Literacy Now

At every author event I do—whether it’s a signing or a school visit or a panel—there’s always one story that I make a point to tell regarding my path to publication. I began writing THRONE OF GLASS at age sixteen, but my journey began years before that. In fact, I never would have had the courage or confidence to attempt writing a novel if it wasn’t for my 7th grade teacher.

Growing up, I loved Disney Princesses and cute boys and nail polish—I loved clothes and parties and just being a girl. I also played sports, loved “boy”/“nerdy” things like Star Wars and video games, read endlessly, and was far more interested in being the one kicking butt than the damsel in distress. But as I got older, I felt more and more pressured by the world around me to choose between the “girly” side of me and the “tomboy” side. By the time I got to 7th grade, I made a conscious effort to drop the nerdy/boy stuff.

Worse, I stopped reading.

Honestly, I hated most of what I read in school—so the majority of my reading was done outside of it, always for fun and as often as I could. But I stopped reading all together, and (this is so horrifying to admit) decided to focus more on those cute boys and nail polish (the mixed signals I received regarding femininity and strength is a story for another day).

But I had this amazing teacher in 7th grade: Stan (I went to one of those schools where you call your teachers by their first names). And Stan noticed that I’d stopped reading. Granted, I wasn’t the best student in my class by any means—I didn’t stand out much in any subject, actually. Yet he somehow noticed this shift in my behavior.

p: rogintakesphotos via photopin

Upon meeting with my parents for a parent-teacher conference, he mentioned my sudden lack of reading to them. He told them that it was okay if I wasn’t enjoying what we read in class, but I needed to be reading something. Stan asked them to take me to the bookstore to pick out some books that I wanted to read—to let me select a few titles for myself. Immediately following that conference, my parents did just that.

I walked out of the store that day with Robin McKinley’s THE HERO AND THE CROWN and Garth Nix’s SABRIEL, two novels that were seemingly sprung straight from my daydreams: fierce heroines in compelling fantasy worlds who get to save the day and kick butt. Those books were all I’d ever wanted, a combination of those two parts of me, and reading them changed my life—in so many ways.

They rekindled my love of reading—and introduced me to the fantasy genre; they made me slowly begin to realize I didn’t have to choose between the girly-girl and tomboy sides of me at all (a realization later solidified by watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer). And more than that, reading those two novels made me want to write.

I’d never written anything before—at least, not outside of class. But I began writing after that. Complete and total rip-offs of those novels, but they sparked a desire to keep writing.

I didn’t share a word of my writing with anyone until we had a creative writing unit in school, and I submitted one of my SABRIEL rip-off stories for an assignment. I had no idea if it was good, no idea if I could write—no idea if writing was even worth my time.

And then Stan read my assignment and told me my writing was good—that I was a good writer, and should keep at it.

Again, I’d never been that great at anything before—at least anything that had sparked my interest in such a big, big way, so hearing from a teacher I respected and adored that my writing was good…well, that changed my life. I stopped thinking of myself as someone who wrote for fun, and instead thought of myself as a writer.

I kept writing for several years after that—mostly fantasy rip-offs and embarrassingly awful fan-fiction. I wrote whenever I could. I kept reading, too—any and all fantasy novels I could get my hands on. Yet by the time I was sixteen, when that first spark of inspiration hit for the Throne of Glass series, I still credited Stan with giving me the encouragement and motivation to start writing. And when THRONE OF GLASS was published in 2012 (ten years after I began writing it; fourteen years after being in Stan’s 7th grade glass), Stan was right there in the acknowledgements, for all that he’d done for me.

There were other teachers over the years—some encouraging, some quite the opposite—but I will be forever grateful for Stan taking the time to notice that I had stopped reading, and to give me that initial bit of praise about my writing. I usually tell the story of Stan at my various events, but I always make a point to share it at my school visits. Not just for the students, but also for the teachers watching, too—so they know just how far a bit of praise and a nudge can go, and how much of a positive impact they leave on their students’ lives. I wouldn’t be here today without it.

