I love my job!! On a daily basis, I have the opportunity to model for my students how I am personally part of a much bigger reading community than just the four walls of our classroom. I frequently talk to them about my reading life, their reading lives, and how I want them to live the lives of readers.
I look at how many ways we’ve been able to break down the physical walls of our classroom, and extend into the virtual reading community; many of those experiences grounded in conversations I had with other book lovers via Twitter.
It was through Twitter that I met Susan Dee (@literarydocent), and discovered that we were both going to begin reading Out of My Mind to our students at precisely the same time. I teach in Ohio and Susan teaches in Maine. In 140 characters or less (multiple times!), we came up with a plan for how we could connect our two classrooms via Kidblog. As we each read this powerful book aloud to our students, we had them take the time to respond to the book on the blog several times a week, and then also respond to each other’s thinking. Their conversations were amazing!! We capped the experience off with a Skype visit between our two classes. They were so excited to put names and faces together, especially with the people with whom they had had rich online discussions. Their “in person” conversations were as thoughtful as their responses on the blog – so delightful!
It was also through Twitter that I met Laurel Snyder (@laurelsnyder), a wonderful author of children’s books. With the upcoming release of her latest book, Bigger Than a Breadbox, this past October, she was offering free Skype visits to classes who might want that experience. That was a no-brainer for me – I definitely wanted that experience for my students. Laurel visited us via Skype, but the way she set it up, if felt like we were right there in her living room, just chatting about her book and other issues pertaining to being an author. My forty-eight students felt so connected to this author who lives in a different place than they do. They were thinking and responding like readers in a virtual world.
This year, I have a different teaching situation than before. I’ve always taught in a fairly self-contained elementary classroom, but this year I am teaming with another teacher, and I teach two sections of 5th grade language arts each day. From the beginning, my goal was not to have them be two separate classes; instead, I wanted the physical walls to come down, and have them be part of the same larger reading community. I turned to my trusty KidBlog again. I’ve opened the virtual walls between the two homerooms so that they have conversations with each other about books, recommendations, our read aloud, and their lives as a reader on a regular basis, even when they’re not in the same room. KidBlog is the perfect tool to enable these ongoing discussions.
Recently, I became a member of the Nerdy Book Club (actually, I’ve been a member all my life; it’s just nice to have people organize it so well now!). I shared my membership in this club with my students, and then asked them what they thought it meant to be part of a book club. What great conversations ensued! From the obvious (“you get together and talk about a book”) to the more thoughtful (“it gives you a sense of what other people think about the same book you read”), the discussions have been thought-provoking. And how did I hear about the Nerdy Book Club?? You guessed it — Twitter again!
Hopefully, the message my students get on a daily basis is that we are all part of a global reading community, and to keep those communities alive, we need to actively participate in them. I really do want my students to be readers for life, both inside and outside our four classroom walls. Making that happen is why I love my job!!
Karen Terlecky
Karen Terlecky is a 5th grade language arts teacher and one-half of the Literate Lives blog team. She also contributes to the Choice Literacy website. She fell in love with books at an early age, with her mom as her reading model. Hopefully, through her 28 years of teaching, she has been a reading model for many other children along the way. She is a proud member of the Nerdy Book Club!
Your students are so lucky to have a teacher willing to experiment like this for their benefit!
I second your thoughts on the power of Twitter in helping create new Nerdy Book Club members in our classrooms. There are so many opportunities available to bring fellow readers together as well as connecting with those magicians we call authors. Never in my wildest dreams when I set up my Twitter account did I ever imagine what I’d be able to do.
I’m excited to be starting the journey with other teachers on Twitter. I originally joined to follow comic book and science fiction feeds – and was amazed by how many professional resources I’ve found in all areas.
Being on Twitter has enhanced my own enjoyment – and it’s also given me tons of resources to use with my students. They are consistently amazed when I can tell them what some of their favorite authors are saying online – or when I can “score” a free copy of a book they are all dying to read. Amazing.
Maria – It’s so nice to meet you and have you expand my horizons to think about other types of feeds I could follow. It is fun when kids hear about our connecting with authors! Again, it connects them as well. Thanks for stopping by today!
Cindy – I feel so fortunate to follow people at Twitter that enhance my thinking and learning, and then allows me to bring that back to my own students. What a great community we have!!
Nice post, Karen! Makes me feel like a twitter dud — I just can’t get going on it, but because of people like you, I’ll give it another try!
Hi Pat! We’ll have to talk more about this when you come to town! So excited to see you!
I think I need some twitter tutoring too! I so agree that technology and all of these social networking opportunites can help hook kids into the “The Nerdy Book Club.”
Wow, Karen, this struck home on every level for me.
Lucky kids you work with, and lucky you to have them.
I was very reluctant to engage with social media, but now I wouldn’t give it up for the world.
Hi Sandy! I was very clumsy when first starting with social media – everything scared me. I know what you mean – I am so glad for both my kids and myself that I stuck with it and made the social media work for us in such powerful ways.
Thanks for stopping by!
Great post Karen…and a wonderful reminder of how Twitter helped me “break down” the walls of my classroom with you last year! It really did transform my teaching and thinking about how to guide my students in their reading journeys toward the #nerdybookclub. When my former students come back to visit this year, they still talk about that book and our classes’ conversations. It was an amazingly powerful experience! I love the idea of blogging between classes within your own building…talked to several of my 5th grade teachers here today and they want to give it a try! More sandbox learning ahead!
Susan – I feel like we mentored each other through our adventure last year. So glad we met and collaborated! Loved hearing how your students are still talking about it. Let me know how the cross-grade level conversations go – sounds like fun!
Karen, I want to follow YOU on Twitter now! I’m having some trouble finding you. Help, anyone?
Twitter and the NBC are amazing resources; I’m grateful to have easy access to so much wisdom and so many game changing ideas.
Abi – Thanks for stopping by today. I couldn’t agree with you more about twitter and NBC – what a wonderful collaboration of smart professionals sharing great thinking!
I am @karenterlecky on twitter.