THERE'S A WOLF AT THE DOOR: FIVE CLASSIC TALES

I finally saw this book I had heard about when I was at Cover to Cover yesterday.  A large book--one that I think kids may have trouble fitting in their book bags when they decide to check it our from the library. But, after reading it, I decided it would be well worth it--carrying this large book around!  

THERE'S A WOLF AT THE DOOR: FIVE CLASSIC TALES retold by Zoe B. Alley is quite amusing. You know I love new versions of old tales and this book has 5 classic tales--The Three Little Pigs, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Little Red Riding Hood, The Wolf In Sheep's Clothing, and The Wolf and the Seven Little Goslings--all starring The Wolf. 

The illustrations are done in comic book/graphic novel form. The stories follow the traditional tales but add quite a bit of humor throughout. My 9 year old was reading the book last night and I overheard her reading it aloud and then cracking up-all by herself with the book.   This book is on several Mock Caldecott sites.

I also think it is a great model for kids--a new way to think about writing  a story they know.  Since the kids at our school have access to Comic Life, I can see something like this as another possibility for them--putting stories they know into comic form.  It does change things, just a bit.

So, I a fun book. One that I am glad I purchased.  My 3rd grader loved it and  I am pretty sure that it will be quite popular in the library with all grades.

CHICKEN CHEEKS by Michael Ian Black

How could I not get this book called CHICKEN CHEEKS by Michael Ian Black?  I have a lot of books that I use to talk to kids about words and I had to add this one to my collection.  What can be funnier than lots of words used to talk about bottoms?  The inside flap of this book says, "This is a story with a beginning, a middle, and a whole lot of ends."  And that it is!  A bear is trying to get honey from the top of a VERY tall tree. So, he gets the help of lots of friends, piling one on top of each other until the reach the top.  On each page, the bear has the view of yet another"bottom".  So, each page consists of only 2 words--Such as "moose caboose" and "flamingo fanny".The bright amusing illustrations add to the fun.  Definitely hysterical if you ask me!  It will be a fun one to just read for fun.  It would also be a fun one to use when talking about words, word choice, synonyms, etc.  

Local News

A block of downtown Grandview burned today. At the time these shots were taken, they'd been working for 3 hours and they were trying to save Z Cucina.

I am a 21st Century Reader

In the Choice Literacy newsletter last week, Brenda shared a link to the website What Should I Read Next. This website cracked me up. I need one more way to figure out what to read next? Give me a break.

My adult reading these days is all iPod "reading" on the commute to and from school. I just finished listening to Zorro (Isabel Allende) for book club and now I'm catching up on podcasts of This I Believe, This American Life, and the Princeton Review Vocab Minute. (In another post I'll tell you about an amazing connection between two of these podcasts.) I just "borrowed/ripped" the cds of Son of a Witch (Gregory Maguire) and The Middle Place (Kelly Corrigan) for future book club meetings.

In the mail this week was yet another box of 2008's to add to the avalanche of Notables Nominees that I MUST read, along with all the other nominees that I need to be reading, and re-reading.

Also in the mail this week was a box from Amazon -- books I WANT TO read to stay current with my students. (In another post I'll tell you about the Flip video that also came this week.)

I just spent two hours reading email, Tweets, blogs (Poetry Friday only -- I'm hopelessly behind in regular blog reading), The English Companion Ning, and Goodreads updates.

On the top of my bedside pile of books right now is Billy Collins' new volume of poetry, Ballistics. If I'm lucky, I can read one or two poems before I fall asleep at night.

My basket of magazines and professional journals is overflowing. I am months behind in all of them.

We just decided not to renew The New York Times Book Review print edition at $91 per year because we no longer get anywhere near that much worth out of it and we almost never get book recommendations from it anymore.

After I finished cracking up about the thought of going to a website to find out what I should read next, and after I did the run-down of all my reading options, I realized that I am a 21st Century Reader. I read print (books, magazines, newspapers), I read digital (online newsletters with crack-me-up links, blogs, Tweets, Nings, etc.), and I read audio. I read children's books, adult books, professional books and articles, poetry, reviews, news, and more. I "manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information."

I am a 21st Century Reader. Are you?

Edited to add: Angela at The Cornerstone Blog sure is. Go read her post.

Literacy Today

A great post by Millie Davis on the NCTE Inbox blog about what it means to be literate today. Lots of great links and things to think about.  One part that I particularly liked:

   ."..to be literate today one must read and write; speak, listen, and view; think critically, act creatively and collaboratively; and manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information."

Poetry Friday -- Part For the Whole

PART FOR THE WHOLE
by Robert Francis

When others run to windows or out of doors
To catch the sunset whole, he is content
With any segment anywhere he sits.

From segment, fragment, he can reconstruct
The whole, prefers to reconstruct the whole,
As if to say, I see more seeing less.

A window to the east will serve as well
As window to the west, for eastern sky
Echoes the western sky.

(go to the Poetry Foundation to read the rest...)



I took this picture of last night's sunset. My classroom window to the east showed me the sunset first, reflected in the snow on the rooftops and in the windows of the condos that stand directly across from the school's side yard. I grabbed my camera and ran to the other side of the building. As I stood and watched the sun set, this column of light developed and magnified and intensified.

In this particular case, I would have to say that the whole was greater than the parts. The view to the east had nuthin' compared to the view to the west. I never could have reconstructed that column of light.

Later last night, when I was checking the day's Tweets, I followed Cloudscome's link to her photo blog and found that she had taken almost the exact same picture.

In this particular case, I would have to say that the parts are greater than the whole, or at least equal to it: two pairs of eyes (probably more than two pairs, how can we ever know?) seeing the same sunset in two different places, cameras ready and aimed, capturing and recording one moment of our planet's great beauty.

Now the really amazing part. I found this poem by searching "frost on the window" because it is so cold here (windchills of 20 or more degrees below zero) that the typical condensation on the inside of the kitchen window is frozen. On the INSIDE of the window. I intended for my Poetry Friday entry to be about the cold. But I guess that sunset wasn't quite done with me. I leave you to ponder whether that is the whole speaking directly to one of the parts through poetry.

The round up today is at Karen Edmisten's "Blog With a Shockingly Clever Title."

CHANGE HAS COME: AN ARTIST CELEBRATES OUR AMERICAN SPIRIT

I just picked up a great little book by Kadir Nelson:  CHANGE HAS COME:  AN ARTIST CELEBRATES OUR AMERICAN SPIRIT.  Kadir Nelson's drawings of the American spirit accompany Barack Obama's words.  A tiny inpsirational book with words that serve as a reflection and a celebration.  It is a pretty amazing little book that I just needed to have.  It might be a good one for some to read on Inauguration Day.  Really, I am not sure how Kadir Nelson is doing it these days.  Every time I turn around, it seems that he has another great book out there and each one is as amazing as the last one.  We are lucky to have him in the children's book world.

Readicide -- by Kelly Gallagher

Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It

by Kelly Gallagher

Stenhouse, February 2009

Kelly Gallagher is a full-time high school teacher in Anaheim, CA. His message about how schools are killing reading is one that every teacher and administrator at EVERY level needs to read. After every teacher and administrator reads this book, they need to put his suggestions about what we can do to prevent or reverse this trend into action.

Gallagher defines readicide this way: "Read-i-cide n: The systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools." He outlines four factors that are primarily responsible for readicide:

• schools value the development of test takers more than the development of readers
  
• schools limit authentic reading experiences
  
• teachers are overteaching books
  
• teachers are underteaching books
  

On the first point: amen. We are lucky to teach in a district where it is still possible to focus on the development of readers. Teachers like us are not always popular for focusing more on the readers than on the tests, and teachers like us are not always in the majority in our buildings or our grade levels, but there have been no district mandates that make it impossible for us to stay true to our belief in the fact that, as Gallagher puts it,

"If students are taught to read and write well, they will do fine on the mandated reading tests. But if they are only taught to be test-takers, they will never learn to read and write well."

