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. 

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.

Expanding Their Worlds Through Books by Tara Smith

I teach in an affluent suburb of New Jersey, and my students are fortunate enough to have parents who attend to their needs and wants in equal measure. As privileged as they are, my kids have an awareness that they are lucky, and that there are children nearby and all over the world who struggle daily for just  the barest essentials to survive.  My sixth graders are eager t o learn about the great wide world around them, and they are at a stage in their development where they are able to consider  abstract  issues of social justice, war and the struggle for peace,  and social  activism.  Reading wonderful books that transport them into other lands and other lives becomes all the more important at this stage, I think, because our kids seem to be so receptive and eager to learn about their world.

I try to find books like these for my sixth graders, and sometimes (oh, happy day!) they find such  books for me.  That was the case with The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis.  Sarah, who had found this book prominently displayed at the town library and had checked it out herself, was completely enthralled with the story.  Her enthusiasm was contagious, and soon many students were asking first for The Breadwinner, and the other books in the series.   I purchased as many copies as I could get my hands on, and each made their way from student to the next, with many spirited conversations along the way.

 

The Breadwinner and its sequel Parvana’s Journey are set in war ravaged Afghanistan, where the Taliban have taken control of some areas and American soldiers battle against them on land and from the sky. Parvana’s family has lost everything, but they still have each other and together they manage to scrape by. Then Parvana’s father is taken away by the Taliban, and she must pretend to be a boy so that can continue to make a living for her family doing her father’s job as a letter writer and reader. But nothing stays constant in Afghanistan – and the first two books follow Parvana’s journey from one catastrophe to the next: she is separated from her family, rescues abandoned children, and moves from one area of devastation to another in search of her mother and sisters.  The sights she sees and the situations she experiences are vividly described – and Parvana herself emerges as a strong young lady, who is both believable as well as admirable.  Ellis is able to describe suffering with a type of unsentimental clarity that really appeals to my sixth graders – the details are just enough to allow for inferences and to provoke thinking.

Mud City is the story of Parvana’s best friend Shauzia, who fled Afghanistan for a better life elsewhere, only to find herself on her own and struggling to survive on the streets of Peshawar, Pakistan. Enduring harrowing experiences of her own, Shauzia is rescued by the Red Crescent…and then makes the brave decision to return with this humanitarian group to the country of her birth, and do what she can to help the thousands in need just across the border.

My Name is Parvana picks up the narrative some time later. Parvana has been captured by American soldiers who suspect her of being a terrorist. Parvana refuses to speak; she remembers the events of the past four years when she was reunited with what was left of her family and helped them to open a school. The Taliban threaten death and destruction unless the school closes down – and they carry through with their promise. But the American soldiers believe that Parvana was somehow connected to this event, and so Parvana sits alone in jail, until a dramatic bombing of the base forces Parvana to risk her life once again.  At the end of this book, Parvana faces a choice – to leave Afghanistan for safety  in France, or to stay and help those who don’t have such an option. When she makes the decision to stay, she says to her friend Shauzia, half in jest:

“So…more of the same then. More hunger, more fear and more work.”

And her friend responds, truthfully:

“This is Afghanistan… What do you want – a happy ending?”

For the children of Afghanistan, happy endings are few and far between.

It’s been important, I know, for my students to read about Parvana, Shauzia and the other wonderful Afghanistani  characters that people Ellis’ books.   Afghanistan seems so far away, and when my kids see stories about this country and the ongoing war that seems to continue without any end in sight, they often pause to focus only on our brave soldiers and the difficulties and sacrifices they make every day in the name of our country.  When they think of the Afghani people, they often think about the Taliban, or the Afghan soldiers.  The children of Afghanistan, the families whose lives have been torn apart over these years, and the landscape of the country itself have remained on the edges of their consciousness.

