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Just in case you were wondering where I went....
Spring Break Art Immersion, always a good time!
Back soon for Illustration friday, and to show off some promo ideas.
'Hope your week was full of art - and a bit messy.
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By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 3/6/2013
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I had the privilege of interviewing author/teacher Donalyn Miller last month for the Spellbinders Newsletter. I had so much to ask her, the interview became an unwieldy eighteen questions long. Donalyn answered every one. I've broken the interview into four parts that will first run at Spellbinders and then over here.
Many of you know I was a teacher before becoming an author. Of all the things I did in the classroom, the most satisfying (and, I believe, farthest reaching,) was getting kids excited about reading. If you are a teacher, parent, author, homeschooler, or book lover with young people in your life, I highly recommend this book.
I'd describe your beautiful book, THE BOOK WHISPERER, as a reading teacher's manifesto for free-choice reading. You state "students in free-reading programs perform better than or equal to students in any other type of reading program" and that students' "motivation and interest in reading is higher when they get the opportunity to read in school." Could you briefly walk us through the changes you experienced as a teacher that led you to embracing this mindset?
When I first began teaching, I followed the other teachers in my department. I passed
out reading logs, taught whole class novel units, and assigned book reports. I didn't know any other way. I knew that there was a disconnect between what readers do away from school and what I asked my students to do, but I wasn't sure what I could do about it. School reading and the reading I did on my own never overlapped when I was a kid. When I began questioning why this was still true for my students, I began to read and study reading workshop and look for ways to make school reading mirror what readers do "in the wild" as I call it.
I gut check everything we do against these questions:
Does this help my students become more independent readers?
Do readers actually do this (or something similar)?
If I can say, "No," then what's the point?
Students in your class are expected to read forty books from a variety of genres in their year with you. How do your students first respond when hearing this? How does this compare to what they feel about their reading at the end of the year?
I am known as the teacher who expects students to read a lot, so I think my reputation precedes me now. In the past, my students (and their parents) were shocked and worried about my reading expectations. I urge my students to try reading more at school and home. In turn, I promise them that I will do everything I can to teach them how to read and enjoy it more. We start with these mutual commitments. After a few months, students are amazed at how much they have read and feel more confident. By the end of the year, most of them have read substantially more than 40 books. For the past four years, our class average is 56.
My students also discover that I don't really care about the number of books they read. I just want them to find books that mean something to them. I want them to enjoy reading and find personal value in it. The children who read 20 books matter just as much to our class reading community as those who read 100.
One of the things I love about your classroom is the way you read alongside your students. In giving your students choice, you have shifted the power from the all-knowing teacher to a place where readers meet and learn together. While your young "apprentices hone a craft under the tutelage of a master, " you feel strongly that "meaning from a text should not flow from my perceptions... [but] from my students' own understandings, under my guidance."
This is a huge shift for children. How do you teach them to take the reins and trust their ideas?
It takes time to build a classroom community where everyone feels valued. The children don't trust me at first because they think I don't mean it when I say they can choose their own books, writing topics, and methods for responding. I work hard to encourage every student. I try to listen to them as a person before I respond as a teacher. When a student tells me he cried reading LOVE THAT DOG, he deserves to get an authentic reaction to his emotions before I ask him to evaluate how Sharon Creech crafted the story. I cannot tell you how many students tell me that they think adults don't really listen to them or see them.
Through feedback during conferences and one-on-one conversations, I encourage students to set their own learning goals and evaluate their work against standards and class-developed rubrics. Teaching students to critically look at their own work before turning it in for my evaluation is hard for many of them who seek my approval as indication that they are successful.
I love how you play book matchmaker for your kids throughout the year. Can you explain how you learn of their interests and pair books with readers?
I learn about my students because I talk to them constantly-about their life experiences as well as school assignments. I know who plays sports and who likes origami. I know who has a new baby brother and who is an only child. I also keep an endless database of books and authors in my head (and use Goodreads), and I read several books a week. If I see that a book is popular with my students and I haven't read it, I get a copy and read it immediately. When I can't find a book that matches to a student's specific interests, I fall back on titles that have wide appeal to most kids like HOLES or NUMBER THE STARS. I also ask students about the other books they have read and enjoyed.
I read a lot of book reviews, reading blogs, and book lists, too. Remaining current on the newer books helps me provide titles that are relevant to my students. I also talk to a lot of teachers and librarians on Twitter who recommend books to my students and me.
Knowing my students and knowing books-there's no shortcut. I often joke that I spend my life introducing my shelf children to my classroom children and facilitating friendships between them.
Learn more about Donalyn and her book at www.thebookwhisperer.com. Stay turned for the second part of the interview, coming soon.
Hey teachers! Kids too! Are you writing any nonfiction stories in class these days? Lots of schools are trying out this approach to writing in general, and they’re studying the different ways good nonfiction books are written in particular, especially in light of the CCSS. So what different kinds of writing might work nonfiction-wise? There are plenty.
Try doing live interviews or writing a journal, for example—they both count as nonfiction. A few ideas:
Maybe your class can interview various folks who were on the scene during a great or terrible historic event, such as the Summer Olympics or even 911. Or try interviewing somebody who has an unusual job; maybe the old Santa Claus at the mall or a fireman (naturally) or your mayor or a local musician or a TV personality or your own bus driver.
And maybe you can pen some truly amazing journals during a field trip to a museum or a festival or an historic site. (Of course if you aren’t going on any field trips, you can always write some pretty entertaining journal entries about the food in your cafeteria.)
