10 Reasons Why You Should Come to nErDcamp

I (Colby Sharp) love the Nerdy Book Club for many reasons. One of the biggest reasons is that Nerdy Book Club members don’t look at the summer as a time to separate ourselves from our jobs. We look to the summer as a time to grow.

 

Do we relax? Sure. We sit by the pool…and read. We go on road trips…with books. We spend time with friends and family…and end up adding to our list of books to read.

 

What we don’t do is go back to school in the fall as the same teacher who left school at the start of summer. We do things like participate in Donalyn Miller’s Book-A-Day Challenge. We participate in Twitter chats like #engchat and #titletalk. Some of us are lucky enough to attend conferences like American Library Association or All Write.

 

Nerdy Book Club members are always: growing, learning, collaborating, and, of course, reading.

 

After chatting with a few Nerdy friends, we decided to throw a literacy version of Ed Camp. Not familiar with the Ed Camp model? Check out the video below.

 

 

We are not really sure if this crazy little idea is going to work, but after seeing Nerds from eight states register in the first week, we feel like we might have something special on our hands. I know that any time I get together with my Nerdy Book Club friends, I learn all kinds of great things.

Click here to check out the nErDcamp registration page.

The nErDcamp team came up with 10 great reasons as to why you should consider coming to nErDcamp Battle Creek.

1. Keeps you energized during the summer months. – Brian

(As you anticipate next school year, nErDcamp is a chance to ramp up your energy and excitement about all things literacy during the summer months. – Jen)

2. Michigan is BEAUTIFUL in July. – Brian

3. You’ve been learning and making connections with your Nerdy Book Club friends on Twitter. NOW you get to learn together and make connections in PERSON! Beware – spontaneous read alouds may occur. -Niki

4. You are surrounded by people that LOVE books as much as you do! You are with your tribe! It is the best feeling in the world! – Niki

5. This is a fantastic way to get great ideas about reading and writing from really smart people. – Suzanne

6. This is a fantastic way to share your great ideas about reading and writing with other really smart people. – Suzanne

7. Paying it forward is underrated — you have something special to share with other teachers that can help make them better.  - Alaina

8. We promise we won’t make you clean anything or do any chores (mow the lawn? drive your kids around town…).  We can’t guarantee that if you choose to stay home. – Alaina

9. There is nothing like the smell of cereal in the morning! Battle Creek, Michigan is THE cereal capital! Tony the Tiger says, “nErDcamp BC is GRRREAT!” – Niki

10. The entire Ed Camp experience is all about you taking charge of your own learning. At nErDcamp, you choose which topics you want to learn about…and if you get to a session and decide you want to switch it up, it’s totally up to you. Go where your heart leads you! – Jen

11. ***It’s FREE! – Jen

I know that many of you don’t live anywhere near Battle Creek, Michigan, so you might not be able to join us for nErDcamp.  BUT YOU CAN FOLLOW ALONG WITH THE HASHTAG #nErDcampBC

Please leave a comment and let us know how you plan to develop your inner Nerdiness this summer.

For more information visit the nErDcamp website.

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BIOS

 

Niki Barnes is a 2nd grade teacher in Michigan. Her secret inner book nerd was released when she was introduced to Twitter by Donalyn Miller. She is a proud (library) card carrying member of the Nerdy Book Club. She feels very blessed to share ideas and her love of books with so many amazing authors, teachers and librarians. You can find her on Twitter @daydreamreader or writing about books on her blog www.daydreamreader.com.

 

Brian Wyzlic is a 7th and 8th grade teacher in Michigan. He has a secret love for author bios, so he’s going to get out of the way so others may have room to tell of themselves. Follow him on Twitter at @brianwyzlic if you’d like. He doesn’t [usually] bite.

 

Suzanne is a fourth grade teacher in Michigan. She has been teaching a while now, but is a first-year Nerdy member (and so happy to be part of this team). She has loved seeing how a classroom library transforms kids’ concepts of reading, how technology can bring authors and readers together, and how kids who are readers and writers feel about themselves as learners and as people.

