Pieces
"Good teaching is not about "covering" a new list of standards; good teaching is grounded in practices proven to sharpen our students'...skills." ~ Kelly Gallagher
The No Child Left Behind Act that has defined and shaped so many of our educational careers is no longer... In its place, the Every Student Succeeds Act has been signed into law. What does this mean for teachers? According to my intro quote from Kelly Gallagher... it shouldn't mean much at all. Not for the many of us who are interested in educating students more than we are in satisfying a legislature that has never been, nor ever will be, in a classroom. We signed onto this crazy train to make a difference. We can do that when we focus on the most important piece of this whole puzzle...the students.
Over the years, I've presented at multiple literacy and technology conferences. My sessions usually cover two hot topics in the literacy education world right now: Work Stations and Mentor Texts. However, I typically focus on using these in the Secondary Classroom. I began my teaching career in the secondary English classroom, and I still find my heart being drawn there from time to time.
As I prepare for the session on Mentor Texts - I am using mostly picture books - I find myself thinking fondly of my favorite books when I was a child.
"Tell Me a Mitzi" by Lore Segal isn't even in print anymore, but OH! I loved this book. I remember my poor father reading it over and over again until he had to hand it off to my mom to finish because he was sick of Mitzi and her antics! It's a weird little book with unappealing illustrations and that is why I was so drawn to it. Mitzi is NOT a pretty child, and Mitzi messes up A LOT. I loved Mitzi, because I saw myself in her. I understood conflict later in my more mature readings, partly because of all of the time that I spent reading about Mitzi's conflict and connecting to her and empathizing with her.
Why is it important to still incorporate picture books with our preteens and teens? Anyone who has stepped foot in a public school classroom recently should know the answer to that. Our students have not been exposed to good literature in the form of picture books. Most of our kids never had their parents or guardians read with them at home...alot of them never had picture books of their own. As teachers, it is our responsibility to bridge the gaps between the earliest knowledge of these literary techniques and the ability to find these things in more rigorous, difficult texts. Some of my favorites are:
Theme:
Character:
Point of View/Symbolism:
These are just a few of my favorites! To view the whole presentation... click here.
I encourage you to begin looking for rich texts to use in your K-12 classrooms. I have loved picture books my whole life. They are near and dear to my heart... My desire is that teachers impart that love of reading to their students at an early age, and continue to use and search for beautifully accessible examples to bridge the gap so as they grow - they are unable to satiate the thirst for the adventure that all literature can bring!
