Newbery: Predictions? Thoughts? Ramblings?

Mary Lee:

Franki and I had many years worth of Newbery discussions before this blog was ever born.

We started by trying to pick the winner. We were never right. I think my pick was an honor book once.

Then we decided you could count it a success if you had read the winner. We came closer those years.

The next stretch was "if you own it, you can count it." That was the year Franki claimed success because she had the winner in her shopping cart at Amazon.

Due to the avalanche of Notables Nominees that are shelved in my basement, I figure there's a pretty good chance the Newbery is in my house, so I'll be contrary this year and predict that the Newbery will be a book that hasn't darkened my door: Jimmy's Stars, Highway Cats, The Graveyard Book, The Porcupine Year, After Tupac and D Foster, Seer of Shadows, or The Trouble Begins at 8.

Franki:

This year, I am going to think of it more as a wish, than a prediction.  There are lots of books that I would be happy to see win. I can't name them all but I had a great reading year and I think there are so many that could win. Narrowing it down to a few, here are my wishes for Newbery (in no particular order):

THE UNDERNEATH--really, nothing could compare to the writing.  I reread the lead the other day and it is definitely "distinguished".

GREETINGS FROM NOWHERE by Barbara O'Conner-a book that has stayed with me all year. Love the characters, the story and the writing.

MY ONE HUNDRED ADVENTURES by Polly Horvath--Horvath at her best.  She is amazing and quirky with great characters and amazing writing.

JIMMY'S STARS by Mary Ann Rodman  I just finished this one. If you haven't read it, it is a must-read. I can't explain the way I felt reading it--through the whole thing.  She captured the characters perfectly.

SHOOTING THE MOON by Frances O'Roark Dowell--another one that stuck with me all year. I could easily see this one winning.

I also loved Lisa Graff's, THE LIFE AND CRIMES OF BERNETTA WALLFLOWER and DIAMOND WILLOW by Helen Frost.

There were so many others that I liked a lot!

And I'm not done reading for 2008! Next on my pile: ONE THOUSAND NEVER EVERS, THE UNNAMEABLES, ITCH, and EVER.

I think WE ARE THE SHIP can win every award out there. I would love to see it win the Newbery as well as others! An amazing book.

I would LOVE for PAPER TOWNS to win the Prinz. Love John Green and the book.  

Bottom line: in less than a week, we'll know who won for 2008 and we'll start reading the 2009 books!

BLOG TOUR: Kelly Gallagher Joins Us Discussing His New Book READICIDE

Today, Kelly Gallagher begins his Blog Tour with a stop at A YEAR OF READING to discuss his new book READICIDE: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It. We reviewed the book here last week and hope that many of you had a chance to check it out at Stenhouse. A much needed book at a time when testing seems to be controlling so much of what we do in our schools.

We had a chance to talk with Kelly about his new book. And many of you had additional questions that you sent in after we reviewed READICIDE last week.

What made you write this book? How did you get to the point that you felt that you needed to write?
The idea for Readicide came out of my own classroom, where I have noticed that the number of students who like to read dwindles with each passing year. The only reading many of my students do is school-mandated reading—and frankly they don’t do academic reading very well. For the most part, my students can read text on a literal level, but when you ask them to think a bit deeper—to evaluate, to analyze, to synthesize—they really struggle. My current seniors have been under the NCLB testing gun for six years now, and beyond struggling when it comes to reading academic texts, they have lost their desire to read recreationally. In chasing test scores, we are killing the love of reading. We may succeed in raising our test scores, but we pay a large price to do so. The sad part, of course, is we have spent $1 billion on Reading First programs, and the students in this program did not score any better in comprehension than students who did not participate in the program at all.

Readicide is also influenced by the number of great teachers across this country who have shared their horror stories with me. The elimination of novels. Drowning students in worksheets. Scripted programs. Think about it. If you had to do what our students have to do, would you like reading?

What are you hoping that this book will accomplish?
To raise the consciousness of curriculum directors, administrators, and teachers. Most educators I know have a genuine desire to do what is best for our children. I am hoping that this book will start a conversation—a conversation about what the latest research has to say about developing the critical thinking regions of our brains, a conversation about how shallow assessments drive shallow thinking from our students, a conversation about how our classroom practices may actually be contributing to the role of readicide.

I want educators to ask themselves an important question: In the quest to raise test scores, am I damaging the long-term prospects of my students becoming lifelong readers? I hope the book generates hard talk between educators.

How would you prioritize the work we have to do?
First, the evidence is very clear: our students are simply not reading and writing enough. The National Commission on Writing recently noted that our students should be writing twice as much as they are currently writing, across all content areas. A number of studies have indicated that students are simply not getting enough reading practice. You have to play a lot of piano before you can play the piano, and you have to do a lot of reading and writing before you can read and write. Let’s put this question on the front burner: are our students reading and writing enough?

