Celebrating The Nerdy Book Club with a Donation to LitWorld!

We love that even though our blog birthday was on January 1, we are celebrating it all year!  On our 8th Birthday, we decided to celebrate 2014 by celebrating others who inspire us every day. Each month, on the 1st (or so) of the month, we will celebrate a fellow blogger whose work has inspired us recently. We feel so lucky to be part of the blog world that we want to celebrate all that everyone gives us each day.

This month, we are celebrating the team at the Nerdy Book Club: Donalyn Miller, Colby Sharp and Cindy Minnich.

The Nerdy Book Club is the most democratic club on the planet. "If you love books, especially those written for children and young adults, then you are an honorary member of The Nerdy Book Club."

The Nerdy Book Club blog is the most democratic group blog on the planet. Want to write a guest post? Go on -- submit one! FIVE HUNDRED FIFTEEN other writers have written for The Nerdy Book Club blog! Join them/us!

The Nerdy Book Club is huge -- when last I visited, I was greeted by the proclamation that "You and 2,781 others like Nerdy Book Club." There are nearly 70 Nerdy Book Club Bloggers in the blogroll

Have you been to a Nerdy Book Club meet-up at a national conference like NCTE recently? Readers and authors fill a room and spill out into the adjacent areas. It's such a happy gathering with lots of hugging and laughter and photos that go straight to FaceBook and Twitter. There is no need to be a wallflower at a Nerdy Book Club meet-up. Everyone has lots in common: books, reading and readers. 

We are honoring the Nerdy Book Club by making a donation to LitWorld in their name.  We love LitWorld and this month seemed the perfect month to donate to them as March 5 is World Read Aloud Day ! If you have no plans to celebrate World Read Aloud Day in your classroom, you might want to change your mind!   World Read Aloud Day is "about taking action to show the world that the right to read and write belongs to all people."  What an amazing cause. LitWorld has lots of other amazing projects too.  And we believe in all of them.

Here is a little glimpse of the vision and work of LitWorld:

Celebrate!

Join others who are celebrating this week at www.ruthayreswrites.com

I'm not just celebrating this week, I'm celebrating this MONTH.

Goodbye, February! Been nice to know you! We had some fun times...but mostly we had snow and cold. I know you can't help being who you are. It must be rough to be post-holiday and pre-Spring. You have to wait four long years to special in any way. But you know what? Even though it feels like a grueling effort to make it through your days, you actually help me to fine-tune my Signs-of-Spring Senses. Just the other day, for instance, when you gave us that glorious spring preview and we were able to have salmon on the grill for the first time since fall, I heard the robins singing in the dark.

In this mosaic, we begin with wing tracks in the deep snow that seemed to last forever. The rest of the first row: award winners in our classroom library, a message from the Universe that I have yet to decode, TED notes made with my...new pens... ROW 2: ...that bleed through but I don't care. Community band at Old Worthington Farmer's Market brings me joy every week (their tribute to Pete Seeger made me teary), another message from the Universe that couldn't be clearer (and it's just a tiny bit ironic that I took a PICTURE of it, eh?), the sky at Gene Barretta's airport vs. the sky in Columbus (he was the only author who didn't make it to #DubLit14). ROW 3: #DubLit14 -- student work, authors, celebrities. ROW 4: The last of the snow (or, based on the current forecast, should I say, the last of LAST MONTH'S snow) looks like a beached whale at our curb, auto tracks in a dusting of snow, (next 7) this is a visual rendition of That Silence I wrote about here (and I promise this is the last time I'll link to that review), LASTLY: a mosaic of the March Birthday Cake: "The Making." In the March Mosaic, you'll see March Birthday Cake: "The Icing and Eating."

A better view of the photos in this mosaic can be seen on Flickr.

Poetry Friday: Poems for a Book Character

Photo by Mary Lee Hahn. May be used with attribution.

I still haven't quite recovered from reading The Goldfinch. (My gobstopped review is here.)

This is a poem the main character, Theo, would appreciate. It fits with his world view. Mine, too, on the days when I choose not to think about the truth of our existence here.

Fire
by Wyatt Townley

It's only the body
It's only a hip joint
It's just a bulging disc
It's only weather
It's only your heart
It's a shoulder who needs it
This happens all the time
It's very common
It's unusual
For people your age
For people your age
You're in great shape
Remarkable shape
It's nothing you did
The main thing is
It's temporary
It's only a doll
In a house that's burning

But Theo would also like this one, knowing, as he did, the power of art to change our lives.

