Creating a Reading Community

I had to start my final blog post with this J.K. Rowling quote because first of all, c’mon, it’s hecking J.K. Rowling. Secondly, I DO believe there is something magical about a good book. And one of those magic books is Book Love. Penny Kittle does it again in the final two engaging, inspiring, and enlightening chapters of Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers.

I’m going to be honest here- while I read everything assigned for collegiate courses or professional development, I often struggle to connect to the assigned texts. I find most textbooks too stuffy, too patronizing, or just too boring. Kittle’s Book Love is none of those things, and I’m surprised to admit that I was actually a little sad to finish this book! Kittle’s book has given me so many ideas to incorporate into my own classroom, and I know this text will be one I reread and reference for years to come. I’ve also been making little notes of the educational books that Kittle recommends, and I’m planning to add some of those to my summer reading list as well.

The biggest thing that jumped out to me about chapters 8 and 9 in Book Love were the emphasis on creating a reading community. As someone who is passionate about engaging kids with literature, but lacking ideas of how to get started, these two chapters were like manna from heaven. I want my students to be excited by literature, not burdened with activity while reading; I’m constantly looking for tangible ways to see how my students are reading, without making reading feel like “busy work.”

One of the ideas I liked best was how Kittle structured her students’ quarterly reading reflections. She broke it down in five steps on how she coaches her students into greater reading competency by encouraging her students to challenge themselves as readers, to set their own goals, and to commit to achieving those goals. Here are Kittle’s five steps, along with a commentary on how I can apply them to my own classroom reading community:

1. Determine Difficulty– One thing I’ve struggled with in both my Independent Reading class and during my independent reading time in English 11, is how to determine the difficulty of what my students are reading. I’ll have one student reading The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien (an obviously challenging read) and another who has just switched from reading strictly YA romance novels to reading Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Malone “alphabet series.” It’s hard for me to objectively determine what is or is not difficult for a young reader, and how to determine when it is time for them to try a more challenging text. Kittle offers an interesting solution to this conundrum- let the students explain to you what makes their book difficult or not difficult. Kittle demonstrates an engaging activity where students are given a pile of books on their desk and told to order them from least to most difficult using whatever criteria makes sense to them. Students will discuss how interest in the subject, complexity of text (sentence structure, unfamiliar vocabulary, multi-narratives, punctuation), and the number of pages in a book all contribute to the book’s difficulty. Students will then use the same criteria to rank the difficulty of their own reading during the first quarter of the year. I like this activity because it forces kids to puzzle over questions, such as: What have you read that has challenged you as a reader this quarter? Why was it challenging? How have you improved this quarter? What will you reach next?
2. Determine Reading Rate– The next step is to determine students’ reading rate. I thought that creative Kittle would have a more complex way of determining the reading rate of students, so I was a bit surprised her technique is so straight forward. Students calculate the pages they read each week for the quarter based on the total number of pages they’ve read in nine weeks. Seems pretty easy to integrate into my classroom to me! I might cut that time frame down a little bit (maybe to four weeks) just so students are able to set reading goals sooner in the year. My Independent Reading course is only a semester long, so waiting nine weeks to set their reading goal would mean they were already halfway through the course.
3. Write Mini-reviews of Favorite Books– The next step is to have students summarize books that they love. This practices the essential skill of summarization, but also would prep them for being able to give book talks to the class or to me. At this point, I don’t ask students for summaries of every novel they read; I ask them to choose two and they complete a creative literary analysis report over those two selected novels. However, after reading these chapters, I think limiting my students to just two books is doing them a disservice. So many of my students are so excited to talk about what they are reading because they are genuinely loving it! I need to have students practice this essential writing skill.
4. Set Goals– The investment in setting personal goals, working towards goals, and monitoring the progress of achieving those goals is critical in our students’ academic lives. Just like I’ve struggled with determining students’ reading difficulty levels in their choice novels, I’ve also struggled with the concept of a reading goal. Should I be counting completed books? Page numbers? Novel complexities? If I only count page numbers, that means reading one rather large-printed page of The Maze Runner counts the same as a barely-legible page of Lord of the Flies. If I count completed books only, what happens when a student starts a book and finds out they rather despise it? Are they forced to continue? This year I’ve had all my students in my Independent Reading class working towards the same goal- 1,700 pages by the end of the semester. Here’s what I’m realizing- I have students who could blow 1,700 pages out of the water, but are purposely slowing down with a few weeks left in the semester because they don’t want to work “too hard” if they know they’ll hit their goal eventually. On the other hand, I have students who have tackled what I would deem as “tough” novels (The Silmarillion, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, A Brave New World), who are hundreds of pages behind on their reading goals. I think my solution will be to combine a mix of Kittle’s suggestions, so that students are setting goals based not only on their individual page goals but also on the complexity of their novels.
5. Reflect on Your Reading in a Short Essay– Finally, I will ask students to reflect quarterly over their reading. While I currently conduct bi-weekly journals over WHAT students are reading, I don’t often ask students to write about HOW they are reading. One thing that I admire about teenagers is that while they often over-exaggerate, they often are perfectly honest about their own abilities in school. I think by asking students to reflect quarterly over their reading growth will show students that they truly have a say in their own reading skills. Plus, I would want to look forward to reading comments like one of the students in Kittle’s book:

When it comes to reading, choice is critical. It will get those students who don’t read to start reading and will keep the students who read, reading. In my case, choice has been extremely helpful in getting me to start reading, as well as begin to challenge myself in my reading.

And isn’t that really what this is all about? To quote Kittle again: “Dreams lurk in books. We must never forget that. We have been given the privilege of this life in teaching. Let us have the strength to start where they are and lead them.” Book love, forever and always.

“Read Harder” this Summer

It’s hard to believe it’s truly already time to begin planning for summer. My seniors have a countdown on my board of how many days of school they have remaining…. 8 DAYS!!! It’s absolutely insane how quickly this first year of teaching has flown by and how much has been accomplished in Mrs. Krueger’s classroom. It’s easy to for me to think to myself, “Well, I’ve done it! I’ve survived my first year of teaching. Now I can wipe my hands of this craziness until August of next year. I’m free for the summer!” However, I know how much I want my kiddos to continue to grow and learn over the summer. Research shows HOW IMPORTANT it is for our students to continue reading over the summer. In Donalyn Miller’s blog post, she shared a very important bit of research:

No matter what children accomplish during the school year, if they don’t read over the summer, their learning stalls or regresses (Cooper, Borman, & Fairchild, 2010).

So…as tempting as it is to think that I’m “clocking out” for a few months at the end of the school year…my job most definitely IS NOT done on May 23. The summer is when I will see just how much my students were impacted by their independent reading progress over the past year. The summer is when my students can see just how influential reading can be in their lives. The summer is when students can learn how to be intrinsically motivated to achieve their own reading and learning goals.

One way that I’m hoping to motivate my students (and I’ll be honest…myself!) to continue reading this summer is to engage them in a summer reading challenge. The #1 thing that I’ve learning about high schoolers this year (well, one of MANY things I’ve learned about high schoolers) is that most of them are absolutely fueled by challenges. Framing anything in terms of a competition is a sure fire way to have them engaged in the activity, even when there is no “prize” at the end. Winning a reading challenge means winning self-satisfaction at your own accomplishment. There is no candy or pizza party waiting for them at the end.

I absolutely love the concept behind Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge. For our last Independent Reading day of the school year (a sacred day that I’ve done my best to reserve solely for choice, independent reading) I’ll be distributing copies of Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge to my three sections of English 11 and my Independent Reading course. I’m wanting my students to reflect on their individual growth in their reading skills over the past year and to continue thinking about reading as a skill they can hone and master.

As I begin to mentally plan for next year, one thing that I know I want to do differently is to do a better job of modeling my own reading for my students. I’ve mentioned that I have a little display section in the room where I place a copy of the book I’m currently reading; however, I haven’t given book talks about what I’m reading, and only really make recommendations to students who I can visually see struggling to choose a novel. I want to be better about portraying my excitement for reading so that reading become infectious in my classroom. One way that I would like to do that is to engage myself and my students in the Read Harder Challenge or similar reading challenges. I think it would be an amazing way to connect with kids over literature. Students can see me crossing items off my reading challenge checklist, leading to a great opportunity to have discussions about which novels they chose to cross of on their own lists.

