Category: Literacy

Best YA Books Released in 2018 for Reluctant Readers

1/7/2018

Here's a quick list of the 4 YA books being released in 2018 that I am anticipating the most. I can guarantee that they will be huge hits with students in my middle school reading intervention class.

#1: War Storm by Victoria Aveyard

The conclusion to the Red Queen series. If you're like me, *slightly obsessed with YA series,* then you may have been in a rut after The Hunger Games and Divergent fury died down. For a few years there, I didn't have a kick-butt heroine surviving in a dystopian world to cheer for. Well, luckily one of my students introduced me to the Red Queen series and Mare Borrow, a poor Red girl turned powerful Silver with electrokinetic powers like no one has seen. Throw in a love triangle between two brothers striving to sit on their late father's throne as King, and you'll understand why I'm anxiously awaiting this book to drop on May 15, 2018.

#2: All Summer Long by Hope Larson

My students DEVOUR graphic novels. In 2017, that meant they read Raina Telgemeier's Babysitter's Club Graphix books on repeat. It was rare for those books to be "in-stock" on my classroom library bookshelves. This year, I'm excited to bring them All Summer Long, building on the babysitting idea but focusing more on music and friendship. It should be an easy sell to my students. Look for this book to drop on June 26, 2018.

#3: Kristy's Big Day (The Baby-Sitters Club Graphix #6)
by Ann M. Martin (author) and Gale Galligan (illustrator)

Speaking of Raina Telgemeier's Babysitter's Club series... Lucky for us, Gale Galligan has taken over the Babysitter's Club Graphix series so there are more to come. Telgemeier illustrustrated the first four, and Galligan has picked up with number 5 and now 6. The graphic novels follow the original storylines from Ann M. Martin, so Kristy's Big Day is about her mom's wedding and the 14 kids they need to babysit during the week leading up to it. Look for this one on August 28, 2018.

#4: Supernova (Amulet series #8) by Kazu Kibuishi

When you teach reading intervention in middle school, it's an uphill battle to get students excited about reading. It usually takes HIGHLY engaging books that can hold their attention span through the difficulties they face when reading. I knew I had hit GOLD when I had a student read the entire Amulet graphic novels, all 7 of them, in a week. I couldn't even bring myself to get mad at him when he was reading during instruction. There's something magical about this series, and my students can't wait for the next book. Look for Supernova on September 25, 2018.

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Favorite YA and Middle Grade Books of 2017

1/1/2018

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Here's a quick recap of the reading I did with my students and personally this year. A mix of new YA, especially graphic novels, plus some classics.

Student Favorites from my Bookshelf

Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi
The Babysitter's Club Graphic Novels by Raina Telgemeier
The Babysitter's Club Graphic Novel by Gale Galligan
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Auggie and Me by R.J. Palacio
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling
The Circuit by Francisco Jimenez
Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith
I Survived series by Lauren Tarshis
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway by Jeff Kinney
Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Secret Crush Catastrophe by Rachel Renee Russell
Maus by Art Spiegelman
This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson

Favorite 2017 Read Alouds

Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman
Empty by Suzanne Weyn
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Su Park
Soldier Sister, Fly Home by Nancy Bo Flood

The Top YA Books I Read in 2017

Pax by Sara Pennypacker
Ghost by Jason Reynolds
The Circuit by Francisco Jimenez
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Refugee by Alan Gratz

Below you can see all the books I read in 2017. Follow me on GoodReads to keep track of what my students and I are reading throughout the year!

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3 Positive Ways to Use Feedback to "Root for Your Students"

7/13/2017

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The following post contains links (book images and links) to Amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliates program.

Feedback is one of the most crucial things we will give to a student in our classroom. The feedback we give should reflect a growth mindset. We can’t expect our students to have a growth mindset unless we model having a growth mindset ourselves.
What does it mean to have a growth mindset as a teacher?

