The Best Kind of Professional Development

We had the best professional development yesterday. A group of us who teach in the same district, got together informally to share our thinking and to learn from each other about some of the new tech tools. It is a huge learning curve for all of us but it is such fun to think together about what technology means for our elementary literacy classrooms.

During the school year it is hard to find the time to sit around and learn from each other. So, we decided that we'd just spend a few days this summer hanging out at someone's house, sharing things we were learning, teaching each other new skills and processing about the things this means for the classroom. (This was our first meeting--thanks to Shelly for organizing and hosting!) We started talking and thinking about the Flip Video. Shelley shared a piece that they took on their vacation and then we looked at 39 Interesting Ways to Use Your Pocket Video Camera. A great reminder and a great conversation starter. We played a bit with video editing on iMovie. Some teachers shared their Wikis from the school year. Some shared projects that their students had done. There was not a tight agenda --but just an informal sharing. We chatted as a whole group and in small little clusters. We all left with lots to think about and new tools to try. I think all of us have spent today trying out some of the new things that we learned about last night.

This morning when I read Will Richardson's must-read article WHY SCHOOLS SHOULD BREAK THE WEB 2.0 BARRIER, I was reminded of the importance of what we are doing. He says:

"It's becoming more and more obvious that the longer we wait to embrace these shifts, the less prepared our children will be." He goes on to say, "As professionals, these shifts require us to be learners first and teachers second. If we are to fully appreciate the transformative connections that these technologies afford for our students, we must understand them for ourselves."

Will Richardson is someone who understands technology, someone who understands literacy, someone who understands learning and someone who understands authenticity. I think as literacy educators, we are looking for ways to make these new tools authentic in school settings. But we can't do that unless we are using them in authentic ways ourselves. And the learning is pretty fun! We are having a great time and our heads are often about to explode with all that we are finding is possible. We'll meet again in a few weeks-who knows what we will have each learned between now and then. But we are open to all that each of us learns and we are excited about learning from each other. Summer is a great time to dig in without the stress of time.

Jacqueline Woodson Marathon

"Sometimes, when I'm sitting at my desk for long hours and nothing's coming to me, I remember my fifth grade teacher, the way her eyes lit up when she said, "This is really good." The way, I -- the skinny girl in the back of the classroom who was always getting into trouble for talking or missed homework assignments -- sat up a little straighter, folded my hands on the desks, smiled and began to believe in me."

According to Jacqueline Woodson's website, none of the four books I read during my Jacqueline Woodson Marathon are autobiographical. It's probably just unavoidable, though, to find bits of truths from the author's life in each one.

For instance, the opening quote could be Lonnie (aka Locomotion) or Frannie (in Feathers) talking. Although she was born in Columbus, Ohio, Woodson has lived in Brooklyn since she was 7 years old. City life features strongly in all four of the books I read. She speaks ASL, which is important in Feathers, as Frannie's brother Sean is deaf. Music is very important to Jacqueline Woodson, and the music and lyrics of Tupac Shakur are central to the plot of After Tupac and D Foster. Woodson sometimes sits on the stoop to write. The narrator and her friends Neeka and D in After Tupac and D Foster spend hours (in all weather) on the front stoop. And if she couldn't write, Woodson admits to a desire to play for the NBA for the Knicks. One of Neeka's brothers in After Tupac and D Foster goes from basketball crazy to a basketball scholarship to Georgetown over the course of the book.

Locomotion

by Jacqueline Woodson

G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2003

review copy: public library

"Lonnie's voice was in my head." This novel in verse is told in the voice of a fifth grade boy who is in foster care. His sister is in different foster family. Writing poetry is lifesaving for Lonnie. This book would be interesting paired with Love That Dog by Sharon Creech.

Peace, Locomotion

by Jacqueline Woodson

G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2009

review copy: provided by the publisher

"This book started out being about one kind of peace and then became about the many ways we search for and eventually find peace." In this book, Lonnie writes letters to his sister in an attempt to keep safe the memories of their childhood (both before their parents were killed in the fire and now that they are living in two different foster families). Both Lonnie and his sister Lili are becoming more and more a part of their separate foster families and they have to find peace with that. One of Lonnie's foster brothers comes home from the war without part of one leg -- he has to find peace with his new body. Lonnie's new friend Clyde struggles to be accepted for who he is -- another way of finding peace.

Feathers

by Jacqueline Woodson

G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2007

review copy: public library

"...I wanted to write about the many ways people find Hope in the world." This book has a complicated mix of themes: race, organized religion, the holiness of living without organized religion, false assumptions, bullies, and, in a surprise plot turn, mixed-race adoptions.

After Tupac and D Foster

by Jacqueline Woodson

G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2008

review copy: public library

"I think Tupac was an amazing activist..." Two strands are woven in this book. First, there is Tupac Shakur -- his music, his lyrics, his life (and his mother's life) as an activist for disenfranchised black youth. And then there is family -- tight city neighborhood family, foster family, families that include a gay brother who is wrongly jailed for a crime he did not commit.