Or take a stab at uncovering the true story of how your own family came to America. Whether they got here last Wednesday or 300 years ago, doing the research is a hoot…and be sure to ask your parents or grandparents. You'd be surprised what they know and what you don't.
Or you can write research papers about things you’re learning in class—some examples might include compiling all sorts of comments about the frogs (living or dead) in your science lab, or researching and writing about a disterous Civil War battle for your history class, or making like a professional critic who’s writing book reviews for your English class, or examining the statistical issues behind today’s economic crisis in your math classes without putting anyone to sleep. Now there's a challenge for you.
IT IS OK TO HAVE FUN WHILE YOU DO THIS…YOU DON’T NECESSARILY HAVE TO GET ALL SERIOUS (UNLESS YOU WANT TO.)
Yup, your writing has to shine; that’s a given. But here’s an outstanding tool that lets you spice up everything you write, gets people interested in your stories and papers, helps you learn faster, makes sure readers remember your most complex material in a flash, and entertains your own self at the same time:
JUST STIR IN ALL KINDS OF PICTURES AS YOU GO ALONG.
Really? Most definitely! After all, just think about it. Whenever you go online or watch movies or TV or play video games or look inside certain books, they’re all about the pictures. Lots of you are probably taking pictures yourself today by using a cell phone, or you’re adding pictures to online sites like Facebook. So while you’re busy writing papers and journals and stories at school, why not think the way you do in the real world…whenever you write, stir plenty of artwork and photos and other visuals of your own into the mix.
Here are a few tiny examples of the gazillion ways to add pictures to your writing:
TAKE THE JOURNALS, FOR EXAMPLE:
When you bring your journal along on a school field trip – or even on a regular day – be sure to bring some colored markers or colored pencils or just regular lead pencils. Then draw the coolest things you see. Try to show the real world and still use your artistic imagination at the same time. Put pictures next to the words you just wrote or use pictures to make a rebus or spread pictures into the margins or make them into cartoons or make them extremely realistic. Let some of the pictures fill a whole page or two or three of their own. They can most certainly be funny. They can most certainly be serious or scientific. Doodling is just fine. Cartoons are just fine. Beautiful pictures are, well, beautiful and wonderful. And of course you can draw all kinds of fancy lettering in your topic headings along the way.
Trust me, people will want to see what you wrote if it’s illustrated. When explores like Lewis and Clark or scientists like Charles Darwin wrote journals, they did these exact kinds of things. Their writing was incredibly fun to read and was informative to the max at the same time. Yours should be too.
Another idea is to take photos during the day, print them out, and tape them in later. Or collect small stuff you find and glue that in too—for example, add brochures or cut them up and tape some of the picture into your journal. Or add small parts of the plants you see on a farm visit. Or leaves you pick up on a hike during the fall.
AND HOW ABOUT ART FOR YOUR INTERVIEWS?
One idea is to draw the person you are interviewing yourself! Or take your own photos of them doing something verrry cool and then paste or tape them into your written work. Or if they have any pictures taken when they were kids, make photocopies and add them to the mix. Even if you write your interview (or any other stuff) online, you can scan in your pictures and imbed them.
GEOGRAPHY CAN BE MEMORABLE IN SPADES:
MORE TIPS:
Think of cool and colorful pictures you can add to your charts and graphs:
If they look great, they can offer readers a fast and entertaining way to learn a lot of boring stats in a single glance.
Try putting the quotes inside of talk balloons that point at a picture of the person who's being quoted. Maybe this person is a new cartoon character of your own creation (kind of like the one Jeff Kinney made up for his Wimpy Kid), or maybe you can research what the people you quoted really looked like and what they really wore, and then draw them accurately.FAMOUS LAST WORDS:
YIKES! Art is in danger of disappearing from our schools, and that would be a DISASTER. Help bring it back by adding artwork to your written work in school.
Paint pictures on wood!
Rough canvas!
Pebble board!
Write words on all kinds of unusual paper.
Try playing around with paint, scraps of cloth, cut paper, or scratch board, and then add them to your written work.
Experiment with your photographs.
Make collages using buttons, flowers, seeds, or leaves picked up off the ground....if your essay or journal is lumpy, so what? Your writing will end up being a keeper, and you will learn to think, be creative, do research, and remember what you wrote about for a very long time.
The students, teachers, and staff of Obelisk Interlinked Learner's Home do the Harlem Shake!
Don't forget to watch it in 480p. =P
SOME DAYS ARE LIKE THAT
My teacher’s sitting in her chair,
her head between her hands.
She’s mumbling and muttering…
I think she just said SAND!
This really isn’t like her.
I know she lives to teach.
But that was unmistakable…
my teacher just said BEACH!
© Mary Lee Hahn, 2013
It's been a rough week. Sometimes the only thing that kept me sane was my poetry writing goal.
Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.
- Richard McKenna
By: Nicola,
on 1/3/2013
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By Sergio Della Sala & Mike Anderson
In the past ten years, there has been growing interest in applying our knowledge of the human brain to the field of education, including reading, learning, language, and mathematics. Teachers themselves have embraced the neuro revolution enthusiastically. A recent investigation in the US-based journal Mind, Brain, and Education showed that almost 90% of teachers consider knowledge about brain functioning relevant for the planning of education programmes.
This has resulted in the development of a number of new practices in education: some good, some bad, and some just crazy. Too often, people with the clout to make decisions about which practice is potentially profitable in the classroom setting, ignore evidence in favour of gut feelings, the authority of ‘gurus’, or unwarranted convictions. In short, opinions rather than data too often inform implementations in schools. Hence we have had theories suggesting that listening to Mozart can boost intelligence, foot massages can help unruly pupils, fish oil can boost brain power, and even the idea that breathing through your left nostril can enhance creativity! Sadly, it is often scientists themselves who promulgate unsubstantiated procedures.