I’m not too worried about motivating myself to read this summer. I’ll be honest, my summer reading habit is comparable to Netflix binge-watching habits- I have to force myself to stop reading at times just so I’ll actually get something productive done. I love to read while laying in bed in the morning, outside laying on a blanket, in the car during road trips, on the couch on rainy days, and pretty much any other time that I can manage. However, I’ve never tried is engaging in a reading challenge. Typically my summer reading habits have involved at least one Harry Potter novel (Hey! Re-reading is an okay thing to do, remember?), a book-turned-movie, or New York Times best-seller. This summer I would like to add to that list by reading some of the many amazing recommendations I’ve received from my classmates and by starting a couple of reading challenges. I’ve mentioned that I’ll be starting the Read Harder Challenge when I challenge my own students at the end of the year. I also want to begin the incredible “World Reading Challenge” found on the Tale Away blog. (Seriously- if you love traveling and reading as much as I do, you NEED to check out the Tale Away blog!)

While I have many novels that I’ve planned to read this summer, the biggest one on my list (literally…I’m talking 3.5 pounds of paper here…) is War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Arguably the most central work of Western literature, this mammoth novel completes TWO items on the Read Harder Challenge (“A book set in or about one of the five BRICS countries” and “A book of genre fiction in translation”) and crosses off Russia on the Tale Away World Reading Challenge. I am already planning that this novel will take me THE ENTIRE SUMMER to read. It’s a daunting 1,200 pages of classic historical fiction- this is not a novel that would cross “A one-sitting book” off of the Read Harder Challenge. However, I want to read this novel for many reasons. First of all, I’ll actually be traveling to Russia in June so I feel like reading War and Peace will be a great way to connect with the literary and historical culture of that complex country. (And, come on, how cool would it be to take a selfie while reading War and Peace on the steps of St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow?? That’s some Instagram magic in the making.) Secondly, I’m always encouraging my students to read something that challenges them. While I preach this constantly, I’m not sure that I can recall the last time I was truly mentally exercised by a piece of literature. Finally, I sort of want to cross it off my mental list of “I should probably read that classic some day.” In any case, I’m up for the challenge and I’ll definitely be sharing that goal with my students, hoping to inspire them in their summer reading as well.

продолжайте читать мои друзья! – Keep reading, my friends!

Our final Monday? But I’m still reading!

It’s hard to believe that the semester is rapidly drawing to a close. One of my students today informed me that we only have 27 days of school left in the year. 27 DAYS!!! I’m freaking out because I still have two classes working on research papers and another class just getting started on a final project. With all of the snow we’ve been getting, it’s hard to believe that this truly is the end of the school year, and not just the end of the fall semester. I have to keep pinching myself, repeating, “It’s SUMMER vacation…not CHRISTMAS vacation!” No matter if it’s Monday, summer break, or winter I can promise you I’ll still be reading. Here’s what I’ve most recently finished, and what I’m currently reading:

• Matched
• Ally Condie
• Dystopian/Romance
• Fans of Lois Lowry’s “The Giver” will recognize strong similarities in this dystopian romance. Set in a “perfect” utopia, the Society chooses everything for you: your home, your job, your diet, and most importantly, your Match. Seventeen-year-old Cassia is excited to discover who her Match will be. When she is Matched with her best friend, Xander, Cassia thinks she’ll never be happier until a surprising and familiar face appears on her Match card. While this novel seemed creative at times, a lot of it felt like it had been done before. Distant rumors about fighting happening on the outer edges of the country (i.e. The Hunger Games). Every important choice in life is made for you (i.e. The Giver). Where the novel seriously is lacking is in its development of the main protagonist. In a novel that could be interestingly focused on Cassia’s interpersonal conflicts (i.e. should she act on what is “right” according to the strict laws of her society? Or should she act on the even more controlling rules of her heart?), her main focus is navigating the complexities of her love triangle. The story is an easy read that maintained a consistent and relatable tone throughout. The story seems to utilize cliffhangers, rather than captivating the reader through relatable plot/conflict/characters/etc, in order to motivate someone to keep reading the next two books of the Matched series.
• Little and Lion
• Brandy Colbert
• YA Contemporary
• When Suzette comes home to LA from her boarding school in Massachusetts, she feels like everything has changed. Her brother Lionel is suffering from bipolar disorder, and Suzette doesn’t know how to help. Suzette is also struggling with her own complicated feelings. She has a crush on her childhood friend, Emil, but is also falling for someone new….the same girl that her brother is also in love with. This novel already appears to be doing what a lot of adult novels themselves fail to do- namely, spending time realistically and honestly developing truly diverse characters. Suzette, for example, is a Black, Jewish, bisexual young woman living in a blended household with parents of different races and a brother with a mental disorder. In just the few chapters that I’ve been listening, Suzette and Lionel’s sibling relationship is so realistic that I feel like Brandy Colbert was stalking my own family taking notes. Suzette is not only relatable, she is root-able- a word of my own creation designated to characters that I want to “root” for! As I said, I’m only a few chapters in but this is a book that I would already recommend to someone else! This may be one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read so far this semester.

