Hello everyone! My goal this summer was to blog a bunch about teaching! I had a personal goal to do one thing a week that pushed me outside of my comfort zone, and in the pursuit of my new ambition I attended a bootcamp fitness class downtown. Unfortunately, it resulted in a broken wrist! Therefore, my blogging adventures had to take a brief hiatus while I healed enough to type. This post is overdue but earlier this year I had a goal of reading 25 books in the school year. I started in January, and in the process rediscovered my love of reading. Naturally, I have always loved reading but I became so excited about my goal that I discovered a bunch of new titles that I likely wouldn't have tried had I not challenged myself. I accomplished my 25 title goal, and would love to share the novels with you and a the top 5 favourites that I read. I've read quite a few this year including many young adult novels included in my library so that I can provide recommendations for young readers! There are more novels which are not included on this list, but eventually I stopped counting. Below is the list of some of the novels I have read this year... Some highlights...There really isn't a title on this list that I wouldn't recommend for one reason or another. Some require more maturity than others, and there are a few that are intended for adults only. Namely, Then She Was Gone, Educated, The Home for Unwanted Girls, and Born a Crime. The remaining books on this list are recommended for young adult readers, and some I would continue to recommend for more mature readers. This year, there will be a reading permission form sent home for parents to allow for their children to read a small selection of great teenage books which contain some language or themes more suitable for "mature readers" aged 13+. However, many times these novels contain brilliant narration and excellent commentary on the world today. I would never have a novel in my library that I do not fully support. Onto the Top Five...#5: The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani Sometimes a novel comes along that teaches you about a time you knew nothing about. This was the case for me with The Night Diary. The novel follows Nisha, a young Hindu/Muslim woman who navigates her life as a refugee once India separates into two nations in the 1940s. She approaches her harrowing journey with such courage and optimism, and all the while continues to make references to her admiration for Gandhi and his peaceful ways. This novel taught me about a time in history I knew nothing about, and led me to researching this time and the difficulty that so many people faced due to a simple border line being drawn. It allowed me to make connections to our world today, and how unfortunately history continues to repeat itself. #4: The Other Boy by M.G. Hennessey I read this novel in preparation for our HERO/GEM book club this year. Honestly, it was hard to just pick one of those novels to include in the Top 5 as I also LOVED Ghost by Jason Reynolds. However, The Other Boy by M.G. Hennessey was a favourite of mine. The novel follows Shane, a boy just trying to live as his authentic self. He had an opportunity to live as his true self without anyone knowing his past when he moved away with his mom. He lives a normal life - yet, suddenly, his secret starts to unravel. His life and his friendships change - some even for the better. This novel led to incredible discussions between my students and I, and my students amongst themselves. It led to new learning, understanding, and empathy. For these reasons, I have to include it in my top 5 this year. #3: Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich I finished this book near the end of the school year after hearing so much about the play. This novel had me gripped from the start. I loved this story for so many reasons, but the main reason is because I felt it truly showed that the smallest things can unite us together. There is potential for friendship between us all, and Evan Hansen discovers a whole new life once he finds one thread to hold onto. This narrative is really unique in that the storyline was different than the other novels I read this year. I felt this story in my bones, as I was able to put myself in the shoes of many different characters while I was reading. Evan's loneliness is the ultimate reason why he makes the poor choices that he does. This got me thinking about how ultimately, a lot of the choices we make are encouraged by impulsive emotions. This would be a great novel to encourage students to make connections to, as there are so many ways to put yourself in the character's shoes. #2: Dear Martin by Nic Stone Dear Martin was very similar yet different than The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, one of my favourite novels of all time. The novel follows Justyce, a bright young man preparing to enter Ivy League universities. During an unsolicited traffic stop, he begins to contemplate his life as a young black man in America, and what challenges he faces because of the colour of his skin. He narrates the novel through his own point of view, but also through writing letters to Martin Luther King Jr. This novel allowed me to make so many connections to the world today, and allowed for me to compare current events to those of the past. #1: Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes This novel had me so gripped from the start. I could not put it down. 12-year-old Jerome is shot by a policeman in the opening pages while he plays with a toy gun. He proceeds to navigate the lives of his loved ones whom are coping with his death and begins looking for an explanation as to what happened to him. The only living person he can communicate with is the daughter of the cop who shot him, Sara. This novel explores very tough issues with sensitivity, but it doesn't sugar coat tough issues either. This novel led me to have some great discussions with students who described themselves as "non-readers" so I am thankful for this novel for these reasons alone. It just so happens to be incredible, thought-provoking and real. Despite its mature content, it's appropriate for grade seven students because it is told from the perspective of an innocent boy. Books like this make change, and change is what the world needs.
