Character Fiction and Down-home-feel-good-be-inspired Books

Each month I spotlight a genre for my students, so I've decided to post genre book lists each month. This month is Character Fiction and Down-home-feel-good-be-inspired books.

Character Fiction

This genre is one that I may have invented. I've always struggled to find a place for these books. How would you classify Anne of Green Gables? I realized that these stories revolve around a character and his/her life. These are character-driven stories. It isn't about action or plot devices--it is all about the character development. These are those characters that you get to know and learn to love and while reading the book, you feel like you're making a good friend, like if you ran into this character on the street, you would greet each with a big hug/high five and invite him/her over for a family dinner. I consider Anne one of my childhood friends, that's for sure! Thus a genre was born. Now I realize that girls tend to gravitate toward character fiction more than boys (boys tend to go for biographies about someone they admire, such as a sport's hero, or books with stronger plot/more action), but there are some books on the list that boys and girls will appreciate.

Smiles to Go-Jerry Spinelli Stargirl--Jerry Spinelli
Maniac Magee-Jerry Spinelli
Loser-Jerry Spinelli
Defining Dulcie-Paul Acampora
Ida B-Katherine Hannigan
Shug-Jenny Han King of the Screwups-K.L. Going Utterly Me, Clarice Bean-Lauren Child
Ramona Forever-Beverly Cleary
The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones-Helen Hemphill
Miss Spitfire-Sarah Miller
Heartbeat-Sharon Creech
Fearless Fernie-Gary Soto
Write On, Callie Jones-Naomi Zucker
The Schwa was Here-Neal Shusterman
Antsy Does Time-Neal Shusterman
So Totally Emily Ebers-Lisa Yee
Millicent Min, Girl Genius-Lisa Yee
Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time-Lisa Yee
No More Dead Dogs-Gordan Korman
The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez-Judy Goldschmidt
The Loser's Guide to Life and Love-A.E. Cannon
Diary of a Wimpy Kid-Jeff Kinney

Down-home-feel-good-be-inspired books

These are those books that make you want to be a better person because you read the book. These are the books that feel like a cozy blanket wrapped around you. These are the books that make you feel like you just watched a Hall-mark card commercial. These are simply good books.

Hattie Big Sky-Kirby Larson
Ruby Holler-S. Creech
Ida B-K. Hannigan
Antsy Does Time-N. Shusterman
A Year Down Yonder-R. Peck
Because of Winn-Dixie-K. DiCamillo
Notes from the Dog-G. Paulsen
The Last Lecture-R. Pausch
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane-K. DiCamillo
On the Wings of Heroes-Richard Peck

**Books in italics means I haven't read them yet...but I will!

Graphic Novels and comic books

This comes from an article, "Comics and Graphic Novels" by Samantha Cleaver, in the Scholastic Instructor magazine (May/June 2008).
"Comic books can be a great way to pique reluctant readers' interest and challenge those students who are fluent in more traditional literature."
"If we show kids how the written word actually has a visual component to it...and teach kids how to think that way, I think they'll become much better writers. Their word choice is much richer, and their creativity is boundless."
"Kids are at ease with combining visual and text information, and as new media becomes mainstream, comic books offer a way to reinforce traditional grammar and spelling within a layout that's familiar to kids."
"Writing comics asks kids to be writers, editors, and artists all at once."
Some ideas for using graphic novels and comic books in teaching:

• Comics are all about sequence. You could use a comic/graphic novel to illustrate the sequence/plot line of a story. They can also be used to teach character development, setting, theme, and any other story element.
  
• Comics are all about inferences. Between panels and within panels, the reader must make inferences in order to understand the story.
• Have students write a story or essay and then convert their writing into a comic book format. For example, students may write a metacognitive essay on things they do that help them to understand what they are reading. They then need to convert that to a comic strip. You could then take all of the comic strips and create a class book of reading strategies.
• You could use the storyboard format of comic strips to help students as a pre-writing strategy before doing a story or multimedia project such as a PowerPoint presentation or digital storytelling.
• You can use comic books and graphic novels as supplements to support a theme of a novel or short story that you are reading. Many of the classics have been converted to graphic novels. For example, you could use a graphic novel version of Romeo and Juliet to help students understand the story as you read Shakespeare's words.
• Make your last unit of the school year a comic book unit. Have students write an essay about they did and learned in your class that year and then convert it into a comic strip. Then compile all of the comic strips into a book for the class.
• Have students create comic strips about themselves as a getting to know you activity.
• Use comic books to teach onomatopoeia or dialogue.
• Use comics to study a time period. For example, if you are reading a novel that takes place in the 50's, you could look at the Archie Americana series and Archie classics as anthropologists and list clues of what life was like back then based on what you find in the comic.
  