Ellis’ books opened up this world for my students.  In the conversations that I overheard, and in our one on one  reading conferences, this new knowledge was exciting to share and discuss. Students used Google maps to examine the Afghan  terrain more closely, they investigated timelines to understand the many phases of the war   in Afghanistan, and they began looking for connections between the themes explored in this series with themes in other historical fiction books they had read.    They began to explore humanitarian organizations that are committed to assisting the Afghan people and their children in particular.  They wanted to know how they could help in the building of schools, and in the purchasing of school supplies.  The war in Afghanistan no longer seemed so far away and so abstract.  When we learned that  most of the royalties for Deborah Ellis’  bestselling books go to the organization “Canadian Women for Women of Afghanistan”, we checked out their website  and learned  about ways in which readers can become active in this humanitarian cause.  They went beyond just reading about happenings far away to becoming engaged in matters that affect the world they live in.  It was just an amazing journey in the power of reading for our class.

We are now on a book hunt for other authors like Deborah Ellis, and other series like The Breadwinner.  Ellis herself has written the following books which are now on order for our classroom:

 

Set in Bolivia, these books follow the story  of Diego who is trying to fend for himself  among the dangers of the  coca leaf trade  when his father is imprisoned.

 

This is the story of twelve year old Valli, and her life picking coal in the coal town of Jharia, India.

 

This is the story of 15-year-old Abdul has made the  long, dangerous journey from his war-torn home in Baghdad to a migrant community in Calais, France which seems just as fraught and terrifying.

 

This novel is set in Malawi, Africa and is the story of Binti  and her siblings.  Orphaned by AIDs, they must find a way to be reunited and build their lives together again.

 

We are really looking forward to the arrival of these books…and the new reading adventures they will inspire.

 

 Tara Smith teaches sixth grade in Glen Rock, New Jersey.  When she is not teaching, she can most often be found reading…and when she is not reading she is most likely on the hunt for new books to read.  Tara blogs about her experiences teaching Reading Workshop, Writing Workshop and Social Studies at  A Teaching Life.

Towards a Better Independent Reading Program by Christine McCartney

 

It had honestly never occurred to me.

“You mean they actually stare blankly at a page in a book and periodically flip the page to stare at another?  They would do that. . .even with a self-selected text?  They actually prefer that to reading?. . .”

The questions kept coming (and still do) when I think back to that sunny June afternoon when my co-teacher, Evelyn Pine, dropped those two words on me: faking reading.

It was the first year of our Independent Reading Program and I was just about ready to congratulate us on a job well done.  How had this escaped me? We immediately took the blame upon ourselves.  Were we not doing enough to hold the students accountable?  Were we not modeling enough? What had we done wrong?

It wasn’t for lack of preparation.  We had done all the background reading, but that wasn’t making us feel any better.  Prominent reading educators, such as Galligher, Atwell and Miller were successfully cruising through an ocean of self-selected texts with students-turned-lifelong-readers cheering in their wake, while we were plodding along in our dinghy, barely afloat.

And not going under seemed hard enough.  Already designated a School In Need Of Improvement by New York State, a very large portion of the students coming into Newburgh Free Academy in 2010 qualified for Academic Intervention Services in English Language Arts.  Couple that with the fact that Newburgh has a high poverty level, an increased juvenile incarceration rate, entrenched drug and gang issues, high truancy and dropout rates, and an extremely low tax base to support its schools and you can see why my colleague and I were so determined to pull as many students into our lifeboat as possible.

So there we were:  weighted with district reform plans aiming to increase the overall literacy of our students,  rowing against a tide moving away from fictional literature towards informational texts, and now adding the realization that some of our students internalized a view of themselves as non-readers so much so that they would rather fake their way through an entire book than actually engage with it.  How could we convince a student that a particular piece of literature was worth their time? We had a lot of thinking to do over the summer.

