What Glastonbury Teachers are Reading the Summer of 2010

     Most of the Language Arts and Reading Teachers in Glastonbury are reading Donalyn Miller’s work The Book Whisperer. The book is intended for educators, and while not entirely accessible to those outside of the educational field, its message is laced well enough throughout the work as to be understood by anyone. Miller’s contention is that children become excellent readers by reading, reading a lot. This comes across, in print at least, as too plain of a claim to possibly be accurate, but it is the bare bones of her argument.
Miller explains that reading in her classroom occurs daily for as many hours as she can squeeze in. Students are surrounded literally by thousands of books and have the goal of reading 40 books before the school year is complete. They are given freedom to make book selections within specified genres, and Miller works to see that the student study each genre to learn about which ones speak to them best. Miller holds herself to similar standards during the process. She reads with the children, takes their recommendations, and shares her development as a reader.
     It was difficult to not nod in agreement regarding much of what she holds true about inspiring students to become phenomenal readers. Choice is very important. She points out that many adults can point to several books they had to read in school and disliked immensely. A teacher that reads with his or her students unequivocally demonstrates the importance of the act. It’s not do as a say, it’s do as I do.

Here are some other key points, without the details, which she makes:

· reading should be uninterrupted for longer durations of time

· adult and peers recommendations are critical to finding books that speak to us

· classroom libraries are important and should be as large as possible

· quitting a book is okay as it reflects adult practices

· whole class novels are well-meaning but often counterproductive

· time taken from reading is to be careful considered for its comparative value

· students rarely read at home despite appearances

     I love to read. I read every single day for at least an hour. I find myself making connections between books, the news, movies, and personal experiences often and easily because of my continual reading. There’s no doubt in my mind that heavy readers succeed far more than fail in school or out of school. Miller’s book was therefore pretty much up my alley.
     I do hold a few reservations about her book. A few. I did not feel Miller did enough to explain the instructional activities that occur in her classroom over the course of a school year. She touched on a great deal without providing specific examples. Explanations about writing instruction and practice seemed to be lacking too. I also didn’t see much in the way of how she might work with her lowest students. Again, she merely touched on this.
     Despite these small qualms, Miller’s book is testament to what it means to be a reader. Reading goes well beyond standardized tests and letter grades. And, by the way, Miller points out repeatedly that her students “ace the standardized test” given to all Texas 6th grade students. Read and be rewarded.

Tisk, Tisk, to Both of Us.

I cannot help myself. I don't really want to note the problems with an alphabet puzzle meant to entertain toddlers but, as a well-known philosopher often said, "I y'am what I y'am."  (Hmmm...so Popeye is not a philosopher, but he is well known.)

I'm unsure how the puzzle pictured above came into our home, but I'm the first to admit that I'm disappointed I let it remain in my house all these years. The puzzle is a Melisa & Doug creation and it's quite likely you own or have owned one of their many products. To be clear, I think the company (duo?) produces many fine educational toys, but with this one, they failed.

Well, what's wrong with it, you may wonder? It looks like a rather nice alphabet puzzle all things considered. It's colorful, made of fine, solid, wood, and quite picturesque. All true, but that's not what has me thinking tisk, tisk to both myself and the designers.

To begin, the letter E rankles me. No, I have nothing against elephants. (Does anyone?) I'm bothered by the use of the word "elephant" to teach the sound of the letter E. The word "elephant" does not allow for the discrete, clear, pronunciation of the short sound for E. What we say, and what a child mostly hears, when the word "elephant" is spoken is an L sound. Most children will certainly hear and see the letter E in many other words as they learn language, but for some even one instance such as this can cause problems. Better choices are words such as "egg" and "Eskimo." Of course, drawing any of these along the shape of the letter E is not necessarily easy. Still, is it that hard to paint a dozen eggs instead? Or an Eskimo with his body making the vertical line, his sled as the bottom horizontal line, an outstretched hand as the middle horizontal line, and maybe a cloud, some wind, or a sun as the top vertical line? If they can squish a picture of a kangaroo into the letter K and have two monkeys (holding hands?) for the letter M, then they can come up with alternatives to an elephant! Okay, I need to calm down right? It's only one letter. Oh but no. That's not true at all.

Not even two spots away sits the letter G...I think. The picture for this letter is a globe. The hard G sound is most appropriate. So no real issues for me there. However, the picture itself is baffling. A ruler of some measure (longitude? latitude?) is wrapped around the globe, and it is nearly impossible to discern from the globe. The end result is a blue and green circle better representative of a football helmet in shape than the letter G. To quote the lingo of today's youth I say, "EPIC FAILURE!" (My 5-year-old generally calls it a G. He knows G follows F because he can sing the alphabet but it doesn't stop him from saying it in a questioning voice after having paused a few seconds. It's a very troubling two seconds in both our lives.)

Hey, I can hear pleas for reason among many of you. 24 out of 26 isn't all that terrible, you say. That's 92% you rightly point out. Maybe, maaaaybe I could meet you half-way on this matter because anything above 90% just seems so credible. Sigh (and tisk, tisk Melisa & Doug) even this benchmark is not met. Enter the letter I.

The letter I is a picture of ice cream on a cone. Lovely...if you're being offered it, and as far from a treat as one can imagine if it's supposed to help a little one learn the short sound of the letter I. Every time I see that "ice cream" I scream, "What were they thinking?" The long sound of any vowel is (pardon my dessert focused mind) a piece of cake (not ice cream). One simply tells a child that all long vowel sounds say their name. So, the direct instruction, from a parent or teacher, is really set to teaching children the short vowel sounds. The letter I should have been pictured by something like an impala, or an insect, or a nice igloo to go with my Eskimo. Better yet, let's roll with an iguana! An iguana is both cool looking and rhymes with Lagana. (Hmmm...I suppose the marketing department for Melisa & Doug might balk at this particular pitch. How many Laganas are in the market for a puzzle board?)

I'm not done with Melisa & Doug and their poorly designed letter I just yet. The shape is totally unacceptable. Where's the dot over the body of the letter? Oh right, we can't have a picture with a single scoop of ice cream floating over a cone because that would be bad for a child to see. Well then, if it's supposed to be a capital letter then where are the little horizontal line thingies at the top and bottom? Apparently a picture fitting to the shape of an upper case I is beyond the creative talents of this company.

So, to the optimists I now present an updated score. The correct tally is now 23 of 26 letters, which is 88%. That's a B, and in teacher parlance not quite head-of-the-class when it comes to alphabet puzzles. You'd "B" wise to avoid this Melisa & Doug product.

Before I dismiss class and hop down from my beleaguered soapbox, let me share a better wooden alphabet puzzle. The one on the bottom is far superior and far less likely to have me in fits. I love the upper and lower case letters near one another. I also like, very much, that the letters are solid colors with pictures below. And wouldn't you know, it's another Melisa & Doug puzzle. A little redemption for them, eh?

Tisk, tisk. I've really no one but myself to blame for holding onto the first puzzle to begin with.