Here are some resources that might help in incorporating comics and graphic novels in your classroom:

• www.graphicclassics.com
  
• Comic Life--most Macs come with this program as part of the package. Students can take pictures on the computer, import pictures from the web, or just print out the frames and draw their own pictures.
• The Bone series by Jeff Smith. Not one of my favorites, but the kids seem to like it.
• Mouse Guard by David Petersen. Hero's journey, knights of the round table, fantasy...all with mouse characters.
• American Born Chinese by Gene Yang. One of the BEST graphic novels out there. There are three parallel plotlines that weave together. This book addresses issues of race, stereotypes, and acceptance. A few years ago, I was on my district's book approval committee which decides whether or not a book can be used in a classroom setting. This book was not approved because many parents felt that it was too racial and most of these parents were still holding onto the idea that graphic novels aren't literature. I don't think they read the book. Too bad because it is amazing!
• --Bubbler: http://www.pimpampum.net/bubblr/ (Image drop easy create your own comic strip).
  
• http://www.bitstrips.com/ (you can create yourself as a cartoon character or create other characters and create a comic strip).
  
• http://www.makebeliefscomix.com (Simpler format/more limited to create comic strips).
• Rapunzel's Revenge and Calamity Jack by Shannon Hale. This is a twist on two classic fairytales. Great graphics and storyline.
• http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/asl/guides/graphicnovels/

Hats off for Editing and Revising

This idea might work better for younger grades, but then again, I could see my 8th graders liking this!
For peer-editing groups Nicole Hughes uses actual hats when she tells her students to put their thinking caps on. Students have jobs in their peer editing group according to the hat they are wearing.
Grammar Queen/King: student wears a crown and looks for grammar mistakes in a paper. Are there spelling or punctuation mistakes? Typos?
Sentence Flipper: student wears a fast-food burger-flipper hat (like from In-n-Out) and focuses on sentence structure and fluency. Are there any fragments? Do the sentences flow together?
Revision Rockstar: student wears a sparkly headband and looks specifically for revision suggestions. How is the introduction and conclusion? Does the writing make sense?

Thoughts on Teaching and a Thing called Money

The Equity Project (TEP) opened a charter school in New York City in 2009. A new charter school is nothing new these days, but this school has caught my attention for three reasons:
1. They teach Latin. What's that you say? Latin? Yes, Latin. This is a school that consists of 6th-8th graders. Why Latin? You ask. I don't know. They have a very basic curriculum: math, science, English, music, P.E./health...and Latin. I suppose knowing Latin could help you with root words and give you a foundation for learning any of the romance languages, but I'm not sure it is high on my things-I-want-my-kids-to-know list. Ah, well, to everyone their own.
2. There are 480 students in the school and a majority of these students come from low-income families. Many of these students are not gifted and talented students, but rather, students who struggle. So in other words, this is a school that can choose its students, and chooses to say, "Bring me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free."
3. This school recognizes the teacher as the crucial component of education. As such, the teacher average salary at this school is $125,000. Wait! How many zeroes did I just type? Are these teachers also playing a sport on the side? Nope. The number is correct. In addition to this salary, there is a possible $25,000 bonus based on school-wide achievement. Teachers are required to take a one year sabbatical every five to six years. This is something I think every teacher should do. Burn out is too common among teachers. To earn the wage listed above, teachers are required to work from 7 am to 6 pm and to complete a six week teacher development course during the summer. I could do this; I do this...just not for $125,000. My principal once asked me if I was independently wealthy or stupid. I'm not wealthy, that's for sure. My husband tells me that at some point (mathematically) if you work too many hours, you begin to lose money rather than make money. I've been losing money for years. I don't know how to fit all the stuff teachers do into the few hours between 7 am and 3 pm. This school sounds like a dream to me...a place I heard of once in a lullaby. You not only just do your job, you show your passion and talent through hard work and devotion, and you get paid what you're worth. This is what dreams are made of...
For more info on this school, you can check it out at: www.tepcharter.org.
I want to label this 'inspiration', but perhaps I will create a new label: 'jealousy'. =)

The Six Phases of Teaching

Phase 1

You are listening to jazz
Your first day at work is great.
Your co-workers are wonderful, the students are great, your classroom is cute, and your principal is the best!

Phase 2

You are listening to pop music
After a while you are so busy that you are not sure if you’re coming or going anymore.

Phase 3

You are listening to heavy metal
This is what you feel like at the end of the quarter/month.