Fast forward two years.  Our Independent Reading Program is still in full swing and has grown by leaps and bounds; I wouldn’t say that we are at our destination yet, but we are definitely moving forward at a respectable pace -and I can confidently say that the expression “barely afloat” no longer applies.  The reflection we did over that summer had a great deal to do with it.   We knew, for the most part, that once a student was hooked on a book, they would look forward to reading it; we had seen this first-hand on many occasions.  But what we hadn’t taken into account had to do with convincing students that specific books were worth their investment. That summer, we realized something simple that had escaped us in the first two years:  when it came to book selection, students valued the opinions of their peers more than they valued our opinions.
Since then, we have put several practices into place to help students encourage one another to dive into a particular book in the first place.  These simple practices, coupled with structured student-teacher conferences to help gauge students’ understanding of their books, have made a huge difference:

 

1. Speed Book Dating:
This one is probably not new to most teachers, but it works wonderfully.  You can find many different approaches online and then tweak them to fit your particular students.  The premise is simple.  Students each have a book that they have read (or are in the process of reading) and preferably enjoyed.  We usually set up our desks in pairs and use a timer at the front of the room.  We found that it is helpful if students have a worksheet to reflect on each book right after the “date.” This is also a great reference for them later in the year when it comes time for them to select another book.  We set the timer for three minutes.  One student then “sells” their book to the student they are paired with.  They are encouraged to tell as much as they want about the book, but reminded not to give too much away.  When the timer goes off, the other student takes their three-minute turn selling their book.  After this, the students are given another two or three minutes to write.  They are asked to jot down the title and author of the book their peer presented, write a brief description and then rate how interested they are to read it themselves.  Then students get up and move to a new partner and the process begins again.

This practice is beneficial for many reasons, but two stand out.  As a student repeatedly describes and speaks about their chosen book, they become more proficient at doing so.  I have listened to students’ descriptions grow more and more sophisticated with each new pairing as the class progressed.  Also, students generally enjoy sharing what they liked about a particular book, and their peers, in turn, become interested in the texts they recommend.

You can choose to ham it up as much as you want.  Snacks, tablecloths, etc. might make it more exciting, depending on the group of students you have.  An important part of the process is being sure that you make time for students to reflect at the end of class.  We ask questions like, “What new understandings did you gain by sharing your book with your classmates?” and  “What book do you think you would be most interested in reading next…and why?”

 

2. Book Talks

Book Talks are a simple, low-stakes strategy for students to earn a few extra points in our class, practice public speaking and exercise ownership over a book they read and enjoyed.  We model these periodically when we get new books into our classroom library.  They are relatively easy; at the beginning of a class designated for silent, sustained reading, a student can speak to his/her peers for a few minutes about a particular book.  We usually conference with the student beforehand to review public speaking techniques and what they would like to communicate, and then the classroom is theirs. Students are typically encouraged to ask questions of the speaker afterwards and pass around the book for students to peruse.  These can also be done digitally using programs such as Photostory 3, with photos and voice-overs and housed on a class website for future classes.

 

3. Use the internet

YouTube has a plethora of student-authored book trailers for students to watch.  Encouraging students to write and read real book reviews on amazon.com not only helps them find and share books they might be interested in (especially thanks to the Customers who bought this item also bought section), but also helps them engage in a real world writing practice that can be a resource for them in the future.  While students are spending some time looking at books and book trailers online, you can open up a back channel using websites like typewith.me or todaysmeet.com to allow students to post names and brief descriptions of books they might be interested in reading; by the end of the session, they will have a self-generated class list of possible books that you can then print out and distribute.

 

My favorite thing about teaching is that it is not static.  If I were not challenged daily to grow my practice, I am not sure how long I would have lasted in this profession.  Even though I still cringe when I remember the embarrassment I felt that day in June a few years back, it was because of the reflection and collaboration with my colleague (and all of the colleagues in my department, really) that we were pushed to rethink our approach to our Independent Reading Program –and the little dinghy, that once felt so crowded and tentative, is now sturdy and moving forward with more confidence and student engagement than ever.