 

• Paint Me Like I Am
• WritersCorp
• Poetry
  
• I have not started this book yet, but I’m very excited to begin! Paint Me Like I Am is a collection of poems compiled together by WritersCorps teens. WritersCorps was started in 1994 to help at-risk youth in three American urban centers: San Francisco, Washington, DC, and New York City (the Bronx). Just from my short browse through this book, Paint Me Like I Am will focus a lot on mature topics, such as police, racism, abuse, parents, expectations, similarities, and differences. I’m excited to start reading this one!

 

• You Hear Me?: Poems and Writing by Teenage Boys
• Betsy Franco (editor)
• Poetry
• Like Paint Me Like I Am, I have not yet started this book. It has a similar premise to the first novel, the big exception being that every single author in this poetry anthology is a real-live teenage male. In a day and age where I still see many boys and men discouraged from engaging in writing poetry for being “too girly,” I’m really looking forward to reading the thoughts of America’s male youth. Topics to be covered with include more mature and raw themes, such as: identity, love, gratitude, sex, anger, competition, fear, hope.

A Quick Recap

I’ve had so many people commenting on my #IMWAYR posts about the number of books that I’m currently reading. At one point I think I had four books started and all at various levels of completion. Well I wanted to do a brief recap before this next week’s Monday update, since I’ve finished reading three of my four books! (And added another two more…why do I do this to myself?! ha)

• Before I Fall
• Lauren Oliver
• Young Adult
• 3/4 stars. I’m leaving my review at 3/4 stars for several reasons. First, I did love the way this novel’s protagonist spoke using the teenage voice. It did so in a way that I felt was convincing, without being demeaning or stereotypical. I also loved how this novel explored the complexities of navigating relationships at any level, not just high school. It did an impressive job of emphasizing the importance of every one’s own personal actions, without sounding preacher-like. (Something that we all know teens resent.) Without spoiling the ending, I will say that I found the conclusion of this story refreshing and satisfying. This is a novel that I can see many teenaged readers enjoying, not only for the narration but for the life lessons it teaches.

• Paper Towns
• John Green
• Young Adult
• 1/4 stars. I’VE FINALLY DONE IT! I’ve abandoned this book on the side of the road at a run-down gas station and I am never looking back! This book most likely will end up being donated to my local Goodwill. I don’t even want to put it in my classroom library because I don’t want to expose my students to this driveling, dumpster-fire of a novel. I don’t know what it was about this novel that I hated so much, but nothing seemed to work for me. The characters, the snobby vocabulary that I’ve never remotely come close to hearing out of teenager’s mouth, the ridiculous roadtrip. Breaking into Sea World?? Seriously- no one on this planet is like the ridiculous and unrealistic people in this novel. And if they are, I’d imagine that they’d be committed to some sort of asylum. I’ve heard several people say that this was their least favorite John Green novel, which actually gives me immense solace. I’ll give him another chance in the future, simply because I enjoyed The Fault in Our Stars, but if you’re thinking of starting a John Green reading spree, avoid Paper Towns at all cost.

• Pashmina
• Nidhi Chanani
• YA Graphic Novel
• 2/4 stars. If you’ve recently abandoned a book like me, you’ll need another replacement as a pick-me-up. Look no further than Pashmina. This graphic novel’s illustrations are absolutely stunning, and make up for the story’s plot, which falls a bit flat. The very short graphic novel (VERY short! I think I finished it in about an hour) spends a lot of time building up Priyanka’s (nicknamed Pri) character. This is a young girl who is struggling with her identity. She is a first-generation girl, whose mother immigrated from India, leaving Pri’s father behind. Pri seems to struggle with not knowing anything about her father, her cultural and ethnic history, or her mother’s complicated past. She is also juggling an embarrassing (for her?) hobby of drawing cartoons, wearing fashionable clothes, and balancing her jealousy of her favorite uncle’s new daughter. The first half of the novel gave me pretty high expectations for the climax and conclusion- seemingly where Pri will find out that the answers about “who she was” were inside herself all along. Seems to be pretty predictable, right? Wrong. This novel took a turn and I don’t even know where it went. Chanai bravely tried to tackle several big ideas- bullying, family, feminism, self-love- that I honestly couldn’t keep up. The fast dialogue and illustrations left a lot to be imagined when it came to the plot, and most tragically Pri’s own development as the main character. The best part of the story definitely came at the end when Pri started to ask everyone to call her Priyanka again, her given Indian name. It’s worth a read for the illustrations alone!

