CyberPD Week 2: Reading in the Wild

This year, I am participating in my first CyberPD event. We are reading Donalyn Miller's Reading in the Wild together! During the month of July, we'll be reading and reflecting on her amazing book and its implications for our classrooms!

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Reading Donalyn Miller's Reading in the Wild for CyberPD has really made me think! This book is loaded with so much good information that I almost find my brain to be on overload each time I finish a chapter. As I have been reading, one of the biggest questions that has been swirling around in my mind has been, "What does being a teacher who helps students learn to read in the wild look like for me?" 

For the last two years, while I have been in graduate school, I have written what seems like countless reflection papers about books my professors deemed noteworthy. Each time I wrote a reflection, I would include in it a plan to apply the principles from that book or chapter to my future classroom and teaching. Almost always, I imagined implementing various practices and principles in either a secondary ESL classroom or an Intensive English Program. Both environments were pretty obvious places to apply the lessons I was learning in my TESOL Master's program and were, at the time, my "future dream jobs." 

However, as I sat and reflected on Reading in the Wild this week, I found myself struggling to visualize exactly how I was going to apply the principles from this book in my life and classroom this year. There is no doubt in my mind that Donalyn Miller is spot-on with everything she says. The trouble is, I can't figure out what it will look like to flesh all of this out this year for me. 

You see, on July 1st, I started working as the International Program Director at a local Christian school. Honestly, the job is perfect and it's more of a "dream job" than I ever could have imagined. The story of how I got it is one of God's faithfulness - but that's a story for another time. The important information is that this semester, my biggest responsibilities will involve: completing the design for an international homestay program, recruiting students from other countries, and teaching 6th- and 7th-grade Spanish. 

These responsibilities are pretty different from those I thought I would have as a secondary ESL teacher. Once we recruit international students and have them come to our school, I will then be in charge of teaching two ESL classes, but until that point, my job consists largely of the three areas listed above. 

So, as I read chapters 3 and 4 of Reading in the Wild, I found myself repeatedly thinking, "This stuff is great! But how can I implement any of this in the upcoming semester? What does it look like to encourage students to read in the wild from the lens of an International Program Director/part-time (traveling) Spanish teacher?" 

This is a work-in-progress, but at this point in time, after some reading and reflection, here is what I came up with: In my current position, this semester I can apply what I'm learning in Reading in the Wild by becoming more of a wild reader! 

Once I have ELLs of my own, you better believe that I will be going back to this book and trying to apply what I've learned about reading conferences, reading graffiti, reading doors, preview stacks, book drawings, reflections, reading communities, and more! Until then, though, I want to spend this semester becoming more of a wild reader. I have to believe that displaying wild reading habits on a consistent basis will have a positive effect on the students around me - even if I'm teaching Spanish and not ESL. 

As I said earlier, Reading in the Wild has made me think. It has made me evaluate my own habits and has pointed out several areas in which I need to grow as a wild reader. With that in mind, here are some of my biggest takeaways from chapters 3 and 4: 

• I need to remember that, as Donalyn Miller says, "reading is ultimately a social act" (How Wild Readers Share Books, para. 1). I have often fallen prey to the idea that reading is what quiet introverts (me!) do. The more I read in Reading in the Wild, the more I understand that it is so important to talk about books with others. Just this week, I started trying to do a better job of this and began asking some of my friends what they had been reading lately, if they were on Goodreads, etc. I smiled in my heart as I realized how very right Donalyn Miller really is. I left each conversation I had with my friends feeling closer to them (because we had connected on a new level), more excited about reading in general, and with several book recommendations that I immediately added to my own Goodreads "to read" shelf (some from genres I don't normally tend to prefer)! Making reading more of a "social act" is something I want to work on this year. 

• As I consider my "bottom line" as a teacher this year, I know that I want to foster meaningful relationships with all of my students. No matter what I am teaching, reading books that interest my students is one way to develop relationships with them. So, this year, I want to spend a lot of time with my nose in some great youth fiction reads. I love the thought of having impromptu "book talks" with students before and after school, in passing in the hallways, etc., and learning about them as we talk about the books we enjoy. 

• If reading affects a child's performance in every academic area (and I believe it does), then all administrators and teachers (foreign language included) need to be reading role models for their students. Just because I am not the one explicitly teaching them how to be wild readers doesn't mean I shouldn't model for them what it looks like to be a wild reader. As Donalyn Miller discusses, children need to be part of communities that value reading, and I would love to be a part my students' reading communities! I can only do that well, though, if I am truly a "wild reader." 