Archaic Torso of Apollo

by Rainer Maria Rilke
translated by Stephen Mitchell

We cannot know his legendary head 

with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso 

is still suffused with brilliance from inside, 

like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low, 

gleams in all its power. Otherwise 

the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could 

a smile run through the placid hips and thighs 

to that dark center where procreation flared. 

Otherwise this stone would seem defaced 

beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders 

and would not glisten like a wild beast's fur: 

would not, from all the borders of itself, 

burst like a star: for here there is no place 

that does not see you. You must change your life.

Anastasia has the Poetry Friday Roundup this week via Poet! Poet!, but on Pinterest HERE.

Gobsmacked

The Goldfinch
by Donna Tartt
Little, Brown and Company, 2013

We have art in order not to die from the truth. 

-Nietzsche

This book. It's why I do what I do. So that someday, maybe sooner, maybe later, every child in the wake of my teaching will come across at least one book that knocks them backward, sits them down hard. Changes the way they see the world.

I read this book through my ears. It's a huge book; we've been together through months of trips back and forth to school, and walks light enough to wear earbuds, and housework menial enough to listen while I worked.

It's not an easy book to read. Donna Tartt doesn't make anything easy for Theo for very long at all. But it's a beautiful book. Long passages were poetry -- love songs to antiques, cities, seasons, art, life.

Yesterday when I woke up, I had about two hours left to listen to, and (you know the feeling) there was nothing else I could do but listen. I took my early morning walk as laps around the basement so that I could listen. I listened while I ate breakfast. I listened while I made my lunch. I listened in the car on the way to school. I listened while I got the classroom ready for the day, before I went to my meeting.

After my students finished their word study task, one after another picked up a book and started to read. By the time I should have done the reading workshop mini lesson, the room was silent. That Kind of Silent. Spring in Fifth Grade Silent. This is a Community of Readers Silent.

I had 15 minutes left in the book. What else could I do? I grabbed my earphones and joined my community of readers. I finished the book, brushing away tears.

And what will I do next? I will buy a copy of the physical book, because it's one I want to hold in my hands and shelve next to the other landmark books of my adulthood. I want to read those last pages again. And find other favorite parts and savor them and sticky-note them.

And then? No, I won't be able to start another audiobook for awhile. I'll listen to Arvo Pärt on the drive to and from school, because Pippa listened to his music. I'll think about art and love and loss and chance and fate and right and wrong.

And I'll think about how lives are changed by the power of beauty in great art and in great books.

Midweek Meandering

by Hugh MacLeod, Gapingvoid.com

Do you agree or disagree?

Can you think of a time when you were invited onto the yacht? 

Did it make a difference in your life?

How about a time when you confidently paddled your own canoe? 

How did that experience change you?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Head over to Teach Mentor Texts for the It's Monday! What Are You Reading? roundup!

I've been looking forward to Louise Borden's book Baseball Is . . . ...for a LONG TIME! Louise is a great friend of mine and I love every book she's written.   This one is EXTRA FABULOUS!  I loved it. My kids loved it. Even my husband loved it.  Just an amazing celebration of baseball. So much information with Louise's poetic style. A definite must-have for almost every age!

For some reason, I have not had much time to really dig in and read lately.  But with a 3 day weekend last week, I decided to spend much of Monday on the couch reading a book on my stack.  One of the books I'd been hearing lots about was A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd (@_natalielloyd).  WOW! WOW! WOW! I so loved this book. It was as good as everyone is saying it is.  A perfectly wonderful read.  The story is about Felicity Pickle, who moves into Midnight Gulch with her mother and her sister.   This is a magical town and Felicity falls in love with it immediately.  But her mother is a wanderer so she worries that they won't stay.  This book gave me the same feeling that Because of Winn-Dixie gave me the first time I read it.  There is something about the language and the characters and the feeling of the book that are all just right. I can't believe that this is Natalie Lloyd's first novel. She is one brilliant writer and I am already excited to see what she writes next.  A must read middle grade novel FOR SURE!

