Reaching Balance

I've slowly started the process of reading professionally. I opted to take Guiding Readers and Writers with my while camping. After doing some kid lit reading, I decided I needed to start the ball rolling on improving my practice. I've also done some reading on the Units of Study Reader's Workshop from the series I purchased earlier in the year. There are a few things that I want to address over the course of the summer:

-Balancing reading/writing instruction
-Balancing reader's workshop with social studies materials/instruction
-Being strategic in using technology to meet our reading/writing goals
-Better and more strategic/planned use of formative/summative assessment

Guiding Readers and Writers is a bit daunting. It isn't a book you'll read straight through. Instead it is better to read in chapters, particularly being strategic in those chapters that will meet what it is your looking for. Sounds simple, but being a linear person it really isn't (after Chapter 1 I should read Chapter 2, not 7!). From the limited amount that I have read, there are a few things I've determined. I'll address one of them today.

My big takeaway thus far is that reader's workshop and my social studies instruction do not mesh very well. Reader's Workshop features an emphasis on Independent Reading. After a book talk and/or mini-lesson of 10 or so minutes, students read independently. They work on charting their progress afterwards as part of a debrief. The lessons are meant to support students as they choose their own books. There are elements of this that I intend to use, but I can't use it wholesale. Why? The way we have our literacy work setup currently is largely through social studies/non-fiction. Obviously there are two glaring holes: 1) where is the fiction/independently chosen books, and 2) where is the independently chosen non-fiction.

Can I integrate the Guiding Readers/Units of Study information? Yes. I just need to be a little choosy. I'll likely do a mini-lesson on Monday. I'm undecided if that means I'll do an entire day of Reading Workshop, monitoring kids reading through some conferring. That might also mean I do 15-30 minutes of reading followed by some social studies work. I'm leaning towards the former, as the latter ends up being scattered. The remainder of the week will likely involve my usual 15/45 minute split of independent reading with social studies instruction. I've got a lot to learn... at least I've got my books organized in one area currently (as seen below).

From Drop Box

Okay For Now by Gary Schmidt

Okay for Now... one word: fabulous! While it is at the upper end of reading for kiddos in my grade level, it is a great addition to my library. Why is that? The story was incredibly realistic. As a reader, you could empathize with the struggles of the main character (Doug Swieteck). The problems were incredibly realistic, yet the storyline was not nearly as predictable as others I've read.

The long and short of it: Doug is a character first seen on the fringes of the story The Wednesday Wars. His father has lost his job so the family is moving out of Long Island (NY) to a mill town further north. There are a myriad of issues for Doug to overcome. His father is negative, almost to the point of being abusive (certainly a bully). His older brother of two years is a bully who runs with a bad crowd. His oldest brother is in Vietnam and set to come home soon, but not the same. All of this is added onto the fact that Doug can't read yet is heading into 8th grade.

This story shows many things. You see the growth of characters. You see characters change (for the better). You also watch the goings-on in a small town where everyone knows everyone, and your reputation precedes you. Best book of the summer by far.

Rating: 5 out of 5... definitely on the short list of the Newbery Award in 2012.

Juniper Berry by Kozlowksy

Recently I ordered a handful of books that bloggers have noted as possible Newbery candidates for 2012. Typically I don't order hardcover books. I find the price to be a bit much, and the size/heft of paperback books to be preferable. But since many of the Newbery books are new releases I found myself in the position of *needing* to order them in hardcover. Alas I digress (as an aside, my goodreads list is here).

That brings me to Juniper Berry by M.P. Kozlowsky. I'd seen it prior to doing my Mock Newbery research, faced out in a Barnes and Noble and later in Third Place Books. The basic premise is that sometimes wishing for things can lead us down a path to being someone we don't want to be- whether consciously or not. It is a classic tale of temptation and using will willpower to avoid "darkness."

Juniper Berry's family should be a fairy tale. Her parents are movie stars. She lives in a large house with seemingly endless methods of amusing herself. But something is awry. Juniper's parents grow increasingly dark and angry. Her fairy tale is disintegrating. One day, in the rain (oh the symbolism!), she meets a boy named Giles. His life has a familiar ring to Juniper's, and they find that their parents are connected by this twisted old tree in the woods. What follows is Juniper and Giles trying to resist the temptation of having the dreams made a reality. They'll also try to reclaim the life that they had once before. I enjoyed it... it wasn't my favorite. Juniper lacks depth as a character, and the storyline is familiar. But it was well written, and there are enough twists in the story to keep you reading.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

The Wednesday Wars

I was very impressed with Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars. In fact, I'd say it was fantastic. I wouldn't expect much less since it was a Newbery Honor book in 2008 (as a sidenote, I'd never heard of the winning book Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village until today). This story was vastly different than what I expected, which is to say that I really didn't read the book jacket very carefully!

The story is centered around a sixth grade boy named Holling Hoodhood (nope, it isn't a misspelling:). We watch him over the course of his school year, particularly focused on Wednesdays. Why Wednesday? That is the day when half of his class goes to Catholic school at 1:45, and the other half rolls out to synagogue shortly thereafter. His teacher, which Holling thinks is out to kill him, starts off by having him do menial tasks around the classroom: clean erasers, clean out the put cages (rats mind you!), etc. Later she has him read Shakespeare, which he really dislikes because of the old world writing that is difficult for an adult, let alone a 6th grader, to understand.

