A bunch of Knuckleheads

Last Wednesday we met to discuss Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka. Not a moment too soon. For some reason 3rd and 4th grade boys are not patient beings. Go figure! Jr. (other Kyle 3rd grade teacher) bailed on me. Something about tutoring kids for CSAP! Luckily Liam’s dad joined us.


The guys were SO excited to share their favorite chapters. Yes, Crossing Swords was a favorite! The guys with me started reading chapters. The funniest part of the entire evening was when Max A. read Chapter 36 “What’s so funny Mr. Scieszka?” I laughed so hard I cried and my face turned bright red. The guys made it funnier by asking “What’s so funny Mr. Kimmal?”. I had a great time that evening.



Our next book is Billy Hooten Owlboy. It is a fun book about a reluctant super hero.
Hopefully, no parents will be upset about this one!

CHOICE

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.

CCIRA

I am cleaning up after the CCIRA Conference. My hands will be loaded tomorrow with books that need to be returned to kids and the classroom. I had to pry many books out of the hands of reading boys to use in my presentations on Thursday and Friday. They will be happy to get them back.

Thursday was wonderful day. I spent it with Jarrett J. Krosoczka. He is so charming and has a wicked sense of humor. He even let me read the galleys to Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians. What is it with librarians? Either they are the best or ……..

At the end of the day Jarrett introduced me to Laurie Keller. I spent Saturday morning with her. She is funny, and it is amazing how small her house is. On Saturday I had a cool conversation with Ambassador Scieszka about boys and reading.

Lunch Lady and The Cyborg Substitute

A Vespa that shoots sloppy joes to stop bad guys. The laptop disguised as a lunch tray, and Betty with the spatu-copter. These are just a few of the fun parts of a new graphic novel that is coming soon from Jarrett J. Krosoczka. Last Friday I got to go to the exhibit hall at the ALA Mid-winter Conference. The bag of books I came home with is SO cool!

I laughed the entire time I read Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute. The humor is, well, right up my alley. I can’t wait to let students read it. The fun part is that next week at CCIRA I get to spend the day with the author. Someone that writes like that will be fun to be around.

ARC. On sale: July 28, 2009

Nothing to do with boys or reading!

The current (early spring 2009) Country Gardens Magazine has a piece on my parents and their wonderful green house. It is fun to see my parents in a national magazine.

Video Games and Reading

Yesterday I did a mid-year DRAII assessment on one of my lowest readers. Marco is a wonderful boy that just isn’t reading. To back up a little, last week we were generating ideas for personal narratives. (Thank you Lucy Calkins for your great ideas!) I had the students make a list of things that are hard, easy, first time etc. Marco put reading down on his list. Then he wrote a personal narrative about how reading is hard, but he needs to know how because he can’t read the directions for his new video game.

Marco was a DRAII 8 at the beginning of the year and now is a DRAII 14. In the past he lacked confidence in his reading. I truly believe that his new sense of “I can do this” is because he now has a reason to read. I will take what ever reason I can get. I am proud of his growth, but more importantly he is. We are going to keep at it so that the directions are no longer an issue.

Franki and Mary Lee at A Year of Reading have started a new discussion on 21st century literacy. I’m not sure if this fits into that discussion. Yes it is 21st century video games, but it is old fashion ya gotta read!

New York Times Style Section

I cross country skied all weekend, so I did not have a chance to look at the Sunday paper until yesterday evening. One of the first sections I look at is the style section. I was so excited to see the front page. YES! Diary of a Wimpy Kid is styling. Jeff Kinney’s series was featured in a great article by Jan Hoffman. There is also a piece on Jeff Kinney. As I read the article I kept thinking about all the things written about Captain Underpants and Bart Simpson. It is funny how similar it all sounds.

In the end it comes down to a quote from a mom, Debbie Drucker, “He (her son) knows the boys are naughty and not P.C., and he loves that. It’s not a big message books as opposed to the other stuff we try to cram down his throat. I’m just happy to have him read.”

That’s my goal. Get the boys to read! And, hopefully not eat cheese off the playground, no matter what the bet is!

Evan's Dad

Yesterday was the first Guy’s Read of 2009. They were very excited to attack the snacks and sing songs. After about 10 minutes we split up to discuss the books. This meeting turned out to be special because a dad participated in book club. Evan’s dad Mike joined us for discussion. Every month I invited dads to join us and this was the first time. It was fun to have the connection to home. He admitted that he had one chapter left. He was glad at the end of book club that no one gave away the ending. He was excited to go home and finish the book.

I am excited that there is a bigger home and school connection. I hope more dads will come in the future.

Our next book is Knucklehead Tall Tales & Mostly True Stories About Growing Up Scieszka. Most have already read it and talk about their favorite parts. Hopefully there aren’t many electric radiators at home.

My New Look

So everyone is talking about resolutions, and as I wrote earlier I do NOT do them. At the beginning of the school year one of my goals was to make things simple. I played around with different layouts and found one that is simple. I hope you like the new look.

Now if I could just do the same clicking with everything else.

The Wrong Book

Picking books for the book club can be challenging. Finding a book they will all like is something that is in the front of my mind. One Small Step by P.B. Kerr is a great book about the Apollo space program (OK the secret ape space program), and a fantastic book for guys. I learned many things about space travel. For instance, pooping in space is not an easy chore! It is not a challenging read, but there are too many situations that are not appropriate for third graders. Carol wrote on her blog about a Maya Angelou book, and how it is not right for certain ages.

As educators we have to balance appropriate reading for our students without censoring what they read. CENSORING BAD, directing kids to the right book priceless!

2008

It is hard to believe that today is the last day of 2008. I cannot tell a lie it is ending wonderfully. I spent the morning with my friend Carol. We work and live within miles of each other, but it has taken months to actually get together. We spent hours talking about, well about everything. It was nice to see her. She asked “Are you making any resolutions?” The answer is NO! I look forward to the upcoming year. Thank you to all the fellow bloggers that inspire and teach me. Have a fantastic 2009.

Bright Beginnings for Boys: Engaging Young Boys in Active Literacy

Earlier this week my friend Barb gave me an article from the most recent IRA magazine about a new book called Bright Beginnings for Boys: Engaging Young Boys in Active Literacy by Debby Zambo and William G. Bronzo. The joy of technology is that I was able to down load the first chapter from the book. The first chapter is titled Nurturing Young Male Readers. I am not a researcher. I am a practitioner, so this information helps me work with my students.

What I really liked about this chapter is how it addresses capturing boys’ imaginations. Zambo and Bronzo talk about using picture books that have positive male characters (I argue that it must be true in novels and graphic novels too.) and how boys relate to the actions and emotions of the characters. This was very evident in my class this week when I brought out An Orange for Frankie by Patricia Polacco. 25 of my 29 students heard this story last year in second grade. I heard many boys say “this is such a sad story!” When I asked do you want me to read something else the chorus of “NO” was very clear. I agree with the authors that “Thinking about how characters feel allows boys to step outside themselves in to someone else…”

While I read the chapter I thought of the Guys Read book club and how the boys reacted to all the books we have read. Their favorite books are the ones with positive role models (I guess Greg in Wimpy Kid is positive!). They take it outside to role playing their own version of Lightening Thief.

I often hear teachers and parents say “Boys only read non-fiction.” I find this not to be true. I have given the guys many non-fiction books as possible book club books and they have not chosen one. They want the characters.

As I read more of the book I know it will inspire me to post more of my thoughts.

39 Clues: One False Note

I finally finished 39 Clues: One False Note by Gordon Korman. It took me awhile because I was so tired every night. Thankfully it happened before the weekend because Ethan was about ready to just take it out of my bag. There is already a queue of boys waiting for their turn.

I have to admit they are a fun read. I really like how geography and history are embedded in the story. When do you think they will figure out they are learning while having fun finding clues? The only problem with finishing 39 Clues: One False Note now is that the next one is due out until March!