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Reading for the Love of it?I've been listening regularly to Jennifer Gonzalez's incredible podast, The Cult of Pedagogy a lot recently. This, in conjunction with my own beliefs on reading programs and the many ways to run an engaging one, is the reason for me writing this blog post. When I was in elementary school, my perception of a reading program was based solely on a text my teacher chose for me. We had no choice in the matter, we read novels like The Outsiders or To Kill a Mockingbird and answered corresponding questions that had to do with these novels. Now, this is not to say that I didn't have some pretty incredible English teachers that still drove that love of reading into my brain. They did this by engaging us in conversations, by being passionate about the novels we were reading, and by stressing the importance that these texts still hold today by connecting them to our world and the issues we still face on the daily. They made connections between history and the stories in these texts, forcing us to ask questions about the times that these novels were set in. The important thing to take from this is: even though I may not teach my class all one text now, because I like to incorporate voice and choice into their reading programs, what I remember about reading as a child is the passion of my teachers, the discussions we had, and the connections we made - not the times I had to answer questions on each chapter, or write an essay about what symbolism the author included in the novel. This is what I try to include in my own reading program now: choice, passion for novels, great discussions, connections, and all the natural things that adults do when they read. This is what we should be encouraging in students. But how do we do that? Let me explain a few ways that I try... 1. Demonstrating a Passion for ReadingI know that life gets busy. I know that sometimes our own love of reading can take a back seat to the many other commitments in our lives. It happens. One thing I feel is important for students though is to have adults in their lives that demonstrates a love of reading. We simply need to practice what we preach. Right now my goal for 2019 is to read 25 new novels. I'm tracking them on a sheet at the front of my classroom for students to witness my progress. Some of these novels will be ones I can recommend to students and add to my classroom library. Others will be professional development texts, or novels that will stay in my home library. I invite you to try carving out some time for students to witness you reading, and to witness your joy of it. Could you read sometimes while they do, during a quiet library period? Could you share an article with them that had you captivated the night before? Lately when I finish a book that I'm adding to the library, I try to do a quick book talk to students about the novel. I did one today, in fact, and had several students raising their hands fighting over the book I sold. I believe this is because of it being a great story, but also because of them witnessing me flying through the novel and telling them how the narration made me laugh, and the story really made me think. 2. Offering Student Voice and ChoiceThere are times in a student's life where they will be required to read what their teacher wants them to, and this is a skill that is valuable for them. However, I do believe that it is our responsibility to foster a student's love of reading, and forcing them to read something that they really wouldn't be interested in isn't a great place to start. Offering choice can look like running a book club, or offering multiple articles/short stories when running a minilesson. Right now my students are engaged in a top news stories of 2018 learning cycle. They are running the show. They are choosing articles on topics that interest them and running small or large discussion groups on these articles. The fact of the matter is that when students are engaged in what they are reading, this often can supersede their "level" or abilities in some capacity. When students