Tag: Reading

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Catherine Flynn4 Comments

Image

In his acceptance speech at the 2011Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards, Steve Sheinkin explained that he wanted The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery (2010, Macmillian) to be “a no-nonsense, non-fiction page turner; a straight-ahead action thriller.” Boy, did he succeed!

Image

The Notorious Benedict Arnold filled in many blanks in my knowledge of the American Revolution. Sheinkin tells the story of Arnold’s entire, adventure-filled life. Arnold was a decisive leader, and he played a key role in many of the early battles of the Revolution. By choosing to tell Arnold’s story as a narrative, Sheinkin allows his readers to know Arnold as a person and understand his motivation for betraying his country.

Sheinkin knows what historians since the time of Herodotus have known: “We make sense of out of the world by telling stories.” (Robert Burton, M.D., Nautilus) Or, as historian William Cronon writes in A Place for Stories: Nature, History, and Narrative, “Narrative remains essential to our understanding of history and the human place in natue.” Sheinkin’s narrative will help any reader make sense of one of the most notorious figures in American history.

If narrative history can give us a better understanding of events, pairing a non-fiction text with fiction can deepen that understanding even further. Teachers have long known that “fact enriches fiction and fiction makes facts memorable.” (Livingston & Kurkjian, Literature Links: Expanding Ways of Knowing) Recent brain research has provided evidence for why this is so. Psychologist Louis Cozolino explains that “Stories serve as powerful organizing tools for neural network integration.”

Image

In his latest historical fiction novel for young readers, Sophia’s War (2012, Simon & Schuster), Avi masterfully weaves the true story of Benedict Arnold and British Major John Andre with the fictional story of Sophia Calderwood, a young girl whose family has been deeply affected by the war. Pairing these two books is the perfect opportunity for teachers to help their students build the neural networks necessary for deeper learning. The echoing of facts and events between these two books “acts as a magnifying glass of sorts…and is going to increase student’s assimilation of that curriculum.” (Ciesla, Building a Self-Supporting Web of Knowledge-What is Interdisciplinary Education?) This sort of knowledge building is exactly what the authors of the CCSS had in mind when they envisioned a “literate person in the twenty-first century.” This person will “actively seek the wide, deep, and thoughtful engagement with high-quality literary and informational texts that builds knowledge, enlarges experience, and broadens worldviews.”

Either The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery or Sophia’s War will build your knowledge and broaden your world view. Reading both together will enrich them even further. Like Sheinkin, you might become obsessed; you might even start planning a trip to Saratoga!

If you’re interested in other fiction/non-fiction pairings, be sure to read Susan Dee’s Nerdy Book Club post. She offers her ten favorite text sets, and there are many other suggestions in the comments.

Also, be sure to check out what other people have been reading at Teach Mentor Texts. Thanks to Jen for hosting!

Slice of Life: I’d Rather Be Reading

Catherine Flynn3 Comments

               Image       Image

The last day of school is June 21st for students; the last day for teachers is the 24th. After that, I’ll be working with middle school English/Language Arts teachers to align our curriculum to the CCSS. As everyone knows, this is an incredibly busy time of year. A former principal once compared the end of the school year to water draining out of a tub. At first the swirl is manageable, but the closer it gets to the final day, ready or not, you are sucked into that swirling vortex. I’m trying to keep my head above water while I get orders completed, assessment data entered, and on and on. So what am I doing this evening? Reading.

Image

I ordered these books on Sunday, thinking it would take at least a week for them to arrive. Imagine my surprise when they were waiting for me on my porch this afternoon! Hero on a Bicycle, (Candlewick Press, 2013) by Shirley Hughes, has gotten lots of praise this spring. Stories of the citizens of Europe resisting and rebelling against the terrors of the Nazis have always fascinated me, so this book caught my attention right away.

