Jacqueline Woodson Clip Would be Great in Class

Take a look at this interview with award-winning author, Jacqueline Woodson.

 A history or language arts teacher might use it to talk about New Historicism or historical documentation. Or just share it after talking about autobiographical writing in terms of Woodson's Show Way. Good stuff!

This semester we viewed several clips featuring Woodson, Gene Yang, and Sharon Creech while reading their books.

What do you think? Do you include clips from authors that relate to the topic you're teaching?

I’m Having Trouble Reading. Literally.

Here’s the problem. I’m reading silently and I see a word that’s similar to the one there, but it isn’t the actual word. My brain catches the error and says that sentence doesn’t make since with that word. Go back. You read something wrong. I go back and correct my error. For example, I might read “found” instead of “find” or “of” instead of “off.” I have always read well aloud or silently, so I don’t like this one bit.


It could be a vision problem. Last year for the very first time I had to get glasses because I cannot see far away. The doctor says I read so much that I haven’t practiced viewing things from afar. Now I’m wondering if I am not seeing things close to me either.

I wonder if I’m developing perception problems.

Am I suffering from Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome (SSS)? The description LouAnne Johnson offers in The Queen of Education leads me to believe I am not, but I plan to visit the Irlen Institute and the National Reading Styles Institute to find out more about SSS.

I didn’t realize my problem was bothering me until I was in the middle of a presentation with a colleague at AASL (American Association of School Librarians) about reading aloud when the thought popped in my mind, What if I miss a word or say a word that isn’t there and don’t self-correct? Well, of course I stumbled over the passage I was reading aloud, but not because I selected the wrong word, but because I was worried about doing so. Such is the power of thought.

I share this story because reading The Queen of Education made me realize that as a teacher I must continually “come clean” about my own struggles with literacy so that maybe students will confide in me about there’s and we can find solutions together. As it stands, good readers, and I still consider myself in that number, make novice readers feel we get everything right the first time, but that’s not always the case.

Literacy in the Welcoming Classroom by JoBeth Allen

Well, if the idea to encourage teachers to grade parents (catches on, Jo Beth Allen offers idea about what to do with parents once we grab their attention. The answer isn’t related to making cupcakes or chaperoning fieldtrips, it’s about being an active partner in children’s literacy learning. Allen asks how we make engaging with families a priority so that we can help improve students’ literacy practices. Each chapter includes activities along with a helpful Read to Learn section, a brief annotated bibliography. Though her audience is K-5, some of the activities could be adapted for an older audience. For example, students of all ages (and their parents) can read literature written in dialects and discuss the author’s decisions; use photography to share aspects of family and community; share family funds of knowledge; and discuss, study, and debate social issues.


Allen also includes relevant research such as the six graders turned hiphopographers who studied and wrote about hip hop culture from Samy Alim’s work; “Tell me about your child” prompt from Betty Shockley, Barbara Michalove, et al.; and Alfred Tatum’s notion of including must-read texts.



Disclosure: I do know the author, but I got the book from the National Writing Project because I am a site director. Allen does not know I have the book and she doesn’t know I blogged about it. I wanted to read it because my students say they often feel unprepared to work with parents.

Meeting a Book

In Thunder and Lightning, Natalie Goldberg says reading the first page of a book is always a little disconcerting for her. Goldberg writes, “I usually have to re-read the first paragraph several times before my eyes take deep focus and the words settle into my brain. I am about to begin a new relationship—wouldn’t you be a bit nervous, too?” (p. 110-111)


This quote offers a teachable moment for a reading teacher like me.

July 21 at the SI

At the Summer Institute, Darla showed us how to use graphic organizers on a SmartBoard, so Paula told us about a great graphic organizer Web site:

http://www.openc.k12.or.us/reaching/tag/pdf/graphicorganizers.pdf

Used this site before? Please let us know the pros and cons of this site.

July 7 at the SI

Today I learned all about wikis and blogs that are safe for teachers to use because they help maintain student privacy. Wikis and blogs can be used to help students use writing to make sense of what they read.  I learned how to use a flip camera, and I learned that videotaping original commercials made by Fellows is fun. Students can use self-generated commercials to practice media literacy skills.

June 30 at the SI Part 3

Renee shared the concept of two types of poetry: poetry of witness and persona poems.



In Poetry of Witness, the speaker sees something and reports it. (e.g., Walt Whitman’s “The Wound-Dresser”)


Here are Two Poetry of Witness Books that Renee Mentioned:

The Rape Poems by Frances Driscoll

Song of Napalm: Poems by Bruce Weigl

Persona poems are poems written from the perspective of something or someone (e.g., Gwendolyn Brook’s “We Real Cool” and Tim Seibles’ “What Bugs Bunny Said to Red Riding Hood” (From Hammerlock).


We listened to both poems, and Renee pointed out that Brooks adapts a group persona in “We Real Cool”.

June 30 at the SI Part 2

Once Renee went to the front of the room, we were asked to rate our relationship to poetry. Are you fearful? Are you ambivalent? Are you embracing? I said I am an Embracer. Here are sentences I heard during the presentation:





~Poetry helps teach empathy.

~Poetry is both oral and aural.

~Language is a code.

~Symbols are a shimmering thing.

~Poetry is art that one can enjoy, but it can also be studied, interpreted.

~Narrative is an ancient art.

~Poetry has existed as long as humans have been around.

~Boy. I’m. Taking. Charge. Here. (This was new to me, but I don't get out much.)

June 30 at the SI

Renee came to Room 150 today. She talked about poetry. I can blog for days about Renee’s presentation. In fact, I think I will.




What is poetry?



It doesn’t go to the end of the page

It wraps around

Lines are endstopped or enjambed

The unit of poetry is the line

Book Lust Author

I was disappointed when I only caught the end of Nancy Pearl the other day on NPR. She was reading poetry in celebration of Poetry month, at least that’s what I deduced after hearing only the last minute of the show. Deb Aronson also contributed a piece on her in March’s Council Chronicle titled “Nancy Pearl: Über Librarian” that I am just wild about. Her theory about how students (and people in general) enter a book is worth adding to my courses. Aronson writes, “Pearl pictures books as having four doors by which to enter: story, characters,...setting, and language” (p.25). Ever since I started writing with librarians and for them in books like Integrating Multicultural Literature in Libraries and Classrooms in Secondary Schools (with Gail K. Dickinson) and the upcoming Mathematics in Libraries & Classrooms (with Sueanne McKinney), I have tried to express what Pearl says so perfectly in my courses: English teachers and librarians “have a lot to say to each other.” I plan to check out the author interview videos she has on her site.