There is a restless excitement in my school right now-- teachers have countdowns on their calendars while students groan every time I ask them to do work because the last day of school is only one week away. And as always at this time, I am inevitably looking backward instead of forward pondering my effectiveness as a teacher: how have I served my students; has my instruction benefited them; who did I reach and not reach? At the beginning of the school year, I started my teacher blog by asking the question, "Who will be my son this year?" By this I meant, which student will remind me of my own son because he/she shuts down when lost, not understanding what to do; who will push back to test me because he/she doesn't think I care; who will test my patience and professional knowledge? Who will that student be? And the answer to that question this year is Joel. Here is Joel's story. As a reading workshop teacher, it is imperative for me to ascertain the reading level of each of my students to ensure the majority of novels he/she reads are not too difficult nor too easy. This is important because in a workshop classroom, students spend 20-30 minutes every day reading novels of their choice as I move around the room talking or "conferring" with them about their reading. Soon after school began, I discovered while conferencing with Joel that he was decoding text but not comprehending what he read. As we continued to talk, it quickly became evident that he had no idea what his book was about. After more discussion, I decided the problem was Joel had chosen a book that was too difficult for him. So, I began the work of finding a book on his level that engaged him. The Creature From My Closet by Obert Skye became that book. In addition to finding the right book for Joel to read, I knew I would have to periodically spend more time with him in and out of class than with my other students. Unfortunately for many students, secondary teachers today don't believe they have enough time in their day to give to a student like Joel. Yet, if this time commitment on the teacher's part is not made, I personally do not believe a student's potential will be reached and other interventions will fail. But how does a teacher find extra time to devote to one student when the day is already full? Bottom line--you just do it. Perhaps you don't check your email that class period or the text message you heard chime. You write a pass for the student to come see you every day during study hall/advisory--not just on your tutoring day. But you make this commitment because you believe that ultimately there is nothing more important than reaching that child. You know that if you don’t there is a chance that no one else will try. And thus began the process with Joel. Monitoring Joel's comprehension and his use of critical thinking skills while he read was paramount during this time period to ensure he was actually reading and not just decoding. In a secondary "traditional classroom," a teacher typically would assign chapter comprehension questions or give pop quizzes to assess comprehension. However, neither of those assignments would help a student like Joel who needed immediate feedback and instruction as he read--not after. To enable this to happen, I sat alongside Joel, reading with him in class, stopping to discuss meaning, plot, and characterization frequently. I modeled making inferences, predicting, and going back to previous pages to look for text that could help both of us understand things that weren’t clear. I also read my own copy of The Creature From My Closet so I could spontaneously talk to Joel about the book in the hall or as he entered the classroom. After devouring The Creature in My Closet series, Joel read Among the Hidden by Margaret Haddix--his first experience with science fiction which is typically a difficult genre. Joel loved it! I saw Joel quickly gain confidence as a reader as he carried his novel with him everywhere. I even spotted him in line at the book fair where he proudly held up three books he was buying. Joel was no longer merely decoding; he was reading! As first semester transitioned into second, Joel read every book I suggested. He was eager to be in class and read. However, his enthusiasm waned as I began to give the class assignments in preparation for the upcoming state assessment. Once again he was faced with text that was too difficult for him. The assignments were standardized reading passages with multiple choice questions to help the students practice for the upcoming state assessment--STAAR-- in April. Difficult for weaker readers, these passages were typically nonfiction and long. Joel found these assignments intimidating and frustrating. It was deja vu—Joel was lost in meaningless words on the page. To help Joel and other students manage this type of difficult text, I taught reading strategies to help them break down the text into chunks. One of my favorite strategies, called "caveman," entailed drawing pictures or words to the side of the paragraph in order to summarize. By doing this, students were forced to think about the text instead of just decoding. As with many students, Joel participated, but the pictures he drew and words he wrote were meaningless. Attempting to help break it down into even smaller chunks for him and others, I told Joel and a small group of students