Mentor Texts in the Digital Writing Workshop: Reading Like a Writer

(This post is part of a series on Mentor Text in the Digital Writing Workshop. Other participants include Katie Dicesare, Tony Keefer, Kevin Hodgson, Troy Hicks and Bill Bass. The post are being collected at  Mentor Texts in the Digital Writing Workshop.)

"Teachers must also ensure that children have access to reading materials that are relevant to the kind of writer they are interested in becoming at a particular moment.  Teachers must recruit the authors who will become the children's unwitting collaborators."  
                                                               Frank Smith, Joining the Literacy Club

Our students naturally mentor themselves to texts that matter to them.  Kids are good at writing picture books because they have often been immersed in narrative for years before they write one of their own.  Every day in the library, someone writes a new installment of the Pigeon books by Mo Willems. We have The Pigeon Gets a Christmas Tree, Don't Let the Pigeon Get Away and The Pigeon Gets a Wife in process right now.  Mo Willems makes it easy for kids to grow as writers after they've been immersed-as readers-with his books.   Lately, I have been thinking about what it means to read like a writer when the idea of both reading and writing are constantly expanding. 

A few years ago, many of my students were learning Hannah Montana's Hoedown Throwdown dance from this video.  Kids would practice the dance at recess and the clip inspired many to start their own Youtube channels teaching other dances they knew.  They looked at this and thought, "I could do this!"

And we are seeing more and more things like Toaster Pop, an iPod app/game created by a first grader.

With apps like the Toaster Pop, we can read the story and easily identify the mentors this child used and the way in which he realized, "Hey, I could do that."   Our kids are natural creators--they easily and naturally create things that they see in the real world.

But my students have taught me that the experiences they have with digital texts at home are mostly limited to viewing for sheer entertainment.  They have said, "We are good at watching videos for entertainment, but not to get information or learn."  Much of their viewing is based on videos or shows like iCarly. I LOVE iCarly and her web show makes me laugh. But I notice that when kids try to create narrative or tell stories digitally, they fall back on the kinds of things they've seen. Like this popular iCarly clip.

Funny, right?  I can already think of other episodes I would love to create and this video has sparked ideas of videos that would be fun to create for friends' birthdays or other holidays.  As a teacher, I need to know what my kids spend their time viewing so that I can build on and teach from that. But the types of things kids are viewing are not necessarily the things that will help them learn to grow as writers. So, I also need to find mentors that better match what I am hoping they will create. And as Kevin Hodgson mentioned in his post yesterday, "...with some exceptions, there is still a decided lack of digital examples of  composition with technology that we can turn to as educators and provide as samples for our students."

I am a person who is is constantly mentoring myself to experts.  The internet has been so instrumental in my learning.  As a beginning blogger, I evolved as a writer because I read other blogs and got to know the genre and the culture of bloggers. When I started making cake pops and more fancy cupcakes, I followed blogs that shared the process of decorating and focused on those that could move me forward.  And as I start toward a fitness goal of running, I look to others who have very recently started the process so that I learn from their experiences.

But in order to do that, I had to be comfortable on the web and with digital texts without an immediate need to learn something specific. It is the same with our students. If we want them to be composers of quality digital pieces, they need to be immersed in these types of things as readers. As Troy Hicks mentioned in his post on Friday, "It’s the difference between handing them a flip camera and giving them an hour to pull something together as compared to spending time talking about the craft of digital writing."

If we want students to create more sophisticated pieces, or use digital tools for authentic purposes,  we need to make sure that we don't just pull those samples out quickly during writing workshop time--to study for a day or two. Instead, we need to think about how digital texts fit into all of the pieces of our literacy workshops. We need to use pieces of quality media throughout the day and rethink the ways we integrate all forms of reading into our day.

I have realized lately how much is out there for our students to learn from. There  are many non-quality digital resources out there,  but there are also many amazing sites for students.  Some of my favorites are Wonderopolis, Pebble Go, Meet Me at the Corner, DOGONews, ToonBookReader and Tumblebooks.  But I am also realizing that if we do not value al types of media at school, all day, every day, we cannot expect our students



Read Aloud
Do I choose to read aloud only texts from traditional books or do I share digital texts, audio books, blogs, etc. during read aloud?
Do we use web resources such as author websites and book trailers to help us dig deeper into the book we are reading?
Do I read aloud from websites and blogs?