I am anxiously awaiting Meenoo Rami's (@meenoorami) upcoming professional book, Thrive: 5 Ways to (Re)Invigorate Your Teaching . Heinemann has posted a sample chapter for readers so I read that this week. The chapter they released is one on mentors and it is brilliant! Such a fresh look at mentors in our teaching.  I can't wait to read the rest of this book when it is released in March!

NCTE tweeted out this great Lego article with infographic this week.  Colby Sharp has me interested in the study of infographics with my students so I paid closer attention than usual. This is an amazing info graphic!

And after a great chat on Twitter with Tony Keefer (@tonykeefer) and Niki Barnes (@daydreamreader) about how little Adult Fiction I fit into my reading life,  I definitely need to include more Adult Fiction into my reading life. Of the 776 books I've marked read on Goodreads, only 8 are adult fiction. UGH! I decided to forget the rest of my TBR stack and read Adult Fiction.  I've had The Snow Child: A Novel on my list for months and figured I might as well read it while it is still snow and cold.  It does not seem like a spring/summer read. But the book is already sad so I think I'm going to put it back on my stack and try something else.

NCTE's Formative Assessment that Truly Informs Instruction: A Round-Up of Thoughts

On Sunday, February 16, I hosted an #nctechat with @anterobot on Formative Assessment. The conversation focused on the new position statement from NCTE: Formative Assessment That Truly  Informs Instruction.  It is a document that we think can make a difference and the chat was an energized one with so many powerful ideas.

I was a part of the group that helped create the position statement on Formative Assessment and one thing we hoped while crafting it is that it gives teachers a way to change the conversation around formative assessment. We want this document to help us get back to what we know is right about assessment and how it can impact our instruction.  The #nctechat was one way to begin the conversation and many participants had plans to take the position statement to colleagues, administrators and community members.

At the end of the chat, several people committed to writing posts about Formative Assessment as a follow-up to the chat.  I offered to collect the posts in one place so that the conversation around this topic and document can continue to grow.  If you missed the chat, you can read the archives of the chat here.  And regardless of whether or not you participated in the chat, we think these blog posts are important as a way to continue an ongoing conversation about the topic of true Formative Assessment.  So, take some time to read the posts, make comments, connect with the bloggers and comment lots.
Let's continue this conversation!

Jennifer Serravallo (@jserravallo) writes "What's in a Name?" .

Jennifer Brittin (@jenbrittin) writes "The Proof is in the Pudding, Right?"

Beth Shaum (@BethShaum) writes Formative Assessment That TRULY Informs Instruction

Megan Skogstad (@megskogie) writes Formative Assessment in Order to Maximize Student and Teacher Learning

Justin Stygles (@JustinStygles) writes Formative Assessment-Making Sense Through Practice

Carol Varsalona writes (@cvarsalona)Formative Assessment Can Be the Game Changer for You

Kathleen Jasper (@JasperKathleen) and Lisa Scherff(@lisascherff) write A Chat About Formative Assessment at CoversationED (@conversationed)

Kristine Mraz (@MrazKristine) writes Charts as Pathways to Success

Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan (@ClareandTammy) write Using Our Students' Perspectives to Triangulate Assessment

Katherine Sokolowski (@katsok) writes Thinking About Formative Assessment

Cathy Mere(@CathyMere) writes Formative Assessment that Informs Instruction

Renee Boss (@renee_boss) writes Formative Assessment--A Process--Not a Thing

Darcy Oberdofer (@DarcyJObe), Amanda TenBrink, Steve Seward and Andrew Smith (@smithand1015) write Formative Assessments: A Cornerstone to Math Workshop

Kim Jasper (@KimChismJasper) writes Formative Assessment in the Writing Process

Amy Cody (@acodyclancy) writes Using "Public Response" to Formatively Assess: Is it working?

Celebrate Today!

We LOVE the tradition Ruth Ayres has created our blog inviting bloggers to Celebrate each week. Take some time to visit her blog for the link up of everyone's celebrations this week!

Today is our 25th annual Dublin Literacy Conference!  We love this conference--it is one of our favorite days of the year. Not only do we learn lots, but we get to see so many friends and colleagues.  We get to hear amazing speakers and buy books.  So we thought today, we'd do a daylong photo essay. Throughout the day, we'll be adding photos to this post to celebrate the day!  So check back for new additions:-) We hope you enjoy the day with us!

Celebrating student work. 

