Write Like This by Kelly Gallagher

 

Genre: Educationa, Informational

Source: I purchased a copy

If you are a teacher or a homeschooling parent and don't know how to teach your children the important skills of writing based on real-world experiences, then this is the book you need.

Kelly is a wealth of knowledge in this area. His students are taught from the first day that writing is very important in his class. There are nine chapters in this book.  One of my favorites was the chapter called Express and Reflect.  I have been a reflective writer for years. I have had my students reflect on their work. I never considered teaching them the difference between expressive writing and reflective writing.  Throughout the book he makes it clear that you need to demonstrate with the kids what you are trying to teach them. Show them that you too make mistakes in writing and that writing is hard, but reachable.  The book is full of not only his examples, but also student examples. We as a teacher get to see his teaching method throughout the book.  I have read this book at least three times. I learn something new every single time.  I recommend all teachers take a look at this book.

Advanced Reading Instruction In Middle School: A Novel Approach - Janice I. Robbins, Rh.D.

Genre: Educational

Source: I received a copy from LibraryThing

I received this quite some time ago. I took it to school with me and completely forgot to write my review. So many books I have on my school shelves or have shared with other teachers are all about working with reluctant readers. This book is all about working with those gifted students who read well but don’t respond to the same types of lessons. 

The book starts off with information to help students choose a variety of books. From there it shows you how to help students interact with the books. I have my students keep a notebook. One of the things they use the notebook for is to write down things that pop into their head as they read. They also write down words, phrases or sentences that they find interesting for whatever reason.

There is a section that talks about asking questions about the novel. For those teachers who think that it is ridiculous that someone should talk to them about asking questions, I am here to tell you that after almost thirty years of teaching it is easy to fall into a rut. We need books like this to help remind us of all those great ideas we had when we first started teaching.

For me this book, full of ideas for the gifted reader, but  has ideas that will work for those reluctant readers as well. I loved the sections on different genres. This book is something that every beginning teacher should have.

Nonfiction Recommendations and Something for Teachers

I Survived True Stories: Five Epic Disasters 
by Laruen Tarshis

I have always enjoyed these true stories.  I purchased this book to put on my classroom shelves and had to read it first myself.  This one contained stories about the 2011 Tsunami that took out the power plant in Japan.  I was very familiar with most of that information.  There was a story about the Titanic which we are currently reading about in class.  The Henryville tornado of 2012 was just a couple of years ago.  I was very intrigued with the Children's Blizzard of 1888 since I grew up in Indiana.  I lived in the country and was very familiar with tying ropes from a post on the porch of our house to our wash house, then out to the garage where we kept our chickens, to the barn and finally out to the gate and then the hog houses so we could feed them.  I learned a lot about this blizzard I had never known before. The one I enjoyed the most was the Great Molasses Flood of 1919.  I had heard it mentioned once or twice before but had never read anything about it.  Lauren Tarshis does a fabulous job of making all of the information interesting to the reader.  i also love that after each one she gives information on other similar incidents and gives a list of resources so the reader can do more of their own research.  I really can't wait for my students to read this book.


World's Scariest Prisons by Emma Carlson Berne

This is another wonderful book I purchased for my class. If I know my students and I do, they will look at the title and think this is a book about haunted prisons.  I know I did.  This book describes different prisons from all over the world.  I never thought of teh Roman colosseum as a prison, yet it was.  Each story starts with a fact card at the top. This card lets you know the other names it went by.  It tells you where it is located, the years it was in operation, the number of prisoners and any notable inmates.  I was surprised to learn that social status and money could and often played a role in how a prisoner was treated, what they ate or their accommodations. Just in case you were disappointed about this not being a book about haunted prisons, there are a couple of stories about ghosts in some of the prisons.  I found this to be a very informative book and I'm sure my students will lvoe it as well.


For all of my teacher friends out there I have something for you.

3-Minute Motivators by Kathy Paterson
This book is full of quick little motivators to use when students are lagging. There is a lot of visualization used throughout the book. favorite is found on page 136 "The Unfair Test". Growing up I hated pop quizzes. I considered them to be extremely unfair. I swore I would never do this. In this activity you give a pop quiz and ask questions like "What is H2O", "What is this (hold up a pencil). The reason this test is unfair is because the only correct and acceptable answers are the ridiculous ones such as, H2O is "a home for fish" orthe pencils is "a back scratcher". The different tasks are coded by subjects and whether it is an individual, group or team activity. They also tell you when and why you can use the motivator. There are so many I really want to try with my students.

