SOL: Hike Your Own Hike, an #NCTE14 reflection

Everyone has to hike their own hike.

I first heard this phrase when reading Jennifer Pharr Davis' Becoming Odyssa, a memoir of her first through-hike on the Appalachian Trail. If you've not heard it before, the context is simple: go at your own pace, don't compare yourself to others, and do what works for you so that you can make it to the end.

It's become a bit of a private mantra of mine in the nearly five years since first reading her book.

Hike your own hike.


It's permission to live my life according to my own beliefs and guidelines, without feeling less than or guilty because I am not in the same place as those around me.

Gae and some poor mismatched homeless chick...

Combined with my other heartsong, First Do No Harm, I'm often able to ride out storm-tossed waves while people around me are capsizing in miniature anxiety-boats. Not always. Not even with a whole lot of grace. But I'm learning, and that makes me happy.

My Teacher Twin and Co-Ninja!

It's empowering, knowing you're right where you're supposed to be -- that your place on the mountain is equally as important and meaningful as those both above and beneath you, and every traveler that has walked a thousand footsteps more than you or is only just now stepping foot onto their path has no more and no less worth. We're all just hiking along, doing our best as we go.

Best roommates ever! Had so much fun with these two!

These words swirled around my mind repeatedly in the last five days while walking the labyrinthian corridors of the NCTE Conference. It's packed with so many sessions, events, author signings, and get-togethers that attempting to try to do them all could make a person go a little loopy -- especially when factoring in a bunch of roomies all interested in different things. That's why the hiker's mantra is so powerful; do what you need to best sustain your own experience, and give others the space to do so as well.

Alan Sitomer literally changed the way I think about my writing.

I took it easy at this conference. Slept in a couple mornings. Hung out talking to old friends and made some new ones. Went to sessions by authors and gleaned meaningful and sometimes life-changing insights that I may not have experienced had I simply gone to the sessions everyone else was attending. I spent my evenings sightseeing and writing and relaxing. Perhaps for the first time at one of these huge mega-conferences, I felt like I was really experiencing each moment, not rushing and worrying over inconsequential things.

One of my favorite nights at #NCTE14!

When it comes to teaching (and learning), the same outlook holds true. Teaching is an art. Educators need room to find their own style and deserve the opportunity to spend time on professional development that matters to them. After all, how can we empower students to be their best personal self if we aren't given the opportunity to grow into the most enlightened version of our teaching selves? I think that's one reason I love the NCTE conference so much -- while my colleagues are at a session learning about using Shakespeare in the classroom, I am listening to authors discuss the importance of revision, and still others are sitting in round table discussions about how to change the way grammar is taught.

Light is my One Little Word for 2014. I love how it weaves through all I do...

We're all hiking our own hike, every day, and somehow we're doing it together. And I think that makes us all stronger. I'm so thankful to be a part of this vast network of brilliantly different and passionate educators.

See you on the trail, friends.

Reading - It Really Works

About 3 years ago my co-ninja Kelly showed me this great book she was reading; The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. It forever changed how I "do reading" in my class.

If you're not familiar with Miller's work, you should be. This is not a program or a set of lesson plans. It is a way to get students reading, willingly.  Studies abound in the benefits of reading, so why are we still falling behind as a society in this area? I think it's partially due to the fact that we have convinced ourselves that if it seems "too easy", it must not be effective.  Compared to finding a "fun" activity to teach each and every TEKS, teaching students how to choose a book and read it on their own seems too easy.  Granted, I do feel it's easier than painfully cramming TEKS piece by piece down the students' throats, but it is definitely effective.  

I began teaching using Miller's idea of free choice four years ago.  All I had to do was guide students towards my larger than usual classroom library and help them get a book.  Then I kept notes to make sure they were reading.  I took page numbers every morning and before we left for the day to make sure they were making progress, I attempted to talk to students about their book choice and how they were enjoying it.  I still offered occasional mini-lessons, but not in so much detail and without the constant assessing.  That first year, I watched their QRI data move upwards; this has continued to be the trend in my class.  

