What are We Reading Today?

I recently read a blog posting by Gary Anderson, "What Students Read When They Can Read Anything" and I eagerly read through the list to find new titles. That's what readers do -- look for that next book, and the one after that.

I knew I wanted to have my students list their current books, and a perfect opportunity arose when my friend and fellow Oklahoma Writing Project Teacher Consultant, Jason Stephenson, visited our class last week. I wanted Jason to have a souvenir of our visit, and I wanted my students to feel likethey were contributing to his visit.

So, we started a "Today I'm Reading" list first hour, and students contributed to it all day. I know we didn't catch everyone, but this is a very typical representation of what happens in my classroom.

My students have complete free choice with their books. They can choose to read above or below grade level (whatever that means). They can reread favorites, they can read books they've been assigned in other classes. They can read fiction or nonfiction. Memoir, science-fiction, romance, young adult literature. The only catch is, they must read books. Magazines will not build the stamina needed in college, or on all those tests kids are subjected to. Books...with lots of opportunity to build comprehension, make adjustments, activate prior learning. Books.

Then we turn on the music, we get comfortable, and we read.

When I talk to skeptics about my class one question always comes up. Sadly, it reflects a lack of respect for students and their abilities as readers: "Well, if you let them read whatever they want, won't they read trash?" Meaning "Won't they avoid any challenge? Won't they pretend to read like they've pretended for their entire school career? How can we trust high school students to read well if we let them choose?"

Well -- here's what my students were reading on Thursday, April 25. 2013:

1st Hour Eclipse The Inferno American Psycho The Time Traveler’s Wife The Perks of Being a Wallflower The Lovely Bones The Dark Between The Glass Castle Fellowship of the Rings Looking for Alaska Playing for Pizza Crazy Love Life as We Knew it Water for Elephants Clockwork Angel Deadline Mockingjay The Storyteller One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Renegade Beneath the Lion’s Gaze Thirteen Reasons Why Keeping Faith Deathless The Crazy Horse Electric Game Pet Sematary 2nd Hour A Monster Calls

Stardust

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Shattering Glass

Everwild

The Great Gatsby

Beautiful Chaos

Beauty Queens

Demian

Period.8

Maximum Ride

Everfound

Eat Pray Love

Seeing Redd

Unwind

Top Dog

Freaks Like Us

Impossible

1984

Shogun

Game

Mockingjay

I am the Messenger

Soul Screamers Vol. 2

World War Z

Inheritance

My Sister’s Keeper

4th Hour

The Guardian

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

The Other Wes Moore

Divergent

Split

The Rescue

Everlost

The Fault in Our Stars

Mockingjay

A Wizard of Earthsea

Beautiful Creatures

The Fellowship of the Ring

Fallen Angels

I Am Seal Team Six Warrior

The House of Tomorrow

Glass

The 19th Wife

Extras

The Rules of Survival

Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have

Compound

Everlost

Silver Linings Playbook

I Hunt Killers

The Pledge

Midnighters

5th Hour

I am the Messenger

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Fault in Our Stars

Crossed

American Sniper

True Grit

Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead

15 Months In SOG

The Confession

Tone

Twilight

Want to Go Private?

Impulse

Spider-man

Right Behind You

Rangers Apprentice Book 6 : Siege of Macindaw

Unwholly, I Hunt Killers

The Maze Runner

Something Borrowed

Norwegian Wood

Betrayed

Rapture

The Storyteller

The Golden Spiral

Romiette and Julio

SIXTH HOUR

Hate List

The Sirens of Titan

The Slayer Chronicles

Soul Surfer

Shattered Mirror

Something Like Normal

Chain Reaction

Blood on my Hands

World War Z

The Secret History

The Future of Us

How to Be a Hepburn in a Hilton World

The Great Gatsby

Split

A Walk in the Woods

Speaker for the Dead

Clockwork Princess

The Book Thief

The Seven Storey Mountain

Beautiful Ruins

Stranger in a Strange Land

Destined “House of Night Series”

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

I challenge even the biggest skeptic to find trash here...great YAL, popular fiction, nonfiction, classics...probably much better books than the majority of adults are currently reading. Because I know who is reading what, I could tell you stories about each book...about how book recommendations travel through a class, about how we are currently obsessed with Barry Lyga and Neil Shusterman at the moment. About my student in sixty hour who has several of us reading Murakami.

I'm proud of my students. Each book, each page, is a victory. From my intellectually-disabled student who is almost finished with the Hunger Games series, to the boy who's reading The Inferno -- for pleasure, every student is reading and growing and thinking. Every student has learned the power of the right book at the right time. 

I am in awe.

HB1880 -- Good News and Bad News for NBCTs -- and Future NBCTs

HB1880 changes the way new National Board Certified Teachers will be rewarded for attaining NBC. I am thrilled that we'll have our program back. The two-year moratorium has nearly crippled us. The image I use to describe what's happened is an old clinker that's been left to rust in the front yard, nearly covered by the tall grass...it's rusting from neglect, but it's still got the potential to be that sleek vehicle it was two years ago...this bill will give us the key to turn the ignition. But at a cost to new NBCTs. My letter to the bill's author, Ann Coody.

Representative Coody,

I’m sorry I missed you at the NBCT Reception Tuesday; I saw you across the room but got delayed before I could say ‘hello’.

Thank you for continuing to search for ways to support the National Board program, and Education Leadership Oklahoma, the agency that is our ‘home’ in all ways.

I appreciate the intent of HB1880, which you authored, but I have some concerns and questions. I hope you can clarify my confusions.

