No Power in CT but Loads of Electric Moments

Maybe I'm ready to retire from reality, because this posting somehow manages to tie together a novel reading experience with the Great Pumpkin Storm of 2011.

Like so many families in Connecticut, I found myself up most of last Saturday night into Sunday morning, held hostage by the periodic sounds of loud cracking followed by thunderous BOOMS as limb after limb crashed around my property. My family and I went 5 days without precious electricity and despite the loss of power, I had a ball. It wasn't all perfect by any means, but it wasn't terrible -not even close. I saw and got to be a part of many small and sizable gestures of kindness. I also got to experience a new form of reading.

But first, a small side-trek into how our family got through the storm and its aftermath.

Somewhere under the greenery and limbs is my home.

There was something very pleasing, to this guy at least, with having to confront the moment at hand and not worry about work schedules, traffic, the kids' soccer games, and other modern obligations. Without power, we had to scramble for heat, lighting, and preservation of food. We packed items in coolers using the snow, relied on a Napoleon stove and our fireplace for heating and cooking, and used a mish-mosh of candles and rechargeable lanterns for lighting. I love challenges like these. We lost very little food and managed to eat some great meals cooked by grill, heating stove, and fireplace during the week. We're still talking about the potatoes baked in the coals of the fire Our family of five, spent nights on the main floor tending to things, staying warm, and mostly getting along. We even told spooky stories on Halloween. 

It took 3 days to clear all the debris about the house and this happened with the help of our kindly, chainsaw-wielding neighbors. (In my dreams, the neighbors usually chase me with these, but this past week they seemed content focusing their attacks on the downed limbs.) My family and I returned the favor to others when we could and most days flew by as each task needing doing got done.

Survival moments aside, there were opportunities to read and see books, because part of most days were spent walking to Barnes and Noble in town. The primary goal was to recharge our electrical items. The second goal soon became one of sharing stories with neighbors and friends, who happened into the store for similar reasons. When those two missions were finished I was freed to explore books. Trapped in a bookstore for a week? That's the stuff of dreams for a reading teacher! While I perused many books, one experience really floored me.

We'd dragged our laptops, iTouches, Kindles, and iPad to the store planning to take advantage of the free Wi-Fi. At one point, when I was tired of roaming and chatting I decided to see what free reading materials I could pull down onto our iPad. I've loved stories told with pictures since I was a child and soon found myself exploring a site that offers loads of free comics. The comics on this site are specifically fitted to an iPad window and look great.

Zeroed in on one part of a full panel.

Now, if all the website/app did was display hi-resolution images of individual comic pages, I'd still enjoy it but would hardly have felt compelled to share the experience. Where things changed for me was when it was suggested by the app that I double-tap an individual frame on the comic book page. 

Doing this proved eye-opening. 

I sat stunned as the rest of the page disappeared and -like a camera zeroing in on one face in a crowd- the single panel of art and words became the focus. Incredible! 

I can sometimes turn to skimming when I read a lot in one sitting. Comic books are especially easy to do this with. I focus on the words but use the images to skip along at points. This new format of delivery the story stopped all that, instantly. I was memorized and spent extra time and attention on the word flow and artwork. I should probably add that it made me feel like a kid again.

a less dynamic full page of art and story

It's difficult to explain, in print, how dramatic an effect this had on reading the story. The best I can offer as comparison is to think of any news/magazine or documentary show on TV you've watched where still photos are shown very close to the screen and a camera pans slowly to different parts of it as narration unfolds. That was how this went on the iPad each time I read, then tapped, a panel. And, the camera movement wasn't always simply from one panel to the next. Sometimes the top of a large panel was the focus then -tap- the bottom of the same panel was panned to. Or, a small section of a character's face would be the lone focus before panning back to reveal the entire face and body. In one instance, the speed at which the panning happened was accelerated to underscore the moment a punch landed. 

So, for this slightly daft Nutmegger- the Great Pumpkin Storm was one I'll look back at fondly.

If you own an iPad, and are even vaguely interested in experiencing this reading approach for yourself, then head over to ComiXology, download the app, and explore some free comics.

A Call to Arms (full of books)

A Call to Arms
(full of books)

I worked for several years in granite fabrication -this when I was much younger and better suited to the cold and heavy work. I get shivers just thinking about the water jets in mid-winter now. My time as a fabricator was fairly typical: I gawked at the many large machines, endless rows of granite slabs and half-formed mantles or tables, and wondered. "How will I ever learn this stuff?" 

As noted, my developed was not particularly unique. I learned my way around the workshop through watching more experienced men at work, asking questions, and practicing. There was a great deal of on the job practice and on demand performance, and I quickly learned not only about the machines, templates, and time frames for projects, but about the many materials I was asked to use. 

