Love these ideas you've shared! Think I will create a tree for
writing nuts! Your post is positively psyched about the reading year
ahead! It's infectious and I thank you for that! I notice you teach
sixth grade and I have 2 L.A. classes of sixth graders. How long are
you L.A. classes? Do you also teach writing in the same block?
Have an awesome year!
Jacquie
On Aug 30, 2009, at 4:35 PM, Kim Wagner wrote:
Hi Everyone!
Well, I devoured *The Book Whisperer* as did my colleagues in 7th
and 8th
grade language arts. We are attempting to implement some of her
ideas this
year. We will be:
-encouraging our students to read 30 books this year
-inviting outside readers to read aloud to students
-attempting to create a culture of being "nuts" about books--I have
a huge
tree (with squirrels) that students will place leaves on as they
complete
each of their books
-allowing students 10 minutes of uninterrupted reading time at the
beginning
of each language arts class
-reading ourselves for those 10 minutes
-consuming vast numbers of middle school novels so we can put the
"right
book" into the right hands at the right time (my goal is 50)
By the way, I just read the most *wonderful* book in search of
terrific
titles for my students. It is called *Leo and the Lesser Lion* by
Sandra
Forrester. It takes place in Depression-era Alabama. The main
character is a
spunky girl named Mary Bayliss Pettigrew. Near the beginning of the
novel
her beloved older brother, Leo, drowns. Bayliss breaks her back in the
accident. While she recovers she decides she must have been saved
for a
special purpose and decides to become a nun (much to everyone's
dismay,
including her teachers at Sacred Heart). She and her family try to
deal with
their grief while taking on two little girls from a local
(overcrowded)
orphanage.
My description makes it sound depressing, but really, most of the
book is
not. Forrester's writing pulls you right in and brings Bayliss'
world to
life.
Best,
Kim
6th grade language arts
On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 7:30 PM, Bill Ivey <[email protected]>
wrote:
Hi!
With some of us started back in classes, and others (including me)
getting
ready to start, I can't help wanting to hold on to parts of summer
break.
So
- I'm wondering what all you did this summer that was meaningful to
you.
For me, it's two main things. I spent a great deal of time down in
Chatham,
Virginia, my "second home" where my wife has housing at her school
and
which
I have grown to love, and my friends have said I'm becoming
southern. I
think in this case, they mean slowing down a bit, taking my time,
focusing
more on being in the moment and making connections with people and my
environment rather than rushing through something in order to get
to the
next. I would love to keep that perspective going through the year.
The other thing I want to mention was a more traditionally
professional
development kind of activity, reading a book entitled "The Female
Brain."
Teaching at an all-girls school, I knew a fair amount of what the
book had
to say about female-brain wiring and its effect on relationships and
learning, but I only knew bits about the post-natal effect of
hormones on
wiring and on behaviors. It was illuminating, and helps me not only
in my
teaching but also in my social justice work.
How about the rest of you?
Take care,
Bill Ivey
Stoneleigh-Burnham School
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