atychiphobia

Stories from Room 226: The Bracket Buster

    This is part of the Slice of Life Challenge hosted by the Two Writing Teachers

 

Yes, I have already written about March "Book" Madness before, but yesterday we had our first big time "Bracket Buster".  Think VCU, Butler, or George Mason.  Think Gus Johnson giving us an "HA! HAAA!" or Bill Raftery dropping "Onions!" on us.

Faced with the decision of choosing the apparently best selling children's book of all time or the little graphic novel that could, my class went with Sidekicks by Dan Santat.  

"HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!?!?!?!?"

Honestly, I am not too sure.  My class this year is ridiculous when it comes to reading.  To a child they have met or exceeded all of my possible expectations.   They are thoughtful, they read a variety of books, they read voraciously.  But Sidekicks beating Harry Potter.  Wow.  That's about all I can say. Wow.

To be fair, I book talked Sidekicks earlier in the year and nearly every child has read it.  I had to buy another copy because the first one is now toast.  What I somehow missed is that nearly every single one of them loved it.  I should have had a feeling when they were talking in paris and threes before the vote.  I heard of lot of stuff like this:

"I really like Harry Potter, but Sidekicks rules."

"I've only seen the movies for Harry Potter.  But I read and loved Sidekicks."

"I'm not really into to fantasy.  But Sidekicks was amazing.  The art ... Roscoe and Fluffy.  Fluffy is soooooo cute."

And I only heard a little bit of stuff like this:

"Harry Potter is the best book ever.  How can you vote against it."

"Harry Potter could beat all the characters in Sidekicks with one spell.  C'mon!"

"I wish I could go to Hogwarts!"

When the vote was over, you would have thought the kids who voted for Sidekicks had just won the lottery.  A legit cheer erupted.  Interstingly enough, there were only a few kids who were truly disappointed that Harry Potter got beat.  Most of them also really liked Sidekicks, but just liked Harry a little more.  

Later in the day one of the boys who was disappointed asked, "Why was Harry only a 3 seed.  Seems like he should have been a number 1."  

I answered, "Well, Harry was in the bracket because only one of you submitted that title on your cards.  Based on that he should of been a lower seed.  I put him there because it didn't seem right to have such a great book be a lower seed."

"OK.  But I still think Harry should have won."

"I know how you feel. It is one of my all time favorite books."

But the more I thought this "upset", the happier I became.  I started this crazy idea for the kids.  I haven't voted once and I have tried really hard to be very straight faced and objective.  Before the quick sharing and votes I praise the positive attributes of both books and tell the class, "Man this would be a hard choice for me, glad I am not voting."  And for most of this group of kids, Sidekicks resonated with them in a way that Harry Potter didn't.  When I think about my favorite books of all time, I don't really care what anybody else says.  I will argue the virtues of books that nobody else seems to like.  And when you are a guy who teaches elementary school, that can happen a lot.  When I realized that the kids were doing what anybody who is excited about books does, my opinion shifted from "WHAT?!?!" to "Way to go guys, you went with the book you loved, not the book that everyone loves."

So, I decided to be the voice for the majority afterschool yesterday.  I got on twitter and posted this little nugget.

I got some responses from my tweeps, which was cool.  It is great to get feedback from my friends. And for the most part my twitter friends are kind of like me.  Teacher-book nerds who tend to get giddy about stuff like, "are you Team Bear or Team Rabbit?"  But what really blew my mind was this repsonse:

 Whoa.

After a few more tweets, Dan Santat is thanking me for the kind words about his book.  When really I should be thanking him for creating a story that won the hearts of so many of my students.  So thank you very much Dan Santat! 

Sidekicks has a tough run to make it to the Final 4.  It will have to beat Diary of a Wimpy Kid and most likely Bigger than a Breadbox by Laurel Snyder.  Both have been huge books in my class this year.  We even Skyped with Laurel Syder.  Because of the Skyping, I figured Breadbox would have been the odds on favorite to win the whole bracket.  However, when I quickly showed my class the screenshots of the twitter chat that happened between Dan Santat, me and a few others, they were floored.

"You mean Dan Santat knows Sidekicks beat Harry Potter?"

"Yep he does, and I think he thinks that is pretty cool."

"That's awesome!"