Teach Children to Read Faster:The Automatic Reading Teacher - Dennis Brooks

Publisher:  Dennis Brooks

Pages:  114

Source:  Review Copy from Author

Genre:  Educational, Reading

Dennis Brooks has come up with something that is not necessarily new, but something that works.  He shows the importance of teaching phonics to kids.  As a former elementary teacher, I remember teaching these to my students. True, this was a private school.  Today kids who don't catch on fast enough get passed over.  I loved the way Mr. Brooks shows the phonetic spelling before the correct spelling.  The progression from vowels to blends, to short sentences makes sense.  The instructions were easy to follow.  There is a section for working with gifted students as well as what parents can do to help them. 

Our math teacher asked for this book since he is working with his daughter.  He said he knows math but he needs all the help he can get with helping his daughter with her reading.  The funny thing is I've had this book review since probably May.  I thought I had posted it.  I found it this weekend in last years school calendar.  I called the math teacher and asked him if he had used the book with his daughter and if so how it had worked.  He said he and another teacher at school have the only two kids in their kindergarten class reading already.  He said it is because they spent this summer working with their kids using this book together.  Their kids are in the same kindergarten class.  I was really glad to hear that he thought the book was the reason the two kids learned to read so early.  It just goes to show that you still can't beat phonics.  I see the effects every day of kids who have not been grounded in phonics.  I have sixth graders who barely read at a second grade level.  I will definitely recommend this book to other teachers and parents.

Is America Dumbing Down Education?

Every year I get more depressed when I see how little we value reading.  I have been a teacher for the past nineteen years.  My passion has always been reading.  In first grade I sat with struggling students during our recess and helped them with their reading.  In middle school I worked with the learning disabled in their classrooms with their reading.  In high school my father moved us from Indiana to Florida.  It was quite the educational shock.  The English books I had used in seventh grade were our tenth grade books.  I had most of my credits so I took every Literature and English course I could.  Imagine my horror when we received a program my senior year called "Individualized College English".  I immediately signed up.  After all I had been taking AP courses so this must be one of those, right?
After the introductory class I learned it was a reading program I'd taken in fourth through sixth grade up north.  It was to help students learn to comprehend what they read and to pick up their speed.  It was an SRA program.  I became the teacher's assistant working with the really low level readers.

 As you can see I have always taught reading.  Both of my younger sisters entered kindergarten reading on a second grade level.  When we lived in the country and had to stay indoors due to bad weather,  we played a multitude of things.  My choice was school.  When our elementary school had burned down, and they placed the smoke damaged text books outside for the taking, I had an entire set of first through sixth grade text books.  I made my sisters and cousins help take them home.  So, we played school.  I was the teacher and taught my sisters before they entered school.

Nineteen years later I still love the idea that I may be able to change one student through teaching.  I dream of inspiring kids to become readers.  However, the longer I teach the more afraid and disillusioned I become.  We as teachers know what we should do to help our students become well rounded, educated, global citizens.  Then we have those above us who tie our hands.

I keep books of all reading levels and genres on my shelves.  I have books for my more mature readers that require parent permission due to subject matter.  These books contain issues that many of my middle schoolers face.  An example book would be Sarah Littman's book, "Want to Go Private".  We live in a technological age where kids are on Facebook talking with total strangers.  This book is the fictional story of one girl who learns through a horrifying lesson how dangerous it is to chat online.  As much as I've been criticized by some parents for having it on my shelves, I've been praised by other parents for having a book that gives them an opening to discuss topics like this with their young teens.

I am not wandering here, there is a point to all of this.  As we near the end of the school year and prepare our summer reading lists I find myself in the same frustrating situations.  We want students to continue to read over the summer so we make up a list of books and some sort of activity or project for them to bring in after school begins.  It sounds like such a lofty idea until told that it has to be simple so parents won't complain or get to frustrated and call the school.  Something as simple as keeping a reading journal with explicit instructions on how to do this, morphed into having the student write a reflective paper about the book, what they liked or didn't like and why.  It also included a collage of words or pictures from the book.

I feel most frustrated because I work in an IB school and feel that we need to up the anti for these future global students.  Why is it that America keeps letting those we are trying to help, the parents, set the rules for how we teach.  We want our students to be able to compete for future jobs on a global scale, yet we continue to dumb down our education.  We can create all kinds of test for our students. We can't continue to listen to parents say, "My child couldn't do their homework last night because they had a football game", and then turn around and complain that their child can't keep up so it must be the teacher's fault.  It is time America wakes up and says, education should be first.  I think we had it right many years ago when we didn't promote a child in a subject until they had mastered it.  Now we promote them so they won't be socially affected, hoping the next teacher will be able to catch them up.  This becomes the snowball affect.  I can't catch catch your child up AND teach them what they need to know for this year at the same time.  At some point parents have to take responsibility for their child's education.  I'm tired of hearing, "I'm a single parent and I have to work two jobs so I can't help my kids with their homework."  I was a single parent, working three part-time jobs and attending college full time and always made sure my kids did their homework.

I've taught international students.  Many of them laugh at our educational system.  In some countries students are all taught the same curriculum.  Those students who fall behind are then put on an educational track to teach them a trade, while those who want to work hard for future college are given that opportunity.  I've taught students who attended classes in an auditorium with 300 students then had to engage a tutor in the evenings so that they could get a good education.

We in America have lost sight of how important an education is.  Our students don't value it.  Many of those higher up evidently don't value it.  If they did they would not advocate dumbing it down to keep from offending parents.

It is time that we take back education, raise the bar and do what is right for our students.

Five Skills Between Confusion and AHA! – Guinevere Durham

Publisher:  Outskirts Press

Pages:  156

Source:  I received a copy from the author in exchange for a review

Genre:  Education

From the press kit:

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.  Teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” (Chinese Proverb) By the same premise, teach children the facts and you prepare them for the test.  Teach them HOW TO LEARN the facts and you prepare them for a lifetime.  In this age of technology, the teacher’s role is no longer that of presenter, lecturer, or the authority on the material.  Today’s teacher is the mentor, guide, facilitator, and supporter.  The educator who teaches the facts isnow obsolete; now in place is the educator who teaches the student HOW TO LEARN THE FACTS.  Teaching methods include the five skills needd in order to LEARN HOW TO LEARN, culminating in being able to access, assess, analyze, and add up all the facts to form a conclusion.  This is accomplished through the many avenues of technology.  Five Skills Between Confusion and AHA! Identifies, explains, and illustrates the competencies needd for this process; Logic, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Investigating, and Experimenting.  The skills may be used either independently of or in collaboration with each other.  The learning style of the child, left-brained/right-brained and visual/auditory/kinesthetic modality, is also explained.  Five Skills Between Confusion and AHA! Is written for both educator and non-educator and provides material to use at home, in a classroom, or in the world.  Educator = everyone in the child’s circle who has a stake in teaching the child HOW TO LEARN for a lifetime.

My Thoughts:

I am so glad I was given the opportunity to read and review this book.  As a teacher I strongly believe every parent should be required to read this book.  It doesn’t matter if their child will be going into a public, private or homeschool situation.  This is valuable information that will give children and parents an edge

Most parents don’t know how their children learn.  They try to help them using their own learning style and then get upset when it doesn’t work for their child.  Another topic she discusses is strategies for learning.  Critical Thinking and Problem Solving skills are what children need today to be successful and the one area they struggle with the most.  The strategies and activities in the book are real life application tools.  They are things every parent can do.  It is time that parents become involved in educating their children.  With all of the learning styles and needs present in schools today it is impossible for teachers to do it all without the help of parents.  Parents don’t usually help because they feel inadequate to help. This book arms them to pick up that slack.  This book is going to be passed on to administration at my school because I feel it is important that they stay in-line with research and methods to help parents.

About the Author:

Dr. Guievere Durham writes “Five Skills Between Confusion and AHA!” from three perspectives, as a parent of six, a teacher and an administrator.  Earning a BS, MS, and Ed.D in education she spent thirty years confronting challenges and reaping blessings, retiring as an elementary principal.  She has been recognized for her teacher workshops and conference presentations in the fields of parenting, school improvement reading, and test-taking skills.  Other published writings include material for the reading textbooks and Sunday school curriculum, and two books, one of which, “Tteaching Test Taking Skills” was her doctoral practicum.  She was nationally acclaimed twice for listing in “Outstanding Teacher of the Year” and once for “Outstanding Administrator of the Year”.

Sword Thief, Goony Bird, Ghost of Spirit Bear

Spring Break is coming to an end. I didn't accomplish as much as I wanted. My daughter and son-in-law have been with us a couple of weeks along with their 3 year old daughter Haylee. She calls me girlfriend or grandma girlfriend. We have colored, drawn pictures, played games and read books. I have made her Barbie outfits and introduced her to my fabric stash. The problem with that was that she started picking out her favorites and making her own stash from mine. I also caught the cold that they brought with them and spent the last four days of break in bed. I did get to read a little bit.