• ·         On page 8, you set out the conditions for current NBCTs – they will receive the $5000 bonus for ten years. Does this begin with the 2014 year? Will renewed NBCTs be eligible for the life of their renewed certificate? What about NBCTs who are ready to renew in the next few years? Will this bill allow them to combine the last years of their original certificate and years on their renewed certificate to equal ten years? That will make a huge difference in the decisions of thousands of NBCTs across the state.
• ·         I appreciate your designating January 31 as the deadline for payments of stipends. That’s in the current bill and has been violated for the last two years. NBCTs jumped hoops and still didn’t get their stipend payments in January…or February. Some didn’t receive their money until March. I’m trusting this will not be the case in the future.
• ·         But, my biggest concerns and most serious questions focus on the changes for new NBCTs once we get our program up and running again.
• ·         $1200 as a step raise equals around $850 after taxes. Or around $70 per month. This amount will hardly make a difference to a teacher who’s trying to stay in the classroom, which is the intent of this program.
• ·         In order to earn the $50,000 current NBCTs earn, an NBCT would have to work for 41.67 years…just to earn the same amount I earned in ten for the same certification.
• ·         On page 9, the language of the bill states new NBCTs will earn the step raise of $1200 if their ‘National Board Certification has not lapsed.’ National Board certification is only current for 10 years. After that, an NBCT must renew, at a cost of $1250. Does your bill require NBCTs to continue renewing their certification in order to receive the step? It certainly appears to be the case. With the small pay-off for NBC, will the state pay the renewal fee for NBCTs? Right now we pay this fee out of our own pocket, understanding the state has made a substantial investment in our teaching.
• ·         So, let’s return to that teacher trying to earn in step raises what current NBCTs earn: $50,000. That teacher, working 41.67 years, will be required to renew that certification four times, at a cost of $1250 for each renewal…forcing the NBCT to work four more years to make up the money lost in fees.
• ·         And my biggest concern: Who pays for these step raises? Will the state send districts enough money to cover all the new NBCTs’ step raise? Or, is this going to be an unfunded mandate to school districts? Will they be forced to find the money in their squeezed budgets? If so, NBCTs will be a liability for a district instead of an asset. Who will pay FICA, since the state has shorted districts for the past two years, and that money has come out of OUR checks?

You have sold this bill as a positive move for teachers since the step raise will count toward retirement. TRS only counts the three highest-earning years toward retirement. So, if a teacher’s NBC lapses because she chooses not to renew, her salary actually will decrease – if I read page 9 correctly. But as she continues to teach, her years of experience will quickly trump whatever bump the NBCT step gave her, making NBC less attractive.

Only three years of NBCT step raises will count toward retirement: $3600. I’ll be contacting TRS to ask how much of a benefit $3600 will be for a teacher. I fear I know the answer.

I see your changes to the system as a bad deal for teachers who are waiting to go through the NBCT process. This process was more rigorous and challenging than my master’s degree, and for some candidates, takes three years to complete…the last two years at their own expense.

If you’re trying to discourage teachers from going through this process, making the salary step equivalent to a master’s degree – and then taking it away if NBC expires –  will do just that.

I’m hoping we can talk through some of my concerns, because the best thing about your bill, the thing I love, is that we get our ELO program back! We can go out into the front yard and climb into that rusty car we’ve left neglected in the weeds. We can climb into the driver’s seat and turn on the ignition…and hope it starts to purr.

Having the ELO program back, running our Summer Institute, having support meetings again fills my heart with joy. Our program has suffered through this moratorium. My Region 11 Candidate Support meetings used to include 50-60 candidates and NBCTs, all working together to become better teachers, to reach our students. They were exciting, vibrant meeting with professional conversations about students and student learning. This year my meetings have dwindled to three or four, or sometimes six teachers.

We need our program back, and, and even with my concerns, I see your bill giving us back the keys to that rusty car. We know how to drive it, and we know we can make this work.

When we read, we learn. When we learn, we grow. National Board at work in my classroom.

"Consistently, one hour a day, forced to read (our choice for once), students get to read something of their choice in school. There are probably many kids who don't get that time at home. The fact that North provides that opportunity for all students -- it's absolutely awesome." -- R4P student, 2013

"When we sit down to read we are bound to love it more and more - it's a fundamental action of our being...we learn, if not traditionally, then we learn in a non-conventional sense, but we must learn...to read is to learn." -- R4P student, 2013

Both semesters this year I've asked students to chart their attitudes about reading three times during the term: first week, midterm, and finals week. We just past the half-way point of this last semester, so we charted and reflected again. I love reading what kids make of the data they see, and I know I would not have thought of this way of including them in assessment except for my work with National Board for Professional Standards. My journey with NBTS and Education Leadership Oklahoma changed the way I teach, the way I look at myself and my students, and has led to deeper student learning and achievement. The support I was given by my state Legislature was instrumental in these changes in my classroom, and instrumental in my students' learning and reflecting on their learning.

At the beginning of this semester, things looked grim. Seven students HATED reading, three hated it, and one couldn't commit between 'hate' and 'don't like.' One student was very vocal about the fact he HATED reading and didn't intend to change his mind, even though siblings and friends had told him I would change his mind.

I asked students to reflect on what they saw in the sticky-note chart, and we began our work. Students are engulfed in a reading environment, surrounded by books and by readers.

Any one day, we will experience all of the English Language Arts Strands: reading, writing, speaking, listening (producing), and viewing. Reading every day, writing reflections about reading, talking about books, listening to classmates talk about books. Producing and sharing multi-media book shares. We read and read.

I knew I had nