Comments on I Want to Teach Forever: 5 Tips for Building a Quality (non-ELA) Classroom ...

Great suggestions! I like your ideas about choosin...

2008-03-25T12:28:00.000-05:00

Great suggestions! I like your ideas about choosing books, and am restraining myself from listing more great books. For cheap books, don't overlook places like frugalreader.com and the similar Bookmooch site. You can swap your old novels for kids' books.
Another idea for shelving -- the teacher store where I work gives away old fixtures with some degree of regularity. Get yourself on the call-to-donate list at the places where you shop. And younger classrooms will find that they can store lots of picture books face out in trays and boxes, and emergent readers in shoe boxes.
One of my kids' teachers also had an old claw-foot bathtub full of pillows in the reading space. It drew kids like a magnet.

Great suggestions! My students also like nonfictio...

2008-03-20T10:37:00.000-05:00

Great suggestions! My students also like nonfiction books to read. World Records book were also a big hit. Students may also enjoy making voicethreads (www.voicethread) telling about what they read.

Thank you for your recommendations and comments. ...

2008-03-01T16:44:00.000-06:00

Thank you for your recommendations and comments. About 2 years ago I invited you to speak to some very at-risk students at the alternative school I taught at. We had been reading Finding Our Way and the kids couldn't get enough of it, and then you came and did a dramatic reading of one of the stories. It was a high point for both my students and I.

Actually, I was thinking about trying a graphic novel with my students, such as Persepolis or Maus.

Mr. D: though I'm more a Reading Workshop and ...

2008-02-29T22:16:00.000-06:00

Mr. D: though I'm more a Reading Workshop and Read-Aloud (ala Atwell and Trelease, respectively), I so appreciate your insight and passion on getting reading done in the Valley classrooms, composed of a community of particular interest to me. I've seen the importance of introducing non- and reluctant readers to this falling in love again with reading or for the first time by way of culturally relevant literature. And though I'm sure you've got this list yourself, I'll add a few more authors and titles to your local literature: David Rice (GIVE THE PIG A CHANCE, CRAZY LOCO), Anne Estevis (DOWN GARRAPATA ROAD), Xavier Garza (CREEPY CREATURES AND OTHER CUCUYS, LUCHA LIBRE: THE MAN IN THE SILVER MASK, JUAN AND THE CHUPACABRA), Viola Canales (ORANGE CANDY SLICES). And my own third book, THE WHOLE SKY FULL OF STARS. Interestingly enough, these writers are all writing specifically for the younger market. The literary history in the Valley goes a long long way. Read HECHO EN TEJAS, an anthology of Texas Mexican writings dating back to the 1500s, edited by Dagoberto Gilb. Or hang out with Dr. Rob Johnson over at UT-PA, who teaches a South Texas Literature class at both the undergrad and grad levels. Or find him at the old B&N every so often, and he'd be more than happy, I'm sure, to chat about the topic.