Time, Choice, and Good Books

Two of the best things that ever happened to my life as a teacher came right at the start of my career. The first was reading a book called In the Middle by Nancie Atwell.  By some stroke of luck, as an undergrad I landed in a class for writing teachers at USI with this book at our text.  To be honest, I do not remember a thing the professor said in class, but I treasure my well-worn copy of In the Middle. The book describes Atwell's approach to teaching reading and writing to middle school students. Her methods are rooted in deep respect for children and a belief in the power of two things:  time and choice.  As their teacher, she facilitated, modeled, encouraged, and marveled at what they created.  

The second awesome thing happened less than a year after reading Atwell's book.  I began my career teaching Spanish and English at Heritage Hills High School, and I got to work alongside a wonderful teacher, Jacquie Sabelhaus.  She taught me many things, but perhaps the most important was that I needed to read the books that my students were reading.  Jacquie said we have to be experts on young adult fiction and nonfiction--to read it voraciously and to use this knowledge to hook kids on reading, too.  The great news is that young adult literature is really, really good.  In addition to being great stories, they are usually quick reads, which is important to teachers already struggling to keep up with demands on their time.  

Jacquie's lesson hit home again this year as I have watched our teachers so diligently implementing the Calkins Units of Study for Reading.  Having firsthand knowledge of the books that students are reading is a bridge to engaging them in deep, meaningful conversations.  Knowing authors, titles, genres and having an ever-growing list of "hook 'em books" is priceless when kids get stuck or fake read or tell you they hate reading.  Kids do not hate reading.  They just have not found the right book yet.  Matching readers to text is so much more than finding a book on the right "level". It is about finding books that give kids a way to transcend their own circumstances, finding books that inspire hope, and finding books that show kids they are not alone.  When we find those books for kids and see the light in their eyes, it is the best feeling in the world. Those are the moments when we remember why we love this work so much.  

There are so many resources online to help find these books, and we are extremely fortunate to have tons of them in the PC library.  The Perry County Public Library has an amazing children and young adult collection as well.  If you are interested in reading more from Nancie Atwell about time, choice, and good books, she wrote a short blog recently for The Washington Post.  You can access it here. http://wapo.st/1b6M9Ce