On the second point: we've made it our life work to surround children with the best books and give them big chunks of time in the school day to learn to become real readers: readers who choose books, read widely, talk and write about their reading, and belong to a community of readers. We believe, as Gallagher does:

"Children grow into the intellectual life of those around them." --Vygotsky

And again, we are lucky to teach in a district that supports these values.

His next two points, about teachers who either over- or underteach books takes a little more introspection. When does breaking into a read aloud for discussion or teaching become overteaching? What kind of support does that fourth grader need to read The Giver, or will she realize on her own that she's over her head and abandon it? When do we need to use role sheets for literature circles, and if we use them, how soon should we abandon them?

One of the things that makes this book so powerful is the amount of research that Gallagher weaves into the book. With every issue he discusses, he reminds of us several research studies that point to giving our kids more authentic reading experiences and providing time for their own personal reading. The research we need to back the argument is embedded throughout the book.

READICIDE is due out soon. In the meantime, Stenhouse has posted the entire book on its website for your enjoyment! We'd suggest you take a look.

And, Kelly will be doing a Blog Tour starting here next week. During his visit, he will do an interview with us and answer questions from blog readers. So, if you'd like to take a look at the book and ask Kelly a question, post it in the comment section of this post before 1/20/09 and the answer will be part of his stop here on the 22nd.

Throughout next week, Kelly will be stopping at some other blogs too!
Kelly's Blog Tour Schedule
1/20 - Here at A YEAR OF READING!
1/22 - THE TEMPERED RADICAL
1/23 - THE DREAM TEACHER
1/26 - THE READING ZONE
1/28 - THE BOOK WHISPERER

READICIDE gives us lots to think about. We think it is one of those books that can start a national conversation about how to give students the reading experiences they need and giving them the skills they need to do more than pass a test.

21st Century Thinking-My Blog Visits

I love when Jen Robinson shares her daily visits on her blog. She gives us so many great links and we get a little window into her thinking about literacy. I thought I would begin to do the same type of thing with my 21st Century Thinking--posting about my current thinking and linking to some great posts that helped my thinking each week-- or whenever I seem to be finding lots of good stuff around the topic.

If you don't know the work of Michael Wesch, his video "A Vision of Students Today" was one of the first that got me thinking that this was something I needed to think about! This week, I found his post entitled, From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-able: Learning in New Media Environments at Academic Commons. My favorite line from this article "Nothing good will come of these technologies if we do not first confront the crisis of significance and bring relevance back into education."

I have found it interesting lately that the technology piece seems to be growing critical at a time when our schools are focusing more and more on testing and skills. So much bigger than technology is the issue of significance and relevance in our schools. But, my thinking is these new tools can encourage us to think harder about significance.

On another topic, there has been a lot of talk about blogging on the blogs this week. Is it already an outdated thing? Will people stop blogging soon? This article by Will Richardson addressed the issue of why blogging is still hard. He says, "Blogging isn’t about what I know as much as it’s about what I think I know, and I find that to be a crucial distinction. For me, it’s the distinction that constantly makes this hard. It’s also the distinction, however, that makes blogging worth it."

I agree and hope that blogging stays around for a while. For me, it is a way to make sense of my own thinking about books and teaching and it has also been a way for me to expand my network and learn from and with others.

Doug Noon at Borderland writes about What We Measure. This post addresses several of the things that have been concerning me lately--especially those dealing with testing and literacy. If we only teach what is easily measured, we are in huge trouble. When you look at those skills needed for 21st Century learning, the problem gets even bigger.

Chris Lehman "Motivation, Motivation, Motivation", Chris Lehman writes about motivation and the ways so many schools are running these days. He says, "If we want to move away from Theory X, we have to offer a different vision of our schools. We have to create a vision of schooling that does not assume that accountability trumps responsibility."

This may be one of my favorite posts of the week. For me, I loved seeing this profile of Rachel, all of the ways that this 5 year old is making sense of her world--using the tools that she needs. From a dad who can see all that she is capable of and who celebrates her many literacies. I was drawn to the post because I always love to see writing and drawing by young children. It will always amaze me. But the tech and movies that were also part of her day made the post complete. A 5 year old in a 21st Century world, learning and growing in a place that values what she has to say. What could be better than that?

An older posts that I just discovered hit on my own thinking this week--much of which came from talk at the English Companion Ning. So many of us, who have just joined in on blogs, twitters, nings and more, are often the only ones in our schools or districts who are excited about the possibilities for our classrooms. Ryan Bretag shares his thinking about Local, Global or Glocal on his blog. He says, "Many of us are excited about Global possibilities but sometimes at the expense of local collaboration." This post helped me to realize that for me, it is about both. Networking with colleagues from across the country and world gives me energy and helps me see possibilities. But I also need a group of local colleagues to think with--to go through the day-to-day struggles with. It can't be an either-or for me. And I imagine that is true for many of us. Both of our networks and the ways that they come together, are needed for our personal learning.

That's it for this round. Hope you found some links that helped stretch your own thinking. It seems like information-overload some days but I think it is well worth it!

Newbery Appeal--The Conversation Continues

Lots of talk about Newbery appeal this week that I think needs to be addressed.

Monica at Educating Alice says, in her post today, 

"In two weeks and a day, the 2009 Newbery Awards will be announced.  There will be delighted cheers, shocked silences,  and polite clapping at the press conference.  Criticism will be cautious as, of course, no one will want to insult the winners or the hard-working committee. But it will be there, I'm sure.  Is there ever a winner of any award without it?"

We all have our Newbery stories. Favorites that actually won.  Disappointments about what didn't.  Children who have never finished a book but who fall in love with OUT OF THE DUST.  Mary Lee and I actually started this blog after years of trying to figure out which title would win.  For me, it is the conversation and anticipation is as fun as the announcement itself.

When Kira-Kira won the Newbery a few years back, I was disappointed. I had had my favorites and had not heard of this title.  Because my 5th graders at the time were anxiously awaiting the news of the winner and to see the new winner, I picked it up, read it quickly and brought it into the classroom.  I thought it was good, but not "Newberyish". I shared it with my students--said that I had read it, it was good but not my pick for the Newbery and offered it up for anyone to read.

Katie picked it up immediately.  The next morning she came to me with the book filled with sticky notes. She said, "Mrs. Sibberson, this book is amazing. I think you must have missed some lines when you read the book.  Listen to this.." and she proceeded to read me a brilliant line from the text.  She continued, "This definitely deserved the Newbery and I am marking places in the book so that you can see what I mean. Obviously you missed some of these when you read it."  And she had--she had marked line after line of unbelievable writing--things that I had missed because I was unhappy that the books I loved had not won the award. She was clearly disappointed in the fact that I hadn't given the book a chance and wanted me to see that it did, in fact, deserve this award.  A book I thought was lacking "kid appeal".   KIRA-KIRA went on to be quite popular in the classroom--making its rounds as Katie talked it up.  I also came to love the book and it is now one of my favorite Newbery titles. (How could it not be?)

I learned a lot about the Newbery that year.  First of all, who I am to say if the winner will have "kid appeal"?  Just because it isn't my favorite or just because I may not have appreciated the book as an 11 year old, doesn't mean anything.  I think sometimes, we are so hoping that our very favorite book will win, that we don't actually give the winner a chance.   Lucky for us, the kids do.

Susan Patron in today's LA Times writes about this issue in "Don't Discount the Newbery". In the article, she states, (my favorite line of this whole child appeal debate!):  "Were these librarians looking at a demographic such as income level and determining that none of "their" children would respond to the challenge and reward of what I thought were generally excellent books?  That would be a terrible disservice, this undervaluing of kids' intelligence and curiosity, a devastating insult."

I think we all have Newbery stories like my Kira-Kira story. I think this conversation is a good one --just because it makes me think hard about my own work--putting books in kids' hands. This year, I will give the Newbery a chance. I will certainly be cheering for my 2008 favorites but I won't discount the winner  as I have before.