It's Monday! What are You Reading?

This summer, my goal is to read a book a day - thank you Donalyn Miller for inspiring so many of us to read a book a day this summer!  

Some of the books I read this week are: 

The Art of Miss Chew by Patricia Polacco

I love all of Patricia Polacco's books so whenever she publishes a new book, it is a must-purchase book for me!  This story is about a young girl, Trisha, who spends the summer with her grandmother and discovers a love for art.  Her grandmother is an artist and after spending time with her, she know that she too wants to be an artist.  When she returns to school, she gets into Miss Chew's special art class that is held at the high school after Miss Chew sees her beautiful sketches.  Right when things are all falling into place for Trisha, her classroom teacher is absent for an extended time and the new substitute tells Trisha that she needs to study how to read and write rather than wasting her time on art .  The substitute puts a roadblock up for Trisha, but Miss Chew and Trisha are up for the challenge! 

This book will be a great read aloud for all ages and will engage students in thoughtful conversations about perseverance, setting goals, passions, and working hard. 

Guys Read: The Sports Pages Edited by Jon Scieszka

I am a fan of all the Guys Read books and my 5th graders love them!  I was excited to pick up an ARC of this book at Book Expo in NYC last month.  This book officially comes out tomorrow, July 10th! My students were even more excited when I brought it into our classroom - there were lines quickly formed by some of the students to read it before school was out for the summer.  If you haven't read any of the Guys Read books - I highly recommend them.  They are perfect for middle grades and I love how many authors contribute to each book.  

43 Old Cemetery Road Book 4: The Phantom of the Post Office by Kate Klise

This is the fourth book in the series and just as entertaining as the first three.  I love the humor, play on words, character relationships, and how the books are written in the form of letters.  This is a perfect series for middle grades and also reluctant readers.  This is also a great series to use for teaching different text structures such as letters, newspaper articles, ads, contracts, and more.  The fifth book is called Hollywood, Dead Ahead and there is a little teaser at the end of this book about it.  

Please be sure to check out Jen and Kellee's blog, Teach Mentor Texts, to see what others are reading and to get more book recommendations for your TBR stacks!  

Happy Reading! :)

Thursday is App Day! Pocket

Many may say I'm addicted to reading blogs on my Flipboard and tweets on Twitter...and I proudly say they are correct because it is the best professional development I have ever received. I can get this PD daily, right at my fingertips, and it is all free.  My online PLN through blogs and Twitter has made the biggest impact on my teaching and reflective practices as an educator and I know it will continue to help me grow as a teacher and learner.

Since there are so many thoughtful posts that I come across on my Flipboard and Twitter that I either don't have time to read right then and there or want to keep and reread, I was so happy to find the Pocket App for the iPad/iPhone.

Pocket is a free app and it was previously called "Read it Later", but has been renamed and updated.  It allows you to literally "read the post later" by saving the posts, articles, videos, and images into your Pocket  - I love the play on words with the title!  To save it to your Pocket, you click the arrow on the bottom or top of the post, which gives you the options of: Share Link, Email Link, Read Later, or View on Web.  When you choose "Read it Later", it will automatically save to your Pocket.

To access all of your saved posts/articles, just click on the Pocket icon on your iPad/iPhone and you will see all the content you have saved in your Pocket. While in Pocket, you can search by Title, create Tags, mark Favorites, and choose viewing options. You can also share the content in your Pocket via Twitter, Evernote, Email, and more.  Your saved content will stay in your Pocket until you decide to remove it by clicking the check mark to check it off and out of your Pocket.

If you haven't downloaded or used this free app yet, I encourage you to do it soon since it will help you organize your online reading and learning!  If you have used it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the app!

Enjoy! 

Of Summer Reading and Classic Literature

One of my daughters will be a freshman in high school and John Steinbeck’s Of Mice And Men is required summer reading. Since school got out, I think that she and her friends have spent more time complaining about this book than reading it!

Julia has given me a number of reasons why she doesn’t like it. The plot doesn’t move fast enough--I debated this with her since Steinbeck packs a whole lot of action into a little more than a hundred pages. She doesn’t relate to the characters--I pointed out the universal themes of friendship, loyalty, and ethical dilemmas. The setting is hard to envision--I have to admit that I don’t know many high school freshmen who have ever seen or imagined a ranch bunkhouse.

