What Are You Reading: May 2016

We believe it is important for educators to be readers and writers, so every month we take a day to report out on what we're reading. Join in by sharing your current reading list in the comments.

Maggie is reading All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. She says, "I'm working my way through All the Light We Cannot See. This novel is set in World War II and tells of a German boy named Werner and a blind French girl named Marie-Laure whose paths cross. I'm looking forward to finding more time to read so I can finish this book soon!"

Barb is trying to read Bone Gap by Laura Ruby. Barb says, "My book club is reading Bone Gap. I've read the first 50 pages and am really disengaged. I think the writer's style just doesn't work for me. I might abandon it."

Jaimie writes, "I finally started A Night Divided by Jennifer Nielsen.  This book flew off the shelf at both of our Scholastic Book Fairs and was on a waiting list.  I knew I needed to read it if the students loved it that much. It is about a twelve-year old girl whose family gets divided by the Berlin Wall. Her father and brother on one side - she,her mother, and other brother, on the opposite side."

Barb just finished listening to Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, a collection of short stories and essays (mostly autobiographical) by humorist David Sedaris.

Carrie just finished Believarexic by Jennifer Johnson. She describes it as an "autobiographical novel" about a young girl searching for the help she needs for the eating disorder her parents don't want to know about.

Maggie is re-reading Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky for her middle school book club. She says, "This is a powerful story of a transgender boy who finds the courage to reveal his secret that he is a girl stuck in a boy's body."

Maggie recently finished Dumplin' by Julie Murphy. She describes it as, "a sweet story of a self-proclaimed fat girl named Willowdean, who joins the local beauty pageant to help herself develop some confidence. Will loves Dolly Parton and struggles to accept herself in her own skin."

Heather read I Will Always Write Back by Martin Ganda and Caitlin Alifrenka (contributor: Liz Welch). She says, "This is a young adult book about a girl, Caitlin, growing up in the United States and a boy, Martin, growing up in Zimbabwe.  They become pen pals and develop a close friendship and both learn so much from each other.  This was a great read!"

Lisa writes, "I am reading the chapters I once passed over when I first read Write Beside Them: Risk, Voice, and Clarity in High School Writing by Penny Kittle. One of my favorite things about this text are the narratives about Penny's students' learning, but even more powerful is the readers ability to get a glimpse into a teacher's growth mindset through Penny's talk, and her thinking about what she expects from herself in order to guide the learning!"

Barb just added Jill Leovy's Ghettoside to her reading list. It's a non-fiction book about murder of black men by black men.

Barb also recently added Ellen Langer's Mindfulness to her reading list as a follow-up to Dweck's Mindset.

Sharon is currently reading Words Their Way PreK - K (2015) by F. Johnston, M. Invernizzi, L. Helman, D.R. Bear, and S.R. Templeton. Sharon writes, "One of our veteran kindergarten teachers has been piloting this approach and likes the sequence and activities included for concept of word (COW). The sequence is in a gradual release model with a variety of activities to choose from."

Heather just got The Big Book of Details by Rozlyn Linder. She writes, "I just got this book in the mail yesterday, and I am fascinated by it already.  So many great writing moves to help my students!"

Jaimie is reading Good to Great Teaching by Dr. Mary Howard. She writes, "I haven't read this one yet, but after seeing Dr. Howard at the Title 1 Conference, I had to pick it up."

Carrie is reading Schooled: Ordinary, Extraordinary Teaching In An Age of Change by Anne Lutz Fernandez and Catherine Lutz. She describes it as, ". . . a collection of chapters written about a variety of teachers in a variety of classrooms and how they respond to the policy, politics, and expectations placed on educators in America."

Andrea is reading Visible Learning for Literacy by Fisher, Frey, and Hattie. She writes, "Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey wrote a book with John Hattie?  As soon as Doug mentioned the book was coming out, I had to pre-order it. It is obviously Doug and Nancy's intention to apply Hattie's previous work with visible learning to the world of literacy learning.  They acknowledge that there is no single way to develop student literacy but there are wrong ways.  Hattie's work is hard to digest if you aren't a strong technical reader who loves statistics.  So far, I feel like I can embrace Hattie's research through a more engaging and practical lens."