Phase 4

You are listening to hip hop
You become bloated due to stress, feel sluggish and suffer from constipation.
Your coworkers are too cheerful for your liking and the walls of your classroom are closing in. The students seem to be out to get you.
You have started thinking “WHATEVER” about your principal.

Phase 5

You are listening to GANGSTA RAP
After more time passes, your eyes start to twitch, you forget what a “good hair day”
feels like as you just fall out of bed and load up on caffeine.

Phase 6

You are listening to the voices in your head
You have built a makeshift fortress of books and paper around your desk to keep people out,
you have a dartboard with your favorite student’s picture on it in your classroom, and
you wonder why you are even here in the first place.

Book Group

The secretary at my school does this cool idea with her grand-daughters. Every year she buys all of the girls the same book (the girl's join Grandma's Book Club when they turn a certain age). She gives them time to read the book and then they all go together on a book outing. The first year they read The Secret Garden and then she took them to an English-style garden here in Utah. They also had a tea party where she explained different rules of etiquette, and they discussed the book. They take lots of pictures and she makes a little scrapbook of the pictures for all of the girls to remember the outing and the book.
I loved the idea, so I've begun to do this with my nieces. Every year for Christmas I buy a book for all of my nieces who are 12 or older. They then have until summer to read it. I started with Little House in the Big Woods (Laura Ingalls Wilder) last year. The girls read the book and then we went to Wheeler Farm. (I had also thought about going to Pioneer Park; that would have been fun also). We discussed the book, made old-fashioned rag dolls, and ate old-fashioned candy. The girls seemed to like it and I really had a good time with them.
This year I've purchased Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett for them and will take them to an art museum in the summer.
Some other ideas:
Esperanza Rising--go to a Mexican market and make tamales together.
The Misadventures of Maude March-go to a western museum or rodeo.
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler-go to a museum.
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane-go to the Build-a-Bear shop.
Peeled-go to an apple orchard.

Using Technology Tools With or Without the Computer

This is from my presentation at the UCIRA conference at Salt Lake City, UT.

Using Technology Tools With or Without the Computer

PowerPoint Presentation

• Why/How is technology an effective tool in the classroom?
• What obstacles keep us from using technology in our classroom?
• Technology is a tool--not a new program or gimmick, not the end-all answer to all of our problems, and not a replacement for teachers… technology is only useful as we, the teachers, use it in creative and resourceful ways.
• In our planning and deciding which tool we want to use, and how we want to use it, we need to ask ourselves,
  What is the purpose of this? How will it help me to teach this concept?
• My purposes for the tools listed here:
  
• • Reader Response
  • To monitor understanding
  • To promote creativity and higher-order thinking
  • To practice summarizing and determining importance
  • To enhance understanding of character in a story
  • To communicate with students in their ‘language’

FaceBook Ideas
www.facebook.com
Facebook is a social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Since September 2006, anyone over the age of 13 with a valid e-mail address (and not residing in one of the countries where it is banned) can become a Facebook user--Definition from Google Web Definitions.

A place where I can spy on my friends and family and waste a good hour or two without even realizing it—My definition.

FaceBook Personality Quiz--have students create a personality quiz for characters from a book. I would have students work in groups of 2-4 and before having them do the quiz on their own, I would model how to do with a common story/book. Students can create a quiz on their own paper or you can provide a worksheet for them. Click here for the worksheet I created.
To further use this tool, I would challenge students to create their quizzes on Facebook and would offer incentives (points on a test for each person who takes their quiz or a prize for the group who gets the most people to take their quiz). Students can print out a page from their Facebook quiz that shows how many people have taken their quiz and breaks it down to percentages of how people responded.

Twitter Ideas
www.twitter.com

•Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting. Simply find the public streams you find most compelling and follow the conversations.

•At the heart of Twitter are small bursts of information called Tweets. Each Tweet is 140 characters in length, but don’t let the small size fool you—you can share a lot with a little space…You can tell your story within your Tweet, or you can think of a Tweet as the headline...

--From the ‘About page’ on Twitter.com

On NPR, the Morning Edition host, David Greene challenged the Song of the Day editor and music reviewer, Stephen Thompson, to review an entire music album in a tweet, just 140 characters. Thompson compared tweets to haiku. I love that comparison! Lengthier writing is great but a haiku can also have great power and beauty. So can tweets! In our fast-paced world, students need to learn to write succinctly and to the point (something I'm still learning).
Twitter Music Reviews: Criticism as Haiku

Some Tweet Ideas:

•Admit/Exit slips

•Quick reading summary

•Book report, review

•Flash fiction

To take these ideas further, you could easily set up a class Twitter page and encourage students to check out the class tweets by choosing the five best tweets from each class and posting them. If a student sees his/her tweet posted, he/she can tell you and receive a piece of candy (students will do anything for candy). This would also be a great resource if you were to post admit/exit tweets (tweets about what students are learning in class). If a student is absent or needs reminding of what was taught, he/she could find out from the class Twitter page.