Independent Reading
Do we use online resources for book previewing and book selection?
Do I limit students' independent reading to traditional books or do they have a variety of options for their reading time?  Do I place equal value on reading on e-readers, reading websites, etc. as I do on reading novels?
Do I help my students use online tools to support their lives as readers? Do I value annotation tools, bookmarking tools, RSS feeds, etc. as part of my readers lives? Do I model these tools in minilessons?

Reading and Writing Minilessons
Do I use digital texts or pieces when teaching minilessons?
Do I rely completely on traditional text or do I use film clips, blog entries, podcasts, etc. when planning minilessons?
Do I share process in my minilessons? Do I tend to share process only as it relates to creating text-based pieces?
Do I share my own writing process?  Composing in several types of media?

Shared Reading
Have I reflected on the resources I rely on for Shared Reading?
Do I include web reading and viewing when thinking about Shared Reading experiences?
How can I include a variety of texts for students to process through together?

Content Reading
Have I found sources for content reading that go beyond textbooks and traditional text?
Do I rely on newspapers for talk around current events or do I tend to focus more on sites like DOGONews and other sites that combine text and video?
How am I supporting the importance of visual information in the content areas?

I spend a great deal of time reading books so that I have the right book to share in a minilesson or reading conference. But I am working to rethink the messages I give to students as both readers and writers when I rely almost exclusively on more traditional texts for much of the day.  I've been inspired by teachers like Andrea Smith who incorporates Wonderopolis into her Morning Meeting.  I also learn tons from Katie DiCesare who has been thinking about this idea for some time.  For me, it is about honestly reflecting on the types of "texts" I value all day, every day. And to expand the ways I use digital texts throughout the day. I know that if I want my students to read like writers, they need to be readers of digital text first.  For my students to become creators of sophisticated digital texts, I believe that they need to be immersed in a variety of quality multi-media all day, every day.

Mentor Texts in the Digital Writing Workshop: Writer as Decision-Maker

"This is no recipe book: I have tried not to be formulaic. Rather, I want to suggest the richness of the options, the myriad of possibilities open to the writer at any given moment."

Ralph Fletcher, What a Writer Needs, 1995, p. 2

When I think about how the possibilities for writing has expanded for our students, these are the two video clips I keep going back to.

I discovered this "Saved by the Bell" Public Service Announcement years ago and have watched it numerous times.

Don't do drugs - saved by the bell from Matthew Stockmeyer on Vimeo.

It seems somewhat obvious that this was a clip scripted and produced by adults--adults who worked at a television studio. It also is interesting that the "adult' has to come in to have the final word. If I were to imagine kids watching this on t.v. I assumed not many kids watched it and thought, "Hey, I'd like to make something like that."  With the technology available then, it took the big television studios, etc. to get word out about a topic quickly. It took lots of money and lots of adult organization.

Compare that to this Public Service Announcement done a few years ago by Noah Gray, a high school student:

I found this clip almost 3 years ago and I have watched it over and over again. The power of this message is amazing.  From my understanding, Noah Gray was a high school student when he created this video. It was a message he cared about and the equipment necessary was easy to use.  The message hit the internet and spread.  You can find connected videos inspired by this video all over Youtube. It is clear that kids saw this and thought, "I can do that."

In my thinking about mentor texts, we have to keep in mind that writing has to be real and it has to have a real audience.  We also have to remember that writers are ultimately decision-makers.

I've used this clip with students and adults to really begin to think about all of the decisions available to writers today.  Noah Gray made so many decisions as a writer in this very short, powerful clip. He made decisions about the script, the sound and the visuals.  Noah decided where to cut each person's lines and where to start the next person. He decided on the message. Here are some other decisions he made:

black and white video/no color
head shots only/not full body-same shot for each participant
casual dress for people speaking
short clips of talk by participants
boys and girls all look to be in teen years
participants showed up more than once
question as a lead into the video/script
9 people total
ending united with 9 kids shown in grid
white, plain background
no music/background sound
30 seconds long

Each of these (and many other) decisions were made for a reason. The reasons had to do with the message that Noah wanted his viewers to take away. Instead of just crafting words, as writers have done in the past, digital writers make decisions about words, sound, visuals and more.

