I am revisiting Debbie Miller's amazing book
Reading with Meaning. Debbie Miller's work is brilliant She is one of the people whose work has been most influential in my teaching over the years. Her work with first graders, her books, and her videos have all helped me to see what is possible in a joyful classroom where children's talk and thinking are valued and built upon. It is clear that Debbie Miller is intentional about all that she does and that is the reason her students are so sophisticated in their understandings. I read her first edition of
Reading with Meaning several times but have not dug into the new edition until recently. WOW! What an amazing read. Whether you read Debbie's first edition or not, this book is a must read. Even though I teach 3rd grade, I learn so much from Debbie about how to scaffold comprehension work with my 8 and 9 year olds. I remember watching one of her videos when I was teaching 5th grade and how I wished that my 12 year olds could talk and think in the sophisticated ways her 6 year olds did. Miller teaches me over and over that children at all ages can understand with depth but it is our job to provide the right experiences. Her generous sharing of the way she thinks and plans helps me to revise my teaching.
A book that is new to me is
The Comprehension Experience: Engaging Readers Through Effective Inquiry and Discussion. This book was recommended by Sharon Taberski at last year's Reading Recovery Conference. Since that time, it has been recommended by our director of literacy and some reading teachers in our district. It is a dense book--not an easy read. So I bought it and ending up setting it aside. I picked it back up over winter break and dug in. WOW! This book is incredible. The book looks at comprehension research over the years and reminds us of the things that we know about teaching comprehension (instead of assigning comprehension). The thing I love most about this book is that it shows the subtle changes that a routine can have that really impact a child's understand of what it means to be a reader. Are we predicting to be "right" or are we predicting as a way to dig deeper into the story, knowing that our predictions will change? Are we connecting to share or to help understand a character? The subtle differences in the ways we decide to introduce a book are made visible in this book. I am about half way through and it is definitely a MUST READ if you are a teacher of reading.
Finally, I just bought a copy of
Reading Projects Reimagined by Dan Feigelson. I have been hearing about this book but wasn't sure about the idea of projects in the reading workshop. But the "reimagining" in the title is what this book is all about. This book is really about conferring with readers in ways that deepen their understanding, about listening to readers so that we can build on the things they are thinking about. The projects that Feigelson describes are ways that students make their thinking and discoveries visible--not the projects I think about when I hear the word project. Another MUST READ for sure as it is a book that is already impacting the ways in which I approach a reading conference with a student.
3 MUST READS for sure! I have to say that I tend to read professional books in the summer, but there is something about reading them with real students in mind that often makes them more powerful. Had I read these over the summer, I may not be returning to them now. I think when I read them with an eye on the challenges I am currently facing as a teacher, they are more powerful reading experiences.
Readers Front & Center: Helping All Students Engage with Complex Text
by Dorothy Barnhouse
Stenhouse, 2014
This is a book about LISTENING.
"We can't teach people if we don't know them and we can't know them if we don't listen to them." p.4
Dorothy Barnhouse takes Lucy Calkins' three components of a writing conference -- "research, decide, teach" -- applies them to reading conferences, and puts each phase under the microscope.
RESEARCH (chapter 1)
In the research phase, Barnhouse describes how we listen to a child read a small bit of text. Rather than focusing on issues of fluency, we focus on each student as a reader, listening to what they have to say and asking questions to understand what's behind their thinking. In this phase, we also refrain from probing to see if they "got it" or can retell the plot. We are listening to what students say about their thinking with an eye toward what we will teach about the way texts work, not just fixing some small misunderstanding in that particular text. "...correcting is not teaching. Correcting is small. It's about one word, one sentence, one text. Teaching is bigger. It attempts to take that moment and contextualize it." p.22
Questions we might ask (with a "tone of curiosity rather than interrogation") in this phase of a conference (p.24-25):
What's going on here?
What made you think that?
Where did you get that information?
How do you know?
DECIDE (chapter 2)
In the introduction to this chapter (p.28), Barnhouse writes, "...how does one decide what to teach?" and my marginal note reads, "Indeed!" The sections of this chapter are "Reading with Vision," "Reading with Agency" (I love how Peter Johnston's work informs Barnhouse's thinking!), "Reading with a Flexible Mindset," "Teaching with Vision: Noticing the How Not Just the What," "Teaching Readers to be Problem Solvers," "Setting Texts Up as Problems to be Solved," "Learning from Errors," and "Building Identities as Thinkers and Learners." This is the chapter that will change the way I conference with students. This is the chapter that lifts my eyes up from the text the student is reading and helps me to remember to keep my eyes (and my teaching decisions) on the way ALL texts work. This is the chapter will help me frame all conversations about texts around the way readers solve different aspects of the puzzle that texts provide. This is the chapter that will keep me grounded in Carol Dweck's "growth mindset."