So, eventhough I thought Sidekicks had no chance of beating Harry Potter, I wouldn't be totally shocked if it wins some more.  In fact, I am really hoping it takes down Greg, Rowley and the rest of Jeff Kinney's gang.

Later,

Tony

 

PS

If by chance you do read this Dan, my class really wants to know when the next adventure of Captain Amazing and his wonderful band of Sidekicks is coming out.  

Waiting For Wonder

    This is part of the Slice of Life Challenge hosted by the Two Writing Teachers

 

Just in case you have been disconnected from the Slice of Life Challenge, Twitter and haven't talked to a librarian in the last few weeks watch the video below.

 

If that disn't suck you in enough to think about reading the book, then check out a few of these fellow slicers/book reviewers to really get you clamoring for a copy.

 

Teacher Dance

Read, Write, Reflect

Sharpread

A Year of Reading

Watch. Connect. Read.

Nicole's Book Nook

A Fuse 8 Production

Waking Brain Cells

Goodreads (for cryin' out loud the average rating is 4.56 out of 5.  Harry Potter only got a 4.29, To Kill a Mockingbird has a 4.19 and the Great Gatsby eanred a paltry 3.71)

There is even a Twitter hashtag devoted to this book #wonderofwonder (I think @colbysharp or @mrschureads is responsible for this)

On top of all this gushi-ness, my wife read the book.  And she "loved it and very highly recommends the book to children and adults."

So why haven't I jumped onto this bandwagon yet?  I think it is because at this point I am bound to be a little disappointed.  I most likely made a mistake a few weeks ago by not putting right on top of my too be read stack.  The hype machine is now so overwhleming to me that unless it is the GOAT book, I will probably be like these guys.

And from what I can tell, I definitely don't want to feel like Wonder by RJ Palacio is overrated.  I want to be able to savor the book.  I want to be able to experience it on my own terms.  I want to read it with clear eyes and a full heart.

So, I think I need to delay my gratification and wait until summer or maybe even next fall to read this book.  Hopefully by then, some new book will be all the rage and I will be able to fully appreciate the wonder of Wonder.

Later,

Tony

 

It's Monday What are You Reading?

Note: Thanks for  Jen and Kellee from Teach Mentor Texts for inspiring many of us to share what we have been reading.  I will try to join the fun as regularly as possible.

 

 

I had a great reading week this week.  With the exception of a book I haven't finished, I laughed a great deal.Early in the week I finished the Mason Dixon book.  I think this book would be great for readers who like realistic fiction and are trying to transition into chapter books or longer books.  Mason Dixon is basically your average 4th grade boy.  In this story, Mason plays basketball for a terrible team that gets better as the season progresses.

The Flying Beaver Brothers (both books) are a new graphic novel series that I am sure will be very popular.  I giggled several times while reading both of these books.  I will have to admit, just the title, "The Flying Brothers and the Evil Penguin Plan" was enough to make me smile.  The Beaver Brothers form a unlikely hero team that saves their island home from disaster in both books.  I can't wait to see what goofy evil plot is unleashed in the next installment.

The Fouth Stall Part II is the follow up to ... The Fourth Stall.  In this second book Mac and Vince help to solve several problems that are menacing their fellow classmates.  Author Chris Rylander is a genius at dialogue.  Realistic and humorous dialogue combined with not-so-realistc but incredibly funny problems (imagine middle school lockers facing an expanding  rodent droppings problem) make for a highly enjoyable read.  Another bonus for me was the baseball conversations between Mac and Vince.  Even though I am not a Cubs fan, I loved their ongoing trivia war.

Showoff by Gordon Korman is the latest in the adventures of Griffin Bing and his pals.  Like all of the previous books in this series, something crazy happens and Griffin has to come up with a plan.  This time the plan involves Luthor, the gigantic Doberman, becoming a world champion show dog.  It was a fun read and was quickly grabbed from my hands when I shared it with the class last Friday.

I cannot believe that it took me so long to read We Are Not Eaten By Yaks by C. Alexander London.  Besides being one of the most ridiculously awesome titles ever, the author is a fellow Nerdy Book Club member.  I am not happy I waited so long, but maybe it was worth the wait.  Everything about this book appealed to me and I am sure it will appeal to many middle grade readers.  Celia and Oliver, the twins who consistently are able to save the day were wonderfully invented characters.  Who knew that hour after hour of watching TV would help you when you are thrown out of an airplane, confronted by a raving Yeti and captured by Poison Witches?  I am really looking forward to the second book.