Mentor texts in our classrooms could open up students' possibilities to these decisions-the options they have as writers. They can see that they are the decision makers and that multi-media requires creators of digital text to make many decisions so that their messages are clear and powerful.  Rather than be formulaic, I want my students' mentors to be pieces that open up what is possible in their own work.

Poetry Friday -- You Shall

This is what you shall do

by Walt Whitman

"This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body."

*     *     *     *     *     *

My own personal "you shall"s for the new year are already stumbling. I think Whitman had the right idea with his -- kind of a "shoot for the moon, and if you miss at least you'll hit the stars" sort of philosophy.

Maybe instead of focusing so much on my "do this every day, do one of those every week" self-commandments, I need to have a better vision of the person I think I'll be if I hold myself to them, in all their minutia. I need to ask myself, "Is this what I need to do to "be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in words"? "

If your New Year's "you shall"s are still on track, good for you! If yours are also already stumbling, I give you permission to have a do-over or a restart (as many times as you need it in the next 51 weeks).

JoAnn has the Poetry Friday roundup today at Teaching Authors.

Book Lists and Comment Challenge

The Cybils Finalists have been posted -- five great books in each of eleven categories/genres.

Jules has done an amazing 2011 blog retrospective over at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. It's a visual feast.

Sylvia Vardell shares her top 20 children's poetry books from 2011 at Poetry For Children.

And the motherlode of all lists: Susan's 2011 Best Children's Books: A List of Lists and Awards at Chicken Spaghetti.

*     *     *     *     *     *

On another note, there's been lots of talk here at A Year of Reading and around the Kidlitosphere about reading goals. How about we all make it a goal to reading more blogs? And comment.

Mother Reader and Lee Wind have just the thing for us. For the next three weeks, they are running a comment challenge. Five comments on book blogs every day for 21 days. Get out of your rut and get (back) in the habit. Stop letting blog posts pile up in your reader until you finally just click "mark all read" on every blog and start over fresh...only to let it happen again in another couple of weeks. (Not that I know about that first hand or anything...)

Sign up for the comment challenge HERE.

2011: A Year of 300+ Books For Me, Too

Thanks for the high praise in your Reading Year In Review post yesterday, Franki! You were ALWAYS reading more than you gave yourself credit for -- you just needed the perfect tool to keep track, and Goodreads is that tool.

For me, the trusty blank book was always my perfect tool. I have a whole shelf of book-books. Combined, they list every book I've read (minus the picture books) since 1987.

This year, when Goodreads unveiled the barcode scanner in the iPhone app, I began logging EVERY book I read in Goodreads. I still kept my book-book for novels (kid and adult) and for most of this year I wrote down a key quote for each book. (Other years, I've captured the first line or I've written a short summary.)

So I read more than 300 books this year, but in the end, I'm not at all satisfied with myself as a reader in 2011. My desires for my reading far outstrip the reality of what I know I can accomplish. I'd love to do the #nerdbery or #nerdcott challenges, but I know that wanting to do either one would never make them actually happen. Heck, I can't even do the #bookaday challenges with any kind of honesty and integrity! I think part of my problem is that when I hear about everything everyone else is reading, I want to read all those books and do all those challenges, too. It's a keeping up with the Joneses syndrome, but it's also about wanting to maintain my standing in the Nerdy Book Club, and there's a little bit of book gluttony thrown in. (All right, more than a little bit...)

Well, I've got a solution for this problem: I'm going to give myself permission to admire everyone else's goals and challenges...and I'm going to carry on with my own reading.

I've upped my personal goal to 92 children's and YA novels (I read 85 last year, so 92's not a huge stretch) and 20 adult books (I only read 15 last year, so 20 will be a push for me). 92+20 will give me 112 books in 2012 for the Centurions group on FaceBook. I'll keep track of picture books again this year just for the fun of seeing how high I can run my numbers up, but they won't really count for me.

Enough with the blathering about goals. Here's a sampling of some of my 5 Star books from 2011:

POETRY

Lemonade: And Other Poems Squeezed From A Single Word by Bob Raczka
BookSpeak!: Poems About Books by Laura Purdie Salas

ABC

E-Mergency by Tom Lichtneheld

PICTURE BOOKS

Stuck by Oliver Jeffers
I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

NONFICTION

Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet
All the Water in the World by George Ella Lyon

MIDDLE GRADE

Clementine and the Family Meeting by Sara Pennypacker
The Friendship Doll by Kirby Larson

YA GRAPHIC NOVEL

Level Up by Gene Yang
Sita's Ramayana by Samhita Arni

ADULT

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Every Last One by Anna Quindlen
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

(Ann, Anna and Annie -- quite a trio!)

2011: A Year of 305 Books

Mary Lee has always been my reading idol.  We were in a book club together 20+ years ago and I was always amazed at how much she read.  She was the one who encouraged me to keep a log of my reading.  Blogging with her for the past 6 years has made me realize how lucky I am to have friends who read and how important that is to my reading life.

This year, it's not so much the books I read, but more the habits I started:

As I look at my 2011 reading, Goodreads changed my life. I had used it a bit before 2010, but decided to be diligent about tracking my reading carefully in 2011. Really, I had no idea how I kept track before.  Goodreads helps me track, reflect, find book to recommend, connect with friends, choose books, etc.  It has helped me in my own reading but has also helped me become a better resource for students and teachers looking for books. LOVE IT!  I also set a reading challenge for myself on Goodreads and met it.  I was part of a Mock Newbery group and a few others that kept me up to date on the books getting the most buzz. And it was so fun to hear everyone's opinions as we read monthly books.

I also found that groups/events like Titletalk, The Nerdy Book Club and the Facebook Centurions of 2011 group were important for me as I read throughout the year. They each provided a different type of support. And I read so many amazing books because of these networks.

And, thanks to Kevin Hodsgon's recent post reflecting on his 2011 reading, I realized that Goodreads will let me view fun stats about my year of reading. How fun is this!

Here are some reading highlights. Fifty or so books I LOVED in 2011.
January-40 books
Kakapo Rescue-NONFICTION
Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place by Maryrose Wood-MIDDLE GRADE

February-13 books
How I, Nicky Flynn, Get a Life (and a Dog) by Art Corriveau-MIDDLE GRADE
Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt-MIDDLE GRADE

March-24 books
Mother Goose Picture Puzzles by Will Hillenbrand-PICTURE BOOK/POETRY
Can We Save the Tiger? by Martin Jenkins-NONFICTION
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai-MIDDLE GRADE
Emma Dilemma: Big Sister Poems by Kristine O'Donnell George-POETRY

April-27 books
Chime by Franny Billingsley-YOUNG ADULT
Bigger Than a Breadbox by Laurel Snyder-MIDDLE GRADE
Little Chicken's Big Day by Katie Davis and Jerry Davis-PICTURE BOOK
Also Known as Rowan Pohi by Ralph Fletcher-YOUNG ADULT

May-22 books
The Absolute Value of Mike by Kathryn Erskine-YOUNG ADULT
The Pull of Gravity by Gae Polisner-YOUNG ADULT
A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka-WORDLESS PICTURE BOOK
Babymouse Mad Scientist and Squish by Jennifer Holm and Matthew Holm-GRAPHIC NOVEL
Real Revision by Kate Messner-PROFESSIONAL BOOK

June-43 books
Time to Eat/Time to Sleep by Steve Jenkins-NONFICTION
Queen of the Falls by Chris Van Allsburg-PICTURE BOOK BIOGRAPHY
Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu-MIDDLE GRADE
The Friendship Doll by Kirby Larson-MIDDLE GRADE
Big Brothers Don't Take Naps by Louise Borden-PICTURE BOOK
Hidden by Helen Frost-MIDDLE GRADE
Should I Share My Ice Cream by Mo Willems-PICTURE BOOK
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick-MIDDLE GRADE
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett-ADULT NOVEL

July-28 books
Toys Come Home by Emily Jenkins-EARLY CHAPTER BOOK
Latasha and the Red Tornado by Michael Scotto-MIDDLE GRADE
Shine by Lauren Myracle-YOUNG ADULT
A Million Miles from Boston by Karen Day-MIDDLE GRADE

August-37 books
The One and Only Stuey Lewis by Jane Schoenberg-EARLY CHAPTER BOOK
Press Here by Herve Tullet-PICTURE BOOK
Leisl and Po by Lauren Olive-MIDDLE GRADE
Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George-MIDDLE GRADE
The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School by Laura Murray-PICTURE BOOK

