We are so happy to be the first stop on the It's All About the Books book tour! We are so excited about this book. We have always been fans of Tammy and Clare's work --loved their book Assessment in Perspective and were part of their tour then! We love this new book and are excited about the impact it will have in schools across the country. Make sure to stop at all the other stops on the blog tour this week!
And we are giving away a copy of It's All About the Books! To enter, post a picture of some part of your classroom library somewhere and put the link in a comment below. At the end of the week (Friday after 5 pm), we'll choose a random winner to receive a copy of this fabulous new book! (Don't forget to check back to see the classroom library photos:-)
We asked Clare and Tammy some questions about the book. Here is what they said:
Franki and Mary Lee: How has your thinking evolved about classroom libraries over the years?
Clare and Tammy: Initially,
we set up our classroom library before the students arrived at school. All of
our books were organized in plastic bins and we knew exactly where each and
every book was located. Our library remained the same all year except for
one book display that rotated each month. Now we include students in the
process of setting up and maintaining our classroom library. Instead of getting everything set up before
they arrive, we provide the baskets, labels, and markers and let the kids set
up the library. When the students set up the library, they know where the
books are and feel more invested in the space. As they decide how to
organize the books, we listen in to learn more about their interests and
passions. The more students are part of the process, the more we learn about
them as readers and the better we can help them find books they love. The classroom library is now more than a place
to pick books. When we design it with
our readers, and when we are set up to flexibly meet their changing needs and
preferences, the classroom library truly becomes the home of an active reading
community.
Franki and Mary Lee: What advice do you have
for teachers about keeping up with good books to add to their classroom
libraries?
Clare and Tammy: We
keep up with good books by relying on our PLNs, both locally and globally.
We connect with our local PLNs by visiting book stores and public
libraries to check out what is new. We also speak with the school
librarians, teachers, and reading coaches at our partnership schools to hear
about what they are reading and what their students are enjoying.
Franki and Mary Lee: How do you think
classroom libraries should evolve over the course of a single school year?
Clare and Tammy: Readers love new books!
Classroom libraries should be refreshed and revised to meet the ever-evolving
needs of our students. A classroom library should reflect the growth and
curricular journey of the students throughout the year. When the class studies
particular authors, genres, and topics, we add these texts to the library.
As students share their personal interests and preferences we can also add
these texts to our library. We are purposeful in introducing new series and
authors to add complexity to the library as our students’ reading skills
develop. Throughout the year, we try to look at our library through the
eyes of our students. We ask, “Does the library offer a range of choices that
will engage and support all the readers in the class?" We take this information and use it to revise
and refresh the classroom library.
Franki and Mary Lee: How has your thinking
about bookrooms evolved over the years?
Clare and Tammy: We used to think about
bookrooms as a place to store shared leveled texts for small group instruction
(i.e. six-packs.) As we observed bookroom after bookroom not being used by
teachers, we decided to revise our thinking.
Now we design bookrooms as an annex to every classroom library – we
design each with the other in mind. Teachers need books to support all
aspects of reading and writing instruction, not just books for small group
instruction. As we talked with teachers, we heard again and again that
they did not have the volume or range of texts they needed for their students
to read independently. It is near
impossible for a classroom teacher to source a library that is equipped to meet
the needs of each student year after year. We shifted our thinking and decided the
largest section of the bookroom needs to support independent reading. These
texts are organized by bands of text complexity into baskets of approximately
20 single titles that are categorized by genre, author, series, and topics of
interest. This design makes it easy for teachers to grab a few baskets
and add them right to their classroom library. The bookroom also has
baskets of read aloud suggestions organized by grade level, mentor texts for
units of study in writing workshop, texts to support content area curriculum, and
even baskets of paired texts to support partner reading. We still have
some texts organized in 6-packs for small group instruction and book clubs, but
this is now only one section of the bookroom. Ideally, bookrooms supply
the depth, breadth, and volume of books to supplement what each teacher needs
and every student wants. All of this organized in grab-and-go baskets for a
teacher to simply (and quickly) take and incorporate into her classroom
library.
Franki and Mary Lee: For teachers who have
very few books provided by their schools/districts, where do you suggest they
start?
Clare and Tammy: This is a tough question because
we believe that books are an essential tool for teachers. When schools
provide desks and chairs for students, they should also allocate funds to
ensure that every classroom has a vibrant and engaging classroom library. In
the first chapter of the book, we cite research to support teachers in
advocating for what they need to inspire lifelong readers.
That being said, here are
a few of the ideas we share in the book to get you started without school or
district support …
If you don’t have books to
source a classroom library, we recommend you get in touch with your school
librarian and begin by borrowing books from the school and public libraries.
You can borrow collections of texts organized by author, genre, series and
topic to figure out what your students love. Once you have a sense of
what engages your students, ask the school librarian to help you gather some of
these texts. Some teachers even ask
parents to help out by going to their local branch of the public library to
pick up books they need for the classroom library. Colleagues are another great option for
borrowing books. Many teachers have a
wealth of books and are happy to loan books, especially texts their students
are not accessing at that time of the year. Even colleagues with a small
collection may be willing to rotate books between classrooms to increase their
volume of books as well.
At some point, teachers do
need to get some books of their own.
Scholastic book orders are a great option for teachers to earn bonus
points to purchase books. Box Tops is
another way to earn money for books and families are happy to help out by
organizing a collection. Families are also often willing to donate gently used
books to supply classroom libraries. Grants
are another source of funding. Many schools offer grants through the parent
organization or local school foundation.
Teachers also seek grants through Donors Choose and The Book Love
Foundation (see question 6) to fund a classroom library. If you do receive funds be sure to check out
specials with vendors, discount book stores and even public library book sales
to get the best bang for your buck! We
have many resources in our book, including lists of our favorite vendors and
some of our tried and true texts, to support you once you are ready to go
shopping!
Franki and Mary Lee: Can you tell us why you
chose to donate all royalties from this book to Book Love. Of all the literacy
organizations out there, why this one?
Clare and Tammy: When
we decided to write a book advocating for more books in classrooms, we felt we
had to help get more books into the hands of students and teachers. I
didn’t feel right to highlight the problem without trying to be a part of the
solution. We were trying to figure out how we could make an impact. Then we heard Penny Kittle speak at the
Donald Graves Breakfast at NCTE. She
shared how Don impacted her personally and professionally, “That generosity for someone he didn’t know
just became a theme in my life.”
We looked at each
other in that moment and knew what we needed to do. We found Penny at the end of the session and
asked her if we could join her mission for Book Love. Book Love is a not-for-profit
organization founded by Penny Kittle with one goal: to put books in the hands
of teenagers.
We were fortunate that Penny and Heinemann
both supported our vision and helped us bring it to life by generously agreeing to allow
the royalties of our
book to expand that goal and put books into the hands of elementary and middle
grade students as well. Each time someone purchases a copy of It’s All About the
Books, the royalties go directly to the Book Love Foundation to fund elementary
and middle grade libraries. This made the project so meaningful for us – a book
about books that will bring books into the hands of readers – what could be
better than that!
If
you would like to donate directly to the Book Love Foundation simply send a
check or donate online http://booklovefoundation.org/donate. If you would
like your donation to fund elementary and middle grade libraries, please send
an email to booklovefoundation@gmail.com or write elementary or middle grade libraries
in the memo line of your check. Checks can be mailed to Book Love Foundation, PO Box 2575, North Conway, NH 03860-2575.