 

Alaina Sharp teaches high school chemistry, probably has ADD, and reads just for fun.  She’d really love to share this enthusiasm with her students and is actively searching for creative ways to do this as a science teacher.  You can find her (if you dare) at @sharpsgalore or westernchemistry.blogspot.com or sharpchemlove.blogspot.com or…no that’s it.

 

Colby Sharp teaches fourth grade in Battle Creek, Michigan. He helps out with #nerdbery, #titletalk, #nerdybookclub, and #SharpSchu. He really loves reading. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aiu6ujRmal0

 

Jen Vincent is a Teacher Leader supporting new teachers through the Teacher Mentor Program in the suburbs of Chicago. She caught the Edcamp fever after organizing Edcamp Chicago in April and is honored to be working with this amazingly nerdy team to bring nErDcamp to Battle Creek this summer. She is on Twitter as @mentortexts and blogs at www.teachmentortexts.com.

 

 

 

Magic that Can Be Shared All Year Long by Brandee Green

How many of you have ever read the letter from Chris Van Allsburg found in the collector’s edition of The Polar Express?  I ask you this, not because this is a holiday post, but because as an avid reader and lifelong fan of The Polar Express, I was stunned to have just recently found it; and I think there is a huge message in that letter that can be applied to everyday life, all year long.

Chris Van Allsburg starts the letter by saying that he had been asked by many how he came up with the idea for The Polar Express.  He continues on by saying that he had avoided telling the truth until the point when he wrote the letter, ten years after the first copy was published. I won’t tell you the story today because I want you to read it for yourself and feel the magic as I did in the front of my classroom.  My fifth graders and I were working on critical reading skills to see the hidden stories in Van Allsburg’s pieces.  If you are not familiar with many of his stories, you should take a look.  There is so much more there than meets the eye.  For example, take a look at The Wretched Stone and see if you can find any hidden or implied themes.  This is a very powerful book when viewed through critical eyes.  On that particular day, we were drinking hot cocoa and discussing our final book of the unit, The Polar Express.  We had discussed beforehand that I wanted them to view The Polar Express, not as a child this time, but for the first time, with newly trained critical eyes.   Imagine their surprise when their teacher almost lost it in the front of the room, reading a children’s book about Santa Claus.  That isn’t just the magic of Christmas, that’s the MAGIC OF READING!

I gained a tremendous lesson that day from Mr. Van Allsburg.  The lesson I gained was that the magic of Christmas is hidden within us.  Quite obviously this is a lesson that can be applied to everyday life, but just as important I think, is a lesson that can be applied to our reading lives.  As readers, we feel the magic within us, but we have periods of time when we feel as though we may have lost that magic.  Of course as adults, we know how to find that magic again.

For children, it may be very different.  Some children have found the magic because of a parent, teacher, or friend who shared that magic with them.  That magic was nurtured and it grew because of the time and energy the giver put into it.   Some children however, have never found that magic.  It is our job as parents, teachers, readers, and friends to make sure that magic is shared with those who haven’t found it yet.  As with the magic Van Allsburg shared with me that day, we need to make sure we remember how important that magic can be, and that we give it the time and energy it deserves.

As a teacher, part of sharing that magic is allowing my students to see me as a reader and as a writer.  In planning for this piece, I called upon my students for advice.  We discussed whether or not they had ever felt the magic of reading deep within a book, and because each of them had, they immediately wanted to share.  This spurred some wonderful conversations about books which I always encourage.  I then asked them how they could pass that magic on to the students that would be entering my classroom in the fall.  They began discussing all the books that they wanted to donate to our classroom favorite’s shelf.  They also discussed making copies of their favorite Book Talk responses and putting those in a binder so that my upcoming students would be able to read about those favorites.  This will give my upcoming students a chance to read my current students’ thoughts and feelings about those books, which to me, is just as important as the titles.

My students are excited to pass on the magic of reading, and I will be certain to share their generosity with my students in the fall. This will hopefully lead to a long tradition of passing on the magic of reading, much like Chris Van Allsburg has done with the magic of Christmas.

 

Brandee Green is currently a fifth grade ELA teacher in Aiken, SC.  Visit her on twitter @bandee123 or www.creatinglllearners.blogspot.com  to learn more about her classroom experiences with Chris Van Allsburg and to enter a contest to win a copy of the book mentioned above.  