The Battle Call for Choice Reading

What I found most interesting in this week’s readings is also what I found the most challenging- the prospect of choice reading in the classroom. In many of my posts to date, I’ve talked about the importance I place on free reading in my classroom, and how invaluable it is to give students time to read on their own in the classroom. I went in to this week’s set of readings confidently thinking, “Oh! I know what this is going to be about! This is going to reaffirm many of the things I already know about free reading in my classroom.” While some things were familiar, many of the key ideas are so far beyond what I’m currently doing in my classroom. These readings were a surprising wake-up call for me to be more active and engaged with my students about their reading in my classroom.

A couple of the readings seemed to center on upper-elementary or middle-school aged kiddos, so the reading that I focused on was “Aim Higher” by Amy Rasmussen. Rasmussen is an ELA-superhero. As I was reading, I kept cynically thinking to myself, “Sure-this stuff works for her! She’s Wonder Woman! It’ll never work for me though.” I had to chastise myself in order to think bigger picture. Rasmussen didn’t arrive at her choice reading pedagogy overnight; her curriculum most likely has been crafted over years and years of experience. One thing that also has helped Rasmussen has been her willingness to educate herself on the topic. She name-dropped several blogs, books, and essays, all of which have now been written on my own “must read” list.

What I found myself thinking about over and over, was which students we allow to engage in choice reading, and why we do or don’t allow them to read their own novels. While I give ample time for free reading, this article forced me to examine my own policies on choice reading. (Which there IS a distinct difference between the two.)

Honesty time here…..My classroom free reading time is focused on simply getting books in kids hands and giving them time to enjoy them; I don’t place a huge emphasis on sharing what they’re reading with their peers, and I unfortunately often go days without talking with every student about their book. I find myself doubting not really my kids, but my own ability to facilitate a classroom environment that truly celebrates literature. And to be totally honest? I’m scared! I’m scared that I’ll blaze a trail down a path of passion for literature and that no one will follow me. I’m scared that I’ll have other teachers or administration push back because students aren’t reading something “in the curriculum.” I’m scared that writing workshops, conferences, book talks, and read-alouds will stifle the kids (or myself!). Mostly, I’m scared that I’ll fail. However, a quote from Rasmussen really struck me:

More than anything, I want all students to have opportunities to rise above the norm, and maybe, just maybe, we will see many more students, not just our struggling ones, immersed in books they love, and thinking about their reading in ways we’ve never imagined. Their engagement will improve. Their growth will astound us. They will develop as critical thinkers, accomplished writers, and as empathetic individuals ready to take on the challenges of college and their world.

I want to use this moment of weakness to follow Rasmussen and “aim higher.” I know that there are many things that I can still accomplish as a young teacher, and that it is up to me to make the difference in my teaching life. I need to set my expectations higher- not just for my students, but also for myself as an educator. It might take hard work, but it’s clear that student choice in reading pays off. 

 

My Monday Reading List

The beautiful thing about this class is that every Monday I seem to have a new book that has mysteriously added itself onto my current reading list. Looking back over the semester, I used to read only one, maaaybe two books at a time. At this point in the semester, I happen to have FOUR different books on my reading list! Having this many books started at once is definitely outside of my comfort zone; I typically prefer to enjoy one book at a time and try to focus all my attention on that story. My current, eclectic reading style has some perks though! I’m really enjoying being able to bounce between different stories; if I’m not enjoying my rather serious memoir I can just put that down and pick up a graphic novel or light-hearted romance. I think this new reading style has definitely been influenced by my students. When I check their independent reading logs, I’ve noticed many of my students putting down a book, starting a new one, and then eventually coming back to finish their first novel. I’ve been learning a lot (and I mean A LOT) from my students during this first year of teaching; but the ability to be flexible and fluid in my reading is definitely a life skill that I will cherish throughout my own life.

Here’s an update on what I’m reading at the moment, as well as short reviews of novels that I’ve finished:

• Before I Fall
• Lauren Oliver
• Young Adult
• 3/4 stars so far. I’m really invested in this book. Essentially the book is “Mean Girls” meets “Groundhog Day.” Popular, high-school senior, Sam Kingston, narrates the story of how her everyday high-school world was flipped upside down by a tragic car crash. Rather than dying, Sam appears to be reliving the day of her death over and over again. Each day brings new opportunities for her habitual life or opportunities for new beginnings. This book captures the teenage voice really well- maybe it helps that I’m listening to this one via audiobook, but the dialogue is very convincing, as well as the interpersonal conflicts between the characters. I believe the story is eventually going to lead to a moment where Sam Kingston has to rectify her death by making a sacrifice for someone she may have bullied in high school.

• Matched
• Ally Condie
• YA Dystopian/Romance
• No stars yet- just getting started. This series has been on my radar for awhile. Both of my younger sisters devoured this series, and I’ve always found the dystopian concept of orchestrated “soul-mates” to be quite interesting (honestly not all that different from the social media run dating world of today!) I love The Giver and have taught that book to four different groups of students this year; Matched seems similar in concept, so this may be a great book to recommend to my own students who enjoyed Lois Lowry’s classic dystopian so much.

• Pashmina
• Nidhi Chanani
• YA Graphic Novel
• No stars yet- just getting started. I’m mostly intrigued by the beautiful artwork in this graphic novel, the Indian setting in a culture so different from my own, and the mystery of the story. Where does Priyanka come from? How will she navigate two different cultures from two different worlds?

 

 

• I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World
• Malala Yousafzai
• YA Autobiography/Memoir
• 4/4 stars- EVERYONE STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING AND READ THIS BOOK. Okay- maybe the all-caps was dramatic, but seriously this is one of the most meaningful, powerful, and enlightening books I’ve ever read. I really enjoyed Malala’s narrative voice, and learning about a culture so different from my own. It made me really appreciate all the educational opportunities I’ve had in my life. I’ve always been passionate about education, and this book made me even more passionate! This would be a great book to incorporate into the classroom, and one that I’m definitely considering adding to my World Literature course next year.

And last and maybe the least (that’s how the phrase goes, right?)…..

• Paper Towns
• John Green
• Young Adult
• 2/4 stars so far. I’m about ready to drop this book off of my reading list. I’ve found the characters to be rather unconvincing and unbelievable (which I feel like is saying something for a young adult novel). This may have to be a book that I finish at a later date when I have time to read it by itself. It just hasn’t captivated my attention enough to motivate me to want to finish it. I’m doing my best to remind myself that “IT’S OKAY TO NOT FINISH A BOOK!” (Wow that felt good to yell! Sorry, John Green. Maybe next time.)

The Power of Books

Each further chapter we read in “Book Love,” the more and more I want to be Penny Kittle’s best friend. The readings this week really celebrated the power of books, reading aloud, and giving our students time to read in the classroom. None of this was new information to me, but absolutely all of it was valuable, thoughtful, and important.

As a brand-new, shiny, “aw that’s so cute you read out loud,” first-year teacher, I found Kittle’s chapters supportive and validating. At the start of third quarter, I implemented Independent Reading into my English 11 classroom every Friday. To be honest, I received somewhat surprising pushback on my decision from my principle. She and I get along very, very well, so I was a little surprised when she grimaced, saying, “That just seems like a lot of instructional time lost.”

Fair enough. I can see why my principle and colleagues might, upon walking by my classroom, peek in and see “nothing happening.” However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. I was pleased to read that Kittle’s description of reading in her classroom, and realized it was very similar to the students in my own classroom.

“Students read in my class for three critical reasons. First, I need to see their engagement with their books (which I can tell in a quick look around). Second, while the students are reading, I have time to confer. Third, students need to practice this central skill…Voyages take time. Good instruction takes time. Creating readers takes time. (Kittle, 68)

One of my greatest take aways from the readings this week, was honestly to keep doing what I’m doing! There aren’t too many times that as a first-year teacher I can look around my room and think to myself, “Wow! I totally rocked that lesson. That went exactly as planned! My students absolutely found value in my instruction!” Most of the time, the first year involves desperately hoping that you’re simultaneously meeting the state standards, following the curriculum, adequately reteaching, differentiating, modifying, collaborating with colleagues for cross-curricular relevance, providing for students mental/emotional/psychological needs, the list goes on and on. However, I’ve seen a few of my “struggling” students make leaps and bounds over the last quarter. They contribute frequently in class discussions about literature, they want to share their writing with me, and they are excited to talk about their independent reading books. Reading is working for them.