As a middle class white woman who grew up on a small rural town, I read Jacqueline Woodson's books from the outside looking in. The worlds she writes about are as foreign to me as another country. She writes with language I do not hear in my everyday life, and the urban world in which her characters live is far different even from the small city in which I now live. Reading these four books made it abundantly clear to me how few books there are in my classroom library or in our school library that are written from anything but a white middle class world view. After Tupac and D Foster is a bit too YA for my 4th grade classroom, but the other three are on my to-buy list.

2 Great New Nonfiction Picture Books About Endangered Animals

I just visited Bookies in Denver.  A great bookstore packed with books.  My friends here are taking such good care of me. It has been a great trip and today I did a bit of shopping.  I had never been to Bookies, so it was fun. (I also got some GREAT earrings at 5 Green Boxes. If you are ever in Denver, I would find this store. Very cool stuff.   

I picked up two new animal books for the library.  I have found that it is hard to find great nonfiction that younger readers can read on their own.  And, it seems like we never have enough books about animals. So I found two new nonfiction picture books that meet both needs. And both have great photographs that readers will love.

PANDA KINDERGARTEN by Joanne Ryder tells about a day in the life of the baby pandas at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda at Wolong Nature Preserve.  The photos of the panda cubs are adorable and the author gives us a peek into their day.  After the baby pandas are born and cared for they go off to "Panda Kindergarten" where they play with other panda cubs and discover new things. It is a great look into a place that is helping to protect the Giant Panda. The text is perfect--since so much of the story is told in photos, the text is perfect for younger readers.  6-10 lines of text are the average per page.  Lots of information about a great topic in a very kid-friendly book.

TIGER PUPS by Tom and Allie Harvey is the second book that I purchased.  At the Safari Zoological Park in Kansas, 3 Tiger cubs were born.  For some reason, the cubs' mother stopped taking care of the cubs so Tom and Allie Harvey's golden retriever, Isabella took over.  Tom and Allie and Isabella took care of the pups in their home until they were big enough to live outside. This book is a great story for all ages. Great photos accompany text that is perfect for primary students.  You can find lots of information about the pups as they grow on the zoo site.

These books are exactly the kinds of books I have been looking for for the school library--great animal stories that can be ready by young children and enjoyed by all ages.

Poetry Friday -- An Abecedarian Love Song to My Hometown

At the edge of nowhere,

Burlington,

Colorado is a place most

Drive through, not

Ever stopping

For more than

Gas and fast food by the

Highway.

If they took time to explore, they'd find the

Jewel of the town: the

Kit Carson County Carousel.

Listed as a National Historic Landmark, it's also listed in the

Memories of all who grew up here -- hot summer

Nights at the county fair, riding the carousel

On your favorite animal (hippocampus for me)

Perfection.

Quiet Main Street is 3 blocks away.

Remaining businesses do not thrive, but they

Survive. Farmers' pickup

Trucks cluster around Daylight Donuts at 6 a.m.

Under a

Vast sky and unbounded by

Wide horizons

Xpect to feel small here, even if

You are

Zipping by on I-70.

Miss Rumphius has a round up of abecedarian poems from her weekly poetry challenge.

This-n-That

A simple lesson in economics, and a big thank you Jessica Hagy for giving teachers credit where credit is due. Found at Indexed.

Way cool interactive timeline of children's literature.

Fabulous interview with Jan Thomas at 7-Imp.

New Mo Willems character unveiled!

The Sleepy LIttle Alphabet

Another pairing of two of my favorite people--How could I not like THE SLEEPLY LITTLE ALPHABET when I saw that it was written by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Melissa Sweet. This book reminded me a bit of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom when I read it.  All of the letters are trying to fall asleep but they really can't.  H is busy standing on her head and i and j are jumping on the bed.  So goes the story of the letters at bedtime.  The book goes through the alphabet and the letters are finally in bed. 

This is a great alphabet book to add to your collection if you teach primary grades.  The illustrations--as I have come to expect from Melissa Sweet--are amazing.  Different from some of her other work but really fun and wonderful in the details and uniqueness. The illustrations give the book a very fun feel. 

This book can be enjoyed by kids learning the letters and or letter sounds of the alphabet.  Letters on the end pages, on every page of the book and then in their beds at the end of the story will be fun for kids just starting to understand print.  This would also make a great read aloud--at home or at school.  And the story is a fun one, especially when you put the text and the illustrations together. These letter characters have quite the personalities!

Another Great Baby Gift

Beth at Cover to Cover handed me ALL OF BABY NOSE TO TOES by Victoria Adler and I had to buy it right away. This book is precious. It is a square little book with an adorable baby peeking at you on the cover.  The colors are soft, but not quite pastel.  This is a great book to read to a baby or small child.