TEACH (chapters 3-6)
These will be chapters to which I will return often for ideas about how to move students as individuals and in groups to texts of greater and greater complexity. The ways Barnhouse diagrams student thinking will give me new ways to capture the essence of a conference. And even though she gives a shout-out to
Cathy Mere on the topic of using Evernote to track conferences, I'm going to try Google Docs this year. Or just stick with my tried-and-true clipboard and not obsess about record-keeping. (I'll update you about my record-keeping again once the school year is underway.)
The most important take-away from these chapters on teaching (for me) would be a deconstruction of the title of the book:
READERS Front and Center (it's about the reader, not the text):
Helping ALL Students (because it's about students, there will always be a text a little more complex than the one they are reading into which we can help them to grow)
ENGAGE (such a smart verb choice, because we want active involvement with authentic purpose)
with COMPLEX TEXT (which is a student-driven moving target, not a list in a program or even the exemplar texts in the CCSS).
March 2014 Teaching Children Mathematics (NCTM)
"Digital Date Equations"
Although this is not a particularly new activity -- use the digits of the date to create an equation -- I have a couple of big take-aways:
- I rant that teachers of reading and writing need to be readers and writers themselves. If I follow the same logic, then I need to create equations, too.
- By making some equations of my own, I know how hard it is to keep the digits in order.
- If we begin the school year making these equations, we will be able to have conversations about order of operations, estimating, mental math, inequalities (and more) all year long instead of during a particular unit of study. Like read aloud, Poetry Friday, and 15 Minutes on Friday blog writing, this seems to be a small but mighty practice.
My equations for 6/24/2014:
(6 ÷ 2) x 4 = (2 + 0 + 1) x 4
(6 + 2 + 4 + 2 +0) = 14
(6 ÷ 24) + (2 x 0) = 1 ÷ 4
62 ÷ 4 = (2 x 4) + 1 + 0
62 x 4 > 20 x 14
March 2014 Language Arts (NCTE)
"Addressing CCSS Anchor Standard 10: Text Complexity"
This article includes a really nice chart that summarizes all the ways a text can be complex:
Level of Meaning and Purpose
Density and Complexity
Figurative Language
Purpose
Structure
Genre
Organization
Narration
Text Features and Graphics
Language Conventionality and Clarity
Standard English and Variations
Register (Archaic, formal, domain-specific, scholarly)
Knowledge Demands
Background Knowledge (experiences)
Prior Knowledge (specialized or technical content knowledge)
Cultural Knowledge
Vocabulary Knowledge
We are thrilled to be part of the blog tour for Meenoo Rami's new professional book
Thrive: 5 Ways to (Re)Invigorate Your Teaching
. We are early in the blog tour and there are many great stops coming up where you'll learn more and more about the book and Meenoo. So, our post will be the random things we love about Meenoo and the book--the reasons you'll want to pick it up soon!
I first "met" Meenoo on Twitter as
#engchat was one of the first Twitter chats I participated in. It was the one that hooked me on Twitter chats because it taught me just how powerful these conversations could be. And Meenoo INVENTED #engchat. I remember her telling me when I finally met her in person at NCTE one year, that she created a talk for teachers on Twitter as a way to give back to the community that has given her so much. I realized then what a generous and genuine person Meennoo is. She mentioned that she was thinking of writing a book and I knew that whatever book she would write, I would buy it. I knew that whatever she had to say would be thoughtful and important.
I was lucky to interview Meenoo several weeks ago for a Choice Literacy Podcast.
The podcast, "Finding Meaning and Joy in Teaching" can be found at Choice Literacy's website. So much of what she said in the interview continues to live with me. As I think back on my 27 years of teaching, so much of what she teaches us are the things we don't learn in student teaching, but things that are most important to our lifelong work. What she writes about are the keys both to being a true professional and to staying true to our students.
There couldn't be a better time for Meenoo to share her voice on the topic of (re)invigorating our teaching lives. It is easy to be tired about our work these days -- tired from the mandates and the politics and the testing and the criticism. And Meennoo describes, with honesty, how lonely this work can be if we don't reach out. Then she reminds us how wonderfully energizing our work can be when we
do reach out. I love that this book focuses on the people in our lives.
I love this book because after 27 years, it totally resonated with me. I think no matter how long you've been teaching--20 days or 20 years, there are ruts in our teaching lives. There are times when staying energized gets hard and times that we feel alone, no matter how many wonderful colleagues we have. Meenoo talks about those first few years of teaching and how lonely they often were, how isolated she sometimes felt. But she took charge of her teaching and her learning and reached out and found people to learn with.
And I love this book because it reminded me of mentors and I love the way that Meenoo thinks about them. She talks honestly about mentors who were assigned to her and she shares mentors who have been part of her teaching life. I love that she doesn't talk about
one mentor but the idea that we need lots of mentors and each mentors us in a different way.
Meeoo is someone you want to follow. Her book is powerful but so is
her blog and her Twitter feed (@meenoorami). She shares thoughtfully and generously and invites us all into the network she has created-- a network of learners who thrive in even the toughest times.
THRIVE Blog Tour Stops!
Be sure to visit all these great blogs who are celebrating Thrive.
Hear what they have to say about Thrive
and read guest posts and interviews from Meenoo herself!
4/9/14
4/10/14
4/11/14
4/12/14
4/13/14
4/14/14
4/15/14
Kate Roberts and Maggie B. Roberts at Indent 4/16/14
4/17/14
4/18/14
4/19/14
4/20/14
4/21/14
4/22/2014
4/23
Last week for Cyber PD, in response to chapters 1-3 of Peter H. Johnston's book, Opening Minds: Using Language to Change Lives
, I offered a graphic and a single word as my response.
For chapters 4-6, I offer this picture book as my text-to-text connection to Johnston's book:
Nora the Mind Reader
by Orit Gidali
illustrated by Aya Gordon-Noy
Enchanted Lion Books, on shelves September 3, 2012
review copy provided by the publisher
JOHNSTON, Page 69: "The problem with apprenticing children into humanity -- the intellectual and social life of society -- is that much of the action we want them to understand takes place inside people's heads. We have to help them learn to imagine what goes on inside heads, and not just the cognitive strategies being used to solve problems, but the complex social-emotional logic that lies behind their behavior." Page 70: "...students who are not very good at reading faces will cause more disruptions in class because of their social behavior." Page 80: "Developing social imagination is a big deal and should be a curricular goal."
Nora gets her feelings hurt because a boy in her Kindergarten class tells her, "You have flamingo legs!" But Nora's mom gives her a magic wand that allows her to "see what people were saying as well as what they were really thinking." Even though Nora comes to realize that the other children don't always intend for what they say to be hurtful, it's best just to say what you really mean. When Nora's dog gets ahold of the magic wand, the moral of the story is translated into Wag More, Bark Less.
Jill Fisch has the roundup for today's Cyber PD posts at
My Primary Passion.
I have been having lots of conversations with students about thinking ahead as readers. My stack of to-be-read titles never ends. And that is a good thing. As I think head to my fall reading, I am going to try to make some more time for my personal and professional reading. These are the books I am anxious to read.
I always learn so much from Kelly Gallagher. His teaching and writing have had a huge impact o my teaching life. I am excited about his upcoming book Write Like This. I have done a pretty good preview of the book on Stenhouse's site but I want to wait until I have a "real" copy to read it cover to cover.
I did a podcast interview with Kelly for Choice Literacy a while ago where he talks a bit more about mentor texts.
I came across the book Just My Type: A Book About Fonts by Simon Garfield and ordered it right away. I am pretty sure my oldest daughter will "borrow" it from me when I finish.
I feel like I haven't taught math in a long time. For the last 4 years of my professional life, I have been in the library and for the two years prior to that, I taught Literacy 1/2 day and coached literacy 1/2 day. So I was excited to see this book--Math Exchanges by Kassia Omohundro Wedekind one that will help me see the possibilities for math classrooms. Love the connections she makes to workshop.
Another professional book I am anxious to read is The Ten Things Every Writer Needs to Know by Jeff Anderson. I heard Jeff speak about this book at the All Write Summer institute and I have been waiting to pick this one up since then!
I had the opportunity to hear Rae Carson at Cover to Cover last week. She is the author of the brand new YA novel, Girl of Fire and Thorns. My 12 year old insisted on reading the book first and devoured it (said she maybe liked it better than The Hunger Games and Gone!). It is now my turn to read the book and I can't wait.
Another book that caught my eye is The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka. I'm not sure where I first heard about the book but it looks like one I'd enjoy so I've added it to my list. A review in the New York Times was posted about a month ago.
It's just incredible to me, the way my professional learning has changed in the past 25 years. I've always gone to conferences and read professional books, but this blog and Twitter have changed the playing field dramatically.
I was in a booktalk this week that was born on Twitter -- a tweet went out from the All Write conference (during Jeff Anderson's keynote, as best I remember) about this book:
Making Learning Whole
by David Perkins
Jossey-Bass, 2001
Maria (@mariacaplin and Teaching in the 21st Century) was "attending" All Write long-distance by following the tweets, and she suggested that we get together and discuss this book. I dropped it into my Amazon cart using the Amazon app I downloaded (I think this was also during Jeff's keynote -- Jeff, I PROMISE I was listening!!), we read the book, invited others, and wound up spending a delightful morning with Cathy (@CathyMere and Reflect & Refine) chatting about the book, teaching, workshop model, and technology tools.
Here are a few of my take-aways:
1. Perkins frames his thinking around the game of baseball and these seven principles:
• Play the whole game.
• Make the game worth playing.
• Work on the hard parts.
• Play out of town.
• Uncover the hidden game,
• Learn from the team...and the other team.
• Learn the game of learning.
2. Our booktalk fit his principles exactly:
• We played the whole game, from the conference, to the tweets, to the reading, to the meeting, to the discussing, and now, to the blogging.
• We made the game worth playing by playing together. It's worth playing because we will use our new thinking and learning in our classrooms in the coming year.
• We played out of town. We met at Maria's house (and if you know where Maria lives, you are laughing out loud right now -- she takes out of town to a new level), hoping to sit on the dock of her pond to chat. It was too hot and humid, so we enjoyed the comfort of her kitchen table.
• As I write this post, I'm uncovering bits and pieces of the hidden game of our booktalk. Part of the hidden game was that we were doing what the book suggests without having to think hard about it. Our own learning is whole. We just need to make sure we figure out lots of ways to do this for our 1st, 4th, and 5th graders. I'll share more of what I saw as the hidden game in a minute. On to the next principle.
• Learn from the team. We did that by meeting -- three people from two districts and three different buildings and levels. We'll learn from other teams as we take our learning back to our grade levels, and from the comments here and on Tw
It is so nice to have extra time on a long winter break to catch up on some professional learning. I had received a copy of INQUIRY CIRCLES IN ELEMENTARY CLASSROOMS. This is a DVD companion to the book INQUIRY CIRCLES IN ACTION by Steph Harvey and Smokey Daniels. I am so glad that I made time to watch this DVD today!
I read the book, INQUIRY CIRCLES, when it first came out but I read it rather quickly. I revisited it recently because so many librarians are talking about the implications of this book for libraries. I am still hoping to take part in the Teacher Librarian Ning booktalk on the book. This book is definitely one that has implications for classroom teachers, librarians, related arts teachers, resources specialists, coaches, etc. I think anyone who works in schools can benefit from the work of Harvey and Daniels. I have been reading so much about 21st Century Literacy and Learning but I think sometimes, we forget that the key to all of the good thinking people are doing about learning is anchored in students' curiosities. And without inquiry, creativity and student ownership of learning students really can't have the learning experiences we hope for them. This book and DVD series reminds us of that and brings us into classrooms where inquiry around curriculum is happening.
For me, I love professional reading. I learn so much from this. But I also like to see and hear the way kids and teachers talk when involved in the kinds of things I read about. So, this was great for me. The DVD is about an hour in length. The first half of the DVD takes us into a first grade classroom where students are learning about African Animals. The independence and brilliance of these 6 and 7 year olds is interesting to watch--they are learning not only about African Animals but about research, information, and collaboration. In the intermediate section of the DVD, a 4th graders are exploring Ancient Egypt. Again, it is inspiring to see such independent thinkers who are so committed to their learning. It also helped me to see the teacher talking to students about her own research notebook and to see her work in small groups. The key for me was the decision-making on the part of the student. It was clear in every part of the study.
To me, Inquiry Circles, as shared by Harvey and Daniels makes sense for classrooms and libraries. It seems the perfect vehicle to help kids truly become information literate and to support their learning of 21st Century skills. This book and DVD helped me rethink some ways to expand the options for kids in the library.
And what about technology? It was interesting to me that in both the book and the DVD, tools of technology were mentioned but they were mentioned along with many other tools for learning. Technology was definitely a part of student learning throughout research and as they shared their learning but Inquiry Circles certainly don't rely on te
I just got a copy of Pam Allyn's new book on choosing books for kids called WHAT TO READ WHEN: THE BOOKS AND STORIES TO READ WITH YOUR CHILD AND ALL THE BEST TIMES TO READ THEM. I came home from my perfect beach vacation and was thrilled to see this book in my pile of mail. I spent hours with the book last night--instead of doing the laundry I should have been doing from the trip! This book couldn't come at a better time for the Kidlitosphere with the Share a Story Campaign-Shape a Future having just happened! Jen Robinson and others have been busy working to encourage read aloud.
In Pam Allyn's introduction to WHAT TO READ WHEN, she says, "The same way we choose foods to suit our moods--hot soup on a cold winter's night, spicy ribs for a family picnic--we long to choose the 'just right' books that will match the moments we find ourselves in with our children."
Pam talks about the important role books played in her childhood and the important place reading and sharing books has in her relationship with her daughters.
When I think back to my own childhood and the books that have been saved, I know my mother had the same thinking--I have a book about moving day, one about bad days, one about becoming a big sister. My mother-a teacher-also knows the power of story and conversation --the right book at the right time. As a mother, I find myself looking for books that will help my daughters make sense of the things they are working through. Books have been critical to me in the way I see the world and I want that for kids. That is one of the reasons I am thrilled to see this book.
So often, the only way that "just right" books are defined is by reading level. For so long, we have almost forgotten other reasons that a book can be "just right" and in this book, Pam Allyn reminds us that books are about more than reading development.
The book covers a lot for parents. Part I of the book is dedicated to "The Power of Read Aloud"--why we need to read aloud to our kids and how to do it well. Part II focuses on great read alouds for every age. Pam shares her understanding of child development and the kinds of books kids love at different ages and stages.
Finally, Part III is titled, "The Emotional 'When': Fifty Essential Themes". In it are booklists that match so many moments in life--both big and small. Included themes are Birthdays, Being Yourself, Falling Asleep, Death, Loneliness, Adoption, Bath Time, and more. For each of these themes, Pam gives us a great list of books--including old favorites as well as great new titles. She gives us summaries of the books as well as talking points and questions to start discussions with our kids. I can't begin to tell you what a resource this is.
One of my favorite pieces of the book is Pam's answers to Parents' Frequently Asked Questions. She answers the important questions we hear over and over, including:
"Should I still be reading aloud to my child after he or she is reading independently?"
"Should I give rewards to my child for reading?"
"I know my child can read Harry Potter because he can sound out alll the words on the page. So why does he seem unable to finish the book?"
This book will be a must-have resource for parents, teachers and librarians. I am very excited to have it--after owning it for less than 24 hours, it already looks a bit worn--tabs, notes and post-its everywhere! I will be going back to this one often!
Today, Kelly Gallagher begins his Blog Tour with a stop at A YEAR OF READING to discuss his new book READICIDE: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It. We reviewed the book here last week and hope that many of you had a chance to check it out at Stenhouse. A much needed book at a time when testing seems to be controlling so much of what we do in our schools.
We had a chance to talk with Kelly about his new book. And many of you had additional questions that you sent in after we reviewed READICIDE last week.
What made you write this book? How did you get to the point that you felt that you needed to write?
The idea for Readicide came out of my own classroom, where I have noticed that the number of students who like to read dwindles with each passing year. The only reading many of my students do is school-mandated reading—and frankly they don’t do academic reading very well. For the most part, my students can read text on a literal level, but when you ask them to think a bit deeper—to evaluate, to analyze, to synthesize—they really struggle. My current seniors have been under the NCLB testing gun for six years now, and beyond struggling when it comes to reading academic texts, they have lost their desire to read recreationally. In chasing test scores, we are killing the love of reading. We may succeed in raising our test scores, but we pay a large price to do so. The sad part, of course, is we have spent $1 billion on Reading First programs, and the students in this program did not score any better in comprehension than students who did not participate in the program at all.
Readicide is also influenced by the number of great teachers across this country who have shared their horror stories with me. The elimination of novels. Drowning students in worksheets. Scripted programs. Think about it. If you had to do what our students have to do, would you like reading?
What are you hoping that this book will accomplish?
To raise the consciousness of curriculum directors, administrators, and teachers. Most educators I know have a genuine desire to do what is best for our children. I am hoping that this book will start a conversation—a conversation about what the latest research has to say about developing the critical thinking regions of our brains, a conversation about how shallow assessments drive shallow thinking from our students, a conversation about how our classroom practices may actually be contributing to the role of readicide.
I want educators to ask themselves an important question: In the quest to raise test scores, am I damaging the long-term prospects of my students becoming lifelong readers? I hope the book generates hard talk between educators.
How would you prioritize the work we have to do?
First, the evidence is very clear: our students are simply not reading and writing enough. The National Commission on Writing recently noted that our students should be writing twice as much as they are currently writing, across all content areas. A number of studies have indicated that students are simply not getting enough reading practice. You have to play a lot of piano before you can play the piano, and you have to do a lot of reading and writing before you can read and write. Let’s put this question on the front burner: are our students reading and writing enough?
Second, the cliché is true: if you teach students to read and write well, they will do fine on tests. However, if you only teach students to take tests, they will never read and write well. We need to challenge them with the kind of reading and writing experiences that foster deeper thinking. As teachers, we need to move beyond being information dispensers and focus on getting our kids to be thinkers. This is not possible in a sea of worksheets.
Another thought: we cannot lose sight of the value of recreational reading (the kind of reading we want students to do the rest of their lives). Academic reading is important, but when schools emphasize only academic reading, recreational reading gets lost. Students need much larger doses of light reading, stupid reading, amusing reading—the kinds of reading that we, as adults, do when we are not at school. Schools who graduate good test takers who never read again are not doing anyone any favors.
How do you get these conversations going with teachers you work with?
Someone has to be the discussion director on your campus and in your district. I am fortunate in that I am in my 23rd year at my school, and I have a strong professional relationship with the staff on my campus. To be honest, however, I have not done as much as I would like with my own staff. This is due in large part, frankly, to having an administration that has not been real interested in doing the hard work required to implement authentic reading and writing. Fortunately, I have a new principal this year, so I am hoping this sets the table for real dialogue.
What do you suggest for teachers who feel like they are the one person who is carrying the flag for authentic reading?
Arm yourself with the research found in Readicide and in other places (see Kellygallagher.org for some of these studies). Make it your mission to get one other teacher to see the light. Start a “school-within-a-school” movement. Ask to share some of the research on staff development days. Share your concerns with administrators, board members, and newspaper editorial staffs.
If you really are the Lone Ranger at your site, never lose site of what is best for your students. Resist the political in favor of the authentic.
What are the most important things you could do with teachers in a very short period of time (at staff meeting)?
Discuss the importance that assessment plays in developing deeper readers and writers. Earlier in my career, Jim Cox, who is a guru in assessment, heavily influenced me. Jim reminds teachers to never forget WYTIWYG (pronounced “witty-wig”), which stands for What You Test Is What You Get. If your assessment is shallow, it will drive shallow thinking. If your assessment is rich, it will drive richer thinking.
I always teach to a test. The key is teaching to a test that drives deeper thinking. When teachers spend hour upon hour preparing students for shallow tests, the effects are devastating. Test scores may rise, but in the process we are denying students the opportunity to develop the regions of their brains that are crucial to them becoming deeper thinkers. I would ask teachers to carefully consider their assessments. Do they drive deeper thinking? Let’s start there and work backwards.
QUESTIONS FROM READERS
From Dani in NC: Accelerated Reader program made me feel validated as a parent. I have seen firsthand how it has negatively affected each of my kids' opinions of reading over the years. Although AR is strongly emphasized here, it isn't part of their grade so I finally gave my kids permission to forget about it. Three of them have a renewed passion for books, but I still have one daughter who has become a reluctant reader and I don't know if I can change that.
Kelly: Regarding AR, I think the first thing parents can do is challenge the school’s decision to use the program. Ask to see justification—studies that indicate that there is a long-term benefit from using the program. Share the McQuillan study (and others) cited in Readicide. Ask administrators what we are really teaching kids about reading when we tie all their reading activity to earning points from shallow multiple-choice assessments.
That said, both of my daughters were subjected to AR in school and survived as readers. However, they were already avid readers before being subjected, and they were surrounded by high-interest reading materials at home. This is not the case for many of the students under the AR treatment.
From Kathy: I do have a question for him, even though I have not read the book, I would love to know his opinion on a school having a well stocked (and that also means have a certified media specialist in there) media center and if he thinks that has an impact on students reading.
Kelly: It is critical that every campus has a well-stocked library with a librarian/media specialist. I know there have been studies that have found a correlation between the quality of a school’s library collection and its test scores. Libraries, and librarians, are the core of any school. My librarian is particularly helpful when it comes to finding books for my students that fit a particular theme or unit. She also helps by doing a number of book talks.
That said, I have also found that establishing a classroom library—where students have daily access to interesting books—may be the most important thing I have done as a teacher. Students need to be surrounded by books every day. It has been my experience that it is extraordinarily difficult to turn my reluctant readers on to reading by taking periodical trips to the library. For maximum effectiveness, I have found it better to bring the books to the students.
Kelly has a busy week--touring at several blogs for the next several days.
Just like band groupies, we know that some of us will follow Kelly to each of the spots on his blog tour.
1/22 -
THE TEMPERED RADICAL1/23 -
THE DREAM TEACHER1/26 -
THE READING ZONE1/28 - T
HE BOOK WHISPERER
Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It
by Kelly Gallagher
Stenhouse, February 2009
Kelly Gallagher is a full-time high school teacher in Anaheim, CA. His message about how schools are killing reading is one that every teacher and administrator at EVERY level needs to read. After every teacher and administrator reads this book, they need to put his suggestions about what we can do to prevent or reverse this trend into action.
Gallagher defines readicide this way: "Read-i-cide n: The systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools." He outlines four factors that are primarily responsible for readicide:
- schools value the development of test takers more than the development of readers
- schools limit authentic reading experiences
- teachers are overteaching books
- teachers are underteaching books
On the first point: amen. We are lucky to teach in a district where it is still possible to focus on the development of readers. Teachers like us are not always popular for focusing more on the readers than on the tests, and teachers like us are not always in the majority in our buildings or our grade levels, but there have been no district mandates that make it impossible for us to stay true to our belief in the fact that, as Gallagher puts it,
"If students are taught to read and write well, they will do fine on the mandated reading tests. But if they are only taught to be test-takers, they will never learn to read and write well."
On the second point: we've made it our life work to surround children with the best books and give them big chunks of time in the school day to learn to become real readers: readers who choose books, read widely, talk and write about their reading, and belong to a community of readers. We believe, as Gallagher does:
"Children grow into the intellectual life of those around them." --Vygotsky
And again, we are lucky to teach in a district that supports these values.
His next two points, about teachers who either over- or
underteach books takes a little more introspection. When does breaking into a read aloud for discussion or teaching become
overteaching? What kind of support does that fourth grader need to read The Giver, or will she realize on her own that she's over her head and abandon it? When do we need to use role sheets for literature circles, and if we use them, how soon should we abandon them?
One of the things that makes this book so powerful is the amount of research that Gallagher weaves into the book. With every issue he discusses, he reminds of us several research studies that point to giving our kids more authentic reading experiences and providing time for their own personal reading. The research we need to back the argument is embedded throughout the book.
gives us lots to think about. We think it is one of those books that can start a national conversation about how to give students the reading experiences they need and giving them the skills they need to do more than pass a test.
For those of you who are Kelly Gallagher fans, he has a new website that is up and running this week. Included on this site is a list of books that Kelly's staff is reading as part of their book club as well as an "Article of the Week" feature that Kelly uses. The site just became live so checking back often for new stuff will probably be worth it.