Assume positive intent: All kids want to learn. Teachers with a growth mindset never say, “These kids can’t learn. They won’t even try.” Instead, teachers with a growth mindset always ask themselves “How are my assumptions about these kids getting in the way of their learning? What do I need to change in order to reach them?”
Root for the student: Alice Keeler (@alicekeeler) tweeted this statement that I try to hold present in my thoughts when providing feedback. She said, “I’m always rooting for the student and will look for evidence however I can find it.”

The following 3 feedback suggestions are all examples of ways to “root for the student.”

1. I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them.

In a study led by Geoffrey Cohen at Stanford University, researchers found that building trust through positive feedback led to better academic outcomes. In the first two studies, students wrote an essay and teachers gave their typical encouraging and critical feedback. The difference was in a note attached to the essay. The condition group received a note stating, “I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them.” This type of feedback is called “wise feedback.” The control group received a placebo note stating, “I’m giving you these comments so that you’ll have feedback on your paper.” The end result? Students who received the “wise feedback” chose to revise their essays more often and improved their performance significantly, with a much greater effect on African-American students (the only minority group in the study). The key to the feedback is that it conveyed high expectations and assurance that the student could reach them.

This type of feedback helps to combat stereotype threat for students. Stereotype threat is “any situation in which a negative stereotype about an individual’s social identity could potentially be confirmed.” Psychologist Claude M. Steele has researched the effects of stereotype threat on individuals. In his book, Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do, he explains that when individuals are in situations where their stereotypes might be confirmed, they can experience a “self-fulfilling fear” that impedes their performance.

In Cohen’s review of the research on feedback, he explained that practices “such as overpraising mediocre work or withholding criticism” negatively impact students because it “reinforce[s] minority students’ perceptions that they are being viewed stereotypically.” Combat stereotype threat in your classroom by building a culture of growth mindset through positive feedback.

In all the feedback that you provide, make sure that it is honest, communicates high expectations, and implies a belief that students can improve and meet the expectations. Try these simple phrases the next time you give feedback:

I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them.
Because I believe in your ability to improve and grow, I’d like to see you try these revisions/different strategies.

2. Now that you can _____, you are ready for _____.

Patty McGee, author of Feedback that Moves Writers Forward, said on Twitter (@pmgmcgee), “Leave the word ‘but’ out of feedback and use ‘because…. You are ready for….’ EX: BC you came up with an idea you are ready to plan.”

In this feedback style, you give specific praise (growth mindset win!) and demonstrate that you have high expectations for students by giving them a specific skill to advance on. This style affirms students while challenging them to improve.

3. A way to “level up” your work would be to _____.

This feedback style is similar to #2. The twist is that you “gamify” your language and challenge the students to improve like they are challenged in video games. This type of language can help students avoid personalization of the feedback and think of it as the natural next step. You also then reinforce the idea that learning doesn’t stop at the feedback.

One last thing…
These feedback styles all suggest an opportunity to revise or redo the work. A growth mindset culture thrives on the idea that learning is an ongoing process with no set-in-stone learning dates. These feedback styles on their own cannot combat a rigid classroom culture that deemphasizes growth.

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Literate Students from the Common Core Standards

5/25/2015

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The Common Core. Are you shuddering at the mention? Anxious about the yelling match you might find yourself in the middle of? Sick of hearing about it, especially from politicians? Yes, the Common Core is a hot-button issue for education that is making waves in parenting groups, teachers unions, and political parties. You’ll be hard pressed to find a more controversial topic in education right now.

But if we want to understand the Common Core (as I urge everyone with an opinion to try to do!), we need to strip it down to it’s… core. (Sorry, I had to.)

Let’s set parents complaints about difficult homework aside. Let’s set politics aside. Let’s even set testing aside (as the Common Core doesn’t technically have anything to do with the high-stakes assessment discussion). Once we have stripped away all the contentious add-ons that have been implemented with the Common Core but aren’t actually a part of it, we can examine the Common Core for what it is: standards for what students should be able to do by the time they graduate from high school.

Disclaimer: I’m a Literacy Specialist, with a Masters in Literacy. While I enjoy math, I don’t claim any knowledge over the CCSS for Math. So this article is about the CCSS: English Language Arts.