Sparking Readers by Sara Kajder

Together, books and readers create “sparks” – the moments of possibility that open when a reader and the words on a page connect in such a way as to require a new way of seeing, enacting, and carrying forward.  This is the story of one such “sparking,” one built out of a towering TBR pile, an author’s generosity of spirit, a courageous reader, and three special bonobos.

In early December, my TBR pile was staggering, spilling from my single “dedicated” bookshelf where it had started in July and now was snaking up the space between furniture and the wall.  (Moment of teacher-reader confession – so, it didn’t “start” in July.  It simply was “restarted” as I literally moved the previous tower into a closet.  I needed the shelf to feel possible and pray that the book-Gods will forgive…) In a moment of dedication, I swore to read my way through that shelf as things were clearly getting a bit out of hand.  I started with that first book from July – Eliot Schrefer’s Endangered.   (Since I’m in a teacher-reader confessional space, I think it is important to note that books don’t sit in my pile as long as this one had.  I’d been dragging my reader-heels.  No matter the accolades the book had received, I was resisting it for fear that it would reduce the realities of the Congo and round the corners on issues that are hard and pointed.) I curled up with the book, instantly gripped by the first line, “Concrete can rot.”   The book and I “sparked.”  I was transported, wrestling with ethical issues, hiding from danger, and entranced by the relationships between the bonobos and the people who entered, challenged and supported their lives.

When readers “spark,” the world melts away, replaced by the story.  When teacher-readers “spark,” we slow to experience the last pages of a book and, when the spell breaks, we move into action.  I paged through unit plans, looking for ways to conserve space in a tightly-planned year that would allow my eighth graders to enter this book-space that I had just inhabited.   I emailed my department chair, requesting that we find a way to fund the purchase of at least a class set of books.  And, in a moment of what felt like insane courage muted only by the reality that I was still “sparking,” I emailed Eliot Schrefer.

And, he replied.  Ten minutes later, he was in my inbox, and offering not just to possibly skype with students but to actually come to our school.   His generosity leapt off of the screen and the moment exploded with possibility.

Fast-forward to February.

“Sparks” abounded.  Endangered was shared as a school-wide book in January, including students, faculty, staff and parents across grades six through eight.  Students initiated a fundraiser with the goal of adopting a bonobo from Friends of Bonobos, the charity with whom Eliot Schrefer partnered while writing the book.  Discussions broke out in English, Social Studies, and Science, filling classrooms and hallways with readers’ talk and “sparks.”

At the end of the month, Eliot spent an entire day with us, speaking for over an hour with each grade level and spending an elongated lunch for a few students who self-identified as writers eager to learn lessons of craft, of process and of even starting.  And, as happens when teacher-readers get caught up in the planning of these kinds of incredible days, I was drowning in scheduling, details and real-time “emergencies” (as in how to get an outdated, limping-along laptop to step up to the demands of a multimedia-rich Prezi just moments before the day began).   And, as often happens to teacher-readers, I was immediately reminded of the energy and unique possibility of the day when I was slowed (and schooled) by a student.

During my eighth grade’s hour with Eliot, I noticed that “Erin” (pseudonym) was quietly writing in her journal while he spoke.  Erin, an unusually hungry reader, maintained a quiet, almost-not-there presence in my English classroom.   Her writing would be rich with connections and thoughtful ideas, but it was regularly late or something I’d find on scattered scraps of paper left by her seat after class.  I had yet to see her bring a book to class. Her focused attention caught my eye as I scanned the room through my camera lens, fixated on capturing photos of our day (and not seeing that I was failing to actually experience any of it).  Out of respect for her quiet, I lowered my camera and slowly navigated to her corner of the table.  Looking over her shoulder, I caught glimpse not of written notes but of an immaculately drawn bonobo.