The American Revolution has long been the subject of much historical fiction. I recently finished listening to Sophia’s War (Beach Lane Books, 2012) Avi’s recent addition to this tradition. The fictional heroine, Sophia Calderwood, becomes involved in the historical treachery of Benedict Arnold. I know very little about Arnold and his plans to turn West Point over to the British, and Sophia’s War piqued my curiosity. Having recently read Bomb: The Race to Build–and Steal–the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon, Steve Sheinkin’s excellent account of the Manhattan Project and the people involved, I knew Sheinkin’s The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery (Flash Point, 2010) would answer all my questions about this infamous figure from our history.

Who can resist the allure of brand new books? Not me! Everything I have to do for school will be waiting for me in the morning. You’ll forgive me if I say goodnight. I have some books to read.

Thank you to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting this weekly Slice of Life Challenge!

Is Test Prep the Mint of Education?

Catherine Flynn7 Comments
Image
via Wikimedia Commons

This morning as I was weeding my garden, it occurred to me that the mint that had overrun my herb garden was like standardized test prep. As schools across the country do their best to prepare students for the new CCSS-aligned assessments, test prep is running rampant. Just as the mint in my garden has choked out the basil and parsley, test prep, and the tests themselves, threaten to take over the school day, leaving no time to savor novels, delve into a character’s motivation, or write a deeply personal narrative.

I grow a variety of herbs in my garden because each herb has its own distinct flavor and use. The amount of the herb I use depends on what I’m cooking. The same is true for teaching. We have a wide variety of instructional resources and strategies available. As professionals, we take great care to make thoughtful decisions about which resource or strategy will best meet the needs of our students.

We have to nurture our students so they’ll become independent thinkers and problem solvers. If they are going “build strong content knowledge,” “comprehend as well as critique,” and “value evidence,” all specific goals named in the Common Core State Standards, they have to read and write all kinds of literature and informational texts. As Grant Wiggins wisely points out, “the test is not what you should be practicing; meeting the standards is what you should be practicing.” Providing students with a steady diet of random passages and multiple-choice questions, like those shared by Vicki Vinton on her blog, To Make a Prairie, will do nothing to encourage a student’s curiosity or creativity. We can only do that by providing our students with the rich, robust learning opportunities they deserve.

The mint from my garden adds wonderful notes of flavor to many dishes when I use it appropriately and judiciously. But a steady diet of mint where it doesn’t belong will turn anyone off to its delights. Let’s not turn our students off to the joys of a literate life by overwhelming them with test prep.

SOLC: Dakota Dugout

Catherine Flynn4 Comments

sols_6

Sunday’s New York Times Book Review featured Tom Perrotta’s review of The Selected Letters of Willa Cather on the front page. Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop is one of my favorites, so I was interested right away. Perrotta quotes an irresistible line from one of Cather’s letters describing the prairie: “The whole great wheat country fairly glows, and you can smell the ripe wheat as if it were bread baking” As soon as I finished reading the review, I was off the couch and heading for the bookcase where I knew my copy of My Antonia waited. Although I’d had it for ages, I’d never read this book. No time like the present.

Image

I was immediately drawn into the story of Antonia’s immigrant family as told by her friend and neighbor, Jim Burden. Everything about the prairie is new to Jim, and Cather’s language transports us there. “The light air about me told me that the world ended here: only the ground and sun and sky were left,” Jim declares as he explores his new home for the first time.

As I read, another book came whispering to me on that prairie wind. Ann Turner’s Dakota Dugout (Macmillan, 1985) is the story of a young couple trying to build a life in a sod home near the end of the 19th century. Told as a flashback from the wife’s point of view, Turner’s poetic text gives the reader an insight into a way of life few of us today can imagine. At the end of the book, the narrator tells her listener “talking brings it near again, the sweet taste of new bread in a Dakota dugout, how the grass whispered like an old friend, how the earth kept us warm.” The echoes of Cather’s letter are striking, aren’t they?