Celebrating technology: the Blogger app (we're blogging from our phones today), the Mosaicam app ("celebrity" photos to follow), and the Skitch app (which I used to annotate this screen shot on my phone)! We will also be celebrating technology later this morning when we Skype with Gene Barretta, the only author who was not able to make it here yesterday during the Great Pre-Conference Flight Delay Mayhem. 

Top, L to R, celebrating blogger friends from far and near -- Betsy and Julie. Bottom row -- Celebrating Gene Barretta's flexibility in Skyping for our family session. 

More celebrities! Cathy, Bud Hunt, Katie and Franki. 

#dublit14 Authors: Penny Kittle, Bryan Collier, Kassia Wedekind, Don Brown

Look what Penny brought for me!

Poetry Friday -- Remembering Maxine Kumin

Flickr Creative Commons photo by Doug Wheller

On February 6, one of my all-time favorite poets died. Plain-spoken, New Hampshire farmer and horsewoman Maxine Kumin will never write another poem.

It pains my heart to be reminded that all life and all art are finite. And yet, in spite of every ending, we go on. We came from this earth and we will return to the earth the handful of minerals we have been loaned for our brief time here. We go on because we are and always will be A Part Of It All. And the art we leave will live on in strangers' hearts; our words will change lives without our knowledge or consent. We go on.


The Excrement Poem

by Maxine Kumin

It is done by us all, as God disposes, from
the least cast of worm to what may have been
in the case of the brontosaur, say, spoor
of considerable heft, something awesome.

We eat, we evacuate, survivors that we are.
I think these things each morning with shovel
and rake, drawing the risen brown buns
toward me, fresh from the horse oven, as it were,

or culling the alfalfa-green ones, expelled
in a state of ooze, through the sawdust bed
to take a serviceable form, as putty does,
so as to lift out entire from the stall.

And wheeling to it, storming up the slope,
I think of the angle of repose the manure
pile assumes, how sparrows come to pick
the redelivered grain, how inky-cap

coprinus mushrooms spring up in a downpour.
I think of what drops from us and must then
be moved to make way for the next and next.
However much we stain the world, spatter
it with our leavings, make stenches, defile
the great formal oceans with what leaks down,
trundling off today's last barrowful,
I honor shit for saying: We go on.

A New Yorker postscript to Maxine Kumin's life is here.

The "Sonnets Uncorseted" mentioned in the article are here.

And Short the Season: Poems is scheduled to be released on April 7, 2014.

Karen Edmisten is hosting the Poetry Friday roundup this week.

Steampunk for Middle Grade (8-12) Readers

First of all, let's get this straight: what's steampunk?

I'd heard of steampunk, but I'd never read any. How about you?

The Expeditioners and the Treasure of Drowned Man's Canyon
by S.S. Taylor
illustrated by Katherine Roy
McSweeny McMullens, 2012
review copy provided by the publisher

I started reading THE EXPEDITIONERS by S.S. Taylor expecting, from the front cover, an old-time adventure story.

I really should have done a better job previewing. If I'd looked at the back cover, I would have noticed the airship. If I'd read the blurb on the jacket flap, I would have been better prepared for an alternative future, a place where "Computers have failed, electricity is extinct, and the race to discover new lands is underway!"

But sometimes you just have to test an author's ability to draw you into the world of the book and make you believe it is as real as the couch you are sitting on. And S.S. Taylor passed that test for me. By chapter 3, I was in a future where the idea that people of the past believed that there were just seven continents was laughable. A future where explorers continued to find new places and new species on earth. A future of shortages, lines in the market places, strangers with clockwork hands, and transportation by SteamDirigibles.

Kit, Zander and M.K. West, children of the late great explorer Alexander West find themselves in a race with government agents to follow clues their father left them about a lost canyon filled with gold treasure.

Not only do they find the canyon and gold, but also an entire race of people living in the lost canyon. People whose existence and whereabouts their father had kept secret so that their land and treasure would not be exploited.

The blend of futuristic science fiction with "low-tech" machines gives the reader a very fun sort of vertigo -- as if the directions of past and future got mixed up.



What are the chances, having read only one steampunk book, that the next book on my TBR is also described inside the front cover as, "Part murder mystery, part gothic fantasy, part steampunk adventure..."??

The Peculiar
by Stefan Bachmann
Greenwillow Books, 2012
recommended by Salli Oddi, owner of Cover to Cover