The Importance of Reading - Slice of Life

Slice of Life posts can be found at Stacey and Ruth's blog - Two Writing Teachers

Last week on Travis Jonker’s blog he shared the following video from Colby Sharp:

I showed this video for all of my reading classes, my husband, and my sons. I loved it. Colby’s enthusiasm was evident in my classroom and not just by the fact that all of the 5^th grade boys had all of the Babymouse books checked out. After probably the tenth showing of said video, I began to reflect on my own feelings regarding reading.

I’ve always been a reader. I read for pleasure. I remember curling up with A Baby Sister for Frances by Russell Hoban when my mom told me she was having a baby. Ramona was one of my best friends. Are You There God? It’s me, Margaret by Judy Blume was a book I read so many times I memorized it.

I read for comfort. I often hid behind my books too. I was a pretty shy kid and when I didn’t know how to deal with my friends or situations, I would pull out a book. When I was pregnant with my boys my anxiety would kick in at night and I would be so nervous that something was wrong with them. The only thing that would calm me down at 2 am was reading favorite passages from Jan Karon’s Mitford series.

I read to connect. Through high school I read Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry a crazy amount of times. My sister, brother, and I watched the mini-series on TV. Later, we bought the videos and mapped out the route they took to Montana. Even now I connect with friends on Twitter about the books we are reading. We even created a book club, The Nerdy Book Club, to further connect through reading.

After watching Colby I wondered again, was my love of reading evident to my students? To my own children? I glanced around my classroom last week. My students were discussing their reading plans for the holidays. I heard “borrowed” terms from my discussions with them being thrown around. I could see my reading life reflected in theirs.

And then, last night, my oldest son sat down by me. I had brought home a huge stack of books from our public library. After a few hours of reading I made my way through it. Luke sat down and asked, “So Mom, any books I should know about?” I handed him Binky the Space Cat by Ashley Spires and gave him a quick blurb on it. I went back to entering my books into Goodreads and then glanced over and saw this:

This picture makes my heart soar. When I saw Colby’s video I knew his enthusiasm would make readers out of those students. His passion will be passed on to them. I prayed that, in my own way, I was doing the same. Upon some reflection, I believe I am.

It's Monday! What are you reading?

I'm joining Jen and Kellee at Mentor Texts for today's post

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… that’s right, it’s holiday #bookaday. (Although summer rocks as well) Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE teaching. But right about now I am begging for a break. I want to hibernate in my house, hang out with my boys, bake things that are sugar laden, and read. And read. And read some more. In front of a fire with a glass of hot chocolate by my side. And stay up late and sleep in. The only thing that could make this break more perfect would be six inches of snow outside. On the other hand, no snow means easier travel for my relatives so I’d say this is perfect.

If you look at the word #bookaday and wonder if I have forgotten how to type, let me explain. Donalyn Miller began this on twitter a while ago (no idea how long). You pick your start date, your end date, with the sole goal of reading the amount of books equal to the days you have off. They can be any type of books you want. You can follow what others are reading by typing in the hashtag #bookaday in the twitter search box.

So, back to the original intent of today’s blog – What am I reading? Well, this week I finally jumped back on the reading train. Yay! I didn’t review any on this blog but did review several on Goodreads. Feel free to come by and say hi there as well. I read the following books this week:

• Finished The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann last Sunday night
• The Downside of Being Up by Alan Sitomer (hilarious)
• Pie by Sarah Weeks (beautiful Middle Grade story)
• Stars by Mary Lyn Ray (Amazing picture book)
• Letter to Leo by Amy Hest (comes out 2012 – great story with letters from Amy to her dog)
• Mysteries of the Komodo Dragon by Martha Crump (Fabulous non-fiction)
• Along a Long Road by Frank Viva (great picture book)
• Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol (graphic novel in the category of HOW DID I MISS THIS? Amazing)
• The Third Gift by Linda Sue Park (no shock – beautiful picture book)
• Binky Under Pressure by Ashley Spires (am buying this graphic novel for my class. My son, 9 yrs, immediately picked it up when I was done and read it himself. Loved it.)
• 11 Experiments that Failed by Jenny Offill (Hilarious picture book)
• The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frogs by Sandra Markle (Awesome Non-Fiction)
• Peaceful Pieces by Anna Grossnickle Hines (beautiful poem picture book)
• The Elephant Scientist by Caitlin O’Connell (Scientist in the field series – awesome)
• Perfect Square by Michael Hall (creative picture book)
• Around the World by Matt Phelan (great graphic novel – buying this one)
• Can we Save the Tiger by Martin Jenkins (amazing non-fiction picture book. Might buy it as well)
• Clementine and the Family Meeting by Sara Pennypacker (love this series. Buying this one too)

So what am I reading this week? A ton! But what first, I’m not sure. I know I am starting with Dragon’s Tooth – meant to read it this week but wasn’t in the mood for a “long” book. After that one, I’m perusing my shelves of to read books and grabbing what catches my eye. Check back next week to see what I picked. And please join us on Twitter for holiday #bookaday, it is such a wonderful community.

What is reality?