On the plan for this week is finishing the wildly thought provoking Switch and a few more:

Later,

Tony

It's Monday What are You Reading?

Note: Thanks for  Jen and Kellee from Teach Mentor Texts for inspiring many of us to share what we have been reading.  I will try to join the fun as regularly as possible.

 

I kind of unplugged from the web last week to get caught up on a lot of other things so this week's "It's Monday What are You Reading" will cover most of the last 2 weeks of my reading and what I hope to accomplish this week.

The three picture books shown above (Ball for Daisy, Little White Rabbit and Me ... Jane) were all new books for me that were also a part of the class Caldecott Mock Vote we finished last week.  I think all three had some very laudable elements to them, but Me ... Jane was by far and away the best book of this bunch.  And I really can't put a finger on why I like it so much.  I was very happy that it won a Caldecot Honor.  And to be honest I was quite surprised that Ball for Daisy won the Caldecott Medal.  It was a fun little story but, I don't think it is even Chris Raschka's best work.  

Theodore Boone: The Abduction is a middle grade mystery that was somewhat entertanining.  I think many of my kids will dive right into it.  However, I did not enjoy it as much as the first Theodore Boone book.  It seemed like Grisham was trying to do way too much with the plot of this one.

The Whisper is the sequel to The Roar, a book I read about two years ago and have been waiting like crazy to see what happes to Mika and Ellie.  The Whisper is a fast paced dystopian novel, which is usually right in my wheelhouse.  However, maybe the waiting was better than the actual book.  By the second half of the story things got a little too ridiculous for me.  However, I know many of my kids who have devoured The Roar will be just like me and want to get their hands on The Whisper.  It will be interesting to see if they have similar thoughts as I did.

Robbie Forester and the Outlaws of Sherwood St is part mystery, part magical realism, part reworking of the Robin Hood story and for me it was all fun.  Four middle school students living in NYC discover that a bracelet connects them with a source of magic that only works when injustice abounds.  These kids end up secretly helping local tennants battle a development company that is trying to take over property in Brooklyn.  At times it might have got a little heavy handed on the moral play that corporate greed is all consuming, but if you don't let that get  in the way, you might have some fun with this book.

I had heard a great deal about the concept of "Presentation Zen", so in a weak moment I downloaded Presentation Zen: Design to my Kindle.  Definitely not a well written book, but it did share some interesting ideas about how slideshows should or shouldn't be designed.  Methinks I need to send this book to the people who are designing professional development PowerPoints for my district.  There is denfinitely no Zen in those monstrocities.

 I got a slew of new books on Saturday and I am having a hard time deciding what to read first.  The four below went right to the top of my TBR stack.

Happy Reading this week.

Later,

Tony

It's Monday What are You Reading?

Note: Thanks for  Jen and Kellee from Teach Mentor Texts for inspiring many of us to share what we have been reading.  I will try to join the fun as regularly as possible.

 

This past week was a busy week of diving into picture books for me and my class.  In the previous post I shared our little project about predicting the Caldecott Winners.  So I read a bunch of new picture books for me to plan for last weeks Caldecott shares.  I also read two novels, one for myself and one to model my goal of reading more mysteries.

The Game of Their Lives was a fabulous book in my opinion.  Keep in mind though the story of a 1950s soccer match between the USA and England that focuses on the game and the lives of a few of the members of the USA team is definitely my kind of reading.  If you are not really into soccer or adult narrative nonfiction then I would stay away from this book.  I thought the author did a great job of building tension in the game sequences even though the reader already knows what the final outcome is.

A few weeks ago, my class wrote reading goals for the winter and one of mine was to read more mysteries.  I love mysteries, but when I was modeling how to write a few reading goals I noticed a glaring absence of mysteries from the last year or so of my reading life.  Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer helped to fulfill one of my goals and my son recommended it to me.  So I did feel a little pressured to want to enjoy it.  Thankfully I did.  I am not the biggest John Grisham fan, but I did really like the escapades of Theo in this opening book of what I imagine will be a rather big series.  I felt the writing would appeal to most kids and the mystery is edgy enough for middle readers to think it is bigger than "who stole my lunchbox", but it was also not too intense or graphic for ten year-olds.  Theo gets accidentally involved in a murder trial that has rocked his small town.  And he helps to make sure that all the evidence needed to keep the trial legitimate gets to the judge.  About the only thing I didn't like about this story is the case/trial is still lingering at the end.

The picture books shown above were are solid in my opinion.  My favorite was Perfect Square.  I loved it the most because it reminded me of the Eric Carle books my own children devoured when they were younger.  I thought the illustrations were amazing and the simplesness of the story was very endearing.  If you are a primary teacher or have young kids at home, you should definitely check it out.

To be honest, I am not 100% sure of what I will be reading in the next 7 days.  I have a few books at home in my TBR stack.  Though I know I won't get to them all.  And due to the long weekend we are having, I haven't gone into our school library yet to browse for any new picture books.  My "big books" in my stack include:

 I am currently reading the second Theodore Boone book.  The Charlestown Connection was a cheap download to my kindle and it sounds like fun to me.  The Whisper is a current ARC that I have which is a follow up to The Roar.  I really enjoyed reading The Roar, so I hope The Whisper does not disappoint.  Hopefully my son, finishes it soon because when he saw it, he begged to read it before me.  

Happy Reading this week.

Later,

Tony

It's Monday What are You Reading?

Note: Thanks for  Jen and Kellee from Teach Mentor Texts for inspiring many of us to share what we have been reading.  I will try to join the fun as regularly as possible.

 

So this past week was not filled with as much reading as I would have hoped but I did read 3 books that were new to me.  One book clearly not meant for my classroom and two that were shared in our class's exploration of what book might win the Caldecott Medal.

The Breach by Patrick Lee is a ridiculous action/sci-fi/romance/time paradox/how many people can die?/adventure story that I wouldn't recommend unless you are a fan of Dr. Pepper 10 or you just want to waste a few hours reading something that you will not even think of sharing with others.  I fit both categories, so this crazy tale was just what I needed this week.  Complete guilty pleasure reading.

Blue Chicken by Deborah Freedman and Swirl by Swirl by Joyce Sidman and Beth Krommes are both delightful picture books most likely targeted for audiences younger than my 4th graders.  Blue Chicken is a fun read about an illustration whose characters come to life and turn the painting into a complete mess.  The artwork is fantastic and my kiddoes think it is definitely Cadelcott worthy.  Swirl by Swirl is filled with stunning illustration that showase spirals in the world of nature.  The text is poetic, but a little scattered in my opinion.  My class was impressed with the art but did not give it as much love as Blue Chicken.

This coming week I plan on reading a new-to-me picture book as we continue to prognosticate the Cadlecott, two mysteries that come highly recommended by my 11- year- old son, and a Christmas present from my wife.  Plus I am starting to read one of my all time faves as a chapter book read aloud to my class. I am looking forward to them all.

Happy Reading This Week.

Later,

Tony

It's Monday What are You Reading?

I decided to join Jen and Kellee from http://www.teachmentortexts.com/ on this Monday recap/review of what has been read in the week before.

This past week was busy for all of us I imagine.  I didn't read as much as I had planned, but I did manage to finish three novels for middle grade students. All three were gift books from students in my class.

I started the week with TroubleTwisters by Garth Nix and Sean Williams.  I was a little disappointed by this book.  Nix and Williams have created a fast paced fantansy that will appeal to many middle grade readers.  But the dialogue was too predictable and choppy in many places.  

My next read was Vaniushing Acts by Philip Margoilin and Ami Margolin Rome.  This is the first book in what I expect to be a series of middle grade mysteries starring Madison Kincaid.  I thought the book was a fun read.  I think most middle grade students would be able to connect with Madison.  I also like the fact that the mystery(ies) Madison helped to solve were a little more serious than a missing backpack or ipod, but not too intense for 10-12 year olds.

My last read of the week was Framed by Gordon Korman.  I loved this book, just like I loved the other books from this series.  Griffin and the gang are trying to solve another problem, but this time the problem is Griffin has been framed for a crime.  There were several times I laughed out loud.  I just can't believe it took me so long to read this book.  I guess that is what happens when the glass gets hooked on an author.  I think Framed was "checked out" since I put it into the classroom library back in September.  Which is why I am glad I got another copy as a gift last week.

This coming week my family and I are heading out of Central Ohio for a quick vacation, so I will be able to squeeze more reading time in than I usually get.  My backpack and Kindle are loaded up with some children's and adult books.  I hope to be able to read them all.

Later,

Tony

Conversing about Conferring: #cyberPD

The Nudge

My good friend Cathy over at Reflect and Refine graciously bullied me into joining her #cyberPD blog conversation about Patrick Allen's book Conferring: The Keystone of Reader's Workshop.  Maybe bullying isn't the right way to describe how I got the itch to join her group, but here is how I now imagine the sequence.

... late one night trolling through my Twitter feed I spot a tweet that leads me to Cathy's blog.  I read through the post and think "nice idea, but I am a little busy right now.   Then for the next three to four days I hear Cathy's voice in the back of my mind, "C'mon Tony, you should do this with us ... All the cool kids are doing it ...  just read a little, post a comment, ...  AND SUDDENLY I AM 35 PAGES INTO THE BOOK AND TWEETING "CATHY, I'M IN!"

The Thinking While Reading

As I read the first section of Patrick's book, there wasn't much that particularly challenged me, but there were many moments that made me think, "why haven't I considered this yet?" or "thank you very much for reminding me of things I have forgotten."  Some of these moments included:

1) Patrick's question near the beginning of, "What emerges from a conference?"

2) Patrick's repetitive usage of the idea of wisdom.  "What does it take to be a wise reader?"

3) The idea of looking into a classroom and asking, "Would I want my child to be in this room?"

4) The expliciness Patrick uses with his students when he shares why he, as the teacher does something.

5) The idea of being more open to a colleague coming into observe your teaching, or trying to observe a colleague teaching.

I think the main reason the first part of Conferring was more affirmation than anything else was that for quite some time, reader's workshop (specifically the part of the workshop that Patrick would describe as composing time) has been one of the few nonnegotiables in my room.  We read and confer everyday.  Even on the crazy days with assemblies, fire drills or standardized testing.  Thirty to forty minutes of every day in our room is spent on students reading while I am conferring with them.  I honestly wouldn't know what to do if conferring were not present in my reader's workshop.

The Reflecting

I loved Patrick's writing style and since I have met him, I kept hearing his voice as I read.  I loved that Patrick posed "ponderings" all through the book.  It was like Patrick was right there launching a thought grenade into my brain.  Most of these, like Cathy's bullying, made me slow down to consider more deeply the things I need to become stronger at doing.  So after some reflection and some connecting I have decided to dig deep and ...

1) Slow down.  An underlying current in the first three chapters was the idea of taking the time to purposefully build something that will last.  On page 92, Patrick wraps up his ashlar metaphor with the idea of looking at buildings that have stood the test of time compared to building that are falling apart way to soon.  Those that endure are the ones that are built to endure.  In this current era of accountability gone wild, I have been guilty of rushing too quickly in the name of coverage.  I need to slow down.

2) Observe more intently.  Like most good storytellers, Patrick is a master at careful observation.  It was easy to tell that whether he is teaching, conversing with a colleague or listening to his students that Patrick works hard at being there in the moment and observing carefully.  Much of the time I spent reading this book, I was making connections to various other lessons I have learned recently.  And one theme seems to be emerging.  Observe with intention and purpose.

3) Trust the lessons from your mentors.  I have spent the last 3-4 years becoming more immersed in the possibilities of technology.  I love my gadgets, I love infusing tech into the classroom and I think that we, as teachers, are irresponsible if we don't try to incorporate tech into our classrooms.  I have always struggled with the purpose of using certain tools.  Are we giving children a new platform to show what they know or are we doing stupid things that look cool.  Throughout the first 90 pages, many of the people who have influenced Patrick's thinking (Debbie Miller, Katie Wood Ray, Mem Fox, Franki Sibberson, Cris Tovani) have been huge mentors for me as well.  Interestingly enough, none of the works I have read by these authors are filled with blogs, wikis or podcasts.  Their lessons are about helping students become more intentional about the craft of reading and writing.  By no means am I going to shun the use of technology, but I think Patrick's references to all these fabulous teachers subtly reminded me that it is ok to question the use of tech for just the sake of doing something shiny and new.  I need to remember and honor my roots as I push forward.

Thanks Cathy, Jill and Laura for hosting this #cyberPD event.  I look forward to reading posts by other thinkers and the discussions that will emerge from our collective reading.

 

Later, 

Tony