For those of you who are not familiar with
Well, I totally lucked out. I received an advanced copy of Debbie Miller’s upcoming professional book TEACHING WITH INTENTION: DEFINING BELIEFS, ALIGNING PRACTICE TAKING ACTION. (I know that you are all very jealous and I do feel a bit guilty that I have had a chance to read this book before it is released. So, I thought I’d at least share some highlights with you and let you know that this is
PUT THINKING TO THE TEST is a new book coming out with Stenhouse this month. I was going to wait to review it until I had a hard copy but with test season upon us, I thought it was important to get the word out about this great book. It is due out on April 10, but you can read the entire book online now to get a sense of it and to get started thinking through tests with your students. (I love
WHY WE TEACH: LEARNING, LAUGHTER, LOVE AND THE POWER TO TRANSFORM LIVES is a timely book for anyone who is teaching in 2008. It reminds us why we teach--through hard times, after hard days, and during these days of mandated curriculum and testing. Linda Alston shares stories of her own teaching career--short pieces that can remind us all the joys of teaching and of being in the company of children every day.
I have talked to so many teachers across the country who have told me that they aren't having fun anymore. That teaching is no longer enjoyable. Linda addresses the times and clearly holds on to what is important for the children we teach.
"At the end of the day, we are exhausted. We feel as if we cannot teach another day--that is, until tomorrow. In the morning, we find the strength to come back and teach again. Why? Because we love and believe in children. We behold the gifts in them and nurture the children to become their most magnificent selves. We hold on to hope that their futures will be bright and glorious. The day that we don't go back might well be the day we miss the miracle of a child making a connection, saying something funny or profound, creating a work of art, and giving our lives meaning and purpose." (Page 96)
I found the stories in this book to be just what I needed. The foreword by Vivian Paley and the afterword by Lester Laminack are also very powerful. The stories can be read in any order. But they all remind us how much we can learn from children and how important it is for us to do what is right for the children we teach.
You know, I actually like the PBS Kids show Cyberchase quite a lot. It manages to work interesting, understandable illustrations of math concepts into an entertaining framework, and my kids really have learned from it. Jane and Rose will often...
.jpg?picon=516)
Your blog post was the first one I read this morning I had to stop by to add my comment. I was so curious to see how you would make the connection with Ch. 4-6 once again PERFECT!!
When I read your GoodReads comment yesterday, I wondered if this was the connection you would make -- the title seemed to fit perfectly with chapter 6. Love it!
What a fun book cover! Even from the title I can imagine that it would have great links to the ideas in chapter 6.
This book sounds like so much fun! I know that there are times when it would be wonderful to have a magic wand to know what people are thinking - then again, there are times that it would definitely be better not to know. :)
Thank you for your insight with this connection. I agree with Maria, it is perfection. (This was a title I needed last year - and will put it on my TBO (to be ordered) list!
I look forward to reading both books – Johnston’s and Gidali’s. I work with several students who are diagnosed with Autism or are on the spectrum. They have a difficult time understanding other people’s point of view and reading social cues. I agree with Johnston, goals to develop those skills would be great, not just for kids on the autism spectrum, but for all students. It looks like Nora the Mind Reader would be a great place to begin with many of my students.
I must get this book and a magic wand for my K room. Thanks for sharing.
Love your connection. (Wish someone would tell me I had flamingo legs! OK, no name calling, but…) Thinking maybe some of us should start trying to compile a list of books that could be used to develop kids' social imagination.
This a a great text-to-text connection. I can't wait to get my hands on this book. I love how Johnston addressed a lot of social/emotional behavior in these chapters. Your quotes summed up his thinking perfectly. Thanks for sharing.
Mary Lee,
You always are able to connect your reading to real life situations, books, photographs, comics, poems, and other authentic parts of our daily lives. It has to be wonderful to be able to share these connections with students as well.
As I've been reading Peter's books, I keep thinking about books that might complement these conversations. Molly Lou Melon, The Recess Queen, The Sandwich Swap, and Yoko come to mind quickly. I'm wondering if Lester Laminack and Reba Wadsworth's new book, Bullying Hurts: Teaching Kindness Through Read Alouds and Guided Conversations, might pair nicely with this section of Johnston's book?
Oh, to ponder...
Cathy
Love this creative connection ML!! And, Cathy has me thinking more about characters who will help kids practice social imagination. Thanks ladies!
Adding this book to my "must buy" list! Thanks for making the connection.
~Laura
What a creative connection. Like Cathy, your post (and others) has me thinking about books to help students build the foundation for a strong social imagination as well as books that will spur deep conversations (of which I need to step back from a bit). I have a new understanding of the work our guidance counselor and intervention teachers do with some of our students who need help. I know that I will be more cognizant of my language with those students who struggle.