The first page begins with the words, "Baby's got eyes, bright little eyes."  Then the next page the eyes are described as "round as pie eyes", "just the right size eyes" and more. The spread ends with, "Who loves baby's eyes?"  And of course, on the next page, it says, "Me! I do." The book follows this pattern continuing on with the baby's nose, ears, tummy and more.  So many people love the baby!

A great fun and happy book!  Definitely on my list of new favorite baby gifts.   I'm also thinking it would be a great text to use in Writing Workshop. The language and the way the baby is described would make for a great conversation about word choice and language.  Just love this book!

CYCLE OF RICE-CYCLE OF LIFE: A STORY OF SUSTAINABLE FARMING

I just read CYCLE OF RICE-CYCLE OF LIFE by Jan Reynolds.  This is a longer nonfiction book, meant for older elementary and middle school students.  The photos throughout the book are stunning and make this a very engaging book.

This book is not an easy one if you are not familiar with farming and production. But I so glad that I took the time to read it from cover to cover. I learned so much. On the island of Bali, a community has an amazing system for growing rice--one that involves everyone in different ways, one that understands the natural cycles of the earth, and one that connects to the spiritual lives of the people.  For a very long time, this system has been incredibly successful and has been able to sustain. The first part of the book explains this system, how it works, all of the components. The author helps us to see how much the farming of rice and the people of the community are connected.  Then we learn that because of the success of the system, the government decided to make it even more successful by interfering with the natural cycles and by spending lots of time and money to improve the system--interfering with many of the important things that made it successful. The last part of the book shares the work of J. Stephen Lansing, an American anthropologist who helped share information that helped Bali reinstate the original system.

This is an amazing story--one that helps us see more than the story of Bali and rice but also the importance of community, the ways in which we are clearly a global society and the ways in which new technologies do not always make things better. This is not an easy text but it is one that I am excited to share with kids.  There is a lot to learn and a lot to think about.  Whether it is a topic that is new to you or one that you are familiar with, this is a great read.

I have been thinking a lot about nonfiction books for middle grade readers.  As I have gone through the nonfiction section of our school library, it has become more obvious how nonfiction has changed in the last 20 years.  For so long, nonfiction for children was almost nonexistent.  The books were very encyclopedia-like and not really that much different from the actual encyclopedias.  But then we started to get some quality books, written specifically for kids.  One pattern I noticed later was that so many of the books that are in our library are on more of a "magazine" style--with photos, captions, etc. spread out all over the page. I realized that kids were spending lots of time with these books but were having trouble gathering information from them because of the volume and variety of information. So, I have been on the lookout for nonfiction books that can be read to cover to cover. 

I think if we think about our students and the types of content reading they will be doing in their lives, depending on their fields of study, sharing great nonfiction with them is hugely important.  I will be honest, this book was not an easy one for me to understand.  I read it through once to get the general idea of the concepts described.  I read it a second time to pick up more of the content details.  At first I couldn't imagine reading this book to elementary students but then I realized that so much of our nonfiction reading is about working through topics that are new and interesting to us. After having spent time with the book, I think it would be a perfect book to share with students--to think and wonder though together, to go back to adding more information than during the first read.  A great book and a great message for everyone.

Scaredy Squirrel Sighting (and a love letter to independent bookstores)

"Such a discouraging time for people who love reading. Independent bookstores are struggling, all those magical places built by people who loved books from the moment they could hold one, and wanted to share that love with others. Helen recalls one such store where she did a reading a couple of years ago, how inviting the place was, with its broken-in armchairs and lamps glowing a deep yellow, with the cat named Melville, who slept on his back in the front window. It was a browser's paradise, books so thoughtfully and attractively displayed you wanted everything you saw, whether it was a nonfiction book about cod, or a volume of poetry, or a fat novel with ragged-edged pages, or a cookbook featuring winter soups. It was a time -- the only time, as it happened -- that Helen had arrived far too early for her reading, and she spent forty minutes wandering around the store. In the children's section, she eavesdropped as a mother read Scaredy Squirrel to her son; both mother and child laughed aloud at the inclusion of sardines in Scaredy's emergency kit, and at his first step in what to do in case of emergency: "panic." Helen laughed, too, and stopped just short of asking if she could sit down and listen to the rest of the story." (p.227-228)

Poetry Friday -- Not a Poem

No poem this week. Instead, a quote from home safe by Elizabeth Berg:

"She opens the novel again, reads one page, another. Then another. And finally, everything in her own life surrenders to the one being presented here. An uneasy pain thins, lifts, disappears. Dan once had a friend who died from metastatic cancer. Toward the end, Dan visited him with some frequency; and each time he would call before going, to see what his friend might want or need. Each time, his friend requested the same thing: books." (p.39)

The round up this week is at Carol's Corner.