We shouldn’t ignore the good practices and innovations in education thanks to the developing neuro revolution. A popular example might be the neuroscience data suggesting a strong neural link between fingers and numbers. This is testified by the observation that 6 year old children who are good in recognizing their fingers when touched will later also be better at arithmetical performances. However, more often than not “the good” classroom developments are actually centered around more mainstream cognitive findings. One such finding, named spaced practice, has been replicated many times; it shows that distributing learning over time is more efficient than massing it all together. For example, if students stockpile learning just before an exam, they may do well enough, but if they want to retain the material in the long term, then retrieving it via multiple tests is much better.
Inevitably, we are drawn to discussing “the bad” developments: one of our favourite examples is the use of ineffective coloured lenses to aid reading. This and several other unproven “aids” are potentially damaging the whole idea that knowledge of the mind-brain may contribute to efficacious educational practice. And of course much of current enthusiasm for neuroeducation involves ugly mistranslations of excellent research into an educational arena. Take for instance the misapplication of the well developed theory of reading (the so called dual-route theory) which has been caricatured and wrongly applied in education to justify an ideological stance from teachers preferring a whole-reading (or holistic) approach at the expense of phonics-based teaching. Briefly, the dual-route theory says that single-word reading can be accomplished through a route of letter to sound conversion (phonics) or through a route of direct visual recognition (whole word reading). It does not say that both are equally effective in teaching children to read. Indeed, several studies have demonstrated that phonics is a more effective method; yet the holistic approach to learning to read rages in the classrooms.
The neuro- prefix is very fashionable nowadays, and neuroeducation is just one of the myriad offsprings. Neuroscience offers an invaluable contribution to assess, diagnose, and perhaps manage pathologies, including pathologies of learning in children and adolescents. However, neuroscience as such has so far proved to have little to offer to everyday, normal education. The discipline which has most to offer is instead cognitive psychology, and from this comes some of the “good” that scientists could endow education with. Some of the findings from cognition are solid and counter-intuitive; for example, retrieval practice that, though receiving little support by pedagogists, has proved effective in improving pupils’ learning. This practice is based on the finding that retrieving material through several testing enhances learning of that material more than studying it over and over again.
The psychology of learning could prove efficacious in an educational context. However, science should never be prescriptive; it offers possible windows of knowledge which may or may not be applicable or relevant in specific contexts such as the classroom. There are no ready-made recipes when it comes to mastering the relevance of brain functioning to teaching today. The last thing teachers need is to be superficially trained in neuroscience, but they should certainly watch this space.
Sergio Della Sala is a Clinical Neurologist, Professor of Human Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh, UK. He is co-editor with Mike Anderson of Neuroscience in Education: the good, the bad, and the ugly, and editor of Cortex. His research focuses on the cognitive deficits associated with brain damage.
Mike Anderson is a Professor of Psychology and Director of the Neurocognitive Development Unit at the University of Western Australia. His research focuses on the influence of the developing brain on intellectual functions in children.
Image credit: Photograph of boy studying by Lewis Wickes Hine, ca. 1924, via Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, National Child Labor Committee Collection, [image number nclc.05276].
The post Neuroscience in education appeared first on OUPblog.
TEACHING
I teach,
I watch.
They fall,
I catch.
I lift,
they soar.
I brood,
they hatch.
They spread,
I gather.
I pair,
I match.
I teach,
I watch.
They fall,
I catch.
©Mary Lee Hahn, 2012
What was your reaction to Roz Schanzer’s excellent post,yesterday? Frankly, it made steam come out of my ears. I took it as a shot across our bow. The Washington Post article she linked to and the article last week in the NY Times show an enormous lack of knowledge about our genre. It’s almost as if we’re invisible to the rest of the world. We’re fighting all kinds of assumptions. Here are a few right off the top of my head: · All nonfiction is equal and equally boring.
· Nonfiction is reading a manual
· “there isn’t that human connection that you get with literature. And the kids are shutting down”
· Nonfiction is “recipes and train schedules.”
· “nonfiction requires more rigor than a literary novel”
· “nonfiction may help you win the corner office but won’t necessarily nourish the soul.”
And the articles that I excerpted these quotes from mention only long-form journalism as an example of high quality nonfiction; neither article mentions the existence of our genre of nonfiction literature for kids.
It’s not like we haven’t been thinking about this for a looooong time. Here are a few of the reasons our books are not studied in classrooms as the CCSS say they should be taught:
· They don’t come with ancillary material such as lesson plans, and teacher’s guides and study questions.
· Educators don’t understand how they support and fit into the curriculum.
· Teachers are afraid to stray from the prescribed reading material for fear something might show up on the assessment tests that they should have “covered” but missed.
· Teachers are over-worked, over-scheduled and have very little time to invest in doing something differently unless they know it will work.
· Many educators have not taken the time to read even one of our books. Teachers have no time to read them. Librarians may beg teachers to work with them and pull books but often they don’t have much influence.
· There is a LOT of confusion about the CCSS. Educators need to understand that the standards are in the way things are taught, not in the books themselves. Teaching from badly written material is NOT the way to teach kids to read to learn—one of the basic literacy skills of the CCSS. So they need to find out that our books are going to liberate them to teach with much more creativity, critical thinking and, yes, humanity. And reading is not just for ELA classes but for all subject areas. Our books are not competing with the teaching of fictional literature.
iNK Think Tank is in the process of becoming a company that will address these issues. It’s been a learning curve to find out how to be a business but, after three years, it’s starting to come together. Here are some of the things we’re planning: (I’m into lists today.) · We are going to expand our membership to include you, our readers. If you were a member, what would you want from such a membership? We’re thinking lesson plans, book clubs with online discussions, a community of sharing and strategizing about using nonfiction in the classroom.
