Better late than never, right?
#cyberPD nearly passed me by this summer, but in the spirit of Tuesday's Big Gulp-O-Reading, I read the whole book in one day.
Because I haven't kept up with all of the conversations for the past several weeks, my big take-away is likely redundant:
THIS BOOK IS BRILLIANT.
Summer is winding down. The IDEA of being a teacher again in a few weeks is switching back over to being a REALITY. This book cushioned me as I fell from Summer Mode back into Teacher Mode.
Even though I've been at this gig for decades now, what I love+hate most about it is that every year is new. I never feel like I've got this down pat, like I know where I'll start and exactly how I'll proceed through the year, or like I'm the expert I should be after all this time and practice.
But this book makes me feel like I'm going to do a better job this year than I've ever done before.
At the same time they make me realize that I haven't been doing enough to support learners by even more finely slicing and layering my lessons than I ever thought possible, Kate and Maggie never make me feel like a failure. Instead, their book does for me what my work with it will do for my students -- it will lift me/us to the next level (and the next and the next and the next).
As Franki said in the foreword, "The ideas are sophisticated, but Kate and Maggie make teachers feel like "we can do this!"" They believe that teachers who are readers and writers themselves have at their fingertips the steps and moves that become the strategies that will help each child learn at his/her level. I love this focus on turning inward and accessing what I already know as the expert reader and writer in the classroom. And this book has given me the ways to make my years of experience into clear and concise tools that will bring my learners along with me.
I see your PD reading has started. I enjoyed reading your thoughts and appreciated the message about teaching a long time and still willing/wanting to grow.
ReplyDeleteThis book made me wish I was back in the classroom. It offers so many great ideas for demystifying the learning process for students. I'll be anxious to hear more stories about your classroom as the year unfolds.
ReplyDeleteI can related to what you said about the book making you feel like a failure. I've read this and Who's Doing the Work this summer and with both books I've thought "I should have been doing it this way" and it makes me want to go back to the previous year and teach it all over again. But, I don't think we are truly failures - we are learners who are continuously enhancing their knowledge and refining our practice. We'd be failures if we never participated in opportunities like this or did not take charge of our professional learning.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely love your post!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your take on DIY Literacy. We can do it is a great mantraI have not started my summer professional reading yet. I want to read Kate and Maggie's book.
ReplyDeleteYour post speaks to me in so many ways! The "love/hate" of feeling like every year is new. The more experience I gain, the more I feel I still have to learn!
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