Sarah J. Maas is the New York Times bestselling author of Throne of Glass and its sequel Crown of Midnight, published with Bloomsbury. She was born and raised in New York City, but after graduating from Hamilton College in 2008, she moved to Southern California. She's always been just a tad obsessed with fairy-tales and folklore, though she'd MUCH rather be the one slaying the dragon (instead of the damsel in distress). When she's not busy writing, she can be found geeking out over things like Han Solo, gaudy nail polish, and ballet.

I have been a teacher for quite a while. I truly love working with my kindergarten kids. Every year there are new challenges to teaching, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are definitely one of these challenges. But not in the way that many people think.

I read the CCSS the first time they were accessible for public review. I have now been teaching kindergarten with the new standards for a couple of years. I don’t really find the standards to be much different than what I have been teaching for many years. I believe the difficulty is in the approach to teaching and the expectations that may be put on teachers to deliver these standards.

p: woodleywonderworks via photopin

As I review the CCSS again I think it is important to pay attention to the language used in the standards. Many of the standards insert “With prompting and support” before the focus of the standard. When I read “With prompting and support” I interpret that to mean that one should, as I have always done in my class, teach students the concept, provide them opportunities to practice the concept and give support through the entire process. 

One of the reading standards for literature states, “With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.” I have always expected my students to be able to do that. As far back as 15 years ago I asked my students to provide key details in a text. Some students did this easily and others required prompting and support.

One area of the standards that have been hotly debated in education forums, faculty meetings, PLCs, and even happy hour discussions at a local restaurant, has been close reading. Everyone seems to be asking, “What does it mean?” The CCSS state “Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.” When I read this it sounds like an awful lot for a 5 year old. But let’s look at what close reading should mean in kindergarten.

Close Reading in Kindergarten:

• Rereading (having text read to them) over several days
• Exploring key vocabulary in the text and discussing vocabulary in the context of the text
• As students listen to the story they are asked text-dependent questions.

That’s a lot, right? The truth is most of us have done this for years. There are many texts that we read multiple times in the classroom over the course of a year. We explore texts repeatedly to gain meaning from the text. When I read a text that has academic vocabulary that may be unknown or challenging we discuss it in the context of the book.

I ask my students what the author tells us to help understand the meaning of the word. For example, if I am reading an informational text on bears that uses the word hibernate, I may first ask students if they are familiar with the word. If a student can provide a definition we will write it on a chart for that book. If no one can define the word then we will reread the section and see if we can get a definition from the context. If not, then I may either look it up in a dictionary with the students or simply provide the definition and use it in a sentence. If I am reading a challenging text I will often provide some vocabulary before reading the text to the students.

After reading the text at least once I will usually have students use their reading notebooks or sticky notes as they listen to the text again to write down a key detail. What does this look like in kindergarten? It may be a picture of a bear, a cave, or just a few letters from a word. Of course there are some students that will be prepared to write about the key detail. My purpose for this activity is not to see how much they can write, but to trigger their thoughts about the key details in a text. And yes, this takes practice.

The CCSS ask students to be able to retell key details from a text. As I ask text dependent questions throughout reading, the students are asked to jot down their thoughts about what is happening in the text. I might ask “What important details did the author use to support why bears hibernate in the winter?” The students can draw a quick sketch to show the lack of food, they may write a word or two about the lack of food or write a complete sentence about a fact taken directly from the text. Any of these responses shows me that the student is able to identify a key detail. We then turn and talk about these facts or have students come up and share their sticky notes on a chart.

When I am finished with reading this text over several days I will ask students to complete some form of performance task to demonstrate their understanding of the texts. This is the part that we have done well in kindergarten. I don’t always have to ask students to go to their seats and write about what they learned. In this example of an informational text on bears, I might break my students into groups and have each group create a poster that represents a different season (which was discussed in the book) and what they know about how bears survive during that season.

Anytime we get out chart paper, markers, glue, construction paper, even glitter, my students are highly engaged and they can certainly show me in a creative way that they are able to identify key details from a text. If you are interested in checking out some of the other creative ways to address close reading check out my website at www.sharpenyoungminds.org.

I really want to challenge my fellow kindergarten teachers to explore the standards. Reread them and remember that many of these standards are asking us to do the things that we have always done. It may just be the language is a little different. And don’t forget those words, “With prompting and support!”

Sam Williams is a kindergarten teacher in Tampa, Florida. He is also a published author, and is a professional development writer and trainer. He owns an educational resource company that supplies resources and professional development for teachers around the country.  You can find Sam at www.sharpenyoungminds.org.

As residents of Alabama, my students and I rarely experience much in the way of snow. A few flakes are a treat, and any accumulation has the potential to be an event. In the midst of the snow days resulting from last week’s wintry weather, a colleague suggested via Twitter that students would likely have stories to share from their snow-and-ice-capades. Other teachers joined the online conversation, and a few tweets later we had a plan for collecting and sharing their experiences with each other and with the world. We spread the word through Edmodo, Twitter, text messages, and Instagram itself, asking our school community—students, teachers, and parents alike—to share their stories through a photo and a six-word memoir. Our chosen storytelling platform: Instagram.

Getting Started with Instagram
We selected Instagram because it is both widely used already and user-friendly for beginners and because it allows for the sharing necessary for a successful community event. To start using Instagram, first download the app, which is available for iOS or Android, then create an account. When signed in, users can take photos using the app itself or import photos already in their device’s camera roll. Instagram allows a limited degree of photo editing, including cropping and adding filters, and adding a caption is the final step before sharing a photo on Instagram and in other spaces such as Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.

Instagram Video
In addition to photos, Instagram also allows users to film short videos, up to fifteen seconds in length, and post them using the same method used for posting photos. Much like the photo options, there are some options for minor editing and filtering of videos once their shot.

Using Hashtags
You may choose to follow other Instagram users within your school or community, and others may follow you. However, hashtags offer a way to connect your posts with others’ without the need for a follow. For example, our school uses the hashtag #RQMSJags to connect social media posts. For our snow day storytelling, we asked participants to include #RQMSJags in their photo captions, so a search for the hashtag on Instagram would yield all the relevant posts. You might develop a similar hashtag for your entire school or choose instead to create a class, grade-level, department, or event hashtag for your purposes. Whatever you choose, communicate your desire to use a hashtag to ensure that all participants’ posts are included in the ongoing conversation.

Collecting Instagram Posts
At times it may be helpful to gather a collection of related Instagram posts in one place for easy viewing and sharing. Storify is the perfect tool for this job. Users can log in to Storify using an existing Facebook or Twitter account or create an account on the Storify website, then search for and collect desired posts across social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Google+. The collection of posts can be rearranged, and edited to include a title, story description, and headers to guide readers along the way and then shared via a link or embedded on a website or blog. See our collection of snow stories below.

Storytelling
Instagram may be used as a platform for documenting a shared experience like our snow days or a school field trip. However, there are other options for utilizing this tool for storytelling purposes. Instagram photos can serve as writing prompts with students building collaborative stories in the comments or writing individual stories elsewhere. Posts might offer teasers for upcoming class content or ask students to make predictions about future events in a novel, as well. 

Grammar and Vocabulary Practice
As part of ongoing grammar and vocabulary studies, I often ask students to seek out examples of word usage or common errors “in the wild”—on signage around town, in their favorite publications, and online. Instagram offers an easy way for students to document these sightings and share them with me and with their classmates. Additionally, students can post photos that demonstrate understanding of new vocabulary or literary devices and practice vocabulary usage or grammatical forms through comments in response to posted photos.

Other Uses for Instagram
Instagram is a flexible and powerful tool that allows for a wide variety of uses. In addition to those mentioned above, it can be use for showcasing student work, sharing daily activities within a class or whole school, and much more. Please share your ideas for using Instagram in the comments section below.   

