What I'm Reading - June 2017
What I've Read
Evil at Heart (Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell, #3) by Chelsea Cain
This psychological thriller series is hard to put down. The flawed characters, plot twists, and Portland, OR setting make for an engaging read.
Walking Trees: Portraits of Teachers and Children in the Culture of Schools by Ralph Fletcher
Very few books take an unfiltered look into the reality of schools and leaders making efforts to improve education. Fletcher's memoir is funny, honest and, at times, tragic.
Near the end of this book, as the two main characters (teacher, student) realized that no good resolution was going to come from their situation, I thought about Wayne Dyer's precept from Wonder by R.J. Palacio:
"When given the choice between being right and being kind, choose kind."
I was introduced to this book by a thoughtful middle-level English teacher. She was guiding the students to think deeply about rights vs. responsibilities in a democracy. I would have enjoyed being a student in her class! Nothing But the Truth is a strong text for facilitating smart discussions.
Bold Moves for Schools: How We Create Remarkable Learning Environments by Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Marie Hubley Alcock
This book provides an essential vision and pathway for what schools should strive to become in this century.
Not Quite Narwhal by Jessie Sima
Wow, what a perfect book for helping kids (and adults?) understand that not everyone fits into a simple category. Definitely a text that could precede a conversation on empathy, gender, and/or acceptance.
Bob, Not Bob!: *to be read as though you have the worst cold ever by Liz Garton Scanlon, Audrey Vernick, Matthew Cordell (illustrator)
You must read this aloud as if you have a cold. It's a picture book that begs to be shared with others. I'm sure kids will clamor to reread the text and emulate the funny dialogue that leads to a satisfying ending.
Truck: A Love Story by Michael Perry
A great follow-up to the author's first memoir on small town life. If Population: 485 told the story of New Auburn, WI through the eyes of Michael Perry, then Truck: A Love Story shares the story of Michael Perry through the collective lens of his northern Wisconsin township. Perry provides more humor and self-deprecation as he provides a close examination of his two parallel endeavors: fixing up an old truck that's been sitting in his yard and finally finding his partner in life.
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield
In a funk with your creative work? Pick up Pressfield's short guide to battling your artistic block. He personifies all of our excuses reasons for not pursuing our passion projects as "The Resistance". How we attack this common occurrence is the topic of this practical resource.
It's Not About the Coffee: Leadership Principles from a Life at Starbucks by Howard Behar
This short memoir is focused on one thing: When it comes to running an organization, it's about the people. Whether we sell coffee or any other service or product, our priority should be the people we serve and those we serve with. Behar restates this philosophy a hundred different ways, which can be either affirming or redundant for the reader. For me, I appreciated hearing from a business leader that advocates for people over product, especially in today's world.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4) by J.K. Rowling, Mary GrandPré (Illustrator)
Just finished reading this to my son. It's my second time reading it. All I can say is: wow, what a story. J.R.R. Tolkien and George R.R. Martin have nothing on J.K. Rowling. If you've only seen the movie, do yourself a favor and read the book. Read the whole series. Rowling gives us some of the best writing of our times.
What I'm Reading
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
From the Goodreads summary:
They carried malaria tablets, love letters, 28-pound mine detectors, dope, illustrated bibles, each other. And if they made it home alive, they carried unrelenting images of a nightmarish war that history is only beginning to absorb. Since its first publication, The Things They Carried has become an unparalleled Vietnam testament, a classic work of American literature, and a profound study of men at war that illuminates the capacity, and the limits, of the human heart and soul.
The Things They Carried depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and the character Tim O’Brien, who has survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three.
Rethinking Rubrics in Writing Instruction by Maja Wilson
From the Goodreads summary:
Though you may sense a disconnect between student-centered teaching and rubric-based assessment, you may still use rubrics for convenience or for want of better alternatives. Rethinking Rubrics in Writing Assessment gives you the impetus to make a change, demonstrating how rubrics can hurt kids and replace professional decision making with an inauthentic pigeonholing that stamps standardization onto a notably nonstandard process. With an emphasis on thoughtful planning and teaching, Wilson shows you how to reconsider writing assessment so that it aligns more closely with high-quality instruction and avoids the potentially damaging effects of rubrics.
What I Plan to Read Next
Magic and Loss: The Internet as Art by Virginia Heffernan
Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Janesville: An American Story by Amy Goldstein
Thinking About Assessment…
My son's first swim meet was tonight. After his five events, he told me he wanted to get to practice tomorrow for two reasons: to see how he and his teammates did and to swim some more.
The best assessments create a desire to want to improve and learn more. I post my books here not to show what I know, but because it's important for me to go back over my reading list, see what I've read, and make plans to read for the future. Maybe someone will comment on what I've read, share their response to the same text, and offer another title that relates to this book. Maybe I'll do the same.
I think you can learn a lot about someone by looking at what they read. If I were to look at my list from the outside and not as myself, I might think:
• This guy reads a lot.
• He either has kids or works with kids.
• If he reads a nonfiction text, he is likely to pick up fiction next.
• Learning for life is important to him.
This reading list and my responses to the books I read offer a lot of information about who I am as a reader. A teacher would not need to give me a multiple choice quiz to assess whether I comprehended the texts or not. It's as clear as day in my brief reactions. Maybe a more important assessment point is the fact that I am currently reading and that I have books that I want to read next. Seems important to me anyway.
In one of the books I am currently reading, Rethinking Rubrics in Writing Instruction, Maja Wilson offers a convincing argument about how traditional assessment practices can impact our instruction. It's one of the best educational resources I've read. There are many memorable lines, and I'll share one here I feel is pertinent.
Encouraged by the performance levels on the rubric to rank students against an external standard, our readings of student work are based firmly in a deficit model. We look for mistakes, inconsistencies, and unclear thinking to justify which square in the matrix we will circle. (pg. 30)
Assessment in literacy should have no room for competition. There are no winners, no losers. Reading and writing should be a community experience. We celebrate our friends' successes and help them improve in areas of growth. In a classroom that promotes connectedness and democracy, our peers' strengths are to our benefit. My reading list is evidence of my life as a reader, as well as a member of a community of readers.