Second, the cliché is true: if you teach students to read and write well, they will do fine on tests. However, if you only teach students to take tests, they will never read and write well. We need to challenge them with the kind of reading and writing experiences that foster deeper thinking. As teachers, we need to move beyond being information dispensers and focus on getting our kids to be thinkers. This is not possible in a sea of worksheets.

Another thought: we cannot lose sight of the value of recreational reading (the kind of reading we want students to do the rest of their lives). Academic reading is important, but when schools emphasize only academic reading, recreational reading gets lost. Students need much larger doses of light reading, stupid reading, amusing reading—the kinds of reading that we, as adults, do when we are not at school. Schools who graduate good test takers who never read again are not doing anyone any favors.

How do you get these conversations going with teachers you work with?
Someone has to be the discussion director on your campus and in your district. I am fortunate in that I am in my 23rd year at my school, and I have a strong professional relationship with the staff on my campus. To be honest, however, I have not done as much as I would like with my own staff. This is due in large part, frankly, to having an administration that has not been real interested in doing the hard work required to implement authentic reading and writing. Fortunately, I have a new principal this year, so I am hoping this sets the table for real dialogue.

What do you suggest for teachers who feel like they are the one person who is carrying the flag for authentic reading?
Arm yourself with the research found in Readicide and in other places (see Kellygallagher.org for some of these studies). Make it your mission to get one other teacher to see the light. Start a “school-within-a-school” movement. Ask to share some of the research on staff development days. Share your concerns with administrators, board members, and newspaper editorial staffs.
If you really are the Lone Ranger at your site, never lose site of what is best for your students. Resist the political in favor of the authentic.

What are the most important things you could do with teachers in a very short period of time (at staff meeting)?
Discuss the importance that assessment plays in developing deeper readers and writers. Earlier in my career, Jim Cox, who is a guru in assessment, heavily influenced me. Jim reminds teachers to never forget WYTIWYG (pronounced “witty-wig”), which stands for What You Test Is What You Get. If your assessment is shallow, it will drive shallow thinking. If your assessment is rich, it will drive richer thinking.

I always teach to a test. The key is teaching to a test that drives deeper thinking. When teachers spend hour upon hour preparing students for shallow tests, the effects are devastating. Test scores may rise, but in the process we are denying students the opportunity to develop the regions of their brains that are crucial to them becoming deeper thinkers. I would ask teachers to carefully consider their assessments. Do they drive deeper thinking? Let’s start there and work backwards.

QUESTIONS FROM READERS
From Dani in NC: Accelerated Reader program made me feel validated as a parent. I have seen firsthand how it has negatively affected each of my kids' opinions of reading over the years. Although AR is strongly emphasized here, it isn't part of their grade so I finally gave my kids permission to forget about it. Three of them have a renewed passion for books, but I still have one daughter who has become a reluctant reader and I don't know if I can change that.

Kelly:  Regarding AR, I think the first thing parents can do is challenge the school’s decision to use the program. Ask to see justification—studies that indicate that there is a long-term benefit from using the program. Share the McQuillan study (and others) cited in Readicide. Ask administrators what we are really teaching kids about reading when we tie all their reading activity to earning points from shallow multiple-choice assessments.
That said, both of my daughters were subjected to AR in school and survived as readers. However, they were already avid readers before being subjected, and they were surrounded by high-interest reading materials at home. This is not the case for many of the students under the AR treatment.

From Kathy:  I do have a question for him, even though I have not read the book, I would love to know his opinion on a school having a well stocked (and that also means have a certified media specialist in there) media center and if he thinks that has an impact on students reading.

Kelly:  It is critical that every campus has a well-stocked library with a librarian/media specialist. I know there have been studies that have found a correlation between the quality of a school’s library collection and its test scores. Libraries, and librarians, are the core of any school. My librarian is particularly helpful when it comes to finding books for my students that fit a particular theme or unit. She also helps by doing a number of book talks.
That said, I have also found that establishing a classroom library—where students have daily access to interesting books—may be the most important thing I have done as a teacher. Students need to be surrounded by books every day. It has been my experience that it is extraordinarily difficult to turn my reluctant readers on to reading by taking periodical trips to the library. For maximum effectiveness, I have found it better to bring the books to the students.


Kelly has a busy week--touring at several blogs for the next several days.
Just like band groupies, we know that some of us will follow Kelly to each of the spots on his blog tour.
1/22 - THE TEMPERED RADICAL
1/23 - THE DREAM TEACHER
1/26 - THE READING ZONE
1/28 - THE BOOK WHISPERER

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.