As soon as testing rolled around I became extremely nervous.  Watching other teachers make huge packets of reading passages followed by questions, I wondered if I had done the right thing.  Just because their QRI levels were going up, were they still going to be able to be successful on the state test? Did I just waste an entire year of "fun" and "enjoyable" reading?! Fortunately for everyone the year was not at all a waste.  Our reading scores on the state test were great and have continued to be top in the district ever since.  

So does just reading actually help students enjoy books as well as learn enough to pass the test?  In our classroom, yes.  Is it "easier" than planning out detailed instructions for teaching point of view and character analysis?  Absolutely. Don't get me wrong, I didn't do it "perfect" from the get-go.  I have changed how I run my reading time every year, adding one-on-one reading for my less fluent readers and changing how I keep track of students' reading progress. These are just a few of the strategies I use in my class to help every student become a better reader, but the gist of it is, reading more makes better readers.  Harder is not always better.   

Why I Teach

"He went to bed and took his book with him! I just about fell out of my chair!"

"He had his nose in that book all weekend! I've never seen him so interested in a book!"

"She came home and said she was going to read the next 2 chapters because it was her favorite chapter book ever. She has NEVER offered to read a book on her own before!"

These are just a few of the comments I've received from parents in the last few weeks.  

I had to admonish one of my kids for reading while we were working on another subject the other day. This happen to be the same child who pretended to read the first 4 weeks of school and had the potential to be "that" student.  The one who makes you want to go work at Wal-mart (not that there's anything wrong with that.) The boy that wouldn't do anything but draw all over his papers and disrupt others. Getting onto him for reading? Best day ever.

So why were these parents in such awe? What made there kids want to read? Magic fairy reading dust. And maybe some other stuff I did in class.  Whatever it was, I hope it never runs out.

Conferring with Inquiry in Mind - #NCTE13

I love the way my peers in The North Star of Texas Writing Project challenge me to think deeply about the decisions I make when working with young writers. Here is the thinking I've been sifting through about conferencing with students:

Writing Teachers (Re)Inventing Literacy Instruction by Following the North Star

What? 

I believe student conferences are the heart of writing workshop, but how do I guide conversations to encourage student growth without doing the work for them or squashing the young writer’s voice or desire to write? There is a Don Murray quote in Write Beside Them that embodies my goals when conferencing with a writer: “you should always leave a conference excited to get back to the writing.” I want to create contagious enthusiasm in an environment that encourages writers to take joy in the risk of playing boldly with their craft.

So what? 

Lucy Calkins said, “Helping [students] take themselves seriously is crucial for them as writers and as maturing human beings.” I believe daily modeling through mentor texts helps students identify what works in a piece of writing, which is essential to scaffolding their ability to discover both what works and does not work in their own writing. Mentor texts and conferencing work hand in hand. I also know a student’s decision to share their writing heart with me is dependent on how I treat them -- as a person and as a writer. Don Murray said, “I must create a climate in the writing conference in which students can hear what they have to say so they can learn to listen to their own writing.” I must be purposeful in my planning and my words each time I work with a writer.

Now what?   

I invite writers to share their work with me, and sometimes offer to read back their writing to them. This seems to help them hear their writing as their audience will receive it, and gives them the opportunity to write down what they notice about their own work. I’m learning to wait on writers when they are contemplating what their writing needs. My silence gives them space to think, and my “I notice” and “I wonder” statements help them look for their own answers, building their writing confidence. Research shows that writers grow best from receiving feedback, not evaluation. In fact, in The Essential Don Murray, he states it so eloquently :

"How do you motivate your student to pass through this process, perhaps even pass through it again and again on the same piece of writing?

First, by shutting up. When you are talking, he isn't writing." 

So my job during a writing conference is not to correct or change their work, but to listen and guide through gentle feedback and the silence that allows self reflection. I praise what has worked, and invite them to experiment with these techniques in other ways.

Takeaway: 

As a writing partner, it’s my job to be prepared when we sit down together. In this way, I show respect for the writer and their work. This means knowing where my learners are in their writing journey. I need strong organization and notes on each writer. I have found Evernote to be indispensable tool helping me efficiently organize my conference notes. By creating folders for each student, I can tag their work and include photos, my own conference notes, and audio files on the work we do together. This also allows me to keep a digital writing portfolio on each writer to share with parents, in data meetings, and for the student to reflect on their work throughout the year.

