Kris (Denver, CO) donates a Kindle Keyboard to the #KCP. Thanks, Kris!
— Mark Isero (@iserotope) June 23, 2015
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TEACHER VOICES: Michele Godwin, #9“It’s been a good year. And we’re ready for what’s next.”
Friday, 4/1 3:35 pm
It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to work on library stuff. I’ve run out of fundraising steam, for the time being. My friends are tired of me asking them for money!
So we sit at the $20,000 mark. Students still request titles. I just bought some science-related books, thanks to a recommendation from one of our regular substitute teachers: Charles Darwin’s The Voyage of the Beagle, and The Viral Storm: The Dawn of a New Pandemic Age, by Nathan Wolfe. There’s money in the bank, and the requests are slowing down. I should be happy with what we’ve got, right?
Wrong.
The library is just over half full. And many of the books are left over from the crusty donated books that have been with us for so many years. We have at least three copies of all of Shakespeare’s popular plays, and seemingly thousands of copies of Winter’s Tale. Great! But our kids aren’t reading those books.
I have to decide: Leave the shelves half-filled, but with high-interest books? Or put the old, crusty books in there so the shelves don’t look quite so empty and forlorn?
I leave them empty. Because too many bad books is way worse than barely-enough good books.
Bad books are a turn-off. In my experience, it is only book lovers who get excited to comb through shelves and shelves of titles, excited to find the next good story. Reticent readers look at those shelves and see more books about boring people they can’t relate to. They see lots of big words and meaningless characters, and they confirm what they’ve always known: books have nothing to offer them.
I’ve got to get off my butt and get back to work. Those shelves aren’t going to fill themselves!
Friday, 5/1 2:30 pm
C. tells me, “That thing happened yesterday!”
I don’t know what she means.
She looks at me meaningfully and says, “That thing. Remember? I told you about it? I told you I was nervous. Remember?” She waits for me.
I think and think. When did we talk last? She’s not one to share much with me, so I struggle.
And then it comes to me.
“Yes! How did it go? Everything ok?” I ask.
She looks relieved.
“I had to stand up and talk to the judge. I was so nervous!”
“How brave! That must have been so scary,” I tell her.
“I cried,” she says. “I wasn’t strong. But I’m glad I did it.”
“I am too. And so is your dad, I’m sure. What was the verdict?” I ask, afraid of the answer.
“Five years. But I thought it would be 15, so I’m happy!”
I smile at her. How could I forget her dad’s hearing? She mentioned it when I met with her and her mother, in passing, like she wanted me to know, but not really.
“Five years, and then he’s deported back to Mexico,” she says, and puts her earbuds in. The bell has rung, and she’s done sharing.
Monday, 5/4 3:35 pm
A. has stopped coming to school. When I met with him and his mother a few weeks ago, it was clear that he wouldn’t be able to graduate with his classmates next spring. He’s failed too many classes, and he’s currently failing Algebra.
He translated the news to his mother. The counselor then told A. about a college to career program at City, where students can finish up their high school classes and get college credit. He got excited and translated for his mother, who asked some questions and looked doubtful.
Ever since, he has been to school only a couple times.
I miss him.
Wednesday, 5/13 – 10:15 am
Independent reading time. Every student in the room is silent, reading something he or she is interested in. Time and National Geographic cover stories about weed are a big draw. One student is reading Beloved, and I must resist the urge to try to make her love that book as much as I do. Someone’s reading The Oral History of Hip Hop, someone else The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I only had to ask them to be quiet a few times before they settled in and started reading. I don’t know what’s going on with them, but it sure does make me happy. And it reminds me: must get more books.
Thursday, 5/28 – 2:20 pm
They’re gone. We’ve had our last Advisory of the year, and now they’re gone. They’ve left their cookie crumbs and empty soda cups, as well as an entire, unopened bag of carrots (the Funyons and Doritos got eaten, though), and now they’re gone for the summer.
We said goodbye to A., who will go to City next year. I had to beg him to come today, and had to contain my excitement when he walked in the room. He promised to keep me posted about his life. I hope he does.
The others I’ll see in just a few short months, and we’ll do it all over again. But it’ll be different next year, as graduation becomes more and more real, and they have to make hard decisions about their life. All of us are looking forward to the summer break, but I think we all agree: It’s been a good year. And we’re ready for what’s next.
Ed. note: Michele Godwin is in her 14th year of teaching high school. She’s back at Leadership High School, where she taught from 2001 to 2008. An English teacher by training and experience, Michele has changed her focus to build a library for Leadership. In addition to her fundraising and library organizing, she is an 11th grade adviser. These are her musings from the past few weeks. Please donate so Michele can buy more books!
Recommended Reading: “In a Mother’s Library, Bound in Spirit and in Print”
Nick Bilton last week wrote an ode to physical books in “In a Mother’s Library, Bound in Spirit and in Print.” It strikes all the key notes: his mother’s passing, the inheritance of a 3,000-book library, her notes in the books’ margins, memories of childhood, and plenty of emotion.
In the piece, Mr. Bilton does not take sides on the perennial e-books vs. physical books debates. Each is good for its purpose. But if the purpose is to remember a loved one, then we know which format is better.
Excerpt
“In late March, a few days after my mother died from cancer, I sat in a cold living room in the north of England with my two sisters as a lawyer read my mother’s last will and testament. We were told that her modest estate would be divided evenly among her three children, with one exception.”
It always gets me thinking: Will people say the same thing about photographs? Many funerals now include hand-constructed tributes that include physical prints. What about a slideshow projected on a screen? Less emotional and impactful?
As for physical books, yes, there will always be that tactile experience, the feeling of the paper, the quality that an object takes on in an environment. It’s maybe true that a physical book offers a better reminder of having read a book.
But on the other hand, I don’t think I’ll forget reading Last Chance in Texas or Just Mercy anytime soon. Those books will stay with me even if their contents live inside my Kindle rather than on my bookshelf.
Source: http://j.mp/1d7CUCM (via Pocket). You can also find this article at Iserotope Extras, a curated list of my favorite articles about teaching, reading, and technology.
Why kids lose interest in reading as they get older
Daniel Willingham is a leader in secondary literacy and independent reading, and his recent article, “Why kids lose interest in reading as they get older,” does a good job summarizing a few of the basic reasons that young people’s interest in reading declines as they move into middle and high school.
As students get older, Willingham suggests, reading becomes more of a chore. Teachers require greater comprehension, offer less choice, and demand that students read various genres for various purposes.
None of these reasons is particularly earth-shattering, of course. But they remind me that schools, by themselves, are not in the business of promoting independent reading past mid-elementary school.
If students are going to read widely, they have three choices:
1. Already love to read,
2. Live with a family that loves to read and promotes independent reading,
3. Have a teacher or be part of a program that encourages independent reading.
In other words, if we want our young people to read, it won’t happen automatically. There are too many other fun things to do. But it’s not rocket science. If we care about reading, and if we put good books in front of students, and if we foster a love of reading, then young people will read.
Excerpt
“Attitudes toward reading peak in early elementary years. With each passing year, students’ attitudes towards reading drop.”
Source: http://j.mp/1cm9dNs (via Pocket).
Recommended: “Obama Launches E-Book Initiative For Low-Income Students”
My friend Elizabeth sent me a tweet today informing me that the Kindle Classroom Project has gotten so big and famous that even President Obama is getting into the act.
(My friends are very funny and very kind.)
Apparently, the President is providing $250 million to making e-books accessible to low-income students. Even more impressive, several major publishers have agreed to the initiative, and the New York Public Library is building a reading app for students to use.
The details are still coming in, but I’m really excited. Please check out the article and let me know what you think!
Excerpt
“WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama announced Thursday that major book publishers will provide more than $250 million in free e-books to low-income students and that he is seeking commitments from local governments and schools nationwide to provide library cards to all students.”
Source: http://j.mp/1EV7zPN (via Pocket). You can also find this article at Iserotope Extras, a curated list of my favorite articles about teaching, reading, and technology.