Why I Spent My Winter Break Reading

The second week of winter break is coming to an end.  I am a bit sad, but looking forward to going back into my classroom to share my winter break experiences with my students.

These past two weeks, I had lots of adventures.

I visited Victorian England and hung out with two Irish orphans.  I spent time with a deaf child who learned that her deafness could be her superpower. I explored 1920's New York city with another child who went on a quest to discover where he came from.

I didn't leave home to do any of this.

I didn't warp back in time.

What I did do, was READ.  A lot....

Why did I spend my winter break reading middle grade fiction, you wonder?

1.  I want my students to know that I wouldn't ask them to do anything that I wouldn't do myself.  I asked them to read over break, so I did the same.

2.  To be able to recommend books to students, I have to know books.  To know books, I have to read them.  I began to recognize how important this was when I read The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller two summers ago. (If you haven't read The Book Whisperer...what are you waiting for???)

3.  I want to be a reading role model for my students.   I want my students to know me as a reader and to know what I think about the books I've read.

4.  I've found an amazing network of teacher readers on Twitter and daily posts from the Nerdy Book Club. The tweets that have been going out about the #bookaday challenge and the Nerdy Book Awards have helped me stay connected and informed about the best in children's literature and what I need to read next.  They even inspired me to purchase this shirt:

6.  My TBR (To Be Read) pile of books was about to topple over....I had to start making the pile get shorter.  :)

I consider my time reading during break well spent.  On Monday, I will begin to share the tales of my reading adventures with my students.

I already have a student reader in mind for each of the books I read over break.

I can't wait....

A Peek at My Week -- Summer Edition! {6/15/14}

Ahhh....summer vacation.  I didn't think it would ever arrive, but it did!  Welcome to this week's edition of A Peek at My Week, my weekly linky party where we can link up and share what we've got going on for the upcoming week. I hope you will link up with me.

Like many of you, I am one of those teachers who uses her summer break to get ready for next year.  Sure, there is lots of rest (naps!), relaxation and FUN, but I also use these weeks to learn new things for next year. I love to read and I have a stack of professional books I hope to get through.  Here are just a few:

I have actually read about half of this book by Jeff Anderson already and it is so amazing that I am going to start over and take notes.  Seriously, if you are looking for some great ways to take your writing instruction to the next level, this is a must read!

When I saw this book on Amazon, I looked at the preview.  After the first five pages of the preview, I had already written down two ideas I wanted to use.  Can't wait to read the rest!

Since we are moving towards standards based grading next year, I want to do more with learning targets.  This book will help.

On Wednesday, I will be heading to Indiana for the All Write Summer Institute "Daring Greatly."  While this is a smaller literacy conference, the line up of presenters isn't.  Here is who I will see:

Donalyn Miller

Kelly Gallagher

Stephanie Harvey

Barry Lane

I will post about my experiences at the conference, but if you want to know what happens when it happens, follow me on Twitter @laffinteach.  

Not bad for my first week of break!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for stopping by!

A Peek at My Week {2-2-14}

Happy Groundhog Day!  I hope that furry little fella brings us a quick spring.  After the last week we had (two school snow days for the Polar Vortex Part II and more snow, snow, snow to shovel, shovel, shovel), I have quite had it with Old Man Winter. Anybody with me???

I was just looking over the very sad list of my recent blog posts.  It seems like all I can do these days is manage to post for this weekly linky party.  (Good thing I started it then, right?)  I am right in the middle of an online course I'm taking to get my Reading Teacher license and it is so much work!  At the end of the day, all I can do is fall asleep (usually reading something for class).

So, what else is up this week?

I will have another three day work week this week, but this time it won't be for bad weather (hopefully!).  I am very excited to attend the Wisconsin State Reading Association (WSRA) conference in Milwaukee this Thursday and Friday.  I love this conference, and am hoping to run into some of my friends from the Writing Project from this past summer.

At the WSRA, I will be attending some professional development sessions with these fabulous people:

Carl Anderson:  I will see two of Carl's presentations -- Assessing Student Writers and Conferring with Student Writers.

       

Aimee Buckner:  Take Note!  Strategies for Helping Students Recompose What they Read to Their Own Words

Lester Laminak:  When Writers Read

I'm sure that after these two days packed full of professional development, I will have lots to share with you here.  Be sure to check back!

Also this week, we will continue to explore Text Structure.  I plan on using select Wonders from the Wonderopolis website to demonstrate the different text structures.  

Have you ever used Wonderopolis in your classroom?  My students love it! (And it's FREE!) 

I have read through the titles of the Wonders and have chosen two for each of the five text structures I will teach.  Each day, we will read through one of them, identify the text structure, and give evidence for our thinking.  

What I also love is that students will learn something along the way to add to their background knowledge.  Like this Wonder we read about Earworms.  You can read about it here.  (You know that you want to know what an earworm is!  Really....it's not gross and you can impress your students with your new knowledge.)

So that's it for me this week!  How about you?  Grab my button and link up to your post.

Wishing you a fantastic week!  (Think spring!!)

Are Your Students "Wild Readers?"

I'm so excited to have Donalyn Miller's new book, Reading in the Wild, in my possession.  Two summers ago, my teammates and I read her first book, The Book Whisperer, and it really changed the way I taught reading in my classroom.  I am happy to say that this new book does not disappoint.  I thought I would share a few things Reading in the Wild has gotten me thinking about as I work my way through it.

1.  Recognize your"Wild Readers."
A wild reader is someone who:
     * Dedicates time to read -- Every single day, no matter how crazy life gets.
     * Are confident in self-selecting their reading material
     * Share books and their reading with others by talking about their reading
     * Have a plan for what they want to read beyond their current book.  (Think "book pile.")
     * Have strong preferences for they kinds of books they like to read

Think of the students in your room.  Can you recognize who your wild readers are?  They could quite possibly be those students who you need to interact with the least.  Those students who move seamlessly from one book to the next, never wasting time during silent reading time by spending 20 minutes in the classroom library, using the restroom, or "forgetting" their book in their backpack or at home.  They are the ones who visit their "reading zone" on a regular basis and are not distracted when they read.  Conferencing with them reveals a deep and rich understanding of and love for reading.  They don't need reminders to read -- it's just what they do.

2.  Spend time observing your students as they read to notice "fake reading".
Reading in the Wild contains some excellent resources in the appendix.  One that I really like is the Independent Reading Time Observation Form.

Miller suggests observing students who do not seem to be making growth for ten minutes over the course of three days.  For each minute, record the student's reading behaviors on this form.  

I tried this with one of my students who was struggling to complete books and keep up with his AR goal. The results were amazing as for showing me how much time he was NOT reading and led to a very important discussion with the student about fake reading as I worked with him to choose books that were more on his ability and interest level.

3.  Teach students to "Read on the Edge."

Reading on the Edge means that readers capture even the tiniest moments for reading.  In the car going to grandmas?  Take out a book.  Waiting at the dentist?  Take out a book.  Eating breakfast?  Take out a book.  Miller suggests having students keep track of times they are bored or not doing anything throughout the day.  These moments can become Reading on the Edge moments.  She even includes a form in the appendix for recording these captured reading moments to see just how much they can add up to.

Every day for homework, my students are assigned 20 minutes of reading.  Miller reminded me that it is important to share with the students that these 20 minutes do not need to be consecutive, they can be "edge" minutes.  I know that many students struggle to read for these 20 minutes straight because of responsibilities at home or with outside activities.  Teaching students to capture any time they have to read will add up and keep them reading.

So those are the highlights of my learning from chapter 1.  I will share more of my discoveries with you as I keep reading.

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