 

Christine McCartney is a high school English Language Arts teacher at Newburgh Free Academy, in New York.  She is currently residing in Tampere, Finland through a Distinguished Fulbright Award in Teaching researching how Finnish teachers incorporate research and reflection into their practice.  Visit Christine at www.christinemccartney.net, and on Twitter @mrscmacc.

Notable Holocaust Picture Books Illustrate People Making a Difference by Sandra Bornstein

The mere mention of the word “Holocaust” may cause a significant group of primary teachers to cringe. The thought of including a notable Holocaust picture book in a primary curriculum might be equally unappealing even though the underlying message revolves around people making a difference.

 

Some may immediately respond, “Isn’t the Holocaust a more appropriate topic for secondary students? Why expose innocent children to such a tragedy?”

 

Another group of teachers may believe that some of the basic lessons from the Holocaust can be taught to young children. Following this line of thinking would mirror the philosophy that any topic can be taught in an age appropriate way. These educators would be more receptive to the less descriptive books.

 

At the far end of the spectrum are teachers who feel that their primary students should not be sheltered from the harsh realities of life. They might reply, “Isn’t the evening news filled with bloodshed and violence? Why wouldn’t I include picture books about the Holocaust?”

 

Before considering any Holocaust picture book, a teacher must assess the dynamics of his/her classroom, the curriculum, the demographics of the school, and the content of the book(s). Equally important is the teacher’s comfort level with the topic and the willingness to convey accurate information. Each teacher must ultimately decide if it is a “right fit” for his/her classroom.

 

The six books that I am sharing in this posting are just a small sampling. Each provides the reader the opportunity to explore how an individual’s decision can have a rippling effect that has the capacity to help others. While each story is unique, they all illustrate how people can make a difference. The books are listed in alphabetic order.

Luba: The Angel of Bergen-Belsen, as told to Michelle R. McCann by Luba Tryszynska-Frederick and illustrated by Ann Marshall

How a person responds to a dangerous situation tells a lot about his/her character. After finding 54 children on the outskirts of a concentration camp grounds, Luba is forced to decide whether she can attempt to save them or leave them to die. Enlisting the cooperation of others, all of which put their lives in danger, enabled all but one to survive.

Nine Spoons: A Chanukah Story by Marci Sillerman and illustrated by Pesach Gerber

Life in the concentration camps was harsh and cruel. Clinging to traditions and memories provided hope for many. Working together to gather nine spoons, allowed one woman the wherewithal to create a menorah made from the spoons. Without going into details, the story illustrates some of the stark realities of life in the concentration camps and the importance of Jewish holidays.

Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story written by Ken Mochizuki and illustrated by Dom Lee with an afterward by Hikoki Sugihara

Older children may be aware of Oscar Shindler’s story- Schindler’s List.  An equally engaging story focuses on the heroic life of Chiune Sugihara. He was a righteous Gentile who used his diplomatic status to save the lives of countless Jews. Even though he was ordered by his government to not help the Jews, he risked his life and reputation to do what he felt was right.

The Champion of Children: The Story of Janusz Korczak by Tomek Bogacki

Picture books that highlight the lives of notable individuals can be memorable. Janusz was a doctor and writer who dedicated his life to child advocacy. Sadly his democratically run orphanage was lost when he was forced to move his children into the Warsaw Ghetto. His amazing story lives on even though he perished in the Treblinka concentration camp with his orphans.

The Harmonica by Tony Johnston and illustrated by Ron Mazellan

This picture book illustrates how simple acts can have profound effects on people. The playing of the main character’s harmonica not only provided an avenue for his own survival, but also provided inspiration and hope for his fellow concentration camp prisoners.

Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust by Eve Bunting and illustrated by Stephen Gammell

Decades after Eve Bunting dipped into the genre of children’s Holocaust literature, this book remains a popular choice as an introduction to the Holocaust. Using an allegory, Bunting successfully introduces both young and old to what happens when animals turn their back on the bad things that are happening in their community. The book provides a springboard for a lively discussion about the choices everyone makes.