I ended up reading a fair amount of the book with Julia. Since I had a couple of her friends captive on a rainy day with not much to do, I got them to even sit through some of the readings. They are argumentative, so I was able to engage them in some debates about who was really responsible for the death of Curley’s wife and whether George was right to shoot Lenny. I challenged them to find the name of Curley’s wife and then had another conversation with them about why Steinbeck did not refer to her by her actual name. (Wouldn’t you know that one of them googled what her name was and came up with all sorts of ideas and comments about why she was “Curley’s wife.”)

Overall, Julia's reactions to Of Mice And Men really supported many of the points of Claire Needell Hollander in an article that appeared in The New York Times, Some Books Are More Equal Than Others. Hollander makes several points in this article; one that has especially impacted me is her point that students should experience classic literature with guidance. She gave suggestions for summer reading that pushed students in a more global or even argumentative direction. The Omnivore’s Dilemma, The Fast Food Nation, A Long Way Gone, Night, and Hiroshima were some of her selections. 

Hollander writes that "summer assignments should be about why we need to learn and why we need to talk about what we think." Julia is, by nature, an arguer, but I had to concoct the debates and arguments for Of Mice And Men. I think that she would initiate challenges of my grocery lists and menus if she read the first two books on Hollander's list. And she may be inspired to investigate some of the websites that help young people take action about world injustices if she were to read some of the other selections. I’d love to see some of her energy expended in these ways during the summer when she is not so strapped for time!

Because I have been reading Pathways to The Common Core by Lucy Calkins, Mary Ehrenworth and Christopher Lehman, I have been studying and thinking about the goals of the Common Core and what it means to be ready for college and careers. Reading books that challenge our thinking or provide readers with a sense of other cultures and events seems not only more developmentally appropriate, but also more aligned to what is going on in our schools as educators become more responsible for the goals of the Common Core. So much of the Core emphasizes the importance of developing and supporting arguments and stances. Why not provide students with summer reading opportunities that are more likely to tap into these skills?

Re-reading this post, I sound a little like I am not a proponent of classic literature. I am. To Kill a Mockingbird remains my favorite book. However, most students need guidance with classic literature in order to understand and appreciate it. Of Mice and Men offers phenomenal opportunities for argument and debates about ethical decision making, but I think that most young teenagers would need direction in order to engage in and develop these conversations. I'm not sure that requiring students to read classics during the summer when most students don't have opportunities to ask questions about confusing parts, discuss universal themes and to recognize what makes certain books fall into the "classic" category.


 I'm also wrestling with the implications of Hollander's points for elementary students and what books would be equivalent for younger summer readers. Suggestions are always welcome!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

While I can’t say I’ve been reading a book a day as some of you bloggers out there are doing, I did read a few books this week. I tried to balance some newer books with some older ones. My daughters have many books on their shelves that we have collected over the years and I took some of their recommendations of great reads that I didn’t get to when they first came out.

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban was one of the books that my daughter, Clare, put into my hands. I’m sure that Clare initially loved it because of the cover with striped toe socks. (Clare is a sock-a-hol-ic.) Within the cover is the strong first person voice of Zoe Elias. I marked up some passages that would be great for teaching voice and subtlety and, as a writer, I am re-inspired that a novel can take place within a short period of time with everyday issues and fifth grade challenges. Zoe and her family are quirky and memorable with some laugh out loud interactions and other I-want-to-jump-into-the-pages and yell at some of them to make different decisions! 

I love books that have messages of perseverance, resilience and empathy and this book has all three. If you missed A Crooked Kind of Perfect but enjoy a quick read with a strong girl narrator, I highly recommend it.

It's Monday! What are You Reading? The False Prince

I am not the biggest fan of Fantasy books so when some of my students recommended I read The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen I did hesitate at first...but I am so glad I did!  I loved reading The False Prince and am now hooked on the series since this is Book 1 - I can't wait for Book 2 to come out!  Now I really know what my students feel like when they get hooked on a series and can't wait to read the next book in line.  


Goodreads Summary:  The False Prince  is the thrilling first book in a brand-new trilogy filled with danger and hidden identities that will have readers rushing breathlessly to the end.  In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner's motives are more than questionable, yet he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well.  As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies put together.