Laren Hammonds teaches 8th grade language arts at Rock Quarry Middle School in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Her interests include media literacy, cross-curricular collaboration, and the design of learning spaces. Connect with her on Twitter where she goes by @_clayr_, or read more at her blog, Game to Learn.

Being a teacher means embracing constant change. Yet all too often, teachers are told when, how and why to change. In this monthly column, Mrs. Mimi takes on creating change for herself by rethinking old practices and redefining teaching on her own terms. 

Happy Digital Learning Day!!! Whee! Cupcakes for everyone! Even better than that—You get an iPad! You get an iPad! You get an iPad!

Sorry.

Someday I will realize I am not the Oprah of education. Not yet anyway. (But when I am? iPads all around!)

Wait, say what? Digital Learning Day? If you are wondering what Digital Learning Day commemorates, let me fill you in. Digital Learning Day promotes giving every child the opportunity to learn and grow in a dynamic digital environment every day. Every. Day. Translation? Asking kids to “type up” one piece of writing a year is no longer enough.

p: flickingerbrad via photopin

Technology is certainly nothing new in the classroom. (Perhaps working computers are a revelation in your particular school but that is another story for another day.) As the technology conversation has evolved, educators have discussed ways in which technology can be integrated in meaningful ways rather than as an afterthought. To me, that means technology can no longer be isolated to the product alone. You know, when we ask kids to type up what they wrote with pencil and paper, or when we ask kids to make an iMovie to represent what they have learned in a particular social studies unit.

Don’t get me wrong, those things can be H.O.T. hot, but they are no longer enough. (And if we’ve learned anything about being educators it’s that somehow most things are never enough. Never.) If we are to integrate technology in meaningful ways into our classroom instruction on a daily basis, it means that technology must be a part of the process, not just the product.

Maybe you’re nodding along with me right now and thinking, “That Mrs. Mimi has it going on.” Or maybe you’re rolling your eyes and thinking, “That sounds good but what can I do in my classroom today, hot shot?” I hear you.

When I think about integrating anything new into my reading instruction, I always ask myself, “What do I do as a reader with (insert new idea here)?” So, what do you do as a reader with technology? Or as a reader of technology? Personally, as a reader, I read books, blogs, recipes, articles, magazines and emails on my iPad, laptop and phone. I watch videos, both with and without text. (Yes, those count too.) I do this to research a new area of interest, to learn more as I complete a project, to find out how to do something and to relax. Take a minute and think about yourself—how do you use technology as a reader?

Now comes the key question. (Drumroll please.) How can you mirror that in your classroom?

Still shaking your head and thinking to yourself that it all sounds nice but that you don’t have any technology in your classroom? Well, that excuse isn’t working any more is it? Teachers are still expected to integrate technology despite the fact that some schools are dragging their heels when it comes to re-tooling classrooms. 

Clearly, doing nothing is not motivating said schools to prioritize purchasing technology for you to use. So, sign out the computer lab. Sign out the rolling laptop or iPad cart. Every day. Every day. Every. Day. Maybe if the labs are full and the carts are scarce, the Powers That Be will get the hint. All we can do is try. Now, do a quick Google search for ideas or apps. There are literally a ho-jillion resources out there. Give it a shot today—after all, it’s Digital Learning Day!!

Now, where’s my cupcake?

Mrs. Mimi is a pseudonymous teacher who taught both first and second grades at a public elementary school in New York City. She's the author of IT'S NOT ALL FLOWERS AND SAUSAGES: MY ADVENTURES IN SECOND GRADE, which sprung from her popular blog of the same name. Mimi also has her doctorate in education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

February’s International Reading Association (IRA) Member of the Month is Brandie McNabb, second grade teacher and President-Elect of the Louisiana Reading Association, the host state of the IRA 59th Annual Conference to be held in New Orleans from May 9-12, 2014. Reading Today caught up with Brandie to ask her about her plans for the conference in her home state, her experiences as Teacher of the Year and a National Board Certified teacher, why she loves Dr. Seuss, and her thoughts on why to become and why not to become a teacher!