Got my haircut today. My stylist is a friend from high school. During the hour our discussion turned to Facebook statuses. We laughed at how sometimes it seems that people only post what is going well, attempting to make their lives seem perfect. I know that is easy to do and I am guilty of the same thing. After coming home I glanced through my status updates. There are the updates that are positive:

But more often than not I share an article or post a photo. And I know that more than a few statuses have been that my children are driving me crazy, rough day at school, etc.

With that thought, I turned to this blog. Glancing through my reflections I noticed a theme, they are all dealing with the good side of teaching. My students are learning, I see that, all is well in the world. And truly, for the most part, it is. However I don’t want to paint myself in a heavenly light. With that in mind, I thought my reflection today could be on what might need to be improved in my life. We’re hitting that fateful day, January 1^st, where it is time to take stock of ourselves and make some resolutions. What do I need to work on – and out of those – what do I actually WANT to change.

1) My house is a mess. Seriously. Have a look at my dining room table.

Excuses for this range from the fact that we have no other spot to drop our stuff when we walk in to the fact that I’ve just made it through finals week in grad school. In reality, it often looks like this until my husband has had enough and picks it up. My goal is to see the actual table by tomorrow.

2) I have a horrid diet. I eat out too much, I love chocolate, and if I am upset, angry, anxious, worried, etc. – I eat. Thus, I need to lose weight. Which would require eating better and, I don’t know, working out? I don’t do either of those things but am still shocked that the scale numbers don’t go down when I weigh myself. I seem to be under the impressions that I can continue doing what I’m doing and my body will magically decide that it is time to lose weight.

3) My language could make a sailor blush. Ever since my friend Johanna taught me swear words in 6^th grade I have enjoyed peppering any conversation with a variety of them. I can contain myself – I don’t swear in front of students, my children, or (usually) my parents. Other than that – all bets are off.

4) I tend to be very judgmental. I get irritated easily. I believe in “saying what you mean and meaning what you say.” I work hard and expect others to as well. I don’t like excuses and am often bothered when others hide behind them. I work to be more open-minded but it is a constant struggle.

5) I am never more than five feet from a device that can connect to the Internet. My phone, iPad, laptop, a computer. I spend way too much time on these devices.

6) I have become a huge procrastinator on projects that aren’t important to me. Had to add that last part – when it is something I want to do (read, blog, etc.) I am all about it. When it is a paper for grad school or the like, I wait until the last minute.

7) I spend an excessive amount of money on my classroom. Thousands of dollars on books is a bit too much. My defense would be that I don’t buy much else for myself, books and reading are my hobby, but I could absolutely improve in this area (and Chris would be ever so grateful).

8) I can tend to dwell on the negative. Gossip, at times, is so enticing. So is complaining. But once started, it is hard to stop. This is a difficult time in education. We are asked to do more than ever and are respected less and less. Teachers work hard, but some teachers give the rest of us a bad name. Those teachers are held up as the example of us all, what the problem is. We are all lumped together. I try hard to steer clear of negativity but have found myself feeling beaten down as of late.

So, what should I work on this year? I do think I am a decent mom, wife, teacher, and friend but can strive to be better. I think working on my overall health is a good goal; after all it has been a resolution since 1999, why stop now? I want to be more positive and that is one of the driving forces in creating this blog. And I think I will create a “book budget” for myself for the year. Chris will be very pleased. How about you? Are you still here or did I scare you off? What is your resolution this year? Join in and feel free to police me throughout the year. I could even begin exercising today but I’m thinking tomorrow would be better.

iPad apps in Reading

My classroom is fortunate to have access to 27 iPads this year through a grant opportunity. We share them with the other two sections of fifth grade that we switch with. While it has not always been smooth sailing, the iPads are a wonderful addition to our classroom. I have many different items we could discuss regarding these devices but today I’m going to focus on the top two reading apps we use daily.

Blue FiRe (free) is a reading app that allows students to record themselves reading their independent novels. I use this for a fluency check. I’m sure there are many apps that might do the same thing, but we love this one.

At fifth grade the students know what we mean when we say “fluency”. Even so, when introducing this app we had a mini-lesson regarding fluency. I explained what the fluency tests were that the reading teacher administered for RTI, what she was looking for. We had student volunteers role play good reading fluency and then fluency that had issues (robotic, too fast, too slow, monotone, etc.). Then I recorded myself several times on the app and showed the students how to play back my reading and analyze it to see how I can grow as a reader.

As a reading teacher I don’t think that fluency is the sole factor needed to be a good reader. However, it is something my students are tested on. This app is an easy way for them to monitor their own reading. I had many students choose to download it on their own devices at home because they enjoyed it.

Brain Pop (free) is an amazing site. Each day there is a new video on a variety of topics. Often if there is a timely subject (Columbus Day for example) the video on the front page will focus on it. There are also archives you can explore to check out other videos. After viewing their selected video, the students have a ten point comprehension quiz to take. The app will score their quiz and show them their results. The first few times I had students take this they rushed through the quiz and then were surprised to see they didn’t do well. When we talked about it, they admitted they were unsure of some words in the questions so they just rushed over them. We discussed how that wouldn’t help them on state testing and what reading strategies could they have used. All students do pretty well on these quizzes now and they have the added benefit of teaching them some test taking strategies along the way.

These are just two of the apps we’ve used in reading class. As we continue to explore iPads this year I will come back to share our insights with you.