• I need to challenge myself as a reader more and try to identify some of my "book gaps," as she mentions in chapter 4. I already know two of my biggest book gaps. Are you ready for this? For some reason, even though both series are unbelievably popular in our culture, I cannot make it through The Chronicles of Narnia or Harry Potter. Gasp! I know, I know. No one can believe that I just don't really love either of these book series. I've read a few books in each and always find myself  bored or uninterested. However, I know that both of these series are pretty popular with the students I will interact with this year. So, perhaps this will be the year that I will finally try to fill in some of these glaring book gaps (and then work to identify and tackle other gaps I know I have in my reading life). 

• Finally, as Donalyn Miller discusses in chapter 4, I want to figure out a way to challenge myself in my reading life more. I'm honestly not sure of the best way to do this. I've seen "annual reading goals" that people can set on Goodreads and like the idea of reading every book from an award-winning list. However, to be completely honest, part of me is hesitant to set one of these goals specifically because I'm afraid that reading will then begin to feel like a chore or something I "have to do" rather than something I do out of enjoyment. What are you thoughts on this? How have you all found success in challenging yourself as readers without losing the love of it or feeling bogged down by goals you set? 

So, there you have it! Chapter 3 and 4 of Reading in the Wild have certainly given me much to ruminate on. There are so many ways I can apply these principles in my job this year even though I won't be an ESL teacher, as I originally thought. 

Do you have other suggestions for how I can apply some of the ideas from 'Reading in the Wild' in my job this year? I'd love to hear them! 

Why I'm Not "Really" Blogging Tonight

"B.W. Post Office" came the voice through my phone.

"Hi," I replied, "I'm calling to inquire about some mail I had held recently. It was supposed to be delivered yesterday but still hasn't arrived."

"Ok. What's your address? I'll go check in the back."

A few minutes later, the postal worker returned to the phone with surprising news for me.

"Ummm... you have a crate full of mail. There's too much for the carrier to deliver. You have to come here to pick it up."

Thankfully, she couldn't see it when my eyes bugged out of my head. I quickly agreed to come retrieve our mail, wondering how much could have possibly accumulated in just three weeks.

Thirty minutes later, as I held out my arms for the postal worker to load me down with nearly a month of letters, magazines, coupons, packages, bills, and all sorts of junk mail, the curious stares coming from customers behind me were palpable.

"Well," I thought to myself as I heaved the pile of  mail onto the back seat of my car. "That certainly changed my plans for the evening!"

~

Slice of Life is a weekly blogging challenge hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

Check out their webpage and then join us each Tuesday to share a slice of your life!

Brother/Sister Bonding

At 10:45, as I was rubbing my tired eyes and getting ready to say good-night to my family, realization dawned on me. 

"Oh man, it's Tuesday and I totally forgot to blog!" 

My comment piqued my brother's attention. "Wait, you have a blog?" he asked inquisitively. Then, almost instantly... "Show me!" 

For the next ten minutes, I put on my tour guide hat and showed my brother around my blog. Although I was hesitant at first, wondering if he'd find it boring, I found myself gradually giving more detail as he expressed a growing interest. Each question he asked or comment he made led to a new explanation of a different facet of my writing or of the Slice of Life challenge. 

"So, do people read your blog? How do they find it?"     

                            We looked at the statistics section of my blogger account and then jumped to the 

                             TWT website to learn about the Slice of Life Challenge. 

"Wow! That post got a lot of views! What was it about?"

                             We clicked over to skim through a few of my posts...

"What else do you write about?" 

                              ...and then we kept scrolling and reading together.

"Oh, Mrs. M (his English teacher) would love that sentence..." 

                             My heart smiled as he singled out and recited one of the sentences I had tried to carefully craft in a previous post. 

           

And then, my favorite question came..."So, are you going to post tonight?" he asked. 

I had been asking myself the very same question. "Well," I responded, "I do every Tuesday, but we were so busy today that the day just sort of got away from me. It's the first week I've missed since March 1st, though..." 

"Write a post now!" he cried, inching a bit closer to the laptop. "You could write about our day today! You know, write about all of the places we went together. Or write about all of the details we had to go through when we bought the laptop just now." 

"I was thinking about it..." I told him hesitantly. I wasn't sure if I had it in me to craft a blog post this late at night after such a full day. 

"Come on, I'll help you!" 

And that was all of the convincing I needed. If my "little" brother (it's hard to call him "little" when he is 18 years old and towers 15 inches above me, his "big" sister) was willing to help me keep my Slice of Life commitment, then how could I resist? 

Having just spent the entire day together running errands for his upcoming graduation party, we certainly had enough to write about. We could write about the brother/sister breakfast date we had at the local diner... or about purchasing a graduation cake and party supplies...or about any of the errands we did as we hit 14 different stores together today! 