Image

I have used Dakota Dugout with fourth graders in the past to teach a number of reading strategies. It is a challenging text, but a worthy choice, as it is rich with details about a region of the country most of the students in my New England community have never experienced. Thinking about this book in light of the CCSS, the possibilities seem endless.

Reading Literature standards 1-3 could easily be taught using Dakota Dugout. Turner’s language makes this book a good choice for addressing the Language standards related to vocabulary (4-6) as well as Reading Literature standard 4, “Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text…”

Teaching with primary sources isn’t something we’ve done a lot of in fourth grade, but because there are so many pioneer letters and diaries available, it makes sense to pair some of these with Dakota Dugout.  Reading Informational Text standard 6 states that students should “Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic; describe the differences in focus and the information provided.” The Library of Congress has a remarkable collection, Prairie Settlement: Nebraska Letters & Family Photographs, that are a perfect complement to this book. There is even a Standards alignment chart available.  The National Museum of American History also has resources to use with Dakota Dugout, including an online sod house building simulation.

The pioneers who settled the Great Plains are gone. But their spirit lives on in Willa Cather’s novels, scores of letters and diaries, and in books like Dakota Dugout. Through them we can “Tell you about the prairie years? I’ll tell you, child, how it was.”

Thank you to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting this weekly Slice of Life Challenge!

Slice of Life: Why I Stay

Catherine Flynn6 Comments

Image

“This job is who I am and I am proud to be a teacher.” Cindy Minnich

Last Friday, Beth Shaum posted a video on her blog that showed dozens of teachers from around the country sharing their reasons for staying in education. Since then, a number of other teachers have written about their reasons for remaining in the classroom, despite changes in curriculum because of CCSS, new testing, and new evaluations that are being imposed on educators. (Did I leave anything out?)

My first thoughts were about my own reasons for continuing to teach. Honestly, after 18 years, I don’t know what else I would do. Teaching has woven itself into my very being. Like many of you, I wake up in the night thinking about students and rehearse lesson plans in my mind while showering. Once I even got an idea for a math workstation at the local pizza parlor while waiting for our dinner to be served, and it was July! (My husband wasn’t pleased.) But there are so many other reasons.

I stay because I love it when kids come up to me in the hallway or cafeteria and say, “Mrs. Flynn, I’m reading The Hobbit!” or “I just finished The One and Only Ivan. Did you read it?” I love when students stop at my door to examine my book recommendations.

I stay because I love it when a parent thanks me for helping their child become a reader.

I stay because I love when former students write to me, thanking me for helping them become better writers. Better yet, I love it that a former student is now a colleague, grown into a passionate educator herself.

I stay because I love working with my colleagues to find just the right resource, just the right book, just the right solution to a problem.

I stay because I know the work I do matters. Today at Two Writing Teachers, Stacey shared LeAnn Carpenter’s poem, “Writers at Work.” It could easily be called “Teachers at Work.” The last line is “writers create.” That’s what teachers do: we create caring, compassionate, literate citizens. Helping students learn to read and write and think is the most important work teachers do.

I debated about whether or not I should write this today. So many smart, articulate people have said all this and more already. But then I decided that’s exactly why I should write this. I want to add my OUTSIDE VOICE to all the others, shouting loud and clear: I AM A TEACHER. I AM A PROFESSIONAL. I KNOW IN MY HEART I AM GIVING MY STUDENTS THE BEST I CAN GIVE. THEY DESERVE NOTHING LESS.

Thank you to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting this weekly Slice of Life Challenge!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Catherine Flynn5 Comments

Mon Reading Button PB to YA

Have you ever gone looking for a book and found a different book, one you haven’t thought about in a while, instead? That happened to me the other day when I came across Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship, by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff, and Dr. Paula Kahumbu, with amazing photographs by Peter Greste (Scholastic, 2006).