My thinking:  The characters come to life in this book, especially Sage, and as a reader you empathize and worry about their safety and their every move.  The suspense hooked me and at times, I was completely shocked by some of the truths revealed in this story about the characters and events.  I love when I am surprised by events and character actions/decisions instead of being able to predict what may happen.  This is a suspenseful, action packed story is perfect for students in 5th grade and up and will leave them hanging at the edge of their seats.  It will hook  readers who crave action, suspense, and adventure. 

Happy Reading! :)

Thursday is App Day! UPAD

This year, my classroom was a "cloud classroom" in that I did my planning, conferring, and grading all online using my iPad instead of carting around various binders with me.  This shift made my teaching more efficient, organized, and easier in so many ways.

In previous posts, I have talked about how I use the Confer app for conferring ,the online Planbook for planning, and Dropbox, but I haven't yet talked about UPAD.  UPAD is an app for the iPad that allows you to save and mark up PDF documents so this is how I access my curriculum documents and article resources.

Once you download the UPAD app, you can choose to open documents in UPAD to mark it up and take notes.   Once in UPAD, you can read it in "Read-only" mode or "Editable" mode.  In "Editable" mode, you can choose your color/width of a pen or highlighter to mark up the text by underlining, writing, highlighting.  You can also use post-its and type your notes on the color post-it of your choice and can move the post-it wherever you want on the text.  Instead of bringing home my curriculum binders with me to plan at night and on the weekends, I just open the marked up documents on my iPad whenever I need them.  You can also create folders on UPAD to organize all of your documents. Since I also work on writing/revising the reading curriculum in our district, I am able to access all of those documents at my fingertips and save them in grade level folders.  I also add articles and even online books onto UPAD so I can mark them up with my thinking and notes.

I highly recommend purchasing this app if you don't have it yet.  It costs $4.99 and is worth every penny.  There is a free lite version which is a good option if you want to try it out first before purchasing the full version.  The lite version limits how many documents you can save and how many folders you can create so I recommend purchasing the full version for long-term use.

Enjoy! 

ePortfolios in the Classroom

Last week, we had three full days of professional development for teachers, including one full day dedicated to a Technology Conference held at the high school.  The Technology Conference was organized like an out-of-district conference by offering multiple sessions to choose from that varied from 25 minutes to 2 hours.  We received the schedule ahead of time so we could create a "road map" for ourselves of which sessions we wanted to attend. We did not have to sign up in advance for the sessions - they were first come, first serve so the "road maps" helped.  The schedule also helped us choose sessions that didn't conflict with sessions we were leading. That was another amazing part of the day - we were learning from one another!  Teachers and administrators throughout the district were able to sign up to lead a session/workshop during the day - a great way to share and learn with one another.  I led three sessions - iPads for administrators, Best Apps for Education, and Cloud Classroom.   In between the sessions I led, I attended three other sessions: Educreations, Wikis for book clubs, and ePortfolios.

I was extremely intrigued by the ePortfolio session because I have been longing to move away from the paper version of writing portfolios in the classroom to digital portfolios online.  Up until now, I kept procrastinating because ePortfolios were the "unknown", so I made sure I attended this session to dive into this new learning! During this session, Wendy shared how she has her students create digital portfolios by turning their word documents into PDF's by using the Cute PDF option.  At first, I was a little confused about how to convert the documents into PDF's, but after having "hands-on" time to explore it myself while being coached by Wendy, it became clear.  She then showed us how to insert multiple pages into the PDF so we could continue to add to it throughout the year with multiple documents.  This way, instead of having hanging folders that are busting by the seams with papers, it can be organized online in ONE PDF - yay! As I was exploring this new digital tool with Kim, one of my colleagues, we discovered that we can also insert post-its right onto the students writing to add in comments and feedback! We were so excited - it was definitely clear at this point who taught elementary school (high school teachers didn't quite share our excitement over the post-its...ha!).  The post-its will enable us to read the students' writing and give immediate feedback to them online.  These ePortfolios not only are a great way to organize and showcase student work over the course of a school year, but it is also a powerful way to visually show the progress students make as learners.

Kim and I are planning on using the digital portfolios for writing workshop next school year and are looking forward to it.  There will probably be some bumps along the way as we are trying this for the first time, but that is what learning is all about!  I'd love to hear how you are using digital portfolios in your classroom and/or district for writing workshop or any other subjects. Stay tuned for posts throughout the year about our digital portfolio journey!

Thank you Joncia and Bryan for making this Technology Conference happen in our school district - it was a powerful day of learning!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Thank you as always to Jen and Kellee of Teachmentortexts.com. I ordered Crow by Barbara Wright several weeks ago because Colby Sharp reviewed it on one of his linked posts. What a powerful book on so many levels!

Crow is about an African American family living in North Carolina in the late nineteenth century. I have read many historical fiction books about the Civil Rights Movement but not much about the more immediate post-Civil War era. In many ways, this book reminded me of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, one of my all-time favorite books to read and re-read. Moses, the main character, has an educated and highly principled father who teaches him about character, democracy, and leadership and a grandmother who was a slave and teaches him about traditions, common sense, culture, and resilience. There are many opportunities for weighty discussions about right vs. right decisions, different types of intelligences, and the importance of independent thinking.

I really can't say enough about this book as a lens into a disturbing part of American history and as a springboard to discuss important 21st century values. Moses, his parents, and his amazing grandmother are characters that will stay with me for a long, long time--perhaps even taking seats with Scout, Atticus, and Jem in my literary world.

It's Monday! What are You Reading? Lions of Little Rock

After reading great reviews about The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine on Twitter and blogs, I had to move it up to the top of my TBR pile this weekend - I am so glad I did!  This is one of the most powerful historical fiction books I have read this year.  It takes place in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1958 during the time when the schools were becoming integrated.  The high schools in Little Rock closed their doors to avoid the integration and were not going to open their doors to education until the segregation could continue.  During this segregated time, Marlee's middle school is open and she continues to face her own personal struggles of finding a true friend and speaking to others. Marlee has difficultly speaking to anyone other than her family and even has a hard time speaking to her mother.

When Marlee meets Liz, she finally understands what it feels like to have a true friend - someone who shares the same interests as you do, respects you, and likes you for who you are.  Liz has a positive impact on Marlee's confidence and helps her face her fear of speaking to others.  Marlee even gives a presentation at one point to her class which she would have never done before meeting Liz! Unfortunately, their friendship begins to tear apart when Liz doesn't come to school one day and is replaced with the rumor that she was really an African American passing as a white person.  Their bond is so strong that they are willing to face danger to keep their friendship going, even if it risks their own safety or the safety of their families.

The Lions of Little Rock is a powerful read for students in 5th grade and up as either a read aloud, independent reading, or book club book during a historical fiction unit.  Throughout the book, there are many issues the characters deal with: racism, segregation, friendship, power, family loyalty, and many more. It is clear to the reader that some children during this time were much more accepting of others than their parents were and had a different mindset.  This book will no doubt spark many rich, deep conversations in classrooms about the time period, historical conflict, characters, and issues.  In 5th grade, we have a Historical Fiction Book Club Unit and I know that I will purchase multiple copies of this book for book clubs to read or will read it aloud because it is a book that needs to be read, shared, and talked about.

Happy Reading! :)

End of Year Reflection - Top 5 Takeaways from Students

At the end of each year, I pause to reflect on my big take-aways as a teacher and learner as well as have my students reflect on their year.  In past years, I sometimes used thinking stems to prompt their reflections or asked them specific questions to reflect upon.  This year, I asked my students to write down their "Top Five Take-aways" from the year.  When I attend conferences and workshops, I tend to walk away thinking about my "Big Take-aways" so I decided to have my students try out using the same reflection strategy. Throughout the year, I continuously ask my students to reflect on their learning so they were not surprised when I asked them to participate in an end-of-year reflection.  Reflection is a critical and necessary component of the learning process and I firmly believe that without reflection, we would not have learning.

Some highlights from their "Top Five Take-aways" were:

• Creativity and Problem Solving - "This year, I have learned how to solve problems in new and creative ways.  I have realized that there is always an answer, and I need to push myself to find the best solution."
• Teamwork - "This year, I have learned to works as a team and I realize that teamwork involves taking turns and collaborating."
• Having a Growth Mindset instead of a Fixed Mindset - "I've learned to always have a growth mindset and go the extra distance to reach my goals." "I learned to be more confident and always be up for a challenge."
• Perseverance - "I learned to never give up and try my hardest."
• Conversation Skills - "I learned how to have a successful book club conversation and how to get my ideas across."
• Charts - "Before this year, I can't remember using or creating charts a lot.  I have learned how to make charts work for me.  Now they help me as a reader and writer."
• New Book Titles and Recommendations: "Here, in this classroom, I have had the chance to read so many books! I love to read and it was great to have so many choices!"

About half of the students in my class wrote about the Growth Mindset concept and how understanding the concept is helping them.  I loved seeing this because it shows that they truly internalized the concept that I taught them earlier in the year about Mindset.  As educators, it is so important for us to strive to have a Growth Mindset and to understand the difference between mindsets, but I believe it is equally important for students to be aware of and understand the concept.  

I was also excited to see that the students internalized and are taking away essential skills they will use as lifelong learners from this year in 5th grade. :)

I'd love to hear about other ways you had your students reflect on their year of learning in your classroom.

Thursday is App Day- Commoncore

Yesterday our district held a technology conference, so many of us had a chance to share apps, programs, and other instructional strategies. I have so many new apps to buy and install! One of my surprises was that not everyone had heard of the Commoncore app. If you have an iPad and you don't already have it, I highly recommend this free app. While it's not interactive, it is an informational app and it lists all of the Common Core Standards from kindergarten through high school for Math and Language Arts. It also contains a "more resources" component that delineates standards for practice, how a to read the standards, and key design considerations. I already mentioned that it's free! Commoncore is an incredibly useful resource to have at your fingertips. 

What Helps Me Learn?

For the last three days, we have had professional development. Three days of professional development at the end of the school year. We said goodbye to our students on Friday, tried to relax over the weekend, and then returned to classrooms on Monday for our own learning.

In three days, I have attended workshops on new writing units, on how to develop specific traits of writing, of how to implement and assess our word study program, and on how to align IEPs with the Common Core. I have attended workshops on educational apps, specific electronic reading programs, Smartboard applications, and technology integration. I'm worried that I'm missing some. Since I presented at one of the workshops about productivity apps and Twitter, I also spent time studying and developing a cohesive presentation for attendees. Tomorrow, I will finish the year with conversations and meetings that focus on end of the year learning reflections.

If my brain were a muscle, it would need a massage.

Please don't hear that as a complaint, though, because as I sit in front of my laptop, I have so many ideas for blog posts that I'm not sure where to begin and I am really excited about all of them. I will definitely write more about the next few days, maybe even tonight, but I want to focus for a moment on a comment I heard a teacher say today during lunch.

"I understand how students must feel at the end of the day when they have sat and had information and learning coming at them all day," she said.

What a powerful reflection! Her comment made me really think about myself as a learner and I hope that I will remember some of my thoughts and realizations it inspired. Most of these thoughts aren't new realizations but I'm not sure that I have ever explicitly tried to write them down:

• I need time to process. I need time to play with the information that has come my way and work it into my thinking via my own individualized learning trails and schema.
• Agendas helped me a lot. I definitely felt more invested and engaged when I had a sense of what was coming next in the presentations. If there was a paper powerpoint to follow along, that was even better.
• I tend to wiggle. When the workshops were longer than 45 minutes, I found myself changing positions,   stretching, doing unobtrusive (I hope) chair push-ups, and even getting up for a not-entirely-necessary bathroom trip or water break. These movements helped me pay better attention.
• Multi-tasking sometimes focused me more. If I had my iPad or phone, I was still integrating information if I was checking email or even reading over Twitter feeds. When I write--and as I am writing this now-- I can not multi-task, but when I am in lectures, sometimes I feel like my brain needs the extra stimulation to focus more. 
• Conversations and opportunities for collaboration are powerful learning tools for me. The side conversations were valuable for me as a learner and I hope not distracting to the presenters. For any presenter who is reading this, please know that there were many times when my conversations were the off-shoot of the inspiration or positive challenge to my thinking that you provided!
• I completely appreciate time to unwind and gather my thoughts and I was really grateful that today's technology conference offered opportunities to reflect and regroup.
• Laughter helped me learn. Learning is intense and finding humor relieved that intensity. Maybe the relief let me go back at the learning--I'm not sure how that works--but I definitely am remembering the learning that combined laughing as I sit here in front of this blog. 

I will revisit this post in the fall when students return to the classrooms and have information, routines, expectations, and lessons coming at them with full force--I'm actually putting this task on my calendar! I need to remember the feeling of having a brain so full that any additional information will come out my ears. I'm betting that students share many of my experiences from the last three days and I will work hard to remember how exhausting sitting and learning can be.