Showing posts with label Literacy Connection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Literacy Connection. Show all posts

Monday, October 23, 2017

The Literacy Connection: Words of Wisdom from Pam Allyn

The Literacy Connection events are always two of my favorite days of the year.  Last week, we were lucky to learn with Pam Allyn and it was an amazing day!  So much that I have been thinking about all week.  And such an amazing group of people to learn with!

At the end of the day, all of us full of great energy!
Pam left us with lots of wisdom and the following is a list of things I wrote down that I wanted to think more about. So much positive energy and hope and belief that we can make good things happen for our students.  I thought I'd share these wise words from Pam with you.


You get to know going to sleep at night that you did something.

Busy People get things done.

Open yourself to the potential that’s in you for the work.
All of us can be better.
The thing about literacy is how urgent it is.

All of my work is about a sense of hope.

Literacy is the foundational goal of all goals.

At the end of the day, we have a lot more power than we think.

Much harder to turn a 15 year old than it is to turn a 5 year old.

Let’s think about what we can do to make us.

We can make something happen. We don’t have to wait.

We do have a lot of evidence for what really works. But sometimes we don’t really believe it.

All the research shows us that independent reading where kids get to make choices is a key part of success and will improve test scores.

Deficit language is really hard for kids to get over.



We were so lucky to have Pam with us for a day last week. In April we'll have Ernest join us to close out the year. (You can register to hear Ernest at The Literacy Connection's website.  As part of our yearlong study this year, we are reading the book that Pam wrote with Ernest Morrell, Every Reader a Super Reader. It is an incredible book that I highly recommend. 


Sunday, October 15, 2017

New Books from Weekend with Literacy Connection Part 1

We had a great weekend with Pam Allyn at our Fall Literacy Connection event. More on that in another blog post. But when you are around so many great book people and when Beth of Selections Books brings a bazillion books to sell, you find new books to read! September and October are never my best reading months. With all that happens in the fall in the classroom, I don't usually find much time to read. But I did pick up several books that I hope to read soon (unless my kids grab them and I can't get them back!). Here are some that I picked up that I am excited to read soon!

Pam Allyn (and several members of the audience) mentioned this adult fiction book--Eleanor Elephant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. I don't fit in much adult fiction but I love it and after hearing Pam and others talk, I ordered it right away. Thanks Pam and Stella!


Two middle grade novels that were suggested as strong 2017 titles (I'll share these with Mock Newbery Club members if they aren't already on our list) were Pablo and Birdy by Alison McGhee and Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling. Thanks Brian and Mary Lee!






And I always love new fairy tales so I picked up Snow and Rose by Emily Winfield Martin and Brave Red, Smart Frog: A New Book of Old Tales by Emily Jenkins.



I also picked up a new book by an Ohio author that Beth said my students would love.  It is called Things That Surprise You by Jennifer Maschari and it sounds fabulous! Thanks, Beth!