The Reading Teacher and more Books

I just opened my mailbox to find my first edition of The Reading Teacher. Yay! Ever since I joined the IRA and signed up to receive this publication, I have been anxiously awaiting my May edition. I guess it really takes a long time for it to get alllll the way to Germany, but it arrived just in time for my sunny Sunday.

I have been continuing to read up a storm in the attempt to finish all of the books from the top 100 novels list that I took home this weekend, but I did take the day off from reading to join my friend Jill in Heidelberg for a day of shopping!

 view of the Heidelberg Castle which I visited yesterday with my friend Jill

The Neckar River

 

You are supposed to touch the monkey's mirror in order to have wealth in your life.
If you touch its tail you will have many children.

I finished Bridge to Terabithia this morning and I am now reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Again, I recall reading this book in 6th or 7th grade, yet my recollection of the story is pretty vague. I love that it takes place in Connecticut (where I grew up) and I am enjoying the writing so far.

As I read through these books, I am really noticing why they have become such favorites. The writing is great and some of them contain wonderful examples of literary elements. I really enjoyed the similes in Bridge to Terabithia like, "Mama would be mad as flies in a fruit jar if they woke her up this time of day." I guess many of the books that I now read as an adult (and of course all those education texts) just don't compare when it comes to fantastic writing. Some of them do, but it's refreshing to go back and read these stories and really appreciate the authors' skills and what students can learn from the texts.

I have also noticed a major theme emerging among these books. It seems that many of the main characters have experienced the death of both of their parents.

Anne of Green Gables
Mary in the Secret Garden
James in James and the Giant Peach
Jeffrey in Maniac Magee
Kit in The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Harry Potter

In the grand effort to practice what I preach, I have been trying to make connections as I read and oddly enough, it seems that each new book I begin has some connection or similarity to the previous one. It's cosmic! I am hoping to finish The Witch of Blackbird Pond today and I also have the Hobit waiting in the wings. I am not super excited about that one though (anyone have some great things to say to pump me up?). Between the two books to finish and my newly obtained copy of The Reading Teacher, I think you can guess how I will be spending my day!

How is your weekend going? 

How is the weather where you are? 

The sun finally decided to make an appearance again in Germany and I have a pretty good sunburn to show for it...

Mini

Just a mini post to say how happy I am that I just submitted my last paper of spring term and I am officially done with year one of my doctoral program! 1 more to go plus a year of dissertating and I am set!

:) Now, sunshine and children's novels are calling my name!

Completed today: Stargirl and Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing
Next Up: Bridge to Terabithia (read this one in 6th...vague recollections and never saw the movie that came out recently)

Don't forget to read my post below about the great webinar I participated in this morning!

Webinar

 This morning I participated in a webinar on selecting and using core reading programs.

My evaluation: LOVED it! 

Although I was pretty tired because I didn't get much sleep prior to the start of the webinar, I thought it was absolutely fabulous. So many things that were discussed were exactly on par with what I have been thinking about core reading programs. There was some technical difficulty with the sound throughout the hour long presentation, but it was completely worth waking up for and I am even more excited to get my hands on the book written by the presenter Peter Dewitz.

What is a webinar you might ask? Good question. I didn't know either until I took part in one. But I have to say, it was pretty cool!

I was imagining that it would be a video presentation that I would get to watch, but it was actually a lot different than I anticipated. It was better because it actually allowed the participants to utilize a chat function in order to ask questions and make comments throughout the presentation rather than simply listening. Instead of viewing a video of the presenter, we were viewing his power point presentation and we could hear his voice. I tried to take some photos of what the screen looked like so I could post about it.

Here is a close up of the chat window

I found it hard to focus on both the presenter and the chat conversation so I mostly just listened and viewed the slides because  I was more interested in his research than what the other participants were discussing. This interactive chat feature was great though because it allowed us to ask questions which were then answered at the end of the presentation.

 Twice during the presentation, an additional window popped up asking us to answer a question. We were given about a minute to respond. then the group results were posted.

I thought that was a really cool feature as well. 

By no means was this presentation meant to discredit the value of core reading programs, but the Mr. Detwitz did share research indicating that this type of program is best if not used with fidelity. 

Go figure. 

Some of the more salient points that really resonated with me were:

• core programs do not allow the gradual release of responsibility that is most beneficial to students
• most of the stories are not written by actual children's authors.
• the programs are research based, yet some of this research is market research conducted with teachers to see if they like the lessons and the program design. 
• one slide showed the average number of minutes that students who are below grade level readers spend actually engaging in the act of reading during a 90 minute core lesson and it was astounding. For the Treasures program that my district uses, the figure was about 10 minutes. TEN minutes a day spent reading!
• the basic design of core reading programs has barely changed in the past 20 years despite the ever increasing diversity of our student populations.

At one point, Mr. Dewitz shared an example of the vocabulary that was selected for the book Thunder Cake.

On the left you can see the words designated by the reading program to be the "vocabulary" words for instruction, yet the left column shows 9 more words that most likely would also be challenging for students, but are not considered vocabulary words for this text. He emphasized that a scripted program cannot gauge where your students are in their vocabulary knowledge, therefore it is very appropriate for the teacher to select vocabulary words and stopping points based on your knowledge of your particular students. Also, he mentioned that the vocabulary words selected for study should have relevance outside of the particular text being read so students grasp a more universal understanding and can apply the words elsewhere in their lives. 

I love that he validates teacher knowledge and skills, don't you?

Overall, I was really pleased with this presentation. I was told the power point would be posted on the IRA website, but I don't think that has been done yet. When it is, I will try to attach it in a different post so you can read through the entire presentation. It was really informative and made me feel confident that my misgivings about using core programs with fidelity are warranted and quite common among teachers. He actually cited four research studies about fidelity that I will try to track down and post for you as well.

Although the sound was a little sketchy throughout due to a storm in VA where Mr. Dewitz was located, the quality of the webinar was very good and it provided me with lots to think about! My amazement with technology continues to grow and I feel so fortunate to be teaching and studying in a time when there is so much potential for the use of technology to increase learning.

Free Bird

Mr. Sneaker is in the U.S and I have been a reading machine. Yesterday I finished Anne of Green Gables, then I read Because of Winn Dixie, Are You There, God? It's me Margaret, and James and the Giant Peach. I desperately needed a break from all things policy, politics, and project, so I just holed up on the couch and read...and read...and read. Now I am onto Maniac Magee and I am almost done.  I am already 27 books into the list...maybe I can be halfway done by the time school lets out. It's really easy to get through a few of the shorter books in a day, but some (like the mammoth Anne of Green Gables) take several days to read.

A few favorite quotes from yesterday's readathon:

                                                                                                                                           "Have you though about it, God? About my growing, I mean. I've got a bra now. It would be nice if I had something to put in it."

"Why you could go through twenty words without bumping into some of the shyer consonants, but it seemed as if you  couldn't tiptoe past a syllable without waking up a vowel."                                                                                                                                                            

...and one from a kiddo that I work with...
                                                                                                                                               

 "School is such a boring place. I'm trapped here for 8 hours a day with nothing to do."

 Every teacher's dream to hear that statement....yikes. Then about 5 minutes later he started rocking out on his math problems and was so into it and proud of himself.  As much as his teacher and I struggle to understand him at times, I really adore him. He's too funny.

***

My last 3 am class was this morning and despite my impression that I couldn't put two coherent sentences together during my presentation, I just skyped with my professor and he gave me good feedback. He said the members of my group said great things about working with me and that he has been really pleased with how the use of skype has worked out throughout this year. He also said I have really grown as a writer and am very clear and detailed in my papers. (snaps for me!). Everybody loves a compliment. Despite my elation that my early morning wake up calls for class are done, I do have one more tomorrow because I am watching the IRA webinar on core reading programs from 2-3. Then I will officially be non-psychotic for awhile...promise! I am excited to hear more about the history and evaluation of core reading programs and I will share if there are any golden nuggets of wisdom!

I helped my friend work on her applications today and we enjoyed a lovely rainy walk to Starbucks downtown. It's a religious holiday here in Germany today, but Starbucks wasn't observing, so we still got to enjoy some hot coffee in the chilly rain. Did June miss the memo about shining some hot sun down on me because the weather we are having is not birthday month worthy! Thank goodness I will be in Cali on my bday because a cloudy birthday is not cool. June babies deserve the sweet sensation of sun for their birthday celebrations. Speaking of weather, I love how the author describes the weather in Maniac Magee. "During the night, March doubled back and grabbed April by the scruff of the neck and flung it another week or two down the road." Great words! Great image.

It is already almost 10, so I am going to head to bed shortly with my book and finish it off. I will probably bring one more...just in case. I am looking forward to knocking out my last paper tomorrow morning so I have the rest of the weekend to hibernate, read, and RELAX!

L.O.V.E

Doing research and writing papers always reminds me of my love affair with office supplies and just how handy they are.

These beauties are currently on my mind and on my shopping list for must haves when I return to the states. 

(and if you are anything like me these images will invoke a warm fuzziness within)

 anything that comes in a rainbow of colors has my name all over it...including sneakers!

 oh the pretty colors....

It's not like these items don't exist in Germany, but I wasn't quite willing to pay 14 Euros for Post Its...well, I was willing, but I thought Mr. Sneaker just might have a H.A. so I declined.

status update:

• group project- check (hopefully my team members won't come back with any major overhauls to what I worked on tonight
• slides for presentation-check (I did mine but we are waiting on slides from one more person)
• other paper-partial check (worked on it today and I have 5 complete pages. It needs some editing, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel)
• pile of books waiting to be read- still waiting

Counting the days...

I am not so much counting the days until school is over as I am counting the days until Spring term is over...

This is pretty much my life right now...

reading

highlighting

writing, editing, revising

staring at this stack of lovelies wishing I could be indulging in some simple yet enjoyable reading of classic children's novels

My group paper/presentation is almost done. It's due in class tomorrow (aka Thursday morning) and I am so over it and glad it will be done with.

I am working on one more paper that needs a bit more content, then some serious editing and I hope to get that submitted by Thursday.

I want to enjoy a carefree long weekend (Thursday is a holiday here + I don't work Fridays=4 day weekend!) and enjoy the bliss of SATC2 with my girls on Friday night.

Mr. Sneaker leaves tomorrow for the U.S so I will be a free bird again and I am so looking forward to lounging in my pj's with some kid books this weekend!

Also, the happiest thought of all....only 25 days remain until my birthday!

I am such a huge birthday freak and I can't wait to get a pedicure when we are in the US!

happy thoughts

happy thoughts

happy thoughts!