are interested, they will find out the answers. They are from an information overload generation. If they want the answers, they'll find them. 3. Read Alouds (Sometimes an Unpopular Opinion)It is my belief that students listening to reading is an important factor, and sometimes a gateway, to get them to love reading independently. When they hear a story told with passion, and are guided in their thoughts and understanding of this text, it can help to allow students a safe space to connect to a novel. I tend to use read alouds to model good reading strategies with the texts we read. A read aloud doesn't always have to be a novel, as I know this is a lot of time to dedicate (though I tend to do at least one at the beginning of the year to model reading strategies and connections). It can be an article, or better yet, a picture book. Leading to my next statement... 4. Never Assume Children Are "Too Old" For Picture BooksOftentimes people believe that picture books are for small children. After all, that's the original perception of a picture book - it having pictures to help guide a young reader to understanding, or to engage their attention. There are many picture books that serve as incredible mentor texts for intermediate and high school students. In fact, there are many narratives that are specifically targeted towards older students. These texts are great to use to help model specific comprehension strategies, or analyze theme, or teach a specific lesson. This year, we have used picture books including The Promise by Nicola Davies, and What Do You Do With an Idea by Kobi Yamada to launch our genius hour project. 6. Putting an End to Chapter Questions + Summarizing to DeathWhen was the last time you had to read a story, a book, or an article and answer comprehension questions? These questions can be important when they engage students in reflecting on the meaning of a text, or analyzing the author's intentions in writing, but they aren't necessarily engaging when summarizing specific details of the text. Asking a student, "Who went to the store in chapter 4?" is a question that simply tests whether the read the book, not whether they really understand its message or the author's intentions, or how the characters may feel, or why the author created the characters in this way and what they may represent. It doesn't test for their true comprehension of the text. Students should be encouraged to create open-ended critical questions as they read, and work through answering these questions for themselves or their peers. There are so many incredible ways to assess reading today, and quizzes or tests aren't necessarily the best way of doing this (in my humble opinion.) Some of the ways I tend to assess student reading is by engaging them in small group discussions, or having them track their thoughts through think marks in their novels. They can lead a socratic seminar on an article, engaging their peers in discussing the content of current events or famous speeches. They can journal, or write letters to one another about their own perceptions and connections with their novel. They can create a graffiti journal, or a sketchnote as they work through their novels. The options for assessing reading are limitless, and we don't want to consistently inundate students with the same monotonous assessments that will make them resent their novels. We want them to connect. We want them to discover, to question, to inquire, and to really dig into these texts. To Summarize...I'm not sure if this all make sense, as it's essentially me blurting my own thoughts and opinions into my blog. After listening to different educators discuss their own reading programs, it gave me an opportunity to reflect on my own practice and I simply had the desire to write about it. As teachers we are always growing. After all, how can we expect growth out of our students if we refuse to demonstrate it ourselves? I can assure you, my perception on my reading program will constantly change, and I hope it always does, so that I can teach the students I have and hopefully encourage them to read for the love it.
As an educator, sometimes I think students believe that I'm a fly on the wall. They think that because I'm not a student, and I don't situate myself in their groups of friends at lunch, that I don't know what is going on with them socially. Students forget that teachers see and hear a lot of the things that they talk about, and I have to say, those that say bullying is a thing of the past is completely wrong. Bullying still exists in schools, even though I wish it didn't. With social media and Instagram so prevalent in the lives of teenagers, it exists for students even when they leave this building. In fact, it exists even worse online with the anonymity attached to commenting, you don't have to look in someone's eyes to hurt them, which makes it much easier. The only way to stop bullying is to actually do something about it. I'm here to introduce ways that you can be an ally, rather than a bystander, and ways that you can help someone that is being picked on at school. One of the things I hear the most after I speak to students about bullying is that they didn't do it themselves. I understand that it feels as though you didn't do anything wrong when you weren't technically the one making fun of someone, but standing by and doing nothing is being an accomplice to this kind of behaviour. I know as a teenager it's hard to stand up to your friends, and it is hard to be the one that will say to others, "it's time for this to stop." One way that you can do this is by quickly and simply stating that you do not approve, and you don't have to say it in a formal teacher-y way either! A simple, "this isn't cool, guys" or a "wow, that was really mean" is sometimes enough to make a bully reflect on the things they are doing. I'm not asking you to be the one in the teen comedy that stands up in front of the whole school and saves the day. I am asking you, however, to be the one that disapproves of this kind of nonsense, and to say it out loud for others to hear. Students sometimes underestimate the power of kindness. I hear it all the time, that sometimes they feel like their actions don't truly matter. An incredible thing for someone to do when they see someone being picked on is to become a confidant, or an ally, to this person. We saw this when we read Egghead this year by Caroline Pignat. Will was being bullied so horribly by a multitude of characters in this novel, but it didn't seem so bad for him because he did have one incredible friend, Katie, who stood up for him when he needed her. Sometimes it only takes one. One person to be kind, one person to be on your side, or even one person to just ask you, "hey, I can see you're struggling, are you okay?" There are many news stories that come up about one action of one kind stranger that made a difference in someone's life. You truly have no idea what struggles someone is facing, and even a smile to them on a tough day can make a world of difference. I know from my own experiences that one small action can make a world of difference. If I'm having a bad day, or struggling in my life, a simple cup of tea, or a smile, or a "you're doing a great job," is usually enough to turn things around even in the smallest way. One of the last things that I want to discuss with you is the power of reactions. I try to remind myself that the way that I react to something will completely determine the outcome. If something bad happens to me, how I react to it completely determines how much it will impact me. The same can be said for those who bully. Bullies, or those that pick on others, often have a deep seeded emotional issue they may be struggling with themselves. Maybe they feel that they won't have friends unless they make others laugh? Maybe they're dealing with something tough at home, like Shane was in Egghead? Maybe they lack confidence? What a bully really wants is for you to see them, and for you react to them and give them power over that situation. When you refuse to react, you take that power away. So the next time that someone does something to de-rail the class, or does something inappropriate to make you laugh, think about the way that you react to that situation. Is your laughter at someone else's expense (including your teacher? or someone that isn't your friend?) If it is, is there a way for you to say, "hey let's talk about this later," or "now's not the time?" You have so much power, and so few of you realize this. I want my students to look back on their lives in middle school and high school and feel proud of the things they accomplished and proud of the people they grew to be from their experiences. As an adult, when I reflect on my time in elementary school and high school, I do feel proud of the way I conducted myself around others. I feel I was a friend to many. I will tell you though, I still remember the times that I wasn't inclusive to others, or the times that I was maybe a little mean, and as an adult who cares about the feelings of others immensely, I feel a lot of shame over this. If you take one thing out of this argument, let it be this: in a world where you can be anything, be kind. Sometimes I find that writing gets the short end of the stick. I engage students in Writer's Workshop, and that has a variety of choice writing throughout, but I wanted more. As much I love teaching writing and crafting the elements that can make students into proud writers, there are always students that look at writing as a chore. They are the ones that will groan, "when will I ever need to do this in real life?" A question that plagues my classroom every year. In a way, I don't blame them for wanting to know the real-world applications for the things I teach! I try to link the majority of things I teach them to real world situations. Enter: blogging... A real audience, real comments, and a real application in daily life. Blogging is a way for students to talk about the things they are passionate about, and from my own experience, everyone cares about something. Our students in 7A and 7B are jumping into blogs this week, and my hope for these blogs are that they will allow students to explore the joys of writing for pleasure. Blogging has become a source of potential income for many people today. There are blogs on gaming, lifestyle, and journeys through difficult situations. Blogging connects people with the world! Throughout our discussions on blogging, a lot of students talked about vlogging and how many of their favourite YouTubers run a "vlog." YouTuber stars are this generation's celebrities, so I was happy to see them linking some parts of our classroom learning to people they so admire. To start our blogging, I took a page from TeachHUB to start to wrap my own brain around blogging with students. I'd tried it before, but I didn't feel that it became an integral part of my program. We started with a quick brainstorm led by me, to discuss what we feel blogging is, why people might blog, and what we should set as expectations for ourselves before we blog. Then we began by creating paper blogs, which I will post below once we go over them a little more! The purpose of a paper blog is to encourage students to plan ahead, and to learn the differences and similarities between blogging and writing. We will use this paper blog later on this week to discuss the etiquette of commenting and building on the ideas of others! If you would like to see the Google Slides presentation that I put together to prepare us for blogging, please click here, and know that I used many resources from our WRDSB Digital Learning Support Teacher, and some resources from colleagues for guidance as I prepared for our new writing journey. I'm excited to update you as we grow as writers this year. I was introduced to book clubs at the beginning of my career, and I have to say, they are one of my favourite things. When the conversations are flowing and students are connecting, it's a highlight in my daily life. Lately, I've been doing a lot of reading about the variety of ways to run a successful book club in the classroom. I've even done some reading from those that believe book clubs are maybe not as great as they seem, but I will continue to forge on. Pernille Ripp comments on the fact that book clubs themselves aren't the problem, but sometimes the rigid way that they are delivered is the problem. I'm interested to see after we reflect on our first book club what students will have to say about them. Will they love them? Will they hate them? Or will they tolerate them? What will they like about them? These are questions that are important to ask at the end of any learning cycle, because how will we, as educators, know what to continue with and what to abandon (within reason) if we never ask our students' opinion? I've started this year with a dystopian book club. The simple reason for starting with this book club is quite frankly, I love a good dystopian text, and I've read a lot of these texts in my own life. I love to dive in with a text set that I feel particularly passionate about, if merely under the hope that my passion will rub off on some of my reluctant readers. Students should have a choice in these book clubs. If you're worried about a student's ability being lower than their book choice, have no fear, as often a students reading ability can be superseded by their sheer desire to read the book out of interest. After all, as an adult reader, I have a choice. I don't read the books I don't want to read. Sometimes I read novels that are a little complicated for my own set of vocabulary (the scientific language in a recent read, Hardwiring Happiness, was a little outside of my English literautre brain, but I figured it out!) "As an adult reader, I have a choice, so why shouldn't our students be afforded the same luxury?" How do I start?I personally start each book club with a speed dating session. Some students giggle about the idea of speed dating with a novel but I love this expression. You're testing the waters, previewing the pages, and determining if this book is the one for you. Students record their thinking in a chart to jot down facts that stand out to them, and gage their general interest in another column. Afterwards, I have students indicate their choices on a Google Forum. It makes it easy for me to see who has selected what, so I can colour code their choices and make notes of those that didn't get their first choice this time around. This year, I will be using The Promise by Nicola Davies as a mentor text to model my thinking, and my hopes for students, as they approach this book club. I will also be engaging students in some standing conversations with quotes from their novels to help get them excited about what is to come (I learned this strategy from a Networking session hosted by the fabulous Kelly Wilder Snow, a WRDSB wealth of knowledge). I will attach the quotes in this blog post for those that wish to use this as an anticipation guide for reading. I try to select quotes that are interesting, but don't give too much away in terms of plot points. Students will engage in standing conversations by meeting with a partner around the room, and discussing their wonders about the quote they have in their hands. What could it mean? How can they connect with it? Does it connect with any of the other quotes that they have heard in their other standing conversations? We will look at our novels through a few lenses over the next few weeks, but truly, each dystopian text serves as a cautionary tale. My student's job will be to determine what the author may be warning us about? How is this society making a comment on our world today? I can't wait to see what their thoughts are as they progress, for some of these novels depict societies that I sometimes feel are only a few years away. Stay tuned for further updates on our progress through these book clubs and a few mini-lessons I will be using to help my students reach their goals. Yours in Education, Mrs. MP
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AuthorHi! I'm Mrs. MP and I teach grade seven English! I'm so excited for you to learn along with me Archives
January 2022
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