· We will have the money to pay for high-quality lesson plans, and consultants, and passionate advocates and we invite you to participate.
· We’re not yet sure how things will develop but we already have a mailing list of thousands of registered users for our database and will use it to keep you informed. So if you’d like to be involved please register in the iNK Think Tank database and be sure to use an email address that won’t come up against a school firewall.
It’s clear that we authors can’t fight this alone; we need your help. Please join us. Learning is a struggle, but the community that reads this blog knows that it can be a joyous one. It’s time to help the rest of the world find out.
By: Molly,
on 10/8/2012
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Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Barbara Mariconda, author of the brand new, swashbuckling, spunky and spirited middle grade adventure story THE VOYAGE OF LUCY P. SIMMONS, as well as the co-founder of Empowering Writers, company that trains teachers how to help their students improve their writing skills. Today she’ll be giving you insight into both of her areas of expertise, writer and teacher, and she’s created a free downloadable sample lesson that you can use to teach LUCY (and later, any novel) in the classroom!
From Barbara:
“Lucy P. Simmons – described as an “intrepid heroine with a swashbuckling spirit and a sailor’s heart” and as “a feisty, unforgettable character” – this protagonist of my latest middle grade novel, The Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons has been evolving along with me for over fifteen years. Set on the coast of Maine at the end of the Victorian era, it is the tale of beautiful, red-haired Lucy, how her life changes in an instant, propelling her on an adventure sparked with magic, hardship, courage, and love. It redefines family, celebrating the miracle of people whose lives cross in unexpected ways, weaving rich tapestries of friendship, loyalty, sacrifice, and the kinds of relationships that change lives.
Years of travel to coastal Maine provided the inspiration and sparked the imagination that brought The Voyage of L. P. Simmons to life. Here, a shoreline mansion, not unlike the Simmons place.
In many ways, Lucy’s journey reflects mine – and surely, yours as well. True, my experiences have not been as colorful as Lucy’s – I didn’t survive the tragic sinking of a ship, or meet a mysterious siren on the beach, nor did I discover a magical flute or have my beloved home surrounded by glittering mist. But, in my own small way, in my own unique life, I’ve had some narrow escapes, met some mystical, mysterious people who’ve brought marvelous unexpected gifts, and thankfully, experienced a sense of mystery and magic in the stuff of everyday living. And that’s what I write – stories that reveal the edges and undercurrents of life that can be sensed and experienced, but never grasped.
As a teacher, I know children need to believe in magic – not so much the magic in the pages of a fantasy novel, but rather, in the miracles and possibilities often disguised in the ordinariness of life. And, a book can open that doorway metaphorically, can help hone the eyes of hope and wonder to see beyond the literal…toward “what if” and “why not.” Especially in this era of high stakes testing, where school can become wrought with stress and pressure, children need the escape that fantasy provides, and the opportunity for them to immerse themselves in the creative, imaginative worlds where the spirit can soar freely. But, given the demands of new national and state standards that increase the breadth and depth of what students must learn, is the luxury of losing oneself in a fantasy story a thing of the past? Is there time enough in the school day to indulge in a book like The Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons?
To succeed as an author and as an educator, I’ve had to wear two hats and find ways to merge both worlds. When I’m not writing for kids, I’m writing for their teachers, through my company, “Empowering Writers” – our mission: to empower the next generation of authors in classrooms today. But, what I won’t ever do is compromise one goal for the other – in other words, I’m committed to find ways for teachers to nurture the imaginations and creativity in the souls of their students, while continuing to challenge them academically and prepare them to excel as the junior test-takers they have to be.
This is artwork that Barbara owns which has inspired her writing. Can you see the any connections to Lucy’s story?
So, with both my writer and teacher hats squashed on my head, I went through my novel, The Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons, looking for every opportunity within the text that can be used a jumping off point for teaching the Common Core State Standards in writing. You can click on the link below for an entire outline – and, not only that. The basic techniques I’ve applied to “Lucy” as the basis for instruction, can be adapted for all of your favorite pieces of high quality literature. But, of course, I’m hoping you’ll be applying them to mine!
And, lastly…while I’m talking about using literature to teach to the standards, I want to be clear. Reading a fabulous story that transports the reader into realms beyond the ordinary, beyond the classroom, beyond the challenges of life, is really enough! And, I think, if only there was a state standard that read: Standard L.11.1a: Students lose themselves in story, imagining worlds of possibility, embracing hope – Oh, what a world it would be!”
Thanks Barbara! THE VOYAGE OF LUCY P. SIMMONS is available in bookstores now. And don’t miss Barbara’s wonderful, FREE downloadable PDF lesson plan, available here!
By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 10/5/2012
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I was delighted to see the CCBC list, “Between Fact and Fiction: Selected K-5 Books about History to Encourage Critical Reading/Thinking” for several reasons. First of all, they are addressing straight on for educators the point that there are books that straddle the two genres, books that are mostly, but not totally nonfiction for various reasons. Secondly, they are letting teachers concerned about using more informational books as required by the Common Core Standards know that these books work. They write:
The new Common Core Standards emphasizes the importance of informational, non-fiction texts from the earliest grades. But many books for elementary-age children related to history fall into the genre of creative non-fiction–authors and illustrators take some degree of artistic license as they interpret real events and lives for young audiences.