Tweet Worksheet

Instant Messaging (IM)/Texting Ideas

Instant Messaging (Iming) or Texting is a real time conversation. You talk through typing text either on a cell phone or through a chat/IM program on the computer (such as chat on FaceBook, Googletalk, or any other chatting service available with most email accounts).

One activity that you could do with this is have students create a text/IM conversation between two characters. Remember, with this you are NOT focusing on grammar but ideas. The idea behind this is to help students really understand the characters and for you, as the teacher, to see if they understand the characters.

An interesting study about technology use in the classroom: http://www.nces.ed.gov/pubs2010/2010040.pdf

Kristen Chandler-Author

This is from a guest author, Kristen Chandler's, presentation at the UCTE/LA conference at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

Her book (that I am excited to read) is: Wolves, Boys, and Other Things that Might Kill Me

--became published when she quit trying to be a writer and went back to being a storyteller.
--literacy grows us and the world we live in.
--need to find something meaningful that you love to write about.
--reading and writing helps kids do big things.
--create space through language.
--find space in our students' media bombarded, cluttered minds.
--find the character and write for the character.
--on revision: you have to trust that it can be better.

Using Technology in Writing and Reading

This is from the UCTE/LA conference at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

A Teacher's Digital Life: How to Use Technology in a Writing and Reading Classroom--Mat Wenzel

Reasons teachers should use technology in the classroom:
It's the language of the natives.

It's easier to share/adapt files.
It's what kids know/ are familiar with.
It can be a reluctant learner magnet.
It is part of the work place and global economy.

Why teachers don't use technology in the classroom:
Intimidated/afraid.
Lack of resources/access to computers.
Too complicated.
Requires extra time/too time consuming.
"It's just bells and whistles."

Social networking (for book nerds):
www.librarything.com
www.goodreads.com
www.shelfari.com
You can export your libraries as an Excel spreadsheet from one site to another.
You can have students do this, starting with adding the books you are reading in class, to create a classroom community.

Google-many resources besides just searching!

data storage site: www.dropbox.com

http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryTools
--Bubbler: http://www.pimpampum.net/bubblr/ (Image drop easy create your own comic strip).
http://www.bitstrips.com/ (you can create yourself as a cartoon character or create other characters and create a comic strip).
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com (Simpler format/more limited to create comic strips).
He had students use bitstrips to create a comic strip of themselves and tell about themselves and what they will contribute to the class at the beginning of the year.

Mat Wenzel's website/blog:
http://www.misterdoubleyou.com
http://weber.k12.ut.us/mawenzel

Literacy with an Attitude-Patrick J. Finn (A recommended book).

The Reading/Writing Connection

This is from the keynote speaker at the UCTE/LA conference at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

The Reading/Writing Connection: A Cognitive Strategies Approach to Teaching Interpretive Reading and Analytical Writing in Secondary School--Carol Booth Olson, cbolson@uci.edu

Writing analytically--many students are struggling with this because they don't get enough practice.
'Create movies of the mind'
How do we help all of our students to be there? To be strong, strategic, independent readers and writers?
Acts of mind in reading and writing (common characteristics of experienced writers and readers):

• engagement, become one/get inside the process
• visualize
• aware of process
• slow down, speed up as the task requires
• are actively engaged in constructing meaning;
  
• go back to go forward in a recursive process (being a good reader isn't a really fast, one shot deal);
• interact and negotiate with each other (reader and writer keep each other in mind);
• are motivated and self-confident;
• use skills automatically;
• access a common tool kit of cognitve strategies, including planning & setting goals, tapping prior knowledge, etc.

Need to teach students three types of knowledge:

• Declarative Knowledge
• Procedural Knowledge
• Conditional Knowledge

Reading/Writing Tool Kit (Cognitive Strategies):

• Planning and setting goals
• Tapping into Prior Knowledge
• Making predictions
• Adopting an Alignment
• Making Connections
• Evaluating
• Analyzing Author's Craft
• Summarizing
• Clarifying
• Forming Interpretations
• Monitoring
• Visualizing
• Asking questions
• Revising Meaning

Examples of a Strategic activities:

1. Bring/describe four items in your house.
2. Peers write what these items might say about you.
3. Student writes what they think these things might say to others.

