A Must Read in Children’s Literature

Barbara O’Connor’s (@barbaraoconnor) novel, How to Steal a Dog, is a memorable story of a homeless girl and the people and dog she meets on her way to finding a home.

Georgina Hayes is a young girl who has to face big people problems when she, her mama, and her brother are kicked out of their apartment after her father abandons them. Living in a beat up old Chevy is no way for her family to live, but her mother is doing the best she can to provide for all of them. It’s no fun going to school dirty and disheveled, missing out on ballet classes and girl scouts, being abandoned your best friend. It’s even less fun trying to pretend that everything is alright when Georgina realizes that things are definitely not alright. After noticing a missing dog sign in the area where she lives, Georgina gets the idea to steal a dog so that she can collect the reward money. Her plan seems to be going well until her conscientious begins to get the best of her – her conscientious and the words of wisdom from Mookie, a bum who travels through the area leaving “a good trail behind him.”

Barbara O’Connor has a knack for creating characters and storylines that make a reader think and wonder, “What would I do in this situation?” This is a great book to teach “Words of the Wiser” and “Again and Again,” if teaching the Notice and Note signposts for fiction. It’s also a great choice for social issues book clubs.

What good children’s books have you read lately?

Dedicating Yourself to Your Craft

I just watched a segment on 60 Minutes about Bruno Mars  as a lead up to the Grammy Awards. During the interview, he told Lara Logan about the hard knocks, hard times, and hard work it took to get where he is today – Grammy winner, Super Bowl halftime performer, stunning entertainer.  None of this came easy to him. As he was explaining how he wrote 24K Magic, Lara was amazed at his process. Writing, rewriting, working on one instrumental part, adding in another, and then adding the “secret sauce.” None of this was done in isolation; he has surrounded himself with a team of people who understand his vision.

As Lara expressed her fascination with the work he puts into his songwriting, he said, “Well, yeah.  It’s dedicating yourself to your craft.”  Wow. That sentence sounds so simple, yet it is so profound.  When we dedicate ourselves to our craft, whatever that craft might be, we learn that it requires being willing to put in long hours, searching for a better way to do the work we do, and collaborating with others who will push us to our outer limits.  It means there will be times when we make mistakes, and we learn how  to recognize those mistakes as a catapult to something better, not as an anchor to defeat.

What have you done recently that shows you dedicate yourself to your craft? What mistakes have you made that lead to something better? Who have you surrounded yourself with to help you along the way to greatness?

Unsubscribing

Image from http://frugalandthriving.com.au/2016/decluttering-for-busy-people/

Over the past week, I’ve been unsubscribing to email notifications. Each day I get at least ten emails that serve no purpose other than to remind me that I used my email address to sign up for something a long time again – hotel points, on-line courses, home products.  You get the picture.  I read recently that one decluttering technique for your home is to hold something in your hand and decide, “Does this bring me joy?” If it doesn’t bring you joy, you get rid of it.  If it does, you keep it.  The same is true for email subscriptions because, to me, words are just as real as objects.  

I realized the process of unsubscribing to email was a way to declutter my life.  As I was doing it, I realized there was a life lesson hidden in there as well.  If I can choose to unsubscribe to email that doesn’t serve me well, I can “unsubscribe” to messages in my head that don’t serve me well.  The job of instructional coach sets us up for both joy and criticism because, let’s face it, the job is all about change – change in practice, change in thinking, change in resources, change in beliefs. Instructional coaches aren’t hired to promote the status quo.

Change is hard. Not everyone is going to be happy and embrace those changes, so there will be resistance and negativity. That’s a natural part of the change process.  I will be understanding and empathetic, and find a way to meet people where they are, and I will subscribe to and revisit the moments that bring joy.

Above All, We Must Have Trust

Today was a day to get some decluttering done at my house.  I had been ignoring that task the past few weeks.  Let’s face it, anyone would rather hang out with friends and family, bake, shop, and decorate as opposed to clean and declutter, right?  Well, now that Christmas day is over and New Year’s Day looms in the not-too-distant future, today was THE day to clean up, clear out, and pitch the stuff that has been piling up this past month.

As I was clearing off a side table, I found a stack of birthday cards.  I’m (a little) embarrassed to say that they’ve been there since my birthday in early November.  Oh, I haven’t completely ignored cleaning my house since then – honest.  I’ve given the housework “a lick and a promise,” as my mom always said. I’m glad I kept these cards because after looking at them and reading them once again, I was reminded of all the friends and loved ones I have in my life.  People who care.  People who support me.  People who share a history, and those who are helping me create new memories.