Thirdly, I personally am a big fan of many of the books on their list. And finally, selfishly I’m delighted because my forthcoming book Africa is My Home: The Memory Book of Sarah Margru Kinson, a Child of the Amistad, is one of these — a fictionalized account of something true. I’ve been hoping it would be something that would work with the new Common Core informational book requirement, but wondered as it is fictionalized. So I’m very glad to see this list with its focus on books like mine that straddle the border between fiction and nonfiction.
I’ve been on the road a lot lately. Two weeks ago, I drove to Shakamak State Park near Jasonville, IN with a friend
Celebration of the Future. PowWow sponsored by The Sullivan County American Indian Council
to visit a PowWow. It was my first and I don’t think it will be my last.
Last Sunday, I was in Kansas City, MO for the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color. Though a bit too spread out for my tastes, the facilities included easy access to a wide variety of places for dining and shopping. I attended sessions on tribal libraries in AZ, GLBT books for children, how to prepare others for change and a few others. I met new publishers and entrepreneurs who use locally produced jewelry to support artists and literacy at the same time. I also network with library friends old and new. Yes, it was a very good conference!
Yesterday I was home in Indianapolis to visit a friend battling an illness. I thought I was ready for a weekend at home, cocooning in my introvertedness but after yesterday I realized I need this time with others. Maybe I need to visit more now because I certainly won’t be taking to the road so much in the winter or maybe there are other reasons. Whatever it is, I
Opening speaker, Sonia Manzano aka “Maria”
won’t be sitting still soon. Maybe my travel bug is stirring.
This month, my third and final article appeared in Voya and it addresses what some publishing companies are doing to attract and promote authors of color. I met with reps from Cinco Puntos at JCLC and they are actively seeking authors of color. I also met a couple of publishers who publish works for people of color and I’ll be posting interviews with them soon.
I’ve been avoiding finishing In Darkness by Nick Lake, but I’m so close I have to be ready to post a review this week. Goodness knows I need to sit still long enough to write more blog posts.
I want to spend the rest of my afternoon reading through my neglected blog feeds and re-connecting with blogger friends. Rather, I have to do some work to my ‘Intro to the Library’ presentation. I’m sure this will be a work in progress for quite some time as I work to fully understand all the underlying messages I hope to deliver. I rarely use Boolean; do I want to emphasize it so much? Can I really step away from mentioning tech tools that assist and support the research process like PowerPoint, Word… ? How do I convey this presentation is a welcome to the library and not an end to what we have to offer? Education is a process, isn’t it?!
Wherever your week takes you, there you will be.
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About 3 years ago, I re-jigged my website. I kept most of the content, but got someone to make it far more user-friendly and to update all the admin behind the scenes. It works SO much better these days.
But it's a pretty big site (I keep getting new ideas for extra stuff to add...) so, instead of paying for it all to be done at once (gulp), I left the Kids FunClub area to come back to another time.
Well, that time is now, only I had a bit of a re-think: instead of aiming it at kids, I thought it would probably be of more use generally, if instead I aimed it at adults working with kids, like teachers, librarians, parents etc
So, the site now has a brand new Learning Resources area, which still has all the fun puzzles and quizzes from the old FunClub...
...and all the bookplates, bookmarks, colouring sheets etc to print out, but now also has a whole lot of new stuff.
The illustrated work-sheets, which analyse specific aspects of some of my illustrations or books, are designed to work with either children or students (or just be extra info for interested adults).
The story-machine (much improved since the Funclub version) should be of help to teachers of reluctant writers, as well as providing inspiration for those kids who simply love making up stories.
A brand new feature for kids (and some grown-ups?), is the how-to-draw series of animations, which guide you step-by-step through the creation of my book characters. There are just 3 at the moment, but I can build that up.
I've also pulled together links to some of what I think are the most useful articles I have written here on the blog for aspiring, or new, illustrators or authors, dealing with how to build a folio, how to approach publishers, self-promotion, authors looking for illustrators, doing school visits etc. Plus there's an updated film page, which again should work with most age groups.
I'm thinking too, that these resources will make a perfect build-up to my school visits: a way to really get the kids prepared and excited, as well as a great way to assist follow-up activities after a visit.
Anyway, take a look and let me know what you think and what's most useful, so I know what to add to the most. If there's anything not working, or anything you'd like to see that isn't there, do please let me know!
Teaching is really hard work.
Not only is it hard, it is relentless. We start most every morning with a meeting, so we better be ready to roll when the students walk in the door. We have short lunch periods (usually accompanied by a duty) and a planning period that is never equal to the amount of work that needs to be done in that time. We spend our days teaching, monitoring, questioning, noticing, grouping, helping, differentiating, showing, telling, encouraging, listening, improvising, answering, documenting...and every now and then we get to sit down for a minute.
So what keeps you going?
For me, it's my recess duty. Fifteen minutes spent outside in the fresh air rejuvenates me. Sure, I'd rather not have the duty, but without that duty, I'd go all day without stepping outside. I love the young naturalists who catch grasshoppers and bring them to show me, and who wonder what kind of bush that is over by the swings that has the red berries on it (Yew -- I looked it up on Google and I'll tell them at recess tomorrow). I love the kickball game when it's going well, and I even love slowly but surely teaching kids in conflict to use their words and talk it out before jumping to conclusions and assigning blame.
What else keeps me going? Reading Elephant and Piggie books with my new-to-the-U.S. ELL student from Saudi Arabia. She's a sponge. She's picking up lots of oral language on her own, but she needs me to (begs me to) sit beside her with Gerald and Piggie so she can echo read with me.
The readers at the other end of the spectrum in my two language arts classes fuel me, too. The ones who have read every Lunch Lady book like they were starving, and the ones who have so much to say after we read Capture the Flag during read aloud.
And I'm energized by my vision of what my language arts classes are going to be like in a few more weeks, when the norms are fully established, the fall diagnostics and assessments are completed, and we really dig in and begin the work of growing readers and writers. We're not there now, but we're going to get there.
What keeps you going?
For my mini-lesson today in Reading Workshop, I'll project the 5th grade Week 2 poem from
The Poetry Friday Anthology (Common Core ALL GRADES (K-5) e-book) (The Poetry Friday Anthology E-book Series (Grade-by-Grade))
It's a fun poem by
Irene Latham in the voice of a backpack. It will get us talking about personification.
And about that talk...I've had great success with what Ellin Keene calls "Open Forum" in her book,
Talk About Understanding: Rethinking Classroom Talk to Enhance Comprehension
When we're sitting in a circle (in chairs or on the floor) and I call for an "Open Forum" discussion, it lets the students know that they will "pass the conversational ball" from student to student, rather than every comment going through me. They do not raise their hands to take turns. After the first person speaks, the next person says that person's name, along with a statement of agreement or disagreement, or some other conversational segue. ("Billy, I agree with what you said about your backpack. I had the same thing happen one time...")
During the independent reading time on Poetry Friday, students read poetry alone or with a partner (or two). The goal is for everyone to participate in the oral reading of a poem at the end of the period during share time. Eventually, we will work together to develop a rubric to use for self- and teacher-evaluation of their presentations, but at the beginning, it's all for fun.
Last week, I limited the students to only the books in my poetry collection by Douglas Florian and J. Patrick Lewis, so this week I will choose books by topic -- perhaps only putting out books of nature poetry from which to choose. And, in keeping with the poem in the mini-lesson, we'll keep our eyes peeled for examples of personification the poems we read.
Poetry Friday is fairly informal and definitely a lot of fun. Even if you don't have a large collection of poetry in your classroom library, you can check 20-30 books out of your school or public library and be ready to have fun reading poetry once a week throughout the school year. Infect your class with your enthusiasm for having fun with poetry!
For fun with Poetry Friday on the blogs, go to Katya's blog,
Write. Sketch. Repeat. for the Poetry Friday roundup of posts.
I bought this book, which is an anthology of international contemporary children's book illustration, to study what other people are getting up to.
I've been taking it out with me to lunch, taking notes on post-its and sticking them in. It's important to keep studying after college - studying properly, taking notes, thinking critically. Just buying and owning a book with great art in it doesn't magically make you a better artist.
Also: look, Fentiman's makes cherry cola now! So exciting.
I just finished The Violinist's Thumb by Sam Kean. Not a story book at all. HOWEVER, Kean tells the stories of how dozens of scientists, explorers, and other learned folks - to say nothing of isolated Scandinavian villagers and good old Neanderthal - contributed to what we know about DNA, the building block of our very selves.
If Kean had given his readers, "Just the facts, Ma'am," as Joe Friday was wont to say, I would never have finished the book. The science is daunting - all those A's and C's and G's and T's and mitochondria and mtDNA and messenger RNA and, please, please DON'T ask me what these things are (I sort of know but I will bungle it, I'm sure). But the stories, the life histories, the theories, the mangled logic, the loves, the victories and failures...the embarrassments and personalities - even the insane experiments - add them all together and you have a page turner. Man, that Sam Kean can sure tell a good story.
And after we find out everything that is now known about DNA, Kean tells us stories of how scientists hope to use what they have learned. DNA is awesome. We, this world, all living things - totally awesome and scary and thrilling and wow.... Read the book.
Storytelling is a most effective way to get humans to swallow facts and remember them. There is an organization dedicated to helping educators teach through storytelling. Good Stories for Good Learning is made up of storytellers and educators who have seen how their personal stories have made the subjects they were teaching become real to their students. Adding stories, your own or folktales or riddle tales or other people's stories, brings life to learning. Try it.
There are studies that have shown how the brain reacts to stories differently than to lectures, and there are studies that have proven that students remember the stories they hear - and the facts attached to the stories - longer than those facts without stories. (And, yes, I promise to share links to some of those studies soon but I am already a DAY LATE with this post, OK? You can trust me. Honest.)
So the next time you want to make a point, or help someone remember a fact, or teach something to someone, do what Sam Kean did in his book and what effective teachers are doing in classrooms all over the place - AND what humans have been doing since language began. Tell a story.
Since the end of our school year is very near here in Abu Dhabi, I'm posting inspirational quotes for teachers.
The world seldom notices who teachers are; but civilization depends on what they do. Lindsay J. Stiles
We all need someone who inspires us to do better than we know how. Anonymous
There is no way to judge the worth of a teacher except in the lives of those he has taught. Anonymous
Quality education is not just providing information, it is developing wiser minds. E. J. Oliver
Theories and goals of education don't matter a whit if you don't consider your students to be human beings. Lou Ann Walker
One good teacher in a lifetime may sometimes change a delinquent into a solid citizen. Phillip Wylie
Never give up on a child. Patricia Willis
The best teacher of children is one who is essentially childlike. H. L. Mencken
Everyone who remembers his own educational experience remembers teachers, not methods and techniques. The teacher is the kingpin of the educational situation. He makes or breaks programs. Sidney Hook
I touch the future. I teach. Christa McAulliffe
One of the advantages of the new blogger format is that we can see how many people read a post. This post, which originally ran on May 2, not very long ago, had almost 800 views. This is substantially more than the average post. For this reason, as per our July reruns, I'm posting it again.
