Summer Reading: My Top 3 Books (so far!)

I've always got a book that I'm reading. Sometimes two. During the summer months I try to intentionally increase my reading volume to read beside my students, offer book recommendations, and for enjoyment and relaxation. With two toddlers, I try to fit in twenty minutes in the early morning and twenty minutes during nap time, and yet I want more reading time! I'm sure other parents relate. I've read thirteen books (so far) this summer. If you're looking for a read to finish out your summer reading, here are my top 3 to share with students this fall!

Firekeeper's Daughter 

by Angeline Boulley

Firekeeper's Daughter is the fictional story of Daunis Fontaine who has graduated high school and trying to find her place in her community and outside world. She has a love and respect for her Ojibwe culture despite one side of her family resenting her biracial heritage (while still loving her). Daunis makes the decision to remain close to her hometown for her first year of college to support her mom; however, she witnesses a murder that hurts her personally and her community deeply, so she is accepts an undercover role to help her community and understand its loss.

This YAL novel made it so easy to decide what was the most engrossing read of the summer. Absolutely deserving of 5 stars. Here is my initial reaction on Twitter: 

When you pick up this nearly 500-page book, it is deceiving how fast it will be read. The mystery makes it hard to put down. The writing makes it easy to follow along. The intricate details bring it all together. I will share a book talk about this novel with my juniors this fall once my copy of the book is returned to me. 

My favorite part of the book is how complex the characters are and Daunis' acknowledgement of how people are viewed, what motivates them, and learning that we can be wrong (in both good and bad ways). It's truly a story about the strength of people, especially the Ojibwe culture.

Restart 

by Gordon Korman

Restart is the most relatable book I've read in a very long-time. It is the story of Chase, an 8th grade football star who has fallen off his roof and his severe concussion has caused amnesia. As he wakes from his four-day coma, he does not recognize his brother or even his mother. He does not remember the thirteen years of his life including his hobbies, friends, school life. He must begin to learn his old life. In his community, he is well-known and so his experience has become town gossip. Chase recognizes that different groups of people respond to his presence in different ways. Some don't even believe that he has amnesia. When he is told to sit out from football for the season, he must find a way to spend his time. Even though everyone else remembers who Chase used to be, does he want to be that person anymore?

This particular novel was recommended to me by the other seventh grade ELA teacher who had it recommended to her by an incoming seventh grader. And now, well this book is now being considered for book clubs for the seventh grade class. Though we haven't met yet to completely decide, this book could be paired with other texts taught in the course such as Freak the Mighty. It could also pair with well-known books such as Wonder or Fish in a Tree. 

This one is also a quick read since the target audience is middle school, but I honestly would recommend this one to other educators and parents too. It allowed me to reflect on how I treat my students, how my own children might respond to me in ten years, and how we treat others. Not only great reflection, but it's also entertaining. There are moments for laughter. There are moments of wonder. There are moments of frustration. Just like life. That's relatable. And the characters are too. If readers don't relate to Chase, they might relate to his friends, old or new, that we meet throughout this book.

Red, White, and Whole

by Rajani LaRocca

Red, White, and Whole is a verse novel that left me in awe as it tells the story of Reha, a daughter of Indian immigrants. Middle school students may recognize her conflicted feelings of trying to fit-in and being American at school while also trying to please her parents and celebrate her Indian heritage. Reha tries to find a way to communicate this to her parents, but before she finds a way, she learns that her mom, Amma, is ill. This changes Reha's perspective and she becomes the daughter her parents have always asked her to be. 

Verse novels that share characters who become so incredibly real amaze me. They do this with limited space on the page in a way that is often lyrical. This one truly does an amazing job of showing readers Reha's internal and social struggles in a way that if students can't relate, they can recognize and hopefully empathize. Readers also get to know her, like her music and tv preferences.

Even though this is a novel intended for middle school students, I see value in sharing it with my juniors as a book talk alongside our unit related to immigration stories. I hope that at least one will pick this story up to see another perspective that is presented beautifully. 

What's up next?

I'm currently reading A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger. My teacher book club is finishing Teaching When the World is on Fire edited by Lisa Delpit. And I need to read my classic book for my friend book club which is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

Summer Reading: Book Love Foundation

I want to encourage my students to be lifelong learners, especially through reading. Reading allows us to learn new information, build empathy, relax, and so many other benefits. If I am to offer recommendations to my students for any of these reasons, I must continue to be a lifelong reader too.

That's why I joined Book Love Foundation's Summer Book Club for the first time this year, and as I wrap up the last week of this experience, I'm sharing why I plan to do this again!

What is Book Love Foundation?

If you teach ELA, you have probably heard of Penny Kittle who is the founder of this foundation, a teacher, and an author herself. Kittle believes in the power of reading and created The Book Love Foundation to help other teachers to create or enhance their classroom libraries so that there are diverse books for students. Yes, The Book Love Foundation raises money to present grants to teachers to buy book for their classrooms. Even better: It is organized by volunteers! This means every donation goes towards books for students.

Do you want to learn more? Check out the Book Love Foundation website to learn more about the organization, to see how they've impacted classrooms, and more. Their Summer Book Club is their biggest fundraiser to go towards this 

How does Summer Book Club work?

Five weeks. Four books. Daily written discussions. Author and education interviews.