September-16 books
The Other Wes More: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore-ADULT NONFICTION
Waiting for Magic by Patricia MacLachlan-EARLY CHAPTER BOOK/MIDDLE GRADE
Amelia Lost by Candace Fleming-NONFICTION
Otis and the Tornado by Loren Long-PICTURE BOOK
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness-YOUNG ADULT
You Will be My Friend by Peter Brown-PICTURE BOOK

October-12 Books
Happy Pig Day! by Mo Willems-PICTURE BOOK
I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen-PICTURE BOOK

November-15 books
Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet-PICTURE BOOK BIOGRAPHY
The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? by Mo Willems-PICTURE BOOK (2012)
The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann-MIDDLE GRADE
BookSpeak! by Laura Purdie Salas-POETRY
The Trouble With May Amelia by Jennifer Holm-MIDDLE GRADE
Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri-MIDDLE GRADE
The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Wan-Long Shang-MIDDLE GRADE

December-28 books

Sparrow Road by Sheila O'Connor-MIDDLE GRADE

The Aviary by Kathleen O'Dell-MIDDLE GRADE

Sir Gawain the True by Gerald Morris-EARLY CHAPTER/MIDDLE GRADE

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate-MIDDLE GRADE (2012)

Eye of the Storm by Kate Messner-MIDDLE GRADE (2012)

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr-YOUNG ADULT

Holiday Book-A-Day

Really, I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed participating in Holiday Book-A-Day. Reading Donalyn Miller's idea on her blog last spring, I participated in #bookaday Summer. It was such a great way to catch up on my stack of books!  I felt the same way about the holidays.  We had a 12 day break, but I started early. My goal was to read 18 total books. Because holidays are busy, I knew I wouldn't be able to read a book every day, so I set a goal for an average of a book per day and a total of 18. I was smart about giving myself time to catch up on those shorter books that I hadn't gotten to yet!  It was a great vacation filled with new books, many of which I am excited to share with my students.  Below is the list of books I read along with some highlights.

Picture Books
I read several picture books. Most of my picks were books that I have been wanting to read before the Caldecott is announced in January.

BONE DOG by Eric Rohmann and THE HOUSE THAT BABA BUILT by Ed Youngare two I had wanted to read because they are both on several Mock Caldecott lists.

**I forget how I discovered FRENCH DUCKS IN VENICE by Garrett Freymann-Weyr but I loved it. It is a longer picture book that has a fairy-tale feel.  It is a sweet book with a great message about loss, friendship and healing.

Looking to add new picture book biographies, I read HERE COME THE GIRL SCOUTS by Shana Corey about the woman who created the Girl Scouts. An interesting look at something I hadn't thought much about.

I heard Joyce Sidman speak at the CLA Breakfast at NCTE in November and finally had time to read SWIRL BY SWIRL. This is a fascinating picture book about spirals in nature. Her poetic language makes it pretty unique.

*THE PRINCESS AND THE PIG by Jonathan Emmett is one that I keep hearing about. It is a fun twist on princess stories and will make a fun read aloud for all ages.

**THE SCAR by Charlotte Moundlic is a story of grief. A child has lost his mother to a long-term illness. This book is brilliant. I am not sure how to share this one or whether to share this one with young children but it is an important one to have on my shelf. It is one of the most well-done books on death that I've read for children.

**Thanks to Colby Sharp, I discovered PAUL THURLBY'S ALPHABET by Paul Thurlby. This is a simple picture book--one letter and word per spread. The illustrations are quite fun and kids will have a great time with this one! One of my new favorite alphabet books!

Graphic Novels
I also read 3 very different graphic novels that I've had on my stack. I am not a huge graphic novel reader so I only read the best-reviewed out there.  I want to keep up but they are not easy reads for me. Loved these three!
AROUND THE WORLD by Matt Phelan is a nonfiction GN and tells three stories of people who traveled around the world.

*A VERY BABYMOUSE CHRISTMAS was a fun one to read on Christmas Eve!  A great holiday treat.  I can never get enough of Babymouse!

I'm so glad I made time to read ANYA'S GHOST by Vera Brosgol. A unique YA graphic novel-perfect for middle school.

Middle Grade Novels
My goal was to stick with 2011 Middle Grade Novels until I caught up on my Newbery reading, but I could not resist reading a few 2012 ARCs and they were amazing.
*THE AVIARY by Kathleen O'Dell was one that I loved, even though I didn't expect to. It is a unique story with characters who I fell in love with. Definitely not one I would have picked up had it not been on the Anderson's Book Shop Mock Newbery list.

THE APOTHECARY by Maile Meloy is an interesting fantasy that is showing up on lots of 2011 lists. I think there will be a lot in this one that appeals to 4-6th graders who enjoy fantasy and magic.

*THE ADVENTURES OF SIR GAWAIN THE TRUE was on Mr. Schu's list of top books of 2011. I had missed it completely and am so glad to have discovered this series. It is a fun series for fantasy readers and for kids semi-new to chapter books.   I loved the humor in this one and found myself laughing out loud in several spots.

I loved both 2012 books that I read.  Both are must-reads in my opinion. (I would recommend preordering both so you don't forget!)

***THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN by Katherine Applegate. This is one I am so excited to share with my students.  A great animal story based on a true story of people standing up for the rights of animals.  Love love love everything about this book!  (more in this previous post)

***EYE OF THE STORM by Kate Messner is a great sci-fi adventure. It is hard to find great science fiction for this age so this is a great addition.  I could not put this one down. I loved the plot and the characters!  I loved the whole premise of this book--it was complex in the ideas and also fun to read because of the way Kate wrote it up.

I also read A YEAR WITHOUT AUTUMN by Liz Kessler. This was a quick read and one I think middle grade readers will enjoy. There is a good mix of fun and depth to the story.  Fans of 11 BIRTHDAYS by Wendy Mass and fans of THE MAGIC HALF by Annie Barrows will like this one.

Young Adult
I haven't read much by James Howe in a while and I was so happy to have found ADDIE ON THE INSIDE, a younger YA novel, probably perfect for middle school students. I loved Addie and everything about her. The real life middle school struggles were handled well and I can imagine this will be an important book for so many kids.  Hoping to read the rest in this series soon. (This was also written in verse which makes me love it even more:-)

*****HOW TO SAVE A LIFE by Sara Zarr may be my favorite YA read of the year.  I don't want to say much about it but I remember Paul Hankins mentioning it early in the year.  Definitely a must-read in my opinion. This one will live with me for a long time.

Adult
I finally finished WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen. It wasn't a favorite but I think that's because I dragged it out for so long. I definitely need to give myself more time to read adult fiction as I didn't do that much this year.

Short Stories
I picked up THE TINY BOOK OF TINY STORIES by Joseph Gordon-Levitt because I thought it would be a handy book to use in Writing Workshops.  I love the idea of a story being told in a few words and with twitter and texting, I thought some of these pieces would be fun to study with kids.

I'm already looking forward to Summer Book-A-Day!

December Mosaic

Hmm...every single row of this month's mosaic features food.
No wonder I'll be back to the health club with a renewed dedication beginning...tomorrow.

A Year of Reading x 6

Tomorrow is our blogiversary.

We've been at this for six years.

In the past, we've done some pretty amazing blogiversary posts: 2007, 2008 2008 2008 2008, 2009 2009 2009, 2010, 2011.

This year, we almost forgot to celebrate.

Franki's getting ready for the Mentor Texts in the Digital Writing Workshop series (with Bill Bass, Katie DiCesare, Troy Hicks, Kevin Hodgson, and Tony Keefer), Mary Lee's getting ready to start round two Cybils Poetry judging (with Julie Larios, Diane Mayr, Laura Purdie Salas, and Andi Sibley), and both Franki and Mary Lee have had recent guest posts at the Nerdy Book Club blog.

Read that last sentence one more time.

There you have it, in a nutshell, in a single Polaroid of words, where we are in the evolution of this perpetual Year of Reading: we have branched out in different directions, and yet we both remain united in our passion for children's books and reading and teaching.

The Nerdy Book Club: New Year's Resolutions

 This post is cross-posted on The Nerdy Book Club's site. If you have not visited this wonderful community of readers, it is a must follow site! 

Flickr by Sean Lloyd  http://www.flickr.com/photos/seanlloyd/33762237/

(New Year’s Eve seems a perfect time to think about the goals we have for the year ahead. To think about where we want to grow and what we need to do to get there.  In my usual tradition, my main goals each year have to do with fitness and exercise…)

So, I am not a runner. This is not a surprise to anyone who knows me. But the thing is, I have been fascinated for years by runners, and I have toyed with becoming one. I actually have all of the knowledge necessary to become a runner. I have read many, many books about running. I subscribed to the print version of Runner's World for years, and I currently get their daily emails.  I subscribe to several blogs on running and follow some of the running news. I buy shoes at running stores and sometimes just hang out there. I listen closely when my running friends are talking about training for races, running injuries, etc. I have just never gotten around to actually…running. 

A few weeks ago, I was with a group of friends. One was getting ready to run his first half-marathon. He was talking about the gel packets he would have with him to keep up his energy.  I knew all about these and was able to explain them to our non-runner friends. They were amazed that I (a non-runner) understood about race food.

A week later, I was in a conversation with a different group of friends who had run the Chicago Marathon. They were talking about women in running skirts and I had remembered reading all about those on ANOTHER MOTHER RUNNER blog, a blog I read regularly since reading their book, RUN LIKE A MOTHER. On their blog, I learned that running skirts are all the rage.  Women runners either hate them or love them. No happy medium. In the midst of this conversation with my runner friends, I wanted to jump in with some thoughts I had about running skirts. But then I remembered that I was not a runner and I did not have the credibility to talk about running skirts with real runners.

I have been in several conversations lately that have reminded me how very much I know about running. I sometimes actually “know” more about running than my running friends. These are conversations that I am not quite comfortable participating in because I am not a runner.  I am not part of the club.  I just watch from the sidelines.

No matter how much knowledge I have, I cannot call myself a runner. Running is not part of my life.  I could probably not even run to the mailbox and back (and my driveway is not very long.) But here is the thing that I can't stop thinking about:  I am certain I could pass a test on running. I am certain that I could probably pass a test at a higher level than most of my runner friends could. I have a lot of knowledge and understanding about running and feel confident about doing well on a test about running.

I keep thinking about this and acknowledging the fact that knowing a lot about running is not the same as running. This knowledge might end up becoming important if I ever become a runner and it does help me in some conversations. But what good does that do me, really?  When I don’t actually run? When I am not part of the club?

How different this is compared to my life as a reader. Even though I attained a nearly perfect score on Tony Keefer’s quiz, “You Might be a Nerdy Book Clubber if…” ,  I don’t need anyone to tell me I am a part of the Nerdy Book Club. I don’t worry that some members read more than I do or that some members read faster than I do. I don’t worry about joining conversations that I have no business participating in. Even weeks when I can’t fit in a book, I know I am a reader. Reading is a huge part of my life and I don’t feel the need to prove that to anyone.

One of my favorite things about my job as a school librarian is that kids stop me in the hall constantly, mentioning a book they finished or one they want to read. They tell me the page number they are on or an author they’ve discovered. Sometimes I wonder if reading is the only thing they think they can talk to me about. Then I realize that it is at those times that they see me as a fellow club member; that they know I will understand their need to share their reading lives.

But I also see kids trying to get into the club.  Standing on the edges of these conversations. Checking books back into the library with a bookmark about 1/3 of the way through, never having been finished. These kids seem to get excited when someone mentions an author they know. But they don’t feel confident joining the conversations. They don’t see themselves as readers.

This year, I’ve bumped into lots of past students – students I taught in 4^th and 5^th grades who have recently graduated.  It is so fun to see what they ended up doing, which passions they discovered.  They tend to tell me all of that, and then often mention what/if they are reading.  They know I’ll wonder and that no matter which career path they’ve chosen to follow, that I still hope they are lifelong members of the Nerdy Book Club.  I like to believe that I was one of the people who first invited them to be part of this club.

Each of us was invited into the club by someone who wanted us to be part of the fun. We saw something that we wanted to be a part of and there were lots of people in our lives who made joining the Nerdy Book Club possible.  As a teacher, I know this takes commitment and hard work. I know it means giving kids great books, time to read, a reading community to be a part of, and instruction that moves them forward as readers.

So in 2012 I have two goals.  I am going to be very deliberate in helping every child become part of the Nerdy Book Club.   I am going to watch carefully to see which students feel confidently part of this club and which are standing along the sidelines wishing to be part of it all. I’m going to try to give them the support they need to become lifelong members.

And, of course, in 2012….I am going to actually run.