I finished the third book in the 39 clues series The Sword Thief I absolutely love these books. This is a series that I will read all over again from the first book to the last when the whole series has been written. I enjoy reading them as they come out. The down side to this is that I spend two hours reading the book then must wait months before the next one comes out. So once I have them all I will take a weekend and read them all through again. If you are not familiar with the series let me help you out. Amy and Dan Cahill have lost their grandmother Grace Cahill. They were named in her will. They were given an opportunity to take $1,000,000 or search the world over for 39 clues that will lead them to the Cahill source of power. The different branches of the family are searching and will use what ever crooked or evil means they can to eliminate each other. My middle school students love these books.

I had time to read and review for the 'Picnic Basket', Lois Lowry's book Gooney Bird is So Absurd. I happen to love Lois Lowry's books. This was the first Gooney Bird book I had ever read. I will definately read the others. Gooney Bird is a student who is definately different. She wears a pair of frilly underwear on her head with her pig tails sticking out of the leg holes. These keep her brain warm when it is writing time. Her class is learning all about poetry from their teacher Mrs. Pidgeon. Mrs. Pidgeon's mother has been their class mother and her poetry is shared with the class as they learn to write Haiku's and couplets. When their teacher's mother dies they take what they have learned about poetry and write a poem for their teacher. I was impressed with this story because it teaches kids about different kinds of poetry and in the story they create examples for the reader. The principal visits the class and he attempts poetry showing the reader that even administration takes learning seriously.

The next book I read was Ghost of Spirt Bear the sequel to Touching Spirit Bear . Let me tell you a little about Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen. Cole Matthews is a violent kid that has bullied people to the point of almost killing Peter Driscal. On his way to jail an alternative is offered to him. He is to be shipped to a remote Alaskan Island where he will learn to deal with his anger. After being dropped off he burns his supplies and plans on leaving the island. He is attacked and mauled by a 'spirit bear'. He survives until they come to check on him. He is taken to the hospital. When he recuperates he asks to go back to the island. He is there for a while dealing with his anger when Garvey, his parole officer and mentor comes to check on him and informs him that Peter has tried unsuccessfully several times to kill himself due to the disabilities received from Cole's beating. Peter is sent to the island where he and Cole work out their issues and learn to deal with what the world has dealt them.



In the sequel Ghost of Spirit Bear, Cole and Peter are back in their old environment. Cole must learn to deal with the anger that lies within him waiting to surface, while being the victim of bullies. Peter must learn to survive other bullies. The teachers and administrators seem to ignore what is going on in the school until a brutal beating and a student's death make them face the problems in their school. Cole and Peter set out to change their environment while creating changes in their own lives.



Both of these are excellent reads. I have first hand experience seeing the first book change lives in school. One of my students was given this book to read while on a ten day suspension. He had to keep a reflection journal of what was going through his mind as he read the book. When he turned the book and journal in to me he had bared his soul to the journal. He asked if he could read the book again to get more tips on how to handle the situations in his life. I gave him the book to keep. This was a young man headed for jail. He made the decision to turn his life around based on the book. What an awesome influence a book can have.

I am also currently reading Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. It is a story of anorexia. I enjoy reading her books because she writes about those edgy subjects that others are afraid to write about. I should finish it tomorrow. There are three other books I am presently reading but I will wait until I finish them to write about them.

For my profession:


I read a book called "The Book Whisperer" by Donalyn Miller that I plan on passing along to the administration at my school. I also want to purchase a copy to send to our school superintendent. I believe in the message the author has for teaching reading instead of teaching isolated skills to remedial student thus turning them off to reading. I would recommend this book and her blog to all teachers and parents who what to make sure their kids learn to read what they want to read.



I hope to finish the book Readicide by Kelly Gallagher that explains how schools are killing reading by teaching students to take tests and not how to become critical thinkers. I bought it to go hand in had with The Book Whisperer.

I did more research for my novel. It is not as easy to find the information I need on the geography and etc. for the worldbuilding portion of my book. There seems to be plenty of information about the culture and lifestyles of those who lived in West Germany or West Berlin. There is not a lot of information about the lifestyles of those who lived on the East side of the wall. I will continue to plug away at this. I must make some progress before I can do this next lesson.

Until later, Keep reading and writing.