Sunday, January 7, 2018

It's Been A Long Time


Hello fellow book lovers! It's been a few years since I've posted to this blog, but I've been inspired over that last few weeks to return to writing every day. Through reflection, I realized that blogging about books, whether I read them for pleasure or professional reasons, is something I enjoy. I must be totally honest and share that I've been involved in many professional learning communities over that past few years that have truly helped me grow my teaching practice. While I've been a part of the Twitter community since 2009, I've recently connected with other wonderfully inspiring educators and literacy leaders through tweeting. The more tweets I read from trusted professionals I follow, the more connections I have made. Through this networking I've become a part of a Facebook group, "TeachWrite: A Tribe for Teachers of Writers & Teachers Who Write." Each day we are encouraged to write about anything. The post goes out asking, "What will you write today?" and the responses that follow are intriguing and range from writing a few sentences to  working on a dissertation. It is an amazing group that has renewed my desire to write more.

I have many books to share, but I've decided to start with three: a professional text, a book that has become a student favorite, and a book I am looking forward to reading. 

Professional Text:

The Book Whisperer Awakening the Inner Reader In Every Child by Donalyn Miller is a book that I keep returning to as a resource. The author's style of writing is like having a conversation. The information is presented using relatable scenarios, sharing her thought process along the way, and the idea of providing choice to our student readers to help instill a love of reading. Sharing her experiences of struggling with ways to teach reading, collegial conversations, and the professional texts read and workshops attended made this professional text an enjoyable read. Ms. Miller provides "Key Components of A Reading Workshop", the idea of "dormant readers" and "underground readers." Sharing her work with students, Ms. Miller provides "case study" insight into these readers, goal setting, provides examples of student work and survey responses which offer helpful and practical strategies to use in the classroom. The appendices at the end of the book are valuable resources, "Appendix A: The Care and Feeding of a Classroom Library" and "Appendix B: Ultimate Library List" and revisited often. 


A book that has become a classroom favorite:


Alice Hoffman has been one of my favorite authors as an adult reader for many years. I wrote about her book, Here On Earth a few years ago as a book I would highly recommend. Not realizing she wrote to a younger audience as well, I was so happy to come across her book Nightbird. This is a captivating story about a centuries-old curse, a family secret that must be  kept, and  a unique twelve year old girl named Twig. Because of this secret, Twig has never really had a real friend, but that is all about to change when she meets their neighbor Julia.  This story provides  a mix of mystical, magical, fantasy, family, and friendship  theme that has kept a few of my students begging for more independent reading time. 




Image result for a picture of Nightbird by Alice Hoffman




A book I am looking forward to reading: 


  
The release date for this book is March, 2018. Here is a link to the author's website. www.loisletchford.com

7 comments:

  1. Glad you are back to blogging and have a strong presence on social media! Great choices here!

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    2. Thank you! I think it's important to share good books from all areas of my reading life, as well as my students choices. I have read excellent books that I never would have been aware of it weren't for others recommendations.

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  2. Somehow I still haven't read The Book Whisperer and your post reminded me that I really need to do so. I was also intrigued by the description of the book so many of your students are enjoying. Thanks for the recommendations!

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    1. Molly I hope you do get the opportunity to read The Book Whisperer. I would highly recommend that you purchase this book as it is also a wonderful resource. Nightbird is a very good book that I also enjoyed reading.

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  3. I'm so happy that our TeachWrite Tribe influenced you to blog again. I love getting new book ideas from fellow bloggers. Do you know about the Monday meme? You can link up a Monday, What are You Reading post at Jen Vincent's blog, Teach Mentor Texts. http://www.teachmentortexts.com/#axzz53asNDo3B

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    1. Thanks for the information, Margaret! I will check out the Teach Mentor Texts and link up.

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