 

Would you share a Holocaust picture book with your class?

 

This is just a sampling of Holocaust picture books that can be utilized in a primary setting.  An Amazon search will provide a more complete list of available books. For additional information visit:

 

Holocaust Teacher Resource Center

United States Holocaust Museum

Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center

Yad Vashem

Sandra Bornstein recently published May This Be the Best Year of Your Life. The memoir chronicles her living and international teaching adventure in India. Sandra writes a blog that focuses on education, travel, Jewish culture, and general musing. She is a licensed Colorado teacher with a Linguistically Diverse Education K-12 endorsement and two masters’ degrees- one in education and the other in Jewish Studies. You can find her on Twitter as @sandrabornstein.

Pay It Forward: Middle School Readers are Rock Stars for Younger Kids by Michele L. Haiken

Each spring my middle school students and I visit our local elementary school to read aloud our favorite children’s picture books to kindergarten, first, and second grade students.  When my middle school students enter the elementary school and see their teachers from years past, they are giddy with excitement.  They coo over how small and cute the kindergarteners and first graders are, and they are enamored by the size of the furniture as if they have taken the same potion that Alice in Wonderland did to grow bigger.  They are excited for circle time and the opportunity to read their favorite children’s books aloud to the younger students.

 

My students take this journey as part of an authentic assessment in my Speech and Debate class, an elective available to seventh and eighth grade students.   The first few weeks of class address the question, “What makes an effective speaking voice?”  We cover all aspects of voice:  volume, tone, pitch, pace, body language, eye contact, pause, and articulation.  Students examine a dozen models from Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy to Randy Pausch and President Obama.  Before my students launch into writing and presenting  informative or persuasive speeches, they must showcase their awareness and control of  the workings of their own voice.  This is where our trip to the elementary school fits in.

 

If I asked my students to read aloud a speech or a children’s book within the confines of our classroom, it wouldn’t be the same.  Asking students to present for a real audience is more meaningful. Their read aloud must be dramatic and enthusiastic  to maintain the interests of their young audience and convey an important message.  Here, the early elementary school students are the real audience.  Before my students even begin reading, they are seen by the younger children as rock stars.  This perception gives my students an advantage in confidence and undivided attention.

 

Everyone sits “criss cross applesauce” with their mouths open to gobble up a good book.  I have taught my students that punctuation offers guided directions for the reader.  Periods and commas tell them to pause, while exclamation points and question marks direct their tone.  The way the words lay on the page can also guide the rate of their read aloud.  Eye contact helps them gauge their audience and their listeners’ interest and attention.  If the young children laugh in all the right places, my students know they are successful in their read aloud.  I know the project is successful when my students ask me if we can return each week to read to the elementary students.  Not a bad idea, I think, too.

 

As much as we are sharing books, we are sharing smiles, laughter, and time together.  When we read aloud a story, especially one that we have picked out, or one that is filled with childhood memories, there is a deeper connection between the book, the reader, and the audience.  Unspoken between the students young and old is that books are still fun to read and bring people together.  Even in this digital age, a good book is priceless.

 

Here are some of favorite read alouds:

 

Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann

The Mysterious Tadpole by  Steven Kellogg

Gloria and Officer Buckle by Peggy Rathmann

Too Many Toys by David Shannon

Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake by Michael Kaplan

Dogzilla by Dav Pilky

Michele L. Haiken, Ed.D. is a middle school English teacher at Rye Middle School in Rye, New York, and an adjunct professor in the Literacy Department at Manhattanville College. You can learn more about the projects and highlights in her classroom at The Teaching Factor and follow her on Twitter @teachingfactor.