I plan to continue to use many of Kittle’s classroom reading strategies (read-alouds, conferring, etc). The one area that I’m excited to implement is the daily “book talk” idea. I currently have a shelf in my room where I display what I’m currently reading on my own; however, I do not consistently make references to what I’m reading, and I do not always make a concerted effort to talk about what I’m reading. I need to do a better job of modeling reading for my students. By doing daily “book talks,” I could daily model the importance of reading for my students, give them suggestions they can add to their own “reading bucket lists,” and give students the opportunity to be a “guest lecturer” by running their own book talk! I think adding even this one element to my classroom would show kids how universally important literature is to all of us.

Reading Diversely

What does reading diversely mean, especially when we think of our adolescent students reading? Diversity and multiculturalism are two buzzwords that are ever present in education, and ever important! Just last week I announced to my classes that I was excited to be adding a new “world literature” elective class to my roster next year. My principal had just given me the go-ahead, and I was SO EXCITED to be sharing the news with my students. (Mind you, many of my classes are already exploring multiculturalism, particularly through the lens of American Literature). I gave my students a preview of the course description and, to get them involved/excited themselves, asked them to come up with a creative name befitting of such a class. While some students seemed excited to have another elective English option available to them, I was surprised by the feedback I received from one particular student.

This student, who I’ll leave unnamed, upon reading the course description immediately stormed back to my desk. What sort of political stance was I trying to force upon my students, he wondered? Why should he have to expand his mindset, especially when he already knows that he never wants to leave the Midwest, he argued? Why should he be forced to study other people’s cultures around the world, especially when he felt his own culture(s) were being smothered, he fumed? (These “smothered” cultures included his English/Scottish/French ancestry..for those curious, I also teach a British Literature course on top of the required American Literature course all junior have to take.) This sort of conversation went on for the entire 45-minute period. While I self-consciously thought to myself, “WOW this is a long conversation, and he is missing out on reading time,” I forced myself to stop and engage this student in an intellectual conversation.

It’s the conversations like this that made me want to teach a multicultural literature class in the first place. It is our responsibility as teachers to “educate and inspire the minds of our children,” according to Ellen Oh. How can we expect our students to grow into thoughtful, inclusive, accepting, well-rounded individuals if they’ve only ever been exposed to one sliver of the human experience? I really love how Ellen Oh went on to say:

“Literature is one of the best ways to reach out to all children, to teach someone to care about and love a character regardless of their skin color or hair type or religious beliefs…and makes such differences less exotic, less weird. It breeds acceptance and tolerance through opening their minds and hearts.”

Reading diversely in my classroom means talking about the cultural and historical importance of each author’s experience, and how it affected their writing. Reading diversely means exploring all sorts of genres- autobiographical, science-fiction, romance. Reading diversely to me means branching across the river of our own experiences, and reading about someone experiencing something entirely foreign to us; then using those different experiences to connect a student’s life to a character’s life.

I plan to continue incorporating diversity into my classroom in many ways. I would like to expand my personal classroom’s library, and using this classroom library to highlight important and diverse books throughout the year. I would like to continue to read authors who come from all different racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, and economic abilities and identities. I cannot wait to start encouraging my students to enroll in my multicultural literature class, and using that class as a leap-pad for what is hopefully a lifetime of lifelong, diverse reading. I also post a daily Swahili word of the day (leftovers of my shaky Swahili lessons during a semester in Africa), encouraging students to think globally and think about new languages outside the mainstream, universal languages.

One final thing that I could definitely do to reiterate the importance of diverse reading, would be to model it myself for my students. In my classroom, there’s an area on my white board where I display the cover(s) of the book(s) that I’m currently reading. If my students look to the board and see authors/topics/genres of all different sorts, they’ll hopefully be inspired to do the same.

Here are two books that I’ve added to my reading list:

“Pashmina” by Nidhi Chanani

I have not started reading this book yet, but I know it will be a quick read. “Pashmina” is a coming-of-age graphic novel featuring an adolescent, female, Indian as the protagonist, backed by a female, Indian author. This book looks like it will be so much fun to read, but also that it will touch on a lot of deeper topics. Priyanka will be embarking on a voyage of questioning and self-discovery, ideas that many adolescent teens I’m sure would relate to. I’m excited to get started on this book!