  She looked up, eyes-wide, and whispered, “do you think [Eliott] will be angry?  I think in pictures.  Maybe, he’d like this?  Words don’t fit this book.”  I almost wanted to take a photo of her bedraggled hardback book, newly-taped together with pages turned, marked, and, in many cases, falling out of the binding.   I instantly recognized it as the beloved book of a reader… the kind that speaks out to those of us who have loved books into very similar states in similar brief lengths of time… the kind that outwardly shows the kinds of “sparks” it inspired.  I nodded to her in agreement, but, more importantly, I put down the camera and picked up my own reader’s writer’s notebook.    I lowered myself into a seat, started hearing (not just listening) and allowed myself to be a learner alongside my students – the stance I most comfortably inhabit.

We read together – with Eliot.  We wrote together, creating found poems merging lines from the book with our own ideas – again with Eliot as our guide.  And, in her own act of courage, fueled by her readerly “sparks,” Erin surprised us all by approaching Eliot, sharing her picture, and engaging him in discussion about where he finds his inspiration.  She held onto four words, “from readers like you.”

In that moment, I learned what might be the most important lesson of all.  Yes, books and readers come together to create “sparks,” but nothing is like the light generated when books and readers AND authors come together.  That light is magic that helps students to find voice, to find untapped courage, and to stretch into new roles. “Sparks” seek out other “sparks.”  And, when they do, within magic moments where communities that grow from glimmers of courage and possibility, we can do things that matter.  Erin lead our schoolwide effort to adopt three Bonobos from the sanctuary. Bigger, her voice has found a way to make itself heard in our English class.  And, she has already started her own list of books she recommends we take on as a school next year.  There is such magic in what we do.

Sara Kajder is, among other things, a writer, a reader, a runner, a teacher educator, and mother to two growing boys. Currently she is teaching middle school at Shadyside Academy where she gets to experience the joy of creating “sparks” for her student readers. You can find Sara on Twitter as @skajder. 

Who Needs the Mail? by Matthew Olshan

You can’t retire,” cried Diamond Jacques. “The people need you!”

“Perhaps,” Lalouche replied, “but even more, the people need their mail.”

At the end of the nineteenth century — just as at the beginning of the twenty-first — the tradition of sending handwritten letters was under siege. The telegraph was already a mature technology, and the advent of the telephone meant that more and more people were turning away from pen and paper for the instant gratification of a spoken conversation.

Nevertheless, the French postal service, or “La Poste,” offered no fewer than eight collections and deliveries — per day — in Paris on weekdays, and a mere five on Sundays and fête-days.

If those eight deliveries didn’t suffice, there was another technological wonder in the wings: an elaborate system of pneumatic tubes that could whisk a letter from one end of town to another in the blink of an eye.

The preferred method of delivering mail was changing, too. Horses were phased out in 1873, thanks to the greater efficiency of trains. Twenty years later, in 1893, La Poste authorized its carriers to use newfangled bicycles for their routes on an experimental basis — although without compensation. Perhaps they were worried the carriers would have too much fun!

Within a few decades, practically all the mail would be moved by automobile. But where’s the romance in that?

The pleasure of seeing a real, tactile, bona fide letter, addressed by human hand, come wiggling through my mail slot was one of the starting points of The Mighty Lalouche. Everyone remembers the childhood excitement of getting something in the mail — a letter or package, sent from who-knows-where, arriving as if by magic at the front door.

I still feel that magic when our faithful postal carrier delivers a special letter — or better yet, when he rings the doorbell to alert us to a package.

The sound of that bell takes me right back to childhood, when I first came to understand that the envelope had my name on it; that just those letters and numbers spelled out the place where I lived; that someone, somewhere, had fed this letter to a big blue metal box with a noisy mouth.

How the letter got from the belly of that faraway box to my trembling hands was a mystery; for all I knew, the brave men or women in postal uniform were adepts of a secret society whose sole mission was to connect me with family and friends.

The bright “ding!” of an incoming email reminds me of the pleasure of letters, but in a diminished way. In my little world, the arrival of the mail — the real mail, be it six times a week or merely five, be it full of grocery store circulars or no — is still good for a daily thrill.

“Why get so excited?” my friends will ask. “These days, it’s all junk. Anything important happens electronically.”

Of course, they’re right.

“Perhaps,” I say. “But for whatever reason, I need my mail.”

MATTHEW OLSHAN is the author of Finn: A Novel, a modern telling of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, with girls as protagonists rather than boys. His latest novel, The Flown Sky, is a fantasy in the tradition of C. S. Lewis’s Narnia Chronicles. He is also the author of the recently published picture book The Mighty Lalouche. Olshan lives in Baltimore, but also has a little farm in south central Pennsylvania, called Pencil Creek. Visit him at MatthewOlshan.com.

Enter below for a chance to win a copy of Matthew’s newest book, The Mighty Lalouche signed by illustrator Sophie Blackall.

A World So Large with Possibilities by Toni Buzzeo

Just this past week, I spent three days at Ridge View Elementary School in Dexter, Maine with PreK, Kindergarten, First, and Second Grade classes. We sang, we performed puppet plays, we discussed illustration, plot, setting, and especially characters. But it wasn’t until Friday morning, when I met with the first of my second grade classes, that I remembered what a wealth of information and ideas and inspiration my readers can be.

 

I’ve just published a new picture book, Just Like My Papa (Hyperion, 2013), gorgeously illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka http://www.mikewohnoutka.com/. It’s the second in a trio of books about animals on the East African savanna, so of course, we were talking about the savanna, looking at photographs from my trips there, and discussing the shape of the trilogy.

In Just Like My Papa, Kito, a lion cub, quite literally shadows his father, the king of the pride, in everything he does, from guarding the pride against ever-present dangers, to protecting the territory they occupy, to following the lionesses in the hunt, preparing to enjoy its spoils. Kito is enthusiastically devoted to his father, sometimes to the point of peskiness, but even the king of the beasts will take a few minutes to entertain his eager little fluff ball. A perfect Father’s Day book!

 

After discussing Just Like My Papa, we turned to the first book, Stay Close to Mama, featuring giraffes, who are naturally curious creatures. Twiga, a baby giraffe, is endlessly curious and puts himself, quite innocently, in many dangerous situations, threatened by hyenas, crocodiles, and leopards despite his mama’s repeated warnings to Stay close. Stay safe.

 

Finally, we turned to talk of the last book in the trilogy, My Grandma Always Remembers, which Mike is painting right now. As you will have guessed, it’s about a grandmother elephant, the matriarch of her family, and her little granddaughter elephant in the time of a serious drought. We talked about droughts and the need in families for one animal who remembers times long before where precious water and grasses could be found across parched and dusty plains.

Suddenly, one little girl piped up, rather passionately, with, “You actually need a fourth book about a grandfather animal.”

“I know,” I said. “But so far, I haven’t managed to find a single animal species on the savanna with a grandfather patriarch who remains with the family.”

There then ensued a lively and truly invigorating conversation about possibilities. Had I considered members of the wild dog family—though not, of course, hyenas, who are so unpopular. Or how about REPTILES? Snakes! There must be snakes aplenty on the savanna. Birds, perhaps, as they are so plentiful in East Africa and they do often mate for life? And what about INSECTS? Those stinging ants in Stay Close to Mama—might the hive actually have a king in residence rather than a queen?

Oh, in those seven or eight minutes the world seemed so large with possibilities.

And that is it, isn’t it? It’s one of the things I love most about kids. The world can be quite limitless when you are eight years old, or nearly there, seven and three quarters, perhaps. Kids don’t quickly shut doors as we sometimes might. They fling them open, one after another after another. What about THIS? Or THIS? Or THIS? Or how about THAT too?

So, I’m on a hunt, so to speak, for patriarchs in the animal kingdom of East Africa. If you’re an eight year old—or just think like one—feel free to toss me an idea. Maybe Mike and I will have a quartet of books after all!

Toni Buzzeo is a former school librarian, so she comes by her love of books and kids quite naturally. In fact, it was while teaching at Longfellow School in Portland, Maine that she began to write for children, right after her first trip to Kenya in 1995. She has published nineteen picture books thus far, with two more under contract, including My Grandma Always Remembers. Toni’s book One Cool Friend, illustrated by the distinguished illustrator David Small, won a 2013 Caldecott Honor. Many of her other books have garnered award attention as well. Toni and her husband live in Buxton, Maine from May through December, where she writes in a lovely writing cottage above the brook. But just after the winter holidays each year, she high-tails it down to sunny Sarasota, Florida where she can listen to the birds singing outside her office window during the day and zip over to walk the beach at sunset.

 

Find Toni online at www.tonibuzzeo.com and watch the video of that sweet writing cottage being built!

A Call for Pictures – Summer Reading Edition

If you’re anything like me, right around the time I start realizing that we have less than a month of school left and I start to feel overwhelmed by my to-do list, I start to fantasize about a different list – my summer to-be-read list.

After all, that list (or, if you live dangerously, physical stack) of books you have going from a school year’s worth of #titletalks and book reviews is just begging for some attention and summer is the perfect opportunity to curl up with a cool drink and just read. (Doesn’t that sound wonderful?)

Thanks to Donalyn’s #bookaday invitation yesterday, you’re probably already thinking about your summer TBR list, so we’re asking you to share a photo of you with your summer bookstack with us. We’ll use the photos we get to make a video montage once the dust settles from the end of the school year.

Please send your photos to nerdybookclubblog@gmail.com no later than 11:59 pm on June 1, 2013.

Cindy Minnich is lucky enough to live the charmed life of a high school English teacher, mom to one future librarian, and wife to a fellow reader. She can be found on Twitter as @cbethm, on web at http://www.chartingbythestars.com, and in real life on her princess chair enjoying a book and a cup of coffee.

The Fifth Annual #Bookaday Challenge

Every year, I prepare for summer with the same comforting rituals. I buy a pack of Goody black hair elastics and new flip flops. I write end-of-year notes to my students. I recheck my summer travel plans. And I publicly announce my intention to read a book for every day of summer break.

This ambitious challenge began as an attempt to catch up on the landslide of books piled around my house and reconnect with my reading life. Over the years, the Book-a-Day challenge has evolved into a social event connecting readers who share book recommendations and celebrate reading. Nerdy Book Club fun fact, I “met” Colby Sharp for the first time when he joined the Book-a-Day Challenge on Twitter in 2011. Mini Book-a-Day events pop up during spring and winter breaks, and literacy gurus like Teri Lesesne post book titles under the #bookaday hashtag all year.

That book on your nightstand for the past two months? That biography someone gave you last Christmas? That cascading pile of journals on your office floor? Isn’t it time? Won’t you join me in the Fifth Annual Book-a-Day Challenge?

Imagine languid days reading an entire book in one sitting. Picture yourself staying up past midnight to finish one more chapter. Summer (reading) is coming.

The rules (more guidelines, really) are simple:

Read one book per day for each day of summer vacation. This is an average, so if you read three books in one day (I know you’ve done this!) and none the next two, it still counts.

You set your own start date and end date.

Any book qualifies including picture books, nonfiction, professional books, audio books, poetry anthologies, or fiction—children’s, youth, or adult titles.

Keep a list of the books you read and share them often via a social networking site like goodreads or Twitter (post using the #bookaday hashtag), a blog, or Facebook page. You do not have to post reviews, but you can if you wish. Titles will do.

Let me admit a secret. I probably won’t make my Book-a-Day Challenge this year without reading more than a few picture books and graphic novels to hedge my bets. You probably won’t either. Book-a-Day is not a competition. It’s an opportunity to enjoy marvelous reading experiences and rededicate ourselves to daily reading. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what we read, or how much, or when. What matters is that we have fun and indulge in our favorite leisure activity—reading a lot of books!

I like a little bit of everything, but here are ten books I plan to read:

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt

Standard Hero Behavior by John David Anderson

Doll Bones by Holly Black

Dreams and Shadows by C. Thomas Cargill

Unnatural Creatures by Neil Gaiman

Red River Stallion by Troon Harrison

Rapture Practice by Aaron Hartzler

The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan

Golden by Jessi Kirby

Winger by Andrew Smith

 

I hope you have an adventurous summer both inside and outside the pages. Please share the books you plan to read this summer and help our reading lists grow.

 

Donalyn Miller is a fourth grade teacher at Peterson Elementary in Fort Worth, TX. She is the author of The Book Whisperer and the upcoming Reading in the Wild. Donalyn co-hosts the monthly Twitter chat, #titletalk (with Nerdy co-founder, Colby Sharp), and facilitates the Twitter reading initiative, #bookaday.