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Giving Back by Jen Vincent
My second year teaching, in an effort to motivate one of my students to read a book that he was assigned to read in one of his classes, I offered to buy him any book that he wanted. When he told me that he wanted me to buy him The Return of the Antichrist by Patrick Heron, my jaw dropped and I was completely speechless. Later, when I looked up the book, I found out it was a Christian fiction book but I just didn’t feel comfortable buying that for him. I learned my lesson to not make the mistake of offering to buy a student any book. Since then, when a student has earned a book, I usually give him or her a choice of 3-5 books that I choose based on what I know about the student as a reader. (As a hearing itinerant teacher, I worked with students primarily in a one-to-one situation or small group so it was easier to do this than if I had had a classroom. Students earned points for bringing all their materials and could save for a pencil, a bookmark or a book)
This year, I find myself remembering what it was like when I first started teaching and how I felt about teaching those first few years a lot because I am now a teacher leader for my district co-coordinating our Teacher Mentor Program. I student taught in my district when I was college and then was fortunate enough to be hired as a teacher here my first year. I completed our two-year mentor program as a new teacher. I had amazing cooperating teachers and a wonderful mentor who made me want to support new teachers. After moving to a standard certificate, I applied to be a mentor myself. Currently, I am mentoring my third new teacher while also supporting all the new teachers.
When I found out I would be taking this position, I was torn in trying to decide whether I left some of my books for the next person or took them with me. I wrestled with this, knowing that if I was new to a position I would bring my own materials and that I might not want to have to go through and weed out materials left from a previous teacher. Not to mention that my books are my babies and had not been paid for by the school district. In the end, I packed up all of the books that I had personally bought for my “office” library. But then, I found out that my student teacher, Maggie, was hired for the position. My books sat in my garage until I finally realized that they would be much better off with Maggie and with students so I have been bringing in a few boxes at a time for her.
Maggie totally rearranged my old office and has created her own version of the “office” library for students to access. Here is what she has set up so far:
This week, I brought her a few more boxes that she is so excited to unload!
I don’t have to try too hard to remember how great it felt to get any materials donated to me as a new teacher because it has never gotten old. Even now as a veteran teacher, I love getting materials donated. It was great to see how excited she was to have so many books to be able to offer to her students.
Giving books to Maggie is my own version of paying it forward. I’ll never forget the colleagues who have supported me as a teacher throughout my entire career so far and I’m sure there are many who will support me in the future. Being able to give books to her is my small way of giving back. Maybe you’ll think about how you felt when you were new to your professional (whether it’s teaching or not) and do something for someone who is new.
If you have any ARCs to donate, you can find more information about who you can give them to at Reach a Reader – ARCs Float On:
http://www.reachareader.org/arcsfloaton.php
And any teachers who would love to receive ARCs can sign up here:
http://www.reachareader.org/arcsfloaton-reg.html
I would love to hear any stories of your first year teaching if you are a teacher, or how you have supported new professionals you work with!
Jen Vincent taught as a hearing itinerant teacher for ten years. She currently works as a teacher leader in her district co-coordinating the Teacher Mentor Program. Her dreams of bringing her love of literacy to this new position are coming true. It’s one small step for this girl, but one giant leap towards Nerdy Book Club world domination. Jen blogs at www.teachmentortexts.com and is on Twitter as @mentortexts.
Nerdy Book Club 
Thanks so much for the resources. When I started out as a teacher, my library came about slowly but surely. I depended on Scholastic bonus points and my own purchases. Now, I’m able to find great places to find books at a reasonable price and I’ve been lucky enough to get donations from people. Sharing these books with fellow teachers makes me happy. I’m so excited about ARCs. My students LOVE reading these! Looking for more opportunities to find and share ARCs with my sixth graders!
Jen — I don’t mind admitting to some jealousy about the concept of “office” and “room.” In our building we each have half-a-desk in the department office, and we are assigned to teach in multiple rooms. This has big implications for the cnncepts of “classroom library.” My classroom library is a xerox box that I take from room to room, but I don’t do it every day, so it’s not always avalable to students.
Handing over materials is a great way to help new teachers. It’s also important to listen to their ideas and try things that they suggest. I get a lot of great ideas from my newer colleagues!
ARCs are a great resource. I’ve also shared them with colleagues after conferences, and students love them. For example, although it won’t be published until April 1, two students have read and enjoyed Jaclyn Moriarty’s A Corner of White. They think it’s kind of a special privilege to have pre-publication access to books, and when they blog about those books, they take their advance reviews especially seriously.
Reading your blog post early this morning will set a good tone for my day today! Thanks.
yes!! this is my first year as an educator and my bookshelf is slowly growing. I am so shocked and thrilled every time someone tells me “these are free, take any you like”– my husband and I are going to have to build a bookcase to hold them all!
I started my first year of teaching with around 30 books because of my YA Lit college class (thankfully I saved *those* books) and from a couple family members who bought me YA novels as college graduation gifts. I went to many library sales, garage sales, used book stores, etc. to find books for my class library when I first started teaching. I still do! One of the best ways to get books and other resources for your classroom is through Donors Choose. I’ve received over 100 books through the different projects I’ve created on that site. If you work with seniors, they might want to donate books to your classroom as a parting gift. Whenever a senior donates books, or any student for that matter, I put a label that says who donated the book and his/her graduation year.