 

“I am Malala” by Malala Yousafzai

This is my newest audiobook, and I can honestly say that I am entranced by this story. I’m only 45 minutes in, but already I am invested in Malala’s story- a story that moves across religions, ethnicities, borders, countries and buries itself in the heart of its reader. I think that this would be an incredibly insightful autobiography for students to read; many American children don’t realize the true blessing of a free, public education. By reading a story about the educational struggles/impossibilities that many girls face, it may just inspire students to be more thankful and appreciative of their own educations. By reading literature that portrays the value of education, it may just spark something in students to find the value in their own education. And isn’t that the real goal of this whole discussion? Embracing diversity, and inspiring the future leaders of the world.

It’s a marvelous Monday to be reading!

Isn’t it a lovely feeling when you can’t put a book down? Now how about when that feeling is doubled? I’m currently having to bounce back and forth between both books- I can’t decide which one I’m enjoying more!

I’m probably about halfway through the audiobook Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen, and I’m enjoying it far more than I thought I would! Romance isn’t a genre I’ve dabbled in much in the the past, so this book has pushed me out onto the proverbial limb. While the complexity or symbolism inside the book aren’t really too heavy, I really appreciate Dessen’s straight-forward voice and the relatable characters. The main character, Sydney, uses dialogue that sound like any one of the girls in my classes. There have been a few interpersonal conflicts in the story so far, so I’m curious to see how those will be resolved. Also I believe the flames of love are starting to spark up between a couple characters, which I believe is what is driving the story forward at this point. I don’t really think there is anything super complex or compelling in this story’s plot, so mainly I’m focusing on how Dessen uses young adult dialogue and how she develops teenaged romantic relationships on the page. Clearly she’s doing something right, because I can’t get my girls to put down their Dessen books in my classes!

I read quite a bit of Paper Towns by John Green in the car over the weekend. Unlike Saint Anything, I do believe the characters in this book have a little more depth to them, but still seem to be lacking something. Quentin is the stereotypical, thoughtful near-nerd who seems like he needs a sharp whack in the head to wake him up out of the doldrums of his life. Margo Roth Spiegelman (yes, her name is repeated as such endlessly throughout the book) seems to be that slap in the head Q needed.  Q and Margo have just finished a creative and wild (though pretty unbelievable) midnight romp through Orlando. Margo has since disappeared, telling her parents absolutely nothing about where she went. It seems like the only person she wants to find her is Q- she has begun hiding clues around town for Quentin to solve. So far the dialogue and creativity have been driving this story for me- I also have really been enjoying this mystery about where Margo went. I’m a little worried that this story might just become too ridiculous to handle (Margo Roth Spiegelman already seems like an unbelievable sort of person), but I’m doing my best to withhold my pre-conceived ideas about this story.

It’s a Monday! Here’s what I’m reading.

Another Monday. UGH.

But, more importantly, it was another snow day today. YAY!

Between catching up on grading, lesson planning, and cleaning up around the house, I was also able to get some more pages finished in one of my books! Paper Towns by John Green has begun to turn the corner for me. I’m honestly not far into the book (still A LOT of plot and character development left), but I really am enjoying John Green’s natural writing voice. I really enjoyed his best-seller, The Fault in Our Stars, for the same reason. I think he has a talent for making his teenaged characters very natural sounding, which is definitely a hard skill to master. I like the main character, Quentin, quite a bit. He’s observant and thoughtful, and seems to have a good head on his shoulders. I’m really interested in how Margo’s character will develop. She sort of has the whole “manic-pixie-dream-girl” vibe going on right now, which isn’t my favorite trope in YA literature. But there’s a lot of room in the novel to see how she develops!

I finished listening to The Book Thief on Wednesday. I just have to say, if you have not read this book it NEEDS to be at the top of your list. I never cry while reading books, and this book had me tearing up at the end!!! I absolutely loved the narrative voice of this tale, and the main character, Liesel, is one of the most interesting girls I’ve found in YA literature. She is completely believable, which I think is what made me so empathetic toward her character. I absolutely loved the book, and highly recommend it to anyone looking for an enjoyable historical fiction.

I’ll be starting to listen to Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen during my morning and afternoon commutes. I somehow navigated my teenage years without ever reading one of Sarah Dessen’s many celebrated novels. I was inspired to pick this one up by one of my students! I think she has read every single Dessen novel in our school library, and said that this one was her favorite. I have another girl reading the same book in a different class as well, so I decided to take their word for it! I really have zero knowledge about what this book will be about; I checked it out “blind” from my OverDrive app. I would predict it will contain some sort of romance, based on my knowledge of Dessen’s other works, but I really have no idea! I’m excited to step out of my comfort zone and try something new.