Highlight reading or writing analyses:

1. yellow: plot summary/just the facts
2. green: supporting detail
3. blue: commentary/opinions

Resources:

The Reading/Writing Connection-Carol Booth Olson
You Gotta be the Book-Jeff Wilhelm
It's Never Too Late-Janet Allen

Reading Changes Everything: Ideas & Book Talks Galore

This is from the UCTE/LA conference at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

Reading Changes Everything: Ideas & Book Talks Galore--Cassie Cox
ccox@weber.k12.ut.us

"Reading saved my life"--Cassie dropped out of high school in 10th grade but later went on to get her GED and on to a Master's.
"The average American reads one book per year after they graduate from college"--Washington Post.
How do we get kids to read?
CHOICE!! Choice makes a difference.
Main goal: Hook kids on books!
We've got to be readers ourselves.
What her classroom looks like:

• Time everyday for self-selected reading.
• Book talks
• Book trailers
• Time for talking and sharing.
• Author visits--find local authors and get them into your classroom! Get authors on board!
  
• Make books readily accessible.
• Spotlight books of all kinds.
• Take it outside the classroom--county library. Keep your ears open for public author talks and presentations.
• Classroom full of books.
• Themed book shelf at front of the room.
• Make books more visible.
  

How do you find time to read?

• Commit to reading with your students.
• Squeeze professional development into your daily planning time (5-10 minutes goes a long way).
• Always carry a book with you.
• Listen to audio books on the way to work or when you're exercising or walking.
• Treat yourself with at least 15 minutes of reading before you go to bed each night.
• Squeeze the time in any way that you can!
• Faculty meeting? Take a book! =)
• On-line book clubs, nings, etc.
  

Ideas:

• Olive Garden event-Cassie had five authors (Sarah Zarr, Sydney Salter, Wendy Toliver, Marion Jenson (Matthew Buckley), and J. Scott Savage) and twenty of her students (those who read the most of the authors' books) at Olive Garden. The restaurant paid for it, and it was an amazing experience. Don't be afraid to get out there and ask!

• Make reading a social activity. Books and friends, FUN! Paired reading, small group reading, reader's theater, chorale reading, etc.
  
• Book Talks: picture books, books of poetry, short stories, novels, children lit., young adult lit.
• Read for your students.
• Talk about books you've read...and about books you haven't read.
• Encourage the entire school community to get on board (other teachers, parents, business members, local professors, lunch ladies...get others to do book talks).
  
• Have students make book trailers (www.animoto.com).
• Send home book wish lists that parents can purchase for the classroom (they don't have to be new!).
  
• Encourage book clubs to donate their books to your class.
• Ideas for assessment/accountability: silent exchange, save the last word for me, paragraph plug in, alpha boxes, etc.
• Article of the week
  

Book List:
Reading Reminders-Jim Burke
Writing Reminders-Jim Burke
Readacide-Kelly Gallagher
Phineas Gage--John Fleishman
The Story Behind Toilets
Troy Thompson's Excellent Poetry Book--Gary Crew, Craig Smith
Stiff-Mary Roach
Guts-Gary Paulsen

Websites:
Professional Development and Networking:
http://englishcompanion.ning.com
http://www.ncte.org
http://www.reading.org
Discounted Books:
http://www.bookdepot.com
http://www.bookcloseouts.com/
Video book talks and book trailers:
http://www.scholastic.com/librarians/ab/booktalks.htm
http://www.book-trailers.net/
http://digitalbooktalk.com

The Scholastic Reading Bill of Rights

The Reading Bill of Rights (from http://www.scholastic.com/readeveryday/read.htm).
A Child’s Right to Read
Today we live in a world full of digital information. Yet reading has never been more important, for we know that for young people the ability to read is the door opener to the 21st century: to hold a job, to understand their world, and to know themselves. That is why we are asking you to join our Global Literacy Call to Action. We call this campaign: “Read Every Day. Lead a Better Life.” We are asking parents, teachers, school and business leaders, and the general public to
support their children’s right to read for a better life in the digital world of the 21st century.
Here is what we believe about reading in the second decade of the 21st century. We call this The Reading Bill of Rights:

WE BELIEVE that literacy—the ability to read, write and understand—is the birthright of every child in the world as well as the pathway to succeed in school and to realize a complete life. Young people need to read nonfiction for information to understand their world, and literature for imagination to understand themselves.

WE BELIEVE that the massive amounts of digital information and images now transmitted daily make it even more important for a young person to know how to analyze, interpret and understand information, to separate fact from opinion, and to have deep respect for logical thinking.

WE BELIEVE that literature and drama, whether on printed pages, screens, on stage or film, help young people experience the great stories of emotion and action, leading to a deeper understanding of what it means to be truly human. Without this literacy heritage, life lacks meaning, coherence and soul.

WE BELIEVE every child has a right to a “textual lineage”—a reading and writing autobiography which shows that who you are is in part developed through the stories and information you’ve experienced. This textual lineage will enable all
young people to have a reading and writing identity which helps them understand who they are and how they can make their lives better. In short, “You Are What You Read.”

WE BELIEVE every child should have access to books, magazines, newspapers, computers, e-readers, and text on phones. Whatever way you read, you will need to figure out what the facts are or what the story tells you. No matter how and where you get access to ideas, you will need the skills of reading to understand yourself and your world.

WE BELIEVE that reading widely and reading fluently will give children the reading stamina to deal with more challenging texts they will meet in college, at work and in everyday life. And every child should be able to choose and own the books they want to read, for that choice builds literacy confidence—the ability to read, write and speak about what they know, what they feel, and who they are.

WE BELIEVE that every child has the right to a great teacher who will help them learn to read and love to read. Children need teachers who provide intentional, focused instruction to give young people the skills to read and interpret information or understand great stories they will encounter throughout life.

WE BELIEVE that in the 21st century, the ability to read is necessary not only to succeed but to survive—for the ability to understand information and the power of stories is the key to a life of purpose and meaning.

Why Students Don't Read What is Assigned in Class

Motivating the Unmotivated Reader

This is from my presentation at the UCTE/LA conference at Brigham Young University, Provo, UT and the UCIRA conference at Salt Lake City, UT.

Motivating the Unmotivated Reader-Jolene Jenkins, mj4toty@gmail.com

Three Reading Truths:

1. Everyone is a reader (some just don't know it yet).
2. Not everyone reads in the same way.
3. Teachers can make a difference!
How do you convince that unmotivated, I-hate-to-read-and-you-can't-change-me reader that reading is good?

You've got to hook them!

Your bait:

1. Establish a positive reading attitude in your classroom.
2. Know your students.
3. Exposure! Exposure! Exposure!

Positive Reading Attitude:

• What is your attitude? Are you enthusiastic and passionate about reading? You can't help a person learn to love reading if you don't love it yourself.
• Do your students see you reading often?
• Have your students ever seen you emotionally react to a book?
• Are there book displays, posters, lists, etc. posted through out your classroom?
• Do you have a classroom library filled with GOOD books? When discouraged about kids losing/taking books, remember: a book on the shelf is safe, but that is not what books are made for.
• Do you ever 'talk book' with your students?

Know Your Students

• Reader Interviews:

1. Do you like to read at school?
2. Do you like to read in your free time?
3. What do you like to do in your free time?
4. How do you generally feel about starting a new book?
5. What do you like to read?
6. What movies/T.V. shows do you like to watch?

• Do students have a VOICE when it comes to reading in your classroom? Do they have CHOICE when it comes to reading? (See Video: Why Students Don't Read What's Assigned in Class).

Exposure! Exposure! Exposure!
You never know what will hook a student, so you expose them to as many reading possibilities as possible!
How do you know what's hot in YA lit?

• Be a book spy! Watch students, neighborhood kids, etc. What are they reading? Ask your avid readers what they are reading. Check out the YA section of the library and of book stores often. Look in Scholastic book orders. Join a book club or on-line book group such as www.goodreads.com.
  *My claim to fame: I read The Hunger Games before it was cool! In fact, I may have started the craze! I ran across it in a Scholastic book order and thought it looked interesting. It was fairly obsolete at the time, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommended it to my students and friends. (You're welcome, Suzanne Collins!)
• Consume/devour YA books. One summer I made a goal to read 100 YA books. I didn't make my goal, but I did read close to 40 books! Expand your horizons too. I discovered that I read a lot of books in the fantasy genre but little else. I pushed myself to read from other genres (I was specifically trying to find more books my male students would like) and discovered a plethora of books that I loved and could recommend to my students.

Some ways to expose your students to books:

• Read aloud--read aloud to your students often. Be dramatic. I'm not the most dramatic person but my students tended to prefer when I read aloud to them rather than listening to a book on tape. It creates this personal atmosphere and makes it easier to get into the book. I would do special treats for my students--one year I read Skeleton Creek (Patrick Carman) to them. For a few years, I've read Searching for David's Heart (Cherie Bennett) as a winter treat for them. You can just read excerpts to students or you can read entire books. Students love story time, even in middle and high school! Sidenote: don't make students do any assignments or tests with the read-aloud, just let them listen and enjoy!)
  