9780439927802

This book tells the story of Owen, a baby hippo, who was left stranded on a coral reef off the coast of Kenya after the 2004 tsunami. Separated from his pod, Owen was too young to be released into the wild on his own, and wouldn’t be accepted by another pod. Arrangements were made for him to be taken to Haller Park, a wildlife sanctuary near Mombasa. Almost immediately after he arrived, Owen began to follow a 130-year old Aldabra tortoise named Mzee. Mzee had a reputation for being a loner, and everyone at the park was sure he’ll rebuff Owen. But, to the amazement of everyone, Mzee accepted Owen, and the two became inseparable. There are a number of other books that recount the story of Owen and Mzee, but this is my favorite.

This story of a most unlikely friendship made me think of another tale of two very different creatures becoming devoted friends. Amos & Boris, by William Steig (Farrar, Straus & Giroux,1971) was one of the first picture books I read as an adult that opened my eyes to the power and depth of children’s literature. Children enjoy listening to the mouse Amos’s efforts to build and supply his boat, the Rodent. But events soon get serious, and a happy adventure turns into a matter of life and death in an instant.

9780374302788_xlg

Rescued by Boris, a kind whale, Amos professes his thanks and pledges to help Boris anyway he can, whenever necessary. Boris laughs at the thought of a tiny mouse being able to help a huge whale, but he accepts the offer. Of course, years later, Amos’s help is needed, and is gratefully accepted.

Both of these books offer children a picture of pure generosity. There is never a “what’s in it for me” thought; never a hesitation to help a soul in need. This alone is a good reason to share these books with children. There are others though, including the fact that these books both address a number of CCSS objectives. (Amos & Boris is listed as an exemplar text in Appendix B, but that is not why I love it.) Anchor standards 1-3 in both Literature and Informational text are easily met, and pairing these books seems like an obvious choice for anchor standard 9, “Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.” There are also plenty of opportunities to develop vocabulary (Literacy Anchor standard 4 and Language Anchor standards 4-6). Steig’s writing is filled with rich, descriptive language, as one of my favorite lines from the book shows:

“One night, in a phosphorescent sea, [Amos] marveled at the sight of some whales spouting luminous water…”

Owen and Mzee have their own website, and video clips of them are available.

Sharing short informational video segments on any of the animals in these books before or after reading would help teachers meet Literacy Anchor standard 7, “Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.”

Lucy Calkins recently stated that teachers have a responsibility to build our knowledge base and to be wary of packaged programs. Revisiting books already in our libraries, as well as staying abreast with all the wonderful books currently being published is one way to do this. Teachers working in the classroom have better ideas about how to use books with their students than textbook publishers do.

Be sure to visit Jen and Kellee at Teach Mentor Texts to find out what others are reading today.

Slice of Life: Cake, Anyone?

Catherine Flynn5 Comments

Image

Last night, I baked a cake for a luncheon we had at school today. I’ve been baking for almost as long as I can remember. When I was growing up we lived next door to my Grandmother, and I spent a lot of time at her house. When she baked pies, she always sprinkled the scraps of dough with cinnamon and sugar, added a few raisins and butter, then rolled them up and baked them. I don’t remember if she had a name for these little treats, but they were delicious.

Image
Coconut cake with raspberry filling

When my own children were little, we baked all the time. So I was quite surprised when I started teaching and discovered how many of my students had never baked anything. Children’s books are filled with inspiration for heading to the kitchen. So we started baking.

Image

After reading Daniel Pinkwater’s Irving & Muktuk: Two Bad Bears (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2001), the story of two blueberry muffin loving polar bears, we made blueberry muffins.

Image

We read Deborah Hopkinson’s Fanny in the Kitchen (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2001) and made griddle cakes (pancakes).

ImageThird graders love Patricia Polacco books and Thunder Cake (Philomel, 1990) was one of our favorites. So was the cake!

Image

When fifth graders were reading Joshua’s Song, by Joan Hiatt Harlow (Simon & Schuster, 2002), a novel that culminates in the historic explosion of a molasses storage tank in Boston in 1919, many had never heard of molasses! Molasses cookies were whipped up in short order.