One person I’ve gotten to know well and admire this year is Dr. Myra Zarnowski, Professor of Children’s Literature at Queens College School of Education, part of the City University of NY. Myra specializes in teaching undergraduate and graduate students how to teach nonfiction literature in the classroom. She has studied the books written by iNK authors and she is an expert on the Common Core Standards, now the new educational objectives adopted by 47 states. Recently she gave a webinar for
Clemson, and The Arts Center were on the morning news (again) this morning.
It started at 5am (yes, I know) but it was fun to see a different crowd, and hang out downtown.
We organized the chalk paint street painting and brought out the head of "Arty" from the christmas parade. I'm already thinking about ideas for our entry in this years holiday parade. Giant stars maybe.........?
Doug Lucas, author of The Flats Teacher's Test, is my guest today with a post about why he wrote a book that one reviewer called "an explosive story...crossing the boundaries...behind the doors of the educational system". To all my teacher friends and parents, this may be worth your time.
The Flats Teacher's Test is ONLY $4.99 for Kindle (or FREE for Prime users) and you can get it here - http://goo.gl/9q9Ff
What made me write The Flats Teacher's Test?
Well in answer to that question you would have to understand my relationship with and pride I take where my daughter is concerned. If you've met my wife, this becomes a clearly understandable statement.
My wife is that rare breed of intelligent woman who decides what she wants for herself, knows how she intends to live her life and also takes no crap from me. With a combination like that…why wouldn't I dream of having a daughter?
I've got to admit that I was less than thrilled when my daughter started growing into a beautiful young woman. I felt she should've set her sights somewhat higher than some of the low life types of cretins(none of whom were good enough for her I'll add) she dated. My nasty wife would remind me, that daughters tend to date boys like their fathers. This is not true of course and I will hold the gentle, loving, hard working man(only guy she ever dated that I now like) my daughter married as an example of just why this isn't true.
Sis became enamored with school at age four. We lived in Marine Corps housing while I was stationed at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina. The Department of Defense elementary school, which served the families stationed at MCRD Parris Island and the nearby Marine Corps Air Station of Beaufort was located two blocks from the base house we were assigned. I can't count the number of times my wife would force our two sons out the front door for school…only to find Sis had already left out a window or the back door heading the same direction as her brothers.
Left with a wagon loaded with "her" books, pencils, crayons and of course a snack.
I watched as her dream of becoming a teacher took root, grew, and became a reality. I observed her work through a few bad educators, more than one tenured professor and several courses in college she hated in pursuit of her dream. In the process she never lost sight of who she was, where she was going and what she intended to do after she got there.
I also watched her battle cancer and pursue her Master's Degree at the same time. How can you not be impressed with that type of desire and drive?
I spent the entire time after she started teaching teasing her. The forward of my book fairly describes some of the alleged abuse I heaped on her. She's as tough as nails and gives as good as she gets; no man will ever brow beat that woman.
I spent my last tour of duty in the Marine Corps as a Recruiter. That's much the same as saying most mothers put me in the same category as "Chester the Molester." It also required me to visit every school in my area(did I mention I had three counties?) regularly.
Once Sis threw out her challenge(it's in the forward of the book) I decided to take what I knew already and add to that knowledge, just to prove her wrong once again.
I really wish I had been right and will admit(but not to Sis!) that I wasn't.
I combined the most common tales I was told into fiction based on facts. I was reminded that we still have some great folks beating their heads against brick walls in an effort to make a difference. In the process they are forced to swim in the cesspools: of politics, violence, stupidity, parental apathy, and government constraints that all but doom them to failure.
If you can get a teacher to tell you what is really going on in our schools, you'll hear horror stories that make vampires, murder mysteries and war stories seem like a five year talking about their last birthday party.
Do I paint with a broad brush? Yes I do and will admit it. What I will also admit is we have some school systems that work, you just have to search to find them. Even the good ones have deadwood they can't replace…until after the deadwood retires. The problems I found are over simplified in my book and I know that. What I also know is the deadly triad of unions, government and local politics are a major understated part of the problem.
The solution is easier said than done: fire the failures, let the true teachers do their jobs and stop telling ourselves everyone can or should go to college. Schools today are partly rated on their percentage of students to college…not how many of that number really go on and earn a degree. Also not considered is how many who do receive a degree, are able to make a living with their expensive education.
We look at the percentage of a school's population who do pass some sort of state assessment exam as the benchmark for how effective the school really is. This practice forces school systems to stress(and sometimes teach to) the test. There's more…much more that goes into why our schools are failing and will get worse in the future if things aren't changed.
Parents and communities are the only answer I think could make a real change and turn our schools away from the brink of failure. But most parents won't even set down and check their child's homework…"if" the child was assigned homework. Most high school students are shocked when they start college…shocked they have to do much more than attend classes and pass a few test.
The PTSA's and School Boards are mostly filled with the same folks. Compare a PTSA meeting to the Band or Athletic booster clubs meetings and then tell me which have the most parents attending. You can get more folks to attend a school play than parent/teacher's conferences. If you doubt that statement ask any teacher.
At the start of this ramble, that more than a few will find contain grammar mistakes, I talked about my daughter. Will She ever become an educator waiting to collect a retirement? Not a chance in hell could or would that ever happen. But I've watched her go from a starry eyed first year teacher to a seasoned professional. What scares me is there aren't as many folks with the drive and determination she has teaching.