 

Pay it Forward: Building an Appetite for Reading through Student Self-Awareness by Mandy Webb

My classroom resides in an alternative high school for students who for a number of reasons are behind on high school credit. While these students come from many different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, one thing they have in common is that somewhere along their educational skip down the sidewalk, they mistakenly fell between the cracks. Another educational trait the students share is their distaste for reading. When presented with any type of text most embody a sort of Green Eggs and Ham persona. When I first started teaching at the school, my initial reaction was shock, and then I found myself coaxing them with options likely as humorous as “Would you like them on a boat? With a goat? In a house? With a mouse?” with reluctant, if not flat-out rebellious results.  My inner Nerdy Book Clubber knew that for many of them, their appetite for reading simply needed a first taste, but didn’t know how to get them to take their first bite.

As with many other teenage issues, distaste for reading is deeply rooted in lack of self-awareness. To assist students in becoming self-aware readers, I have found that carefully constructed reading logs are invaluable. The significant difference between these reading logs and those condemned as busy work that are generally given to students is that they pay respect to text and the reader, not just the text. I require students in my intervention reading class to finish one book per term (a daunting task for many of them who have never finished a book). To this end, each Monday is dedicated to reading and reflecting. Their reading logs require students to set a purpose for their reading. At the beginning of each term we discuss that the purpose for our reading can be about the book they are reading or about their reading process for the day. Purposes include reading a certain number of pages, asking a question to answer, making predictions, staying focused, eliminating distractions, etc. After reading, the logs require students to reflect by writing responses that includes whether or not they fulfilled their purpose, the overall reading process, and what needs to take place the next time they read in order to be equally or more successful. This reflection is where students begin to form reader self-awareness, because they are required to articulate the thoughts they had while they read and are empowered to identify what they are understanding, what they are not and why.

One outstanding reflection comes from a student named Angela who wrote, “I was able to remain focused on my reading today because everyone else in the class was quiet and in the book the mom was abusing her son and I kept asking myself ‘how could a mother do that to her son?’ so I kept on reading to try and figure it out.” From this response, we can see Angela respecting herself as a reader by recognizing that her reading process requires a quiet environment and engagement in the text through asking questions. Angela is also respecting the text by demonstrating comprehension of events taking place. For students who lack self-awareness, I have found that students need some sentence starters to assist their thinking, some of which are listed below.

As a summative evaluation, the students write book reports that demonstrate comprehension of the text and in-depth reflection of their personal reading process and growth. Reports are where students; increased appetites for reading become evident, making statements like “I used to think I hated reading, but now I know how to get into a book and I actually like reading.” For a teacher this is as exciting as hearing “I do like them on a boat!  With a goat! In a house! With a mouse!” Appetites so voracious that I often struggle to keep up!

As a facilitator of Reading Apprenticeship professional development sessions (where I must give credit to for teaching me many of the lessons I am now paying forward) and weekly PLC meetings, I hear from many teachers that they want their students to know how to know, not just what to know, and I whole-heartedly echo their sentiment.  Reading logs and book reports that respect text and reader is one means of teaching students how to know text and themselves. Now, If someone would have told me as a teacher right out of college with binders full of innovative reading ideas that five years later two major assignments I would be giving my high school students were reading logs and book reports, I would have laughed, then cried, then dreaded the future thinking I was destined to become an antiquated English-teaching curmudgeon. Thankfully this is not the case (yet).

Mandy Webb is a high school English teacher and a national Reading Apprenticeship Consultant from Salt Lake City, Utah. You can follow her literary and pictorial musings/often-futile attempts at brevity on Twitter and Instagram @missmandyslc.

Book Monsters Unite by Carrie Gelson

I am a primary teacher. My job involves many things but my number one goal and my biggest passion is growing readers. I make sure our classroom is full of books. I book talk new books daily. There is time to choose books and time to read what we have selected. We have buddy reading with the kindergarten class, with each other and have many volunteers who visit each week just to listen to us read. Every day there is time devoted to reading instruction, developing comprehension strategies and improving oral reading fluency. And daily, there is time set aside (much time often) for me to read aloud to my students. There is no question that loving books is just what we do in our class.

But then, each June, I have to send my students off to a long summer and a September with a new teacher. It feels like moving away from a thriving garden you have carefully tended. Really, you just want to sit and enjoy the vibrant colours, the incredible smells and the peaceful feeling of watching bees and birds flitter between the blossoms. So . . . obviously, I can’t (to keep the garden analogy going) cut all of these flowers, stick them in a vase and keep them to myself for forever and ever. They have growing and stretching to do. I need to let them go. But, I never want to and I always worry. Will the next teachers nourish their reading souls? Will book love be celebrated each and every day? I really do have serious angst about letting my little readers go. So I have found a solution. A way to cheat. A way to let them go but still keep their reading lives tied up with mine. My brilliant answer? I started a student book club for students in Grade 4 to 7. Along with our lovely Teacher Librarian, Ms. S, we meet weekly with these children and I remain, happily, part of their reading lives.

This is year four of our book club and it has evolved and changed over time. Right now what we do is this:

• We provide (thank you to some wonderful private donors) a paperback copy of our current book for each student in the club to sign out and read.

• We have weekly meetings (this year it is at recess on Wednesdays) to read selections aloud, discuss confusing parts and set a rough reading goal for the following week. Often, best laid plans do not come to fruition and what really happens is that we all talk over each other, gush about the books, laugh about specific reactions and clutch the books to our chests professing a love of reading in general, all in a noisy, beautifully chaotic 20 minute period!

• There is opportunity to share ideas and discuss the book on my blog – each book gets its own page devoted to discussion. With some books, students comment frequently, with others, almost not at all. Some favourite titles our club has enjoyed? Alabama Moon by Watt Key, Out of my Mind by Sharon Draper, The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate and When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.

• When we are done with the books, they move into the library collection and are used in classrooms for literacy circles, book studies, etc.

Some of the unexpected joys:

• We have families that read along with us. One member and her dad read every book together. He even comments on the blog! We have big sisters who read the novels. Moms. Cousins. It is certainly a family affair!

• I can’t walk past my book club members in the hallway without being accosted with passionate book details or questions. I love it!

• Some readers literally establish roots and then bloom out of control (I am really overusing this garden analogy in this post – forgive me please!). One year a girl in Grade 4 joined our book club. I don’t think she ever finished a novel. Not once. But she read bits of them. She attended every meeting and she even participated a little bit in the discussions. That was okay. We knew she was benefitting from the experience. The next year, this girl was our keenest reader. First to finish every book.  Watching her transform into such a confident and engaged reader was amazing.

• The book passion is contagious. Many children who are not in our book club also stop me in the hall. They tell me what they are reading. They engage in book conversations. I sometimes think I am “that book woman.” Nothing makes me happier!

And because, always, the children say it best, here are some of the responses when I asked the question: Why do you like being part of our book club?

“Because we can read books that we don’t know.”

 

“Usually, when I choose my books I stick to the same series and what I know. I don’t get opened up to other things.”

 

“The ones [books] you and Ms. S choose are interesting always. And we can discuss the book if we don’t understand something.”

 

“I like books. That’s the reason. I just love books.” (This simple response inspired others to begin cheering:  ”You’re a books monster. You devour books! We all do!”)

 

“Sometimes when we read, we want to share. If you are at home by yourself, you can’t. But this [meeting weekly] gives us the chance to share. We share the books together.”

 

“Book club gets me more open minded. Not so narrow minded about genre and stuff.”

Even though this student feedback should really get the last word, I am going to end with a request – if you run a student book club, please share how it works! What do you love? What have you learned? There are so many ways to do this and this is certainly the community that can be counted on to learn and share together.

Carrie Gelson teaches Grades 2 and 3 in Vancouver B.C. She is always looking for ways to share the love of reading with her students and shares highlights of her reading and teaching journey at There’s a book for that Find her on twitter at @CarrieGelson.

Books Are a Precious Gift by Maddie Witter

This past year we started a school in the juvenile detention centers in Melbourne, Australia for all incarcerated youth in the state of Victoria.  During their first day of school, most young people share that they haven’t ever finished a book. Kate DiCamillo once described books as a precious gift.  I couldn’t agree more.  But for many of the incarcerated students, books represented exclusion. Matt Hyde, Campus Coordinator of the school reflects, “Our students were geniuses at getting kicked out of school.”   Sadly, it’s not a surprise to find that many incarcerated kids haven’t been in school for a long while.  How could we help students gain attachment to books after years of separation?

Jess, a first year teacher at our school, started class by asking her kids if they thought she could bench press 200 pounds.

“No way!” they yelled back.

“Have you seen these guns?” she responded flexing her biceps. The kids laughed as she asked her next question.

“Do you think I could lift five pounds?”

“Of course.”

“If I could only lift five pounds, how could I get to ten? Fifteen?”  The boys brainstormed.  Since many were lifters themselves, they talked about strategies that weight lifters use to get stronger: interval training, practice, and increasing weight slowly.

Then Jess held up a 300-page book, one that on sight alone was very intimidating to her students.

“Do you think you could finish this book?” The kids shook their heads, calling out no.

“But what if it were only five pages long?”  Nodding, the boys agreed they could handle that.

“Today, we will read for five minutes.  Tomorrow six.  We will incrementally get stronger.  We will develop our fitness until finishing a book like this will be easy.  With your hard work I will help you get there.”

Building student stamina helped many kids gain the necessary confidence and ultimately fall in love with reading.  During his first class, Derek* was so turned off even by a couple minutes of independent reading that he put his head down for the rest of class.  By the end of the third week, his stamina has built so that he proudly finished the entire Wimpy Kid series.  While students understand the weight lifting analogy, not all are as easily hooked as Derek.  The kids, many of whom have been out of education for years, need to see hard evidence that change can happen.

Rose teaches the young adult girls.  Before starting independent reading, she asked the girls to consider where they thought they could read up to in ten minutes.  Then she asked them to put their bookmarks on that spot.  She told the girls to see if they could read up to the bookmark.  They started reading.  After only a few minutes, some of the girls exceeded their personal expectations.

“Can I go further?” they asked.  “Of course,” Rose said, knowing all along that this might happen and secretly cheering on the inside.  Rose knew that small moment was a huge win.  Her students concretely saw that change was possible.

Self-efficacy is the belief in your ability to achieve a goal.  People with strong self-efficacy are often more likely to become successful people.  They think “I can get this done” and “I can’t be stopped” as they relentlessly pursue a goal. Someone with self-efficacy knows that if they work hard in a particular area, they will get better regardless of difficult circumstances.  Therefore, tied with building love of reading, we are also aiming to develop self-efficacy in our learners.

There are times when building confidence is really hard. Rather than focus on what’s not working like when a student is reluctant, instead we focus on positive habits.  We focus on the small wins like when a student asks to read for a little longer so he can finish the chapter in class.  In the same way that a weight lifter incrementally adds on weight, our students are incrementally getting stronger. The director of custodial services shared what he described as a “surreal” experience.  Kids over the weekend requested to turn off the television so they could read their books. Books no longer represent exclusion.  Victor Huge said, “He who opens a school door, closes a prison.”  That statement is tagged across our school walls. The precious gift that books are showing incarcerated kids in Australia is that they are capable of change. As our kids become released from our school, it’s our hope that change helps lead to a better Australia.

 

Maddie Witter was a founding teacher and the Director of Instruction of KIPP Infinity Middle School in Harlem, New York for six years until she moved to Australia.  She is currently working with incarcerated youth in Melbourne and raising her infant daughter Gigi.  She is the author of Reading Without Limits: Teaching Strategies to Build Independent Reading for Life (Jossey-Bass, 2013) the first book in the KIPP Educator Series.  Visit Maddie at www.maddiewitter.com, on Facebook, on Twitter @Maddie_Witter, and her blog Reading Without Limits.