The common thread of all the sessions I attended at the CCIRA Conference was giving students choice in what they read. Jon Scieszka, Matt Zbaracki, Patricia Polacco, Jane Yolen, Debbie Miller, myself, and even Nancie Atwell emphasized how important it is to let kids, especially boys, feel like that have a say in what they read. Ambassador Scieszka spoke about how his wife lets him choose between two ugly shirts. He said “they are both ugly, but at least I get to pick which ugly shirt I am going to wear!”
Too often many educational experts, even ones that are still teachers, discount what the practitioner is doing in the classroom. One of my best practices is to give them choices. For example, for Guys Read I bring in a stack of about seven books and let them pick.
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I told my afternoon group all about Ambassador Sciezca's presentation - including the medal, the theme song, and reading 'Crossing Swords' to the Executive Branch. Then of course I read said story to the class. Eric practically ripped Knucklehead out of my hands after that!
The new blog is up and running. We'll see if I can keep up. :)
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