When she says, "I'm thinking about leaving teaching"well this nation is in deep Kimchi.
If we destroy the desire of teachers to teach (note I said teacher and not educator) we have lost more than we'll ever know.
About the author: After retiring from the Marines I went to work for the Pennsylvania State police as a Forensic Photographer. I liked that job a lot because it was, for the most part, very quiet and peaceful—you might say dead-end. After working at that for a few years I became interested in Forensic video analysis. I think my main reason for interest in that field was as a way of proving to my father I could make a living watching television. I am now totally retired from all forms of work, with the exception of those small requirements my wife now inflicts on me—tasks preformed for little or no pay, I might add. My lovely and gentle wife added to this blend of joy and frustration by acquiring an attack dog for home security. Very few people have the slightest conception of the sense of failure a former Marine achieves as he walks behind a six pound miniature Yorkshire Terrier, appropriately named Trouble. With the profits from my book sales, I hope to be able to afford a “pooper scooper.”
About the book: A great teacher is a rock jutting from and sometimes engulfed by an ocean filled with the rip tides of passion, ineptitude, arrogance and ignorance. They are protruding spikes of granite which cannot be eroded easily. These are the teachers who make every effort against tremendous odds to polish young minds into the building blocks of society. Great teachers are awe inspiring in their efforts to create excellence and their influence is powerful, extending beyond even their own lifetimes. A fortunate few of us have had exceptional teachers who gifted our lives with knowledge as they challenged us and created a need to meet the potential of what we might achieve. These individuals changed the way we thought, possibly sent us down a career path or simply gave us a passion for learning. A passion which will move forward with us for all of our lives. All of us have encountered educators. More than a few of these educators started out to become teachers, only to be crushed at some point in their career. Those individuals have lost the desire to teach. Once this desire was destroyed, they ceased to care about anything but themselves and their retirement. A number of these educators can and should be faulted for their effort to instruct their students. There are more than a few teachers who've simply been beaten into submission by the very system they drove themselves to become part of. Most of those teachers who've been destroyed by our education system, toiled under the constraints of weak administrators. Administrators who care more about the system and the political realities of their own success, than education. For this type of administrator the people on the front lines of education and the children they strive to entice, excite or simply drag kicking and screaming into an academic environment are of little or no consequence. This type of administrator creates educators out of gifted teachers. In the process, they destroy the gifts and fervor for knowledge that could have been passed to future generations. I invite you to wander through the very foundations of our education system and spend a few hours with a few truly great teachers. When you finish I'd ask you to answer one very simple question, "Would I be a great teacher or end up an educator?"
If you are seeking insight into and are concerned about the future of our education system, then please have a look at The Flats Teacher's Test - http://goo.gl/9q9Ff
I'm writing the syllabus for my science class right now and am finding a great deal of inspiration in this quote from Lois Lowry.
A sense of wonder comes built in with every child. Powers of absorption greater than the most up-to-date Pampers are part of youth's standard equipment.
This comes from a piece Lowry wrote in response to calls for censorship of THE GIVER and is called
Trusting the Reader. You can find it in the
Kerlan Collection's Censorship Portfolio. (Scroll down the page to the author's response section for the link to the pdf.)
While Lowry was talking about readers in this piece, it most certainly applies to the teaching and learning of science. That curiosity about the world around us is one of things teachers need to kindle and encourage. Too often it's what is quashed by the lack of time afforded to science and the emphasis on teaching to the test. It is hard to find balance, but I'm convinced it can be done.
This sense of wonder and the ability to look closely and see beyond the surface of things is not unique to science and the work of scientists. It is also the work of the poet. Poets not only see deeply, but they see uniquely and encourage us to view the world from a different perspective. For example, I've never seen numbers the same way since reading this poem.
Cardinal Ideograms
by May Swenson
0 A mouth. Can blow or breathe,
be a funnel, or Hello.
1 A grass blade or cut.
2 A question seated. And a proud
bird’s neck.
3 Shallow mitten for a two-fingered hand.
4 Three-cornered hut
on one stilt. Sometimes built
so the roof gapes.
And I've never seen the sky the same way since reading this poem.
The Blue Between
by Kristine O'Connell George
Everyone watches clouds,
naming creatures they've seen.
I see the sky differently,
I see the blue between—
Read the poem in its entirety.
See what I mean about seeing the world through a different lens? In the hands of a skilled poet, poetry can astound. And therein lies another connection to science. When kids embrace science (play, discover, and do, NOT memorize), it too has the power to amaze.
By:
Paula Becker,
on 8/22/2012
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We all had a favorite teacher, yes? They did really neat, cool things that we remember well after our school days. My most “cool” teacher was when I was in third grade. He taught us to knit, make bread, sprechen Deutsch (as well as sing Bach Fugues in German!), tumble, and make lye soap. And that’s also the first time I did a comic strip–and fell in love with cartooning. His name wasn’t Mr. McCool, but it may as well have been.
Having taught classroom myself for a number of years, I know how hard the job is. So godspeed to all you teachers out there, prepping for the new year!
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Great interview - thank you! I want to shadow Donalyn for a week. Can you arrange that? Ha.
Me, too! Tell me what you come up with, Holly. I'm leaving it all to you!
Enjoyed your interview with Donalyn! I just finished rereading The Book Whisperer last week for a class I'm taking so it was great to hear her current thoughts on the topics raised in the book. Choice and making reading relevant is more important than ever! Looking forward to Part 2 ...
I love that teachers are reading this book individually and in classrooms. For me, it was deeply satisfying to interact with Donalyn after reading. It was like getting an expanded version of the book.