When did you know you wanted to become a teacher?

I always wanted to be a teacher. I can remember helping my aunt set up her classroom each summer. It seemed like the coolest job ever! I had many people trying to influence me to pursue other fields. I unfortunately listened to them when I first finished college, but I finally did come back to what I feel was my calling in life.

Which children's literature books influenced your decision to become a literacy educator?

Anything by Dr. Seuss! He felt that children’s books were boring and wondered why anyone would want to read a boring book. Amen! Whether it makes you laugh or cry, there is nothing like a good book. The best feeling is to read a book to my class and see their anticipation of what the next page has to say.

How did you begin your career, and what led you to your current position?

Oh that’s a great question! As I mentioned, I wanted to be a teacher even in high school. But also I had a friend whose mom was a teacher. She said, “Don’t do that. You won’t make any money.” I listened and ventured off to nursing school. When it was time to begin my clinical work, I realized that wasn't what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I finished college with a General Studies degree. I worked in a pharmacy for several years before realizing I still felt that calling to be a teacher. I found out about an Alternate Certification Program in education. The rest is history. I’m currently getting my masters in Curriculum and Instruction.

I’ve been in my current position, second grade, for eleven years. My school district has only been in existence for eleven years. I was lucky to be with them from the beginning. Our school district doesn’t have neighborhood schools but has grade level clusters, which I think is part of the key to our success. We’ve been the number one district in our state for the past eight years. My school has only first and second grades, which means every child in our district will attend our school.

What can literacy educators do to motivate kids to want to read?

Help them find the right book! Many times, teachers give the students the books to read. Letting students choose what they want to read is giving them a voice. In my reading groups, I provide them with books on their instructional level, but I always make sure that they get to pick books to bring home too.

How long have you been a member of the International Reading Association? How has membership influenced your career?

I’ve been a member of IRA for over ten years. At first, it was just to attend conferences, but I slowly became more and more involved. In 2008, I started the local reading council in my school district. I wanted to give reading teachers in our district an opportunity to come together and talk. It was a way to learn the latest and best methods without leaving our schools. Through ZARC, I’ve become active in the state’s council, Louisiana Reading Association (LRA). I’ve developed some great friendships with some great leaders in reading. Janet Langlois was the first person I met when I first started researching the possibility of creating a council. She took time to meet with me and provided an enormous amount of help in the process. As the President-Elect for LRA, I hope to honor Janet's memory by making her and my other new found friends proud.

What are you looking forward to doing at the Annual Conference in New Orleans?

Oh, there’s so much! Of course I have to mention the exhibit hall; what teacher doesn’t love exploring the new books, meeting the authors, and collecting lots of free stuff? I enjoy looking through the program and studying which sessions I want to attend. It’s exciting and frustrating at the same time because I can’t be in three places at once! Discovering new ideas, learning about new technology, and making connections with other literacy teachers just amplify the event. 

What do you consider to be your proudest career moment?

That’s a hard question to answer and pick one. It was an honor to be picked Teacher of the Year several years ago by my colleagues. Achieving National Board Certification was a highlight too, but I honestly think what is most rewarding is getting those e-mails from former parents or seeing former students. It means the world when they take the time to let me know how they are doing and how they still love to read. Knowing that parents want their kids in my class lets me know I’m doing my job and is the biggest reward I could ever receive.

What do you like to do when you're not wearing your educator hat?

I love spending time with my family, traveling, reading, and trying to not think about school. I have two girls, ages eight and three. My husband and I love to travel, and we are always dreaming about that ultimate trip.

What's the best advice you could offer someone new to the profession?

Don’t give up; remember why you became a teacher. Dig down deep, and remember why you became a teacher. If it’s because you’re off holidays and weekends, think again. Teachers bring work home constantly. If it’s because you want to make a difference, GO FOR IT! Get involved and stay active either in educational organizations or volunteering for activities at your school. I love to teach reading, even on those bad days. But when you see a child smile because they read the book independently for the first time or made a B on a comprehension test, you’ll remember why you are here.