Cooking and baking with students may seem like a luxury in this time of Common Core Standards and high-stakes testing. But there are actually many benefits for mixing up some literature-related recipes.

  • At Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project Saturday Reunion last month, Elizabeth Moore shared ways to use class experiments and demonstrations in science as a springboard to writing. (Read more about that session here.) Shared experiences in the kitchen could also be the basis for how-to books and cookbooks.  (Writing Anchor standard 2)
  • In a recent blog post, James Paul Gee reminds readers that “Humans learn through experiences in the world (using their minds, bodies…and interactions with others…)” All sorts of skills are learned through cooking, including reading recipes and doing the math to double or triple ingredient amounts.
  • First hand experience with different foods provides students critical background knowledge they need to successfully meet many of the Common Core reading standards. Knowing what molasses is will make learning it easier to learn about triangle trade in history class.

Cooking with students is nothing new. What is new is the pressure teachers feel to teach earlier, teach faster, teach more. Let’s remember to teach what’s important in meaningful ways. Adding a little spice to our lessons increases the chances our students will actually learn.

Thank you to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting this weekly Slice of Life Challenge!

A Slice of Life: A Visit to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art

Catherine Flynn11 Comments

sols_6Now that the month-long Slice of Life challenge has ended, I’m hoping to continue sharing slices every Tuesday. Be sure to visit Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers to read more amazing writing. Thank you for hosting this weekly Slice of Life Challenge!

Last Friday, a friend and I hopped in the car and drove to Amherst, MA and the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art to see their celebration of Garth Williams’s beloved illustrations of Charlotte’s Web.

Image

Going to The Carle is one of my favorite day trips. When you arrive, you’re greeted by this bug:

Image

As you enter the museum, you step into by a large space filled with light and color. Panels of bright primary colors adorn one long wall of the Great Hall. My friend and I spent some time trying to decide what each panel reminded us of, and which one we liked best.

Image
Fire or autumn leaves?
544416_4770520581818_1197692579_n
A field of waving grass?
Image
The ocean or fish, or both?
Image
Warm summer sunshine!
Image
A cozy spot to sit and read.

There are auditoriums for lectures and films, as well as an art studio where kids can make their own colorful creations. I’ve always wanted to go in and make some art myself, but it’s really for the kids. More of Eric Carle’s whimsical art is hung in this hallway.

      Image  Image

The West Gallery is devoted to Carle’s work, but the theme shifts on a regular basis. The current show, Feathers, Fins, and Fur, features penguins, cardinals, and more. In addition, there are two galleries for special exhibits. The larger East Gallery has had shows featuring the work of Tomi dePaola, Virginia Lee Burton, and illustrations from various editions of The Wizard of Oz, to name just a few. On display until June 9th is Latino Folk Tales: Cuentos Populares-Art by Latino Artists. The vivid colors and styles of these artists bring the tradition of magical realism to life.

The exhibit in the smaller Central Gallery was the main reason for our visit.

Image

Some Book, Some Art showcased Garth Williams’s classic illustrations for Charlotte’s Web. It was fascinating to see the early ideas Williams had for the cover of the book and his process of going from rough sketch to finished art. There were also early studies of what Charlotte herself would look like. In one draft, she bore quite a resemblance to the Mona Lisa! This small, humble, gallery is currently filled with radiant, terrific art.

An unexpected treasure of the exhibit was this poem, written by E.B White to his wife, Katherine, just before they were married.

“Natural History”

The spider, dropping down from twig,

Unwinds a thread of his devising;

A thin, premeditated rig,

To use in rising.

And all the journey down through space

In cool descent, and loyal-hearted,

He builds a ladder to the place

From which he started.

Thus I, gone forth, as spiders do,

In spider’s web a truth discerning,

Attach one silken strand to you

For my returning.

