Slice of Life-Giving Students Roles in Read Aloud

On Tuesdays, the writing community at Two Writing Teachers hosts the Slice of Life. Everyone is welcome to join in by writing, commenting, or just reading slices from around the world! 

I always enjoy days when I get to go to Teachers College, and last Friday was an especially good day there attending an day-long workshop on the Intersection of Author Studies, Interpretation Clubs, and Literary Essays. I went to the conference with a colleague so I didn't have to drive alone, we got out of New York before Storm Anna got in, and we both had a TON of new learning and resources to sort through, percolate, and share. 

One of my favorite ideas that Katie Clements shared involved developing student agency during read aloud through assigning specific roles to specified groups of students. Katie taught us this concept by assigning rows of audience members to pay attention to specific aspects of the text she was going to be reading. The various assignments were:

• Setting
• Change
• Character
• Repetition
• Tension and
• Themes

Then, when she read The Stranded Whale by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Melanie Cataldo (one of my favorite new picture books. Order it, borrow it, get your hands on it. So beautiful. I wrote about it yesterday in #imwayr.) we all were supposed to put a thumb up when we had a question about our category. I have to say, I listened to that story very closely because I was paying attention to repetition!

Katie's suggestion was to assess students first so that you know what skills they are ready to work on; character work is more foundational than the understanding of tension and themes. Therefore, for students who may be struggling more, have them be on the lookout for ways they learn about characters' emotions, traits, relationships, and conflicts. Stronger students could be responsible for asking questions that deal with issues, lessons, morals, and ideas that lead into themes. Students are much more apt to listen closely and take the important work of read-aloud seriously if they are put in these sort of leadership roles within their own learning. 

If you can ever get to a workshop at Teachers College, I highly recommend them. The Saturday Reunion is now on the calendar for March 19, 2016. 

Happy Slicing,

It's Monday! Here's What I'm Reading...

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye and Ricki Ginsburg at Unleashing Readers cohost It's Monday! What are You Reading? weekly on their blogs.  To see what others are reading and recommending each Monday, or to participate, be sure to head over to these blogs.

I almost didn't make the time to post today, but The Stranded Whale by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Melanie Cataldo is too special of a book to not give it a shout-out on #IMWAYR. A picture book, this one deals with some sophisticated and emotionally charged themes and concepts that surround death. The narrator and her two brothers come across a beached whale on their way home from school, and they realize that not only are they powerless to save the whale's life, but the adults are also powerless, as well. Some things are too big for even the biggest, strongest, and most highly thought of people to save. What I really love about this book is that it's the children's understanding of basic kindness that really shines through. While adults "rocked and pushed the whale back and forth toward the outgoing tide" until the whale was "even more tired than the men," the young narrator talked to the whale, "telling the whale how it was beautiful and strong, how we would miss it, whatever happened next." 

Jane Yolen always inspires me as a writer with crafts moves that establish strong emotion. Katie Clements, a staff developer at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project in New York, read it to a group of teachers at a workshop on Friday--I am sure that she chose this text to read because it offers so many opportunities to talk about character development, setting description, theme, craft moves, and turning points. We all had specific assigned lenses to pay attention to as she read, but I found it hard to focus on my assignment. I just wanted to enjoy the story. Like so many of Jane Yolen's other picture books, A Stranded Whale is full of sensory images, windows into the narrator's soul, and snippets of information that made me want to jump into the pages and hug the narrator and her brothers. Enjoy this one, and be sure to have a box of tissues handy!

Happy reading!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye and Ricki Ginsburg at Unleashing Readers cohost It's Monday! What are You Reading? weekly on their blogs.  To see what others are reading and recommending each Monday, or to participate, be sure to head over to these blogs.


Even though I haven't been blogging as much as usual, I've been doing a lot of reading and writing. I had the pleasure of working with Renée Watson through the Solstice Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing Program, and I purchased two of her books. What Momma Left Me by Renée Watson is the story of a middle-grade girl with family secrets and family challenges. Even though the subject matter is intense and emotional, the voice of the main character shines through with insights, reflections, humor, and important realizations about people and life. Upper elementary students will both relate to and learn from Serenity, the eighth-grade narrator.

I read  This Side of Home by  Renée Watson in less than 24 hours, and it's not short. I started it with a pen in hand to make notes on the craft and structure, but the story was too good. I'll read it again for craft analysis, but I needed to just be in the world of Maya, her family, and her friends. While this book deals with important cultural, economical, and political issues with important historical references woven into the text, it also has a tight and engaging storyline about growing up in a changing demographic. There is nothing R-rated in this book, but most elementary students won't understand the references to high school life.

Meg Kearney is the director of Solstice, so I also purchased one of her books, The Girl in the Mirror, the second of a trilogy. Told through journal entries and poems, this book would be a perfect mentor text for poetry forms and the power of telling stories through different genres. The narrator is a high school senior and a poet, and a tragic event defines her senior year of high school. 

Trouper by Meg Kearney is a not-to-be-missed picture book about a three-legged dog who needs a home. E.B. Lewis's pictures are beautiful, and the story is all about hope, friendship, and what really matters in life. 



Happy Reading!