What makes the story captivating is the backdrop. This is during the late 60's when the Vietnam war is happening. This touches many in the story, from the teacher (Mrs. Baker) to others in the school community. Walter Cronkite is being watched at night, and there is a bit of tension that the reader can feel as the story winds onward. Lastly, you have the family with a strong willed father (determined to be the businessman of the year), the mom who is going along with the will of Holling's father, and Holling's sister who listens to the Beatles and runs away to find herself. All the while you follow Holling as he struggles to find himself and grow up in middle school. The growing up plays back into Mrs. Baker's assignments to Holling of reading Shakespeare. Overall, well done.

Rating: 5 out of 5. Growing up is a theme in many stories, but it is done masterfully in this story. It made me really excited to read Okay for Now, a follow-up of sorts to the Wednesday Wars (but with one of the side characters as the main character... it is high on the Mock Newbery lists I've read thus far).

School of Fear

I picked up School of Fear around the holiday break (way back when it was 2010!). At the same time I had 1-2 kids who were already reading the book since they'd purchased it, or received it as a gift. The early reviews from kids were that it was awesome. As a few other kids read it I noticed a struggle to finish it, particularly as kids hit the midway point. That isn't a good sign, but it still remained on my to-be-read list.

There is a fairly basic premise to the story. Four kids have very different phobias. The fears range from avoidance of water to believing bugs are everywhere (so you bring repellent with you to spray everything!). All of the kids are brought together, through their own doing or that or their parents, at the School of Fear. It is an odd place with an odd teacher. The teacher's motto: a beauty contestant is always prepared. She has an odd way of helping them overcome their fears... until she dies unexpectedly. That is where I'll leave the summary, so as not to reveal the ending.

I was less than impressed with the story. I found the 4 kids to be funny at the start of the story, but their humor wore off somewhere around the middle (which jived with what I was seeing in my classroom). It picked up again in the last 1/3 or 1/4 of the story, but it wasn't enough to save the lull in the middle that was filled with dialogue/arguing amongst the kids. There is a second story out in hardcover. I opted to wait until it is out in paperback, saving my money for something a little more substantial.

Rating: 3 out of 5. Better than average because of the humorous phobias. But missing some of the substance in the storyline that I'd seen already this summer.

Revenge of the Witch (Last Apprentice Series book 1)

I was pretty excited to read the Revenge of the Witch. This was a continuation of reading books I recommended to kids (but didn't have time to read myself during the school year). Early in the year I'd gotten the Ranger's Apprentice books for the kids, and they were a huge hit. As I continued my search for different series that kids would like, I eventually picked up the IQ books by Roland Smith and the Septimus Heap series. But I'd been drawn to this series, yet hesitant to pick it up since it was in the YA section. Getting it after Spring Break, it turned out to be a nice addition to my library.

I really enjoyed Revenge of the Witch. Joseph Delaney seemed to write it with the intent of keeping the integrity of old English lore in tact- those of ghosts, boggarts, and witches. The witches, ghosts and all are warded off from those in the county by a man named the Spook. The Spook is in need of a protege, an apprentice, which is where we begin to learn about our new apprentice, Tom Ward. He is the 7th son of a 7th son, which makes him special. In particular, he can see, hear, and sense things that others cannot. His parents need to find a job for him, and agree to have him as the Spook's new apprentice.

Tom is not necessarily comfortable in his new work. His first test scares him mightily. The Spook and the Apprentice aren't necessarily welcomed with open arms either, and can you blame the people for that? They deal with witches and ghosts! The story has a scary element to it that made me pause for a second. But the story certainly doesn't have the blood or violence of some other stories, more the intimation of potential danger that can put you on edge. Like the Lightning Thief in some ways, I was intrigued by the old lore embedded in this story, and the realism that Delaney is able to weave throughout this story. I could see many of my former students behaving similarly and thinking the same thoughts as Tom. Overall, very pleased with it and excited to read the next books in the series (thankfully I brought the first 4 books home!).

Rating: 4 of 5

Swirling Thoughts

I've been thinking about my how I am going to run my book reviews for the fall. Since we will have Communicator, our one stop shop for class wiki and blog, I am going to use that for our our book reviews. I'm leaning towards having kids post one review per month. There will be certain criteria they will need to include, which I will teach. They will need to tell the story of the book without giving away the ending. They'll also need to include the elements they liked, and who they'd recommend it for.

What I really want to get into is a Mock Newbery or Young Reader's Choice competition. It has the potential to be fun. If I have multiple kids reading the same books, then the dialogue should be really robust. I also plan to have kids doing their novel study books online- at least partially. I'll have a question for each book (possibly generic, possibly specific) that the kids need to respond to. They'll then participate in responding to their peers through commenting. My guess is that I'll do this every other week- one week in person, and another online. The other great part of that is how I'll be able to have kids for different rotation groups (since I see 3) talking to each other about the same book.

I've got a few other ideas, but they are really in the infant stages currently... way more than those above. Since I'm reading so much, everything is related to how I will change my reading instruction. I'm excited!