I will return the The Carle again and again, just as I return to Charlotte’s Web from time to time. I love the beauty contained within both.

Slice 31 of 31: Thresholds

Catherine Flynn7 Comments

Image

When I was in college, I had an English professor who always talked about thresholds. Literally, “the plank, stone, or piece of timber that lies under a door,” threshold is also described as the END; BOUNDARY, “the place or point of entering or beginning.” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary) I’m pretty sure it was that contrast that appealed to her: how can it be the end and the point of entering at the same time? It’s really all about the perspective we choose to take.

Brondum's Annex by Anna Ancher
Brondum’s Annex by Anna Ancher

So I’m thinking of today as a threshold, not as the end. This month has lived up to the term “challenge.” I had to let go of my paralyzing fear of posting something that was less than perfect. Because I did, I was free write some things I might not have ever written.

The welcoming community of writers also made it possible for me to learn and grow. So much amazing writing has been done this month! And the comments of praise and encouragement were more helpful than you can ever know. I appreciate each and every one of them.

But, as I said, this is not the end. Rather, it is the beginning of a new writing life for me. One in which I’m more attuned to keeping my eyes open for new ideas and insights. One in which I make time every day to write.

Because we’re on the threshold of National Poetry Month, I’d like to leave you with this poem by Rita Dove. I think it applies to writing as well:

The First Book

Open it.

Go ahead, it won’t bite.

Well…maybe a little.

More a nip, like. A tingle.

It’s pleasurable, really.

You see, it keeps on opening.

You may fall in.

Sure, it’s hard to get started:

remember learning to use

knife and fork? Dig in:

You’ll never reach bottom.

It’s not like it’s the end of the world–

just the world as you think

you know it.

Thank you so much to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting this Slice of Life Challenge!

Slice 30 of 31: The Miracle of Charlotte’s Web

Catherine Flynn7 Comments

Image

As this month-long Slice of Life Challenge draws to a close, I’d like to take a look back at what brought me here.

One day in 1969 or 1970, I became a reader. It wasn’t that I hadn’t been reading and enjoying books before that; I had. But on that distant, seemingly ordinary day, a reader was born. How did this miracle occur? For whatever reason, my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Matthews began reading Charlotte’s Web aloud to our class.

Image

I was instantly drawn into the story. I recognized myself in Fern. I lived across the street from a farm, so the setting was familiar, even comforting. I wished I could raise a baby pig, although I’m sure I would have changed my mind quickly after a day or so. I guess the why of all this doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the right book was presented to me at the right time and it all clicked.

When I started teaching third grade I knew I wanted to begin the year reading Charlotte’s Web to my students. It became a tradition, and third grade teachers at my school still begin the year reading Charlotte’s Web to their students. There really isn’t any better place to start.

Katherine Paterson says that “a book can give a child a way to learn to value herself, which is at the start of the process of growing a great soul.” (pg. 32, The Invisible Child) E.B. White’s masterpiece did this for me.

Esme Raji Codell feels that “if a book helps to build an empathetic imagination, it succeeds.” (On Point interview, July 2, 2010) What better way to help a child with this than to show them Fern’s devotion to Wilbur? Or the truly selfless acts of Charlotte on behalf of Wilbur? Or the dedication of Wilbur to Charlotte’s children and grandchildren?

The book is also a celebration of the miracles of nature all around us that we fail to notice. When Mrs. Arable is worried about Fern’s obsession with Wilbur and the animals at the barn, she visits Dr. Dorian to discuss this.

She asks him “Do you understand how there could be any writing in a spider’s web?”

“Oh no,” said Dr. Dorian. “I don’t understand it. But for that matter I don’t understand how a spider learned to spin a web in the first place. When the words appeared, everyone said they were a miracle. But nobody pointed out that the web itself is a miracle.” (p. 108-109)

E.B. White appreciated miracles. And he created one with Charlotte’s Web.

Thank you to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting this Slice of Life Challenge!