When I graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2010 and got a job teaching 11th grade British Literature and 8th grade Literature, the CCSS draft had just been released in Minnesota. The standards weren’t required to be implemented until the 2013-2014 school year, but as a brand new teacher I adopted them in my classroom right away because it made sense to plan my curriculum using them so I wouldn’t have to switch later. To prepare, I spent some time reading them (again, as I urge everyone with an opinion to do!) and found that the aim of the standards resonated with me, especially their description of what a College and Career-Ready students looks like.

Descriptions of a Literate Individual from the CCSS

They demonstrate independence.

They build strong content knowledge.

They respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline.

They comprehend as well as critique.

They value evidence.

They use technology and digital media strategically and capably.

They come to understand other perspectives and cultures.

Of course as a brand new teacher, most of my time was spent writing lesson plans the night before and adjusting to an adult schedule after four years of college. Luckily, the school I was at provided the English teachers with professional development time to sort through the standards to align curriculum K-12. The standards were slowly nudging their way from my peripheral vision into the forefront of my thoughts.

The next year, I moved on to an 8th grade English position at a new school, and I brought my beginning understands of the CCSS with me. As I thoughtfully set up my room, hanging motivational posters and anchor charts for students, I also spent time thinking about the things I would spend my time looking at. Next to my desk was my bulletin board of important information: number of students in each class, the school’s address, the school calendar, phone numbers, and a poster of what the CCSS say a literate individual should do. I didn’t have a textbook to read a script from or a curriculum map to follow. I was (thankfully but terrifyingly) allowed to create my own path for students. I started the year by showing students this Prezi, explaining to students how the skills taught in English (the skills in the CCSS!) would help them to become powerful.

Then I spent the next three years trying to create students who were literate - developing their critical thinking skills, their ability to cite evidence to support opinions, their questioning skills, how to use technology, and the list goes on. Every once in a while I would watch the Prezi or read the poster to remind myself that my purpose was not to make just readers or just writers. I was here to make students that were LITERATE individuals, who would bring these skills to our society as they became adults:

They demonstrate independence.
They build strong content knowledge.
They respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline
They comprehend as well as critique.
They value evidence.
They use technology and digital media strategically and capably.
They come to understand other perspectives and culture.

Do you want your boss to have these qualities? How about your colleagues or employees? Family members? Your children? How about the people who will run this country in 30 years?

Are the CCSS: ELA challenging? Absolutely. Are they time-consuming to plan for and implement? Of course. Are they scary because they ask us approach education differently? Yes. Are they divisive? Obviously. Are they misunderstood? I think so.

If you forget about the politics and the testing and the parent complaints, and remember that the standards are aiming to create individuals who are literate, the CCSS don’t seem so bad. I like the CCSS for the focus on evidence, critical thinking, communication and collaboration, multiple perspectives and freedom to use my own judgement about HOW I meet the standards and with WHAT.

One of the truths I’ve learned in education is that teaching is a job that you can never perfect. There will always be something more you could of done: a lesson you could have taught better, a discipline situation you could have handled better, a student you could have supported more. It can be incredibly frustrating and disheartening, but also wonderful. We are constantly able to improve what we do. Yes, the CCSS are divisive and challenging, and you won’t be perfect at them right away. But just think what our world might be like if we reach the goal of the standards and our students become literate individuals who are independent and knowledgeable and can comprehend, critique, use evidence, and think about other perspectives.

That is a world that I want to live in.

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I am a passionate educator who wants to travel the world in the pages of a book
and in the shoes on my feet, and somewhere along the way, inspire students to want to do the same.

Best YA Books Released in 2018 for Reluctant Readers

Favorite YA and Middle Grade Books of 2017

Student Favorites from my Bookshelf

Favorite 2017 Read Alouds

The Top YA Books I Read in 2017

3 Positive Ways to Use Feedback to "Root for Your Students"

The following 3 feedback suggestions are all examples of ways to “root for the student.”

Literate Students from the Common Core Standards

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