But as the clock inched closer and closer to midnight, I decided to rely on two simple pictures (per Andrew's suggestion) to relay how Andrew and I felt after a very fun and productive (but exhausting) afternoon. After all, they say a picture is worth a thousand words... and we are both far too tired to write that much tonight! 

Secret snapshots taken by my mom after Andrew
and I came home from a marathon of errand running for his
upcoming high school graduation party

~

Slice of Life is a weekly blogging challenge hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

Check out their webpage and then join us each Tuesday to share a slice of your life!

Where I'm From

A few weeks ago, I attempted to face my fear of writing poetry after Anna Gratz Cockerille encouraged slicers to create their own rendition of the "The Good Old Days", using Ralph Fletcher's original poem as a mentor text.  After getting my feet wet with that poem, my supervising teacher for my TESOL field experience (and the one who inspired me to start blogging with the Slice of Life community) introduced me to another great mentor text for poetry: "Where I'm From" by George Ella Lyon.

In light of it being National Poetry Month and the  fact that I just spent the last 5 days with my wonderful family in my childhood home, today seems like the perfect day to compose my own "Where I'm From" poem. To create my work, I used both the original poem and my supervising teacher's poem as mentor texts.

To be honest, I have been working on this poem sporadically for a couple of weeks and am just now putting the "final" touches on it (though I'm not sure I will ever be completely finished revising it). As I composed it, I found myself wondering if the most personal poems are the hardest to publish. I struggled to know which descriptions of "Where I'm From" to include and it pained me to leave some of them behind. Even today, my fingers hesitate as they hover over the "Publish" button on my screen, listening to the doubts in my mind of whether or not my poem is "ready."

Like many of my previous posts, creating this one has, I believe, prepared me in a small way for my future life as an ESL teacher. I have been reminded of how personal our writing can be and of the hesitancy writers may face as they prepare to share their work with others. Today, I am able to try my hand at poetry and attempt to describe "Where I'm From" with the Slice of Life community because there is a pre-exiting relationship there characterized by trust and a lack of judgement. I know that what I write does not have to be the best...it just needs to be my best right now. As I reflect on this, I am inspired to take active measures to create this same sense of community in my future classroom in order to help my students blossom into confident writers. I know that it won't come easily, but it is certainly a goal worth pursuing! Perhaps in the future, I will be able to tell them "Where I'm From" and listen to them share their own stories with me.

~

Where I’m From 

(modeled after George Ella Lyon's original)

I am from bicycles,

from hiking boots and family-sized camping tents.

I am from the motor boat on “Grandpa’s Lake.”

(Wrinkled and wet, my fingers

wore the effects of swimming all day long.)

I am from mounds of white snow

piled high 

outside a grey brick house,

the perfect building blocks for snow day forts.

I am from tea parties and Happy Hunters,

carousels and Spiedies,

       from Aud and Zig.

I’m from the cyclists

       and the mini-golfers,

from Why worry when you can pray?

I’m from Say 3 nice things about your sister!

       with ridiculous responses

       that ended our fights in giggles.

I’m from Buttermilk Falls and Jones’ Humdinger,

beautiful gorges and ice cream cones with jimmies.

From Beanie Babies and Precious Moments,

       given by my Aunt Mary

whose memory lives strong in my heart.

Around the dinner table

my family shares our memories

with stories and laughter.

They abide in my heart,

bringing me back

to where I’m from

whenever it seems far away.

Thankful Thursday

It's Thankful Thursday! 

Since the end of the March Slice of Life Challenge, I have only been blogging on Tuesdays to continue keeping up with the Slice of Life community. Lately, however, I've discovered something interesting about myself...

I miss writing!

Back on March 1, I thought that April would bring with it a sense of relief. Instead, however, I have noticed something missing from my days. I'm still working on determining how exactly writing fits into my life on the other six days of the week, but I know that if I'm ever going to make a habit of it, then I have to start somewhere. This afternoon, I am feeling especially thankful, so I thought I'd try out my first-ever non-"Slice of Life" blog post with another rendition of Thankful Thursdays. (Thanks again to Janna, who gets the credit for the original idea.)

I believe that we are called to be thankful in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18), even when we don't necessarily feel like it. Sometimes, this calling is downright hard. It can almost seem impossible to be thankful when faced with trials and difficult, frustrating, or upsetting circumstances. I've had my share of those days when being thankful doesn't come easily (and admittedly have had days when I do not have the thankful heart I should).

Today, however, is not like that. Today, I am filled with joy, my heart is happy, my soul feels nourished, and I can't keep the smile from my face.

Today, I am thankful...

...for beautiful sunshine!

...that I serve a God who is the Great Physician. The times I have seen him to be a miraculous healer are numerous (stories for another time) and just yesterday, he reminded me of his awesome power, as my sister found out that the cysts the doctor found on her baby's brain just one month ago have vanished! :)

...that I get to see my family in just a few hours! My visit to New York started out as a birthday present for my mom, but really it feels like a present to me! I cannot wait to spend the next five days with my parents and siblings.