to draw pictures and write words every three lines or so instead of at the end of a whole paragraph. Predictably, Joel did not want to do this because it was painstakingly slow and tedious. Not only did he openly complain, he refused. No amount of reassurances nor explanations from me that this strategy would help him mattered. When I required him to do it, he sat and did nothing. When I wrote him passes to come in and see me during advisory so I could help him, he sat and marked random answers. In addition to refusing to use the strategy, he became openly defiant. It was clear that a power struggle had begun. A phone call home was the next step. When I told Joel I planned to call his dad, he just shrugged as he left the room. But what Joel didn't expect was that my phone call home wasn't about the disrespect and bad attitude he was showing in class--it was about the potential I saw in him; it was about the fact that I understood this was hard for him; that he would to have to work harder maybe than anyone else in class; that I knew he failed this test two times in 5th grade before he passed; but that I wasn't going to give up on him--ever. Luckily, Joel came in the next day and apologized, promising he would no longer be disrespectful. I could work with that. So, I forged on, praying I would find a way to convince him he could do what I was asking him to do. I wish I could say that Joel had a Damascus road conversion that week and eagerly began to use the strategies I taught, but there wasn't, and he didn't. When given a reading passage assignment to complete independently, he would partially attempt to use the strategies I taught, but the words he wrote and pictures he drew were still meaningless. So, instead of expecting him to do these assignments independently, I did them with him. Side by side we read, and I talked out loud about what I thought the passage meant. I verbally pondered what I thought I should draw or write out to the side to summarize the meaning. Slowly, I withdrew my commentary while still sitting next to him, and he began to do more and more of the work on his own as I watched and praised. Progress. About a month out from the upcoming state assessment, Joel aced a unit test which had been formatted to match the upcoming STAAR. His excitement with his grade was palpable! Joel finally saw the connection between the efforts he was making to the end result--he could understand what he was reading and answer questions about it. When we worked together I saw determination replace indifference. After class one day and about a week before STAAR, Joel followed me to my desk. Hesitating at first, but then looking me straight in the eye Joel said simply, "Thank you." I nodded, letting him know I understood his thank you encompassed many things that he didn’t yet know how to articulate. Reaching out to fist bump, I answered, "Of course. I wouldn't have it any other way." As an aside, I do realize many teachers believe the state assessment is meaningless; it puts too much pressure on students; it is just a snapshot of one day. And I concur to some degree. But I also believe the STAAR reading test is a fair test that does give a good indication of the student's reading ability. I find it very troubling when my students do not do well on this test because I internalize their successes and failures. My students are part of me. I am responsible for growing them and stretching them to their potential because I am their teacher. It is my job. And so we come to end of Joel’s story…the end of the year is here, and I am thinking back. The STAAR test has come and gone; the last day of school is only one week away. The students are eagerly awaiting summer swim team, vacations, and long hot days which stay light until 9:00 p.m. So, how does Joel's story end? The question I know you are asking is, "Did Joel pass the STAAR?" Yes, he did. And he is still reading. With only one week left of school, he picked up my classroom copy of Divergent today and began reading it. I can't wait to talk to him about what he thinks it would be like if our world was divided up into factions like Tris'. I know he won’t finish it before the last day, and so as a goodbye gift, I plan on telling him to take it with him. The world of books has opened for Joel. I want that to last forever. Joel rose above others' expectations of him as well as his own this year. He looked uncertainty in the eye and decided he was going to take a risk because he knew he had someone who believed in him--someone who was willing to invest the time that was needed to get him to where he needed to be. Joel tested me, frustrated me, and challenged me to be the best teacher I could be. Joel was my son this year. Thank you, Joel. You taught me, too. |
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Every year as the third six weeks poetry unit begins, I take an informal poll of my 6th grade students to determine their feelings toward poetry. Without fail, the majority of my students express negative feelings. When I probe deeper and ask why, they give answers such as: “It doesn’t make any sense, I don’t understand it, it’s about all this fancy stuff, or it always stands for something else.” This past six weeks was no different; once again I faced the seemingly insurmountable task of making poetry accessible and meaningful to 11 year olds.
To begin the unit and grab their attention, I began with “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe, “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll, and “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes. The purpose of this was two-fold: it engaged them quickly and showed poetry can be narrative. Second, it showed poetry can contain violence, monsters, murder, and ghosts which is high interest in 6th grade. I was also able to briefly begin introducing the names of poetic devices and review figurative language. However, I didn’t spend much time on the mechanics of poetry at that point as my purpose was to pique interest—not cover nuts and bolts. Telling the students stories about the poets added to their engagement…many students went home to read more of Edgar Allen Poe’s works on the internet after I told them that he was obsessed with murder and macabre, warning them, “Do not read the ‘Tell Tale Heart’ heart unless you want to be completely grossed out!” The third part of my strategy to pique interest was to use YouTube videos reciting the above poems with animation and emotional music. Students were captivated by what they watched as schema for understanding future poetry was built. The next poem I introduced was “O Captain! My Captain” by Walt Whitman to give an example of a poem that has metaphoric meaning. Without telling the students that the poem was about the death of Abraham Lincoln, we discussed as a class what they thought was the meaning of the poem. Only then did I explain the poem was actually about Lincoln. This led to a great discussion about the history of his presidency and assassination which generally fascinates sixth graders. Inevitably at some point, someone asked, “Why anyone would want to write a poem about that?” This segued into one of my most important lessons—poetry is about the poet, not the reader. Explaining to them that poetry was a venue for someone to express feelings/ideas that are important to him/her with the option to break writing rules. I weaved this idea throughout all the poetry we read, reinforcing it at all opportunities because I wanted them to have internalized it by the time they started writing their own poetry. Next, I had the students read the “Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos William. This poem served as the perfect example to show how poetry doesn’t have to be about anything grandiose. After reading, I asked the students to write a “mirror poem” in which they picked an object of their choice, patterning their poem with the line, “So much depends upon….” Teachers in elementary school and junior high often use formulaic poetry outlines which ask the students to fill in certain kinds of parts of speech, words, or follow a formula to complete the poem. This does supply structure for the students to write within; however, I believe students need to be allowed more freedom when they write. Mirror poetry provides this by allowing the students to incorporate one aspect of the mentor poem and then extending it to include their own thoughts and form. Writing this first poem was critical for students to have the freedom to choose not only the object they wrote about but to choose the structure of the poem. They could choose to copy the original exactly or change the poem. I also agree with Ralph Fletcher, Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide and What a Writer Needs, that it is essential to let boys express their aggressive emotions and thoughts even if they write about violence, fighting, etc. Throughout the unit, I continued to immerse the students in published, well-known poetry as well as original poetry by other students. The students continued to write “mirror” poems and self-inspired original poetry. I, too, wrote with the students to model how I played with words and struggled over what to say. Finally, when teaching students to understand poetry my strategy was very basic. I taught them to approach a poem in steps. First, always read the poem through twice without stopping. Next, read again from the beginning, pausing to stop at the end of each line. At the end of each line, mentally decide the meaning of that line. Do not go onto the next line until you have a clear understanding. After reading the poem through this way, then go back to examine figurative language and poetic devices and evaluating how they added to the poem. The final step--mentally summarize the poem. This systematic approach broke down the anxiety that many students felt when reading poetry. The poetry unit lasted about 5 weeks and for the first time culminated in a beatnik inspired poetry slam/reading. Along with the help of parents, we transformed the library into a coffee shop with flameless candles, dark lighting, stage and spotlight, bongos, snapping instead of clapping, and a coffee bar serving decaf, hot chocolate, and apple cider. Students voluntarily signed up to read either original poetry or published poems. Many students also dressed in all black with berets. More than half of our sixth grade student body--341 students--read poetry as their fellow students sipped and snapped. It was incredible and beyond expectations. (For logistics we rotated classes through the library, the largest group about 50 at one time in our coffee shop.) I would be disingenuous if I didn’t admit that there were days along the way where I had to remind myself that it was possible for sixth graders to appreciate poetry even if they didn’t love it. There were days when my students groaned, “Another poem?” A young lady named Maren often groaned the loudest. She had announced from the beginning that she hated poetry—“It is a complete waste of time.” But I believe two of the poems Maren wrote, which I have included below, reveal pivotal steps she took during this unit which are essential to bringing her closer to an appreciation for poetry. Her first poem, loaded with allusions, brilliantly expressed her feelings toward famous poets and the poems we initially read while using the very medium she hated! Here is one of Maren’s first poems: I Hate Poetry I hate it so you can’t change my mind. All you’ve done is waste my time. It’s awful deep fat fried Served with confusing and extra fries. I don’t care why Edgar Poe wrote it I still think he he’s a terrible poet. Annoying nature Is all I need mosquitoes Are the devil’s feed. Walt Whitman is totally dead I wonder if he got shot in the head Like Abraham Lincoln. That boat is still sinking. Funeral be done! Let’s party instead. I’ve drowned in the deepness and can’t climb the steepness. Now I shall leave woefully defeated by poetry. --Maren 6th grade The final poem Maren wrote was inspired by a children’s book I read to the class, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. To provide the students with their own “magic pebble” I had bought a multitude of colored glass rocks. The only directions I gave the class after selecting the perfect “pebble” was to write an original piece about their own “magic pebble”—short story, children’s story, poem, anything they wanted. And Maren chose to write a poem. A beautiful poem. A poem that incorporated everything we had learned in the poetry unit: My Pebble My pebble is a peppermint round and cool strip of yellow and orange being sucked into one line while smoke curling red drips, like cool aid from my chin My Pebble is a strawberry ready to be plucked and eaten ---Maren 6th grade Will Maren ever love poetry? Possibly not. However, with this approach to poetry, I believe she dipped her toes into the murky waters. She learned she can express herself poetically without judgment and realized that was what poetry was about. Because “Walt Whitman is totally dead, I wonder if he got shot in the head, Like Abraham Lincoln, that boat is still sinking. Funeral be done! Let’s party instead!” During a recent conversation I was asked, "What are you passionate about?" My answer to that question is simple: putting books in the hands of kids, especially reluctant readers. Of course I have pleasures outside of my job, but as a reading teacher, nothing trumps watching a student read--unable to put the book down. Ironically, this past week, one of my 6th grade students brought this home to me when I forgot my deepest held belief: you create readers by letting students read what they want. Axel, the class clown of Block 2, informed me the first week of school that he only read graphic novels. As I got to know Axel better, I saw that Axel was very bright and capable of readng novels on his grade level. After several conversations with Axel about the merits of novels versus grapic novels, I determined that his reluctance to read something on grade level resulted from an inability to locate novels he found interesing. So, I spent last weekend at Barnes and Noble, scouring books by Mike Lupica and Tim Green, looking for the perfect football book. I was sure that since Axel loved football, he would love one of theirs. After making my selection, I eagerly awaited Monday morning to show Axel the book. But Monday was a disappointment. Axel feigned only mild interest, perhaps because I told him I had found the book just for him. We read the blurb together as well as the first 3 or 4 pages. He took the book with him when he left and even brought it back the next day. Tuesday, however, he informed me he didn't like it. "All those sentences, line after line, are boring. I want to read graphic novels becuase they have pictures and color and are easy to read." What transpired after that is embarrassing to write because I violated the heart of my approach to reading: let kids read what they want. I allowed frustration and pride to dictate my response to his condemning of the book. "Well, you have to read it, Axel. You are too bright to keep reading graphic novels. You need to read something on your level. This book will be good if you just give it a chance. It's about football, and you love football." His answer, honest and heartfelt and completely ignored by me was simple. "But I don't like it." Suspecting I had a drawn a line in the sand that I would regret, I sent out an SOS to my mentor and instructional coach relaying the situation and begging for ideas. At lunch she offered a brilliant suggestion: show him the graphic novel Stormbreaker and novel Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz. Then, suggest reading the graphic novel first; next, read the novel since he would have the plot down and pictures in his mind to help visualize the story. I loved the idea, but silently prayed I hadn't poisoned my relationship with Axel by insisting he had to read something he didn't like. Thankfully, he agreed to the proposal and devoured the graphic novel during that period. Giving it back to me he actually smiled as I handed him the novel. Within the first few pages he approached me, questioning why the story in the graphic novel was different from the novel. We talked about the differences he was finding, and I read along with him until the story lines merged. I asked him why he thought they might be different. "The book has more details," Axel mused. I smiled; all hope was not lost! The next day, Axel walked in and announced, "I'm on page 43." I couldn't contain myself--high fives echoed as we slapped palms! He pointed out more differences between the two, and my heart sang! When Axel returned that afternoon for advisory (homeroom), I asked if I could read along with him. We read side by side and discussed as went. At the end of the period, he was on page 73! It had happened--he was reading a novel.
As I reflect back over this chain of events, I am so thankful that what could have cemented a young boy's dislike for reading, transpired instead into an opportunity for him to see reading as pleasurable. Luckily for Axel, I was willing to be the student and let him teach me something. Don't forget to listen. The first week of school has come and gone, and I have just finished grading my students' first assignment in their reader's note books--a reading timeline which starts at their earliest memories of reading to the present. I like to have the students start with this assignnment in their reader's note books because the purpose of it is for the students to reflect on their reading memories. By showing them an example of mine, I model how I think back to my earliest memory of my mom reading to me at night. I then continue discussing the memories of the books I loved and remembered through high school. As this assignment is about reflection, not an art lesson, I leave it up to them whether or not they will color and decorate their work. I like pictures, so my timeline has lots, but the purpose of the assignment is for them to reflect and process memories about reading and books----not to decorate. The work they do on this assignment reveals much about them as a reader. I can instantly tell who has many memories about reading, and who has few. And most relevant to me, I can identify the students who are not readers yet--the ones that I will work especially close with this year to help find a passion for reading. My grading on this assignment is a completion grade. If the student only writes the titles of books with no reflections, I only give partial credit, but I do let them know if they add the reflection, I will give them points back to equal a 100. The goal is not to play "gotcha," but to have the student think about his/her reading life. Having few reading memories could indicate that a student finds it difficult to comprehend text and/or are not readers. Sometimes, students will even reveal direct information about themselves as when one boy this year wrote," I don't really finish books." Another boy wrote, "In third and fourth grade, I mostly just waited for new books to come out." This translates to me that "waiting for new books" was his cover story. Since he didn't write any titles or memories about those books, chances are he didn't read any. There are myriad reasons for both boys' lack of reading: they attmepted books that were too hard, they are reading below grade level, they could be dyslexic, they may never have learned how to find a book they are interested in.....my job will be to solve this mystery and equip them with what they need to begin to have a passion for reading. And to find that one book that lights the fire! At the end of the year, I will ask the students to again reflect on their reading memories--this time specifically about 6th grade. I will ask them to think about how they have changed as a reader? How have they remained the same? What are their memories about the books they have read this year? And so the journey begins! Read on!
Let me start by saying I have taught 6th grade ELA for twenty years, considering myself a veteran and called by many a master teacher. I had been drawn to teaching because of my love for children and literature. Little did I know, as a teacher, I also had become a dinosaur...
Several years ago, I began to hear about reading classrooms that were student driven , the teacher no longer teaching for 45 minutes from the front of the classroom. Mini-lessons, reading workshop, anchor charts, and mentor texts became the buzzwords in secondary classrooms for my district. But I had no interest in exploring a new type of instruction as I was teaching the way I learned, and I had loved school. Besides, my students liked me and my classroom was always one where students felt appreciated and respected. Yet, if I was honest with myself, I struggled with the knowledge that I taught books students disliked, many gifted students became bored, and I was forced to push some students at a pace that was in fairness, beyond their capabilites. What was the answer? Then four years ago, I attended a summer in-service on reading workshop as an alternative to the traditional secondary reading classroom.The in-service instructor, a former reading teacher herself, taught us the method from Columbia University's Teachers College, i.e. Lucy Calkins. After experiencing a summer at Teachers College, our trainer had left her classroom to train other teachers on implementing reading workshop because what she had learned was so powerful. I was intrigued; what she presented struck a chord deep inside of me. I took three things away from that first in-service: the importance of students choice in their reading selections, students needed to engage in conversation about what they were reading, and the importance of a reader's note book. I decided I wanted to try it. August arrived and school started. I lengthened my 10 minutes of silent reading to 20 minutes, allowed free choice for what the students chose to read, and the students decorated their reader's note books (composition books on the school supply list) with cool scrapbooking paper. We divided the note book into sections with colorful tabs, and I told the students they needed to bring them to class every day. The problem was I really didn't know what to have the students do in their note books besides glue in notes I handed out or to copy what I put on the board. It basically was a scrapbook of notes. Eventually, the note book was discarded, leaving me feeling extremely guilty becuase I knew it had been a complete waste of time. I also began the year talking individually to the students about what they were reading, or conferencing with them, but my inability to keep track of the individual discussions with the students overwhelmed me. My in-service teacher had made it seem so easy. She just drew a grid and wrote down the person's name with one word about the conference. In practice, however, the single word summarizing of my conferences did not help me remember the discussion. I tried using a spiral, providing a page for each student, but my messy handwriting and the length of time spent writing kept this method from working for me. So, by Christmas I gave up conferencing instead grading papers and working on my computer while they read. I attended several more trainings on reading workshop and really tried to implement the ideas the best I could. I read The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller and felt good about including free reading time and student choice in their books. But I had not let go of the traditional whole class novel or my general instruction over the novel. I was the expert, right? That's why I was the teacher; they were supposed to learn from me. Last summer, at yet another in-service on reading workshop, I was introduced to the Confer app which is a "searchable note taking app" created to help teachers track conferences on their iPhones or iPads. This app changed my life. I was instantly able to enter and organize data as well as access prior data. It was mobile and fast. My conferencing took off, and I believed the final piece was in place--I had mastered it! I was officially a workshop teacher. Well into the second semester of last year our instructional coach mentioned in a meeting that really no one in my grade level was fully implementing reading workshop. I was shocked--what did she mean? I had worked so hard to implement this kind of classroom instruction, and I still wasn't doing it? I immediately approached her for her help. I really wanted to use reading workshop, and if I wasn't doing everything I was supposed to, I needed to know what was missing. My upcoming unit was a whole class novel that I taught every year, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L' Engle. This classic novel is rich in figurative language and literary elements. My traditional approach in teaching the novel included vocabulary from the novel, annotating, chapter comprehension questions, class discussions, quizzes, and tests. One of the first things our instructional coach suggested was to put my classroom desks in groups instead of rows. Then she had me shelve my two binders full of vocabulary, questions, quizzes, and tests about the novel. The students were now going to read, discuss, and write. Mentor texts would be read and mini-lessons taught. The goal was for students to see an objective in a mentor text that I taught through a mini-lesson. After a short guided practice with a partner, they would begin to look for that objective in their own independent reading. I was doubtful it would work, but I was willing to try. As in years past many students hated A Wrinkle in Time. But I had always operated under the belief that it was a classic--they needed to read it. It was good for them to read something they didn't like. Our instructional coach suggested I let the students who didn't like the book abandon it for something of their choice. Okay. I allowed them to choose any novel. And what transpired was powerful. Allowing them to choose, no longer forcing them to read a book they disliked, gave them ownership in their learning. They were interested to see if what I taught in the mini-lesson was present in their book. Watching my instructional coach model mini-lessons, I learned to be more concise and thoughtful in what I said because I only had 10 minutes to teach the objective. For example, following this method, I carefully selected a short mentor text to read which beautifully illustrated characterization. I wrote parts of the text on chart paper making what is called an anchor chart as I taught them the meaning of characterization. Then the students practiced identifying characterization with a partner in a different short text I provided for no more than 3-4 minutes. Finally, I asked them to look for examples of characterization in their novel as they read that day, marking them with sticky notes. I ended the lesson by letting them know I would ask to see what they had marked so we could discuss it when we conferenced. After several days of students collecting examples of characterization in their novels, I taught another mini-lesson showing them how to transfer their sticky notes to their reader's note books. My next mini-lesson taught how to compile their notes on characterization into a short write (rough draft of a character sketch). I taught another mini-lesson on paranthetical documentation so that they could incorporate this critical piece into their writing which is expected in high school and college. And to my amazement it worked! They could do it! They did do it! Addtionally, one-on-one instruction and conversation allowed me to tailor my follow-up teaching to each individual student--true differentiation was occuring. And by allowing them to choose their own novel, I was allowing for further differentiation as students chose books appropriate to their reading level. This year, I will not teach a whole class novel, and I will be implementing full reading workshop from day one. My students will listen to mentor texts, choose what they read independently, talk about what they read, and write about what they read. I can't wait for this academic year! If you are travelling the road I was and would like to share your challenges and or successes, I would love to hear from you. Reading workshop has changed my life as a teacher, and I am ready for it to change my students' reading lives as well. Let the workshop begin! Afterword: I will also be implenting full writing workshop this year after attending workshops by Penny Kittle and my district. What a different this year will be! I love the expression "book hangover." It captures so perfectly that feeling of complete emotional exhaustion when you have finished a book and you can do nothing but sit and stare at the walls; movement too labored as emotions, pages, moments and characters filter through your consciouness.
I personally love books that make me cry. I tell my students that nothing is more powerful than words bringing to life characters who penetrate who we are. Their stories disarm our defenses and connect us to the humanity in everyone. The ability of an author to bring us to this precipice is the greatest gift one person can give another. One For the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt does just this. It is the story of 13 year old Carley placed into foster care. It is the story of her struggle to find accpetance and love. It is the story of a young mother, Mrs. Murphy, opening her home to a teenage girl who has never had a stable family. It is the story of everyone of us--the inate human need of a mother's kindness and love and coming to terms with the reality of life when that love is and isn't there. Kudos to Lynda Hunt for her debut novel. This will definitely be on my bookshelves when school starts this August. And I will carry Carley and Mrs. Murphy with me everywhere I gowhi I am going to work on rewriting this original poem from my point of view as a child vs. me, an adult looking back....
Lightning bugs ephemeral beacons of time passed seducing you back to garden hose waterfalls cascading down hot tin slides. And snow cones were best icy with syrup melting the wax paper cone as you slurped your last sip. While June bugs clung to back porch screen doors curled arthritic in their grip undaunted by slams that punctuated barefoot squeals in Off perfumed air to catch moments of fairy dust released only in darkness and magic was real. |
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