Fifty Shades of Censorship

Last week on FaceBook my sister posted an article titled, Fifty Shades of the Common Core. The article is about the use of the book Dreaming in Cuban in a high school classroom. Knowing I'd have an opinion, but probably not realizing I'd write my own book in response, she tagged me and asked or me to speak up.

Here's what followed:

My sister (not posting her comments as I haven't asked permission to show her name here) responded that I had some good points, and went on to say "But the porn in the section showed is still a bit much for me to handle being in a school library."

Even though I know her heart and her concerns come from a good place, this comment hurt, and here's why -- if one person wants a book out of the library, and pushes hard enough, it can definitely happen. In fact, in this case, it did. On the same day my sister shared the original article, I found an article from The Huffington Post explaining that Dreaming in Cuba was pulled from Sierra Vista School in Arizona after a parent complained about the "pornographic" nature of the book.

Banned Book Week

While my sister agreed that the book probably doesn't deserve to be banned completely, she wondered if it might still be acceptable to ban it from school libraries, since most parents probably wouldn't want their kids reading it. She argued that since we don't allow things like Hustler in schools, why is it any different when it's "just" in written form? Where is the line?

I think it's dangerous to see one section of text from one page in a book and determine the book's literary value from that tiny glance within those pages. If a work has literary value, cultural significance, or otherwise important contributions to offer the reader, who am I to judge it as unacceptable for a library collection? But her points are valid. Parents are concerned about the material being put in front of their children, so where is the balance?

I still want the other side of the story. Where is the teacher's voice in this discussion? I'm definitely curious to know what s/he has to say. Or any teacher or librarian of young adults. I hope you'll speak up in the comments and add to this conversation.

Let Them Be Boys!

In the past few years I've found myself rewriting, resending, and basically just resharing the following post. Since it's information I'm asked about so often, it suddenly dawned on me (I'm fast, that way) that it was worth blogging about.

I have a heart for helping boys find their voice in a world that tends to prefer they leave the rough and tumble at the door. Yes, by world I mean school - because when you're eight, nine, ten, or even older, school is your world. It's difficult for boys to become strong writers if they never have the opportunity to become strong readers. And many boys struggle to find a place as a reader, because their desire for blood, guts, vampires, and fart jokes is seen as unacceptable for school.

When we tell a child that their reading or writing choice is unacceptable, we may as well point at them and say, "You sir, are unacceptable."

I think that's when we lose many boys that so desperately need to be found.

For me, the important thing about boys is remembering they need to feel like they have a place and a say. Often, we let our own thoughts on what is appropriate dictate their reading and writing style, and it shuts them down.

They want to read Captain Underpants? Cool. Only will read Sports Illustrated for Kids? Good enough for me. Reading Stephen King? Eek, that terrifies me but if it’s working for them, more power to them! Refusing to even glance at anything that's not a comic book or graphic novel? Awesome. What better place to get excited about reading than a book filled with amazing illustrations, built-in scaffolding devices, and nonstop action? 

Let them know they have a choice – even if it seems completely backwards, and things will change. Comic books, blogs, magazines, picture books; if it has words and they’re not cussing or otherwise profane or harmful to anyone – let those boys read.

Some places for help:

Guys Read is an amazing website for books and other resources that boys will love. It has never failed me.

Any of the actual “Guys Read” books – each is a collection of short stories written by male authors with the intent of being interesting for boys. Also, this book by the same authors, all about what it means to be a boy.

Ralph Fletcher is another "can't miss" author for boys, and for teachers. Definitely check out Boy Writers and Spider Boy, for starters.

Any blog post by The Nerdy Book Club gang. This book-savvy blog is a mashup of posts on reading and includes several noteworthy book recommendations, written by teachers, librarians, and authors  -- basically anyone with a passion for reading and getting kids excited about reading. Follow this link to a search of all their posts on graphic novels.

And if you can get your hands on The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller, it is so worth your time. It's one of those books that make you rethink your current practices, and we all need that from time to time.

When in doubt, just let them read. How can you go wrong when they happily have their nose in a book?