...that I get to fly and not drive the 500 miles between my new home and my childhood home. This is a rare occurrence...and one I am very grateful for.

...for good books that "hook" me from the beginning and make flight delays completely enjoyable!

...for friends who hold me accountable to the goals I set for myself and aren't afraid to ask "the hard questions."

...for opportunities to discover. I have mentioned before that I am trying to use this transitory season of my life to learn new things and prepare myself for the future as much as I possibly can. This week, I've been exploring new ways to use technology. I am not a very "tech savvy" person, but I'm trying to become one. I recently discovered Evernote and stayed up an hour past my "bed time" last night just playing and learning! 

...for exclamation points! :) After re-reading this post, I realized that I used far too many of them in such a short piece of text. On this day, though, when I am filled with joy and happiness, my fingers just can't seem to resist gleefully returning to upper left corner of my keyboard!!!

What are you thankful for today? 

SOL So Far

It is March 16th, which means that I have completed 15 of the 31 blog posts in my first-ever Slice of Life Challenge. Today, I'm taking a moment to ponder my feelings about accepting this challenge. 

There are days when I love blogging. These are the days when I feel connected to a world of other writers whose words encourage and inspire me. These are days when the words just flow and my only problem is that I can't move my fingers across the keyboard fast enough to keep up with the thoughts pouring out of my brain. These are the days when I realize that I've been "thinking like a writer" and seeing details in life I would have missed only 16 days ago. 

But to be honest, there are some days when I don't love it. There are days when I give up on the idea of ideas pouring out of my head and just pray for a trickle...something...anything. There are days when I spend thirty or forty minutes writing, only to re-read what I wrote and then delete it all, discouraged by the blank screen staring back at me. 

After contemplating my love-hate relationship with blogging, I have come to this conclusion: 

That first set of days is wonderful. They are the days when I have the most warm-fuzzy writer feelings. But, I believe that perhaps the second set of days--the ones others might call "bad"--are the ones that keep me coming back. The days when it is hard remind me of the reason I accepted this challenge in the first place. When I struggle to improve my own writing craft in my native language, I am reminded of the difficulties my past and future students (will) face as they write in a second language. When I discover ways to improve my own writing, I think of future opportunities I will have to share these discoveries with students. When I fear that people will think my writing is sub-par, I think of those kids who have certainly felt similarly. And so, I'm glad that I accepted the SOL Challenge 16 days ago! It is most certainly a challenge, but it is a rewarding one. 

Avoiding Blogging...Until Now

For years, I've avoided blogging. Sure, every now and then I toy with the idea of starting a blog after I've had some new monumental thought that I want to share with the world. Inevitably, I start to consider blogging about said thought and go to the internet to find a blogging website. I sit down at my computer, intent on sharing my thoughts with the world.

Then, it happens. Every. Single. Time.  A swam of hesitations attack my brain:

"You don't have a niche. You can't have a blog without a niche."
"What's your blogging name going to be? All good blogs have a clever name. No name? No blog."
"Have you seen your to-do list recently? You don't have time to write a blog."
"Do you really think other people would be interested in reading your thoughts?"
"Do you really want other people to read your thoughts?"

Surrendering in defeat to the attack of doubts, I  close the blogging webpage on my computer (yet again), resigning myself to the fact that I should just keep my twisted web of thoughts in my head.

Until today.

I still don't have a niche. I still don't have a clever name. And my to-do list is still a mile long.

But, the teacher I have been observing as part of my TESOL field experience has encouraged her class to participate in the "Slice of Life" blogging challenge, which involves blogging about something for every day in the month of March. I'll admit, when I first learned about it, I thought it was an amazing way to encourage literacy and was inspired by the example this teacher was setting for her students. "I should do it, too!" I thought. I may not have English Language Learners to inspire right now, but I can certainly start creating habits now that will (hopefully) influence the lives of my future students.

Then the attack happened. The same old hesitations came back and I reverted back to my old tendencies. I closed the blogging window on my computer and decided not to do it. "That's a great thing for them to do," I thought, "but I just don't have the time...or the ideas...or the right niche...or..."

I couldn't get rid of the nagging in my mind, though. Why not try? Why not start writing more often? Why not choose to start setting examples today for students that I might have in the future?

So, here we go...."Slice of Life" challenge accepted. My postings might not be witty, insightful, or inspiring. More likely, they will be a tangled web of thoughts that happen to be posted to the internet.  But perhaps somewhere in the writing down of that tangled web, I will become a better writer, teacher, and role model for my students in the future. If not, what's the worst that can happen?