Marbles are far softer to granite, for example; and some marbles are particularly difficult to handle in wide spans as they have soft, fault lines in them. I learned which granites needed a heavy hand to make shine and which to avoid any contact with oils. Eventually, I knew much about the pluses, minuses, and plain oddities to the many materials I was expected to work with; and, having shown some semblance of mastery with them, I was allowed to complete large projects independently as well as form works on my own that I thought might turn a profit for the company.

So, how does this possibly connect with school and Language Arts? 

Simple.

No reader's & writer's workshop can be said to be complete without having a healthy, ever changing, classroom library. Classroom books are the marbles and granites of a workshop model. Books are the necessary material  for students to study the Language Arts craft and complete their own projects. The young and developing minds that amble, hop, saunter, and race into a room dedicated to learning the crafts of reading and writing in a workshop setting must see, read, and practice with as many books as possible -books, which are in reach, and not down the hall in stacked rows awaiting discovery. (If you're so interested, you may want to read a piece I wrote about turning our school library inside-out. School Libraries: The Blockbuster of Today?)

We need books, armfuls of books, today! If you have any reading materials that you're confident will not feel the warm embrace of curious minds and eager fingers anytime soon, then please put them in a bag and drop them off in the school office. Don't think that any book is too damaged, or easy, or difficult, because in a workshop classroom the breadth of desires to explore and levels of reading abilities is vast. Books as low as third grade are as welcome as are those for early high school. I am more than happy to sift through stacks and stacks of your donated books to see they get into the right classrooms for students. If something is deemed too hard or too low, it will find a place in another school. I promise. (I'm clutching a nearby book to my heart as I type this, the universal oath of a Reader.)

This is my call to arms (full of books, please.).

 

Workbooks -Worth the Time or Time Wasting?

Arghhh...technology!

I'd written a -well I thought it was- sound composition on the merits and pitfalls of using reading comprehension workbooks with your child over the summer, but thanks to a slip of the finger and the autosave feature on Blogger I've nothing left of it for you to read. 

Hmmm....maybe this is to your benefit, as it was long and most of us are pressed for time. Being too lazy this fine Saturday afternoon to recollect my thoughts, I present a list of reading comprehension workbooks you may want to use this summer. Each has a picture and a thumbnail review. While I'd rather see your child reading from authentic literature each day, there is a place for reading shorter, controlled, passages and responding to comprehension questions during a period of the year when so little focused reading and thinking often occurs -what with swimming to do, sports, travel, video games to master...

a challenge but above average

Reading Detective: Using Higher Order Thinking to Improve Comprehension by Cheryl Block (Author), Carrie Beckwith (Author), Margaret Hockett (Author), David White (Author), Susan Giacometti (Illustrator)

I've used this workbook on and off over the years and I like it. The book, as the title suggests, shoots to develop higher end thinking. It does have some straight-forward questions too. There are numerous excerpts from well-known authentic books like Island of the Blue Dolphins and The Witch of Blackbird Pond. There are also original pieces, which vary in terms of student interest. It's not perfect, however, as there are no attempts to collect materials under a theme and there's no attempt to incorporate useful graphic organizers. This workbook is also the priciest of the lot, but I would recommend it in tandem with some of the better liked workbooks below.

more of a companion, workbook

Kumon Reading Workbook Grade 6 Reading by Kumon Publishing

The cheapest of the bunch and that so often means it’s synonymous with poor quality. It’s not wholly true here as I liked much of what was in this workbook. Most of the passages are of quality and interest. I’m a fan of theme related articles that have different written forms and the writing was generally good. My knock on this book is that, like many workbooks aimed at parents, it tries to provide everything without developing enough well. Their idea is that certain skills are learned first and lead into the next, more challenging it’s presumed, skills until the reader is a dynamo by the end of the workbook. Well, that’s simply not reality. I can see this appealing to kids and the price (6.95 on Amazon) is solid, but I’m not sure it’s enough on its own.

Steck-Vaughn Core Skills: Reading Comprehension: Grade 6 by author Resnick

take a pass on this one

This was one I thumbed through in a local book store and ended up putting back on the rack. The articles were not terribly appealing and there seemed to be a shotgun method to assembling them. There weren’t examples of fiction and non-fiction articles related by theme, for example. The workbook also tried to hit at least once on every type of skill: main idea, inferring meaning, using context, etc. This gave it a diluted feel and would most likely not be of much benefit to a developing mind. I’d pass on this one.

 

Spectrum Reading: Grade 6 by Spectrum Publishing

easier fare and serviceable

I’ve used this item in class a few times. It’s important to know that it’s targeted for students ages 9-12, which is appropriate considering idea behind it is to help struggling readers. I like the variety of materials in this workbook. There are fiction and non-fiction articles ranging from recipes to science experiments. There are also often 4-6 articles at a time related by theme, bees and finance as examples. The writing is highly-controlled, again good for a student who struggles, but not so good for someone looking for authentic reading. Questions that follow each chapter tend toward the literal which disappoints me. I often had to add another layer of questions myself for deeper meaning. This is decent, but not something to run out and snap up. If you want something you can more or less give to a child to work on independently, then this could suit your needs.   

 

a firm buy, small reservations

Paired Passages: Linking Fact to Fiction Grade 6 by Ruth Foster

In all, I like this workbook.  As the title notes, there are two passages paired together each time. One is fiction and the other is non-fiction. After reading both, there are multiple choice questions hitting on each separately and both taken together as in what does each article share and how do they differ. I mainly appreciate the use of graphic organizers throughout and the fact that any part of the book can be read, it's not sequential. Most articles are interesting too, like the one on why most castles in Ireland have uneven steps. The aim, as the author, notes is to improve standardized test taking, which is one detractor for me. Not that I don't want student scores to improve but this means the collection of articles are not excerpted from authentic sources. There were also no examples of poetry, which is used in many standardized tests. While, by comparison, this book is the priciest option, it’s still a recommended buy.

IF you happen to buy and use these something, possible this very summer, I'd love to know what you think.

 

Kindles Can Do

     After a period of considering and testing several other portable reading platforms, I ended up exactly where I had originally planned when applying for a grant to fund eReaders for my young readers. After buying and trying the Nook, the result is we've become a Kindle-toting classroom.
     After the perfunctory introduction to all the little buttons and tasks a Kindle can perform, the students have settled into reading from them as they would any other print -albeit with a few positive wrinkles.

* We all have a voice: Kindles offer a voice-assisted reading program, which when activated  translates displayed text into audio. Several students make regular use of this feature and appear to enjoy it. Personally, I find the computer-assisted reading feature off-putting, but that's me.
* Swiss-knife eReading: Many students have been interacting well with their Kindles by making use of the ever-present dictionary. When they discover a word that confuses them during read, they can move a cursor to a spot just before the word and then glance to the bottom of the viewing window. There they will find a suggested word meaning in a slim pop-up window. This is one of the least intrusive ways I've seen for learning about challenging word and I like it a lot. The Kindle is like a Swiss-knife reading unit in this way because it has all you need, and more, packed into a portable package.

* Chocolate Sampler: The students have explored almost 25 books in only a few classes using their Kindles. The ability to download a sample for almost any new book has been awesome, because while my room is filled with books, which students can easily examine, I couldn't possibly fund bringing in all the latest books for review. The Kindle can and, unlike a laptop, presents all of this in one easy-to-survey glance. Students have poked their minds into many books samples to date such as Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen, Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies by Erin Dionne, and Sharks by Peter Benchley -none of which I have in my room in hard copy. Of these three titles, I've ordered the latter two because interest in them has been significant. Sadly, and maybe only for the moment, Paulsen's Woods Runner is not in demand. His book, apparently, is the butter creme of the bunch for this discerning group of readers.
* Making the Most Cents: Another powerful aspect of having Kindles has been the number of copies I have been able to bring into it with a simple click of a button. When I noticed the book Boost was a hit with students in other classrooms, I made that my first Kindle purchase. It cost 9.99, which seems fair, at first, and then quickly became a steal of a deal when I transferred 5 more copies of the book at no additional cost to four other Kindles. (Most ebooks allow for 5-10 copies to be used at a time from one an account.) So, the real math worked out to less that two bucks a book, which makes the most (sorry) cents to anyone running a classroom and promoting reading. I now have about half my students reading Boost and being in a position to share their reading experience. Thus, for 10 bucks I have 5 happy readers. Excellent stuff!

     It's not all been perfect in this early going. Because I have ebooks spread unequally across several Kindles and far more students than Kindles, I've had to track which person is reading from which Kindle. Then everyone has had to learn the art of recording a location number to find their place for when they return to their book a few days later. Also, while the American and Oxford dictionaries are excellent sources for finding definitions, many continue to be too difficult for the younger audience. I wish there was an intermediate version available for installation. I'd happily pay for those to be on each Kindle. Still, these are minor nuisances when compared to how well they're enjoyed in the classroom.

     Maybe your child has come home asking about one already? I will say that -if you can swing it financially- it worth buying one. And, there's a chance Kindles will drop to 99 dollars by the summer as that seems to be a good price point to sell even more.