You get access to all of this by joining the Summer Book Club through their website. When you register, you get the ability to choose what grade level of books (high school, middle school, elementary, or all) to receive the books - no shopping on your part! - along with the swag, which this year included a lightweight cooler, notebook, pen, and metal bookmark.

Already have the books? Or want to mix-and-match the grade levels? You can choose to have access to the online content.

Once the Book Club begins, each book typically gets one focused week to be discussed. You can either read the books prior to the week or throughout the week. During that same week, the author has been available for a live session that is later posted for those who weren't able to join at the scheduled time. There are other conversations with teachers, literacy experts, and authors to explore our interests and needs as educators.

This design makes it easy to tailor your Book Club experience to your teaching and your level of commitment for the summer.

The online experience takes place on a less known platform Mighty Network. The benefit of this is to help us be focused on our Book Club without being pulled into the notifications from other social media platforms.

What are the benefits of Summer Book Club?

For my first summer, I chose to receive all grade levels for a couple of reasons: I teach both middle and high school students; I want to increase my picture book collection; I believe in supporting this foundation. Here are three benefits I have experienced in the past four weeks.

Book exposure:

My first benefit is increasing my book exposure. I had only heard of one of the high school choices before registering: Me (Moth) by Amber McBride. This meant that I was exposed to nonfiction (The Other Talk by Brendan Kiely), a graphic novel (Surviving the City by Tasha Spillett and Natasha Donovan), and picture books (We Can: Portraits of Power by Tyler Gordon and Dad Bakes by Katie Yamasaki). 

Some of the books also shared topics that I am not well-read on or did not have text versions appropriate for the readers in my classroom, such as Kiely's book sharing his experiences of white privilege and Spillett's graphic novel that brings attention to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women while also demonstrating strength and beauty of the indigenous culture. 

We often are suggested books similar to what we have been reading, so it has been good to have these books not only recommended and to have the encouragement of a book club to read them.

Your pace:

The book club is structured for a book a week (or three if you're interested in all three age-levels), but once the book club gets started, you are able to go at your own pace. Some readers have finished reading the books even before the book club began. Some are reading them at the daily pace of the discussions. And there are those who are like me and try to keep the weekly pace but am catching up at the beginning of the next week. I know that at least one novel will carry into next month.

This is fantastic to make it work for you around your family vacations, long weekends at the cabin, your summer job, your children's nap times, or whatever! 

Access to the discussions and author talks is all available to us afterwards, so we can take our time with the books, take a break, or wait until we're ready to look at a specific book for our class.

Your choice of involvement:

Want to support this foundation and have new books in your classroom? Great!

Want to read some good books and listen to the authors? Great!

Want to come look at the discussions later in the summer or year for lesson ideas? Great!

Want to answer every discussion question and join in on the live chats? Great!

This is flexible so it can be the professional development you want for the summer. 

Just getting started!

The Book Love Foundation also has professional development opportunities that I can take into the school year, such as the Book Love Podcast, resources for reading, research, and more. This Summer Book Club is just the beginning.

Personalized Learning: Ideas to Get Started

 This summer, I attended Northern Cass Personalized Learning Institute and there I was both validated and inspired to continue providing students with voice and choice in their learning to give them the skills to be lifelong learners. Here I want to share with you some ways that you can get started with personalized learning in your own ELA classroom.

Create a Unit Menu

The concept of a menu is one that I have been using in my classroom for the past two years. A menu is a collection of texts on a specific topic and/or theme that I teach in a course. These are organized on a format that I can make available to students, such as Padlet. These are fluid; I am constantly adding sources and reorganizing them as I learn of my sources and try to challenge myself.

Here are a few examples that I currently have:

American Soldiers

Immigration Stories 

Having a menu allows me to do several things in a class: I can respond to their needs or interests and choose a type of text that presents content in either an accessible or challenging manner. Depending on class assignments, students may choose their own sources made available through the menu.

If you already use a similar practice in your classroom, you could consider creating a self-paced unit.

Self-Paced Units

This particular suggestion was inspired by a breakout session by Beth Head of Northern Cass School.

Once you have your resources organized, you could prepare a self-paced unit. It is important to communicate with students the importance of soft and hard deadlines along with suggested pace to maintain progress. 

There are a few ways that you can do this with students. One suggestion would be to create a packet for your students that provides them with all of the materials regarding the unit of study. Another is to prepare a specific menu in which students can choose how they learn a particular concept, whether by reading a chapter of their textbook or an article, listening to a lecture on YouTube, conducting an experiment, or working with the teacher in a small group. In this way, students can monitor their preferred learning or use a variety of sources to learn about a particular topic.

You can help monitor this with your students by having them set daily or weekly goals and submit a reflection on how they have been able to accomplish those goals. I prefer the format of Exit Tickets that are formatted to read quickly.

Design Rubrics and Assignments with Students

This particular suggestion was inspired by a breakout session led by Heidi Eckart.

Part of personalized learning requires communication between the teacher and students about the relevance of the content. If students find the work relevant, they will engage with it and recognize the importance of learning and practicing the skills. By asking students to be part of designing rubrics or assignments, they are being asked to reflect on the content skills they have learned and how to apply them affectively for their learning goals. It is also possible to get feedback from students that suggests a variety of formats that they can display their progress of the skills from the unit too.

Northern Cass Personalized Learning Institute is held annually so check their website in the future if you're interested in learning more about using personalized learning in your classroom or district.