What does any of this have to do with teaching, learning, and/or coaching?  Well, everything.  As an educator, nothing happens with children or colleagues without first establishing trusting relationships.  Teaching and learning is very personal, so those with whom we work must be trusted.  One of the most special cards I reread today is from my husband of 28 years.  He wrote, “I’m so very thankful to have had such a wonderful, loving, caring person to travel [through life] with.”  Isn’t that what we all want – to have someone to travel through life with who will care for us and help us as we navigate the complexities of teaching and learning?  Don’t all of us need someone who will celebrate the ups and also lift us up during the down times because, let’s face it, there will be down times when you are an educator.  This career we’ve chosen is not as perfect as those on the outside looking in seem to think.  (“It must be nice to work 8:30 – 3:00 and have your entire summer off.”  Yeah, right.  If only.)

As this calendar year ends and we prepare to ring in the new, take a moment to think about all those who have helped you along the way.  Those you’ve trusted and those who have supported you through the thick and thin of teaching and learning.  After all, no one survives this work without first establishing trusting and honest relationships with the people around us.

Happy New Year and Blessings to all!

 

Help Along the Way

As I read more and more children’s literature, I realize how important it is to share a love of reading with children.  If we cannot get kids to want to read and enjoy reading, how will they ever learn the lessons that characters in great books teach us?  As I finished reading Ida B. …and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and Possibly Save the World? by Katherine Hannigan, I realized how much Ida B. could help someone grappling with the sudden news that someone they love (or even theirself) has been diagnosed with a terminal or chronic illness.  Ida B. Applewood tries to handle the life-changing news of her mother’s diagnosis with cancer alone, but, eventually, she realizes that shutting out the rest of the world was only harming herself, not helping her.  None of us are expected to get through life without leaning on the love, understanding, and wisdom of those around us.  That made me think about my own life.

As I was going through the pile of “junk” mail that had accrued over the past week, I found a letter from a therapist I was seeing to help me navigate my own chronic illness.  I sought her assistance after a friend who has also struggled with chronic illness suggested I do so.  I must admit, at first I was very anxious about opening up to someone I didn’t know.  It didn’t take me long to realize, however, that it was nice to have an empathetic and understanding ear to listen as I asked some tough questions that had no easy answers.  During my time with her, I learned how to find the answers I needed through reading, reflection, meditation, and exercise.  She did not give me the answers, but instead, she helped me find the answers.  In the final line of the letter she recently sent, she wrote, “I hope you continue to find solutions to your concerns and wish you all the best.”

That is exactly what we can do for each other and what characters in books can do for us and the children we teach – help find solutions to our concerns so we can get on with the “best” that life has to offer.

Wish – More Great Children’s Literature

I recently finished reading Wish by Barbara O’Connor.  During this time of year when friends and family gather to give thanks for all of our blessings, it is fitting that I have been immersed in this example of wonderful children’s literature.

Wish by Barbara O’Connor

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Four leaf clovers, yellow freight cars, three birds on a wire, and loose eyelashes – all of these have been vehicles for Charlie Reese’s wish. When she goes to live with her aunt and uncle in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, the sad, sorry buildings and “squirrel-eating hillbillies” in her new community begin to take on a new look after she adopts a stray dog and makes friends with Howard Odams and his family. She realizes that wishes can come true, if you take the time to see all of the blessings life has bestowed upon you.

For anyone teaching the Notice and Note signposts, this would be a terrific instructional read aloud. There are many examples of Words of the Wiser, A-ha Moments, Memory Moments, Again and Again, and Tough Questions.

View all my reviews

Getting Acquainted with Children’s Literature

In my job as an instructional coach, I have been working hard to get to know characteristics of various levels of children’s literature.  To do this, I’ve read and studied the work of Jennifer Serravallo (@JSerrivallo)  along with others who are influenced by all of the great work that happens at Teachers College.  Reading ABOUT children’s literature is good, but actually reading children’s literature is GREAT!  I recently finished the book Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere by Julie T. Lamana.  I am compelled to share this in my blog because it was a fantastic book of bravery and resiliency in the midst of unbelievable tragedy.  It is a book that made me feel a range of emotions – joy, fear, compassion, anger, and sadness. When I found myself crying at the end, I knew this was a book that would change me as a reader and a person.  Here is my review from @Goodreads and the reasons why I gave it 5 out of 5 stars.

Armani Curtis never dreamed that she would grow up instantly the day she turned ten years old. Then again, she never dreamed her home in the city of New Orleans would be wiped off the map by Hurricane Katrina. As Armani and her family try to survive, Armani realizes that help can come from the most unlikely people. She also realizes that some promises live on long after the one who made the promise is gone and forgiveness is possible in all situations – even situations where you find yourself upside down in the middle of nowhere.

Five stars for Julie T. Lamana’s first novel. For teachers interested in using this book as a classroom instructional read aloud, you will find examples of all of the Notice and Note signposts for literature sprinkled throughout this book along with symbolism, and foreshadowing. It would be a great book for character development, author’s craft, theme, and, of course, how the setting affects a character. It would pair perfectly with an informational nonfiction book about Hurricane Katrina to show the personal and emotional devastation that resulted from this historical event.

What good children’s literature have you read lately?