• Five-minute Book Talk--choose a genre. I liked to do one genre a month. Get as many books as you can for that genre and have them on display in the classroom. Have a student time you and talk about as many books as you can in five minutes. I usually liked to do a book talk before independent reading time. I would let the students read from the books on display as long as they put them back so that I could present for the next class. I would tell the students that they can check out the books at the end of the day or the next day. I like the five-minute format because it is quick and painless for the students. Sometimes the students will keep track of how many books you present and challenge you to do more for the next book talk! To talk about the books, I prepare some book previews (see below), read from the back, read excerpts, or just give a quick plot summary.
  Click here to go to my book lists.
• Book Previews/Book Trailers--book previews are like movie trailers but for books and in written form. I would often have my students do book previews rather than book reports because they are short and relatively painless AND I can use them to promote books. Book trailers--You can create your own, have students create videos, or you can find book trailers on the Internet. I found the following book trailers at www.youtube.com (search under 'book trailers', 'book trailers ya', or 'book trailers middle school') and at http://www.scholastic.com/kids/stacks/videos/?lnkid=stacks/nav/videos/main.

•The Hollow by Jessica Verday

•Fallen by Lauren Kate

•The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

•Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray

•Skullduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy

•Ninth Grade Slays: The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer

•Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

•Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve

• Book Pass--I use this to introduce my students to my classroom library, to introduce a topic (the Holocaust, Civil Rights Movement, etc.), or to introduce a genre. Before the students arrive, I put a book on every desk. You can either give students a list of the books or have them write titles and authors down (I think I will switch to giving the students a list so they don't spend so much time copying information). I then give the students one minute to check out the book: look at the cover, read the back/inside cover, check how many pages, start reading the beginning, etc. At the end of the minute I have them mark a =) if it looks like something they would want to read, a =1 if it's a maybe, or a =( if it is definitely not something they would want to read. Then they pass the book to their neighbor and start again with a different book for one minute. You can do this for 10 minutes or for a whole class period, however long you would like to do the activity.

Books I used in my presentation:
The Hollow-Jessica Verday
Fallen-Lauren Kate
The Graveyard Book-Neil Gaiman
Sweet Far Thing-Libba Bray (This is the third book of a series).
Skullduggery Pleasant series-Derek Landy
Ninth Grade Slays: The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod-Heather Brewer
Shiver-Maggie Stiefvater
Fever Crumbs-Philip Reeve
Ghost Huntress: The Awakening-Marley Gibson
Down a Dark Hall-Lois Duncan
Darkness Creeping-Neal Shusterman (short stories)
The Unseen: It Begins-Richie Tankersley Cusick
Secrets of Dripping Fang: The Onts-Dan Greenburg
The Haunting-Joan Lowery Nixon
The Face on the Milk Carton-Caroline B. Cooney
The Secret of Laurel Oaks-Lois Ruby
Creepers-Joanne Dahme
The Last Apprentice: The Spook’s Tale and Other Horrors-Joseph Delaney
Daeman Hall-Andrew Nance
The Haunting of Hill House-Shirley Jackson
Skeleton Creek-Patrick Carman
The Ghost in the Machine-Patrick Carman

Documents that you can download:
Reading Interview
Reading Motivation Powerpoint
How to Write a Book Preview
Reading Rap

Perspective and Detail: Teaching Students to Zoom

Today I attended a mini-workshop organized by the Central Utah Writing Project(CUWP). (Some other time I need to write about my experience with CUWP last summer. It was an AMAZING experience!) There were some great ideas for the classroom shared in the three sessions.This information comes from: Shauna Robertson's presentation on Perspective and Detail: Teaching Students to Zoom.
For more information, Shauna can be contacted at shauna.mymail@gmail.com.
First, Shauna began by sharing a book with us called Zoom by Istvan Banyai.

Here is an example of the first few pages:

As you read the book and each page introduces a new perspective, you come to see things differently. Each pictures zooms out from the original picture, giving you an entirely different story.
You can also use a video called Everyday Creativity with Dewitt Jones to illustrate this concept. Jones is a professional photographer and in this video, talks about how beauty can be found not only by zooming in on a particular detail, but also in zooming out for the big picture.
The video is expensive to buy and sometimes difficult to find, but at Jones' website is an introductory video clip that has the exact part of the video that you would need. The website is found at: http://www.dewittjones.com/ Click on 'Watch Dewitt Now'.
We then did the following activity:
Zoom activity
1. Have students write a description of their bedroom. Tell them they will have about 5-7 minutes to write but that is the only instruction they will receive.
Here is my writing:
Fortunately, I just cleaned my room a couple of days ago, so I won't have to describe the dog goobers on the wall or the unmade bed. Instead, I will describe the rustic bedspread patterned with black bears and pine trees, the freshly vacuumed speckled brown carpet, the family portraits hanging (slightly eschew) on the wall. Just recently I re-painted the room, transforming the white walls to a three-tone, earthy palette of sandstone, cream, and off-white. However, I do need to admit that we haven't purchased blinds yet, so currently the windows are accessorized with what I call 'Redneck's Glad`e'.
2. Zoom in. Have students draw a line under what they have written and zoom in closer. Have them picture themselves standing in the middle of the room facing just one wall. Have them extend their writing by describing what they can see from that perspective.
Here is my writing:
The wall is split in two halves by an off-white chair rail. The bottom of the wall is suede (or at least attempted suede), and the top is a cream color. It makes me think of staring really hard at the mid-section of an old cowboy wearing a cream, long-sleeve shirt and worn, leather chaps. On the wall hang two family pictures one with dad and baby, and one with mom and baby. Looking around, you could probably guess that there is one loved baby in the house.
3. Have them draw a line and now zoom in on one object that is on that one wall. Have them write again with a description from this new perspective.
My writing:
A father's day gift-the portrait hangs (slightly crooked) on the wall. A chestnut frame wraps around the collage of two pictures. In one is a picture of my two boys-my husband, looking dignified and handsome in his black suit and red tie, holding my three month-old, also looking adorable and handsome in his pin-stripe vest, green shirt, and tie. My son is a miniature version of his father with twinkling eyes and that same mischievous smile.

Discuss with students how their writing changed as they changed their perspective. Also discuss what things stayed the same. You could also discuss when being aware of your reader and his/her perspective and when it is good to get closer and examine details in writing and when it is better to step back and see the big picture.
Some of my thoughts after doing this activity:
It was interesting to see how my focus changed from each perspective. In the first writing, I was really just thinking about how messy my room is typically. In the second writing, I was focusing on imagery and how I wanted my walls to look western and rugged when I painted them. In the third writing, I was focused on my family and my love for them. I think that this would be a great activity for generating ideas, for writing a memoir, and for examining writer's craft.
When I used to teach my students Ideas and Content and, more specifically, having a main idea and then blowing it up with detail, I used a Where's Waldo picture. I would put the picture on an overhead and tell the students to write about what they see. After writing for a few minutes, we would discuss how difficult (and boring) it was to write about everything. Then I would put a paper with a small hole cut-out over the picture and again tell them to write about it. Maybe they would only be able to see a dog riding a bike and juggling. They could then expand on that image and come up with creative scenarios. We would then discuss how when we write about something, we don't want to write everything. We want to find what is most important and really focus on bringing that to life in our writing using sensory details.
I always liked having my students write a memoir at the beginning of the school year. I liked that I could read these memoirs and get to know my students a little better, and I liked that writing about one's self and examining one's life is something most of them will use through out their lives. However, many times their memoirs were so boring! Often, I received 'What I did over summer vacation' and travel logs. I often gave them the quote about how the reader doesn't want to hear about every ride in Disneyland but if one the rides broke down or someone got sick on one of the rides, that is worth hearing about. But some of them still never got it. I think this zooming in and zooming out activity could really help students figure out what they really want to write about. What made that memory stand out in their minds? What made it memorable and worth writing about?
You could also use this activity for further discussions about writer's craft. For example, I don't like the book Eragon very much. I know, I know, there are probably Eragonites hunting me down right now for saying such a thing. The story was fine but there was too much detail. I remember one scene where the characters were about to enter a room through a door. I swear there were two or three pages just describing the door, and the whole time I was shouting in my head, "Just walk through that door, for crying out loud!" I felt like the plot got bogged down in details. Another example might be the unabridged version of Les Miserables. A chapter on the sewer system? Really?
But there are times when the reader needs the details. I want to be sitting at that campfire with the characters. I want to feel its heat and hear the crackle and snap of the wood burning. I want to choke a little on the smoke and have to move to the side to get away from it. But only if it that scene is important enough that I be there with the characters. I think of really good scary stories. Many times, a scary story won't give you all the details of the 'monster'. The writer knows that we all have monsters in our minds and that the details the reader will supply from his/her own imagination is far scarier than anything you could describe as a writer. This is where many of the gore movies go wrong in trying to produce horror--too many (often cheesy) details.
Another great resource that Shauna mentioned was: Image Grammar: Using Grammatical Structures to Teach Writing by Harry Noden. You can also find some good teaching strategies at the companion website: http://www3.uakron.edu/noden/.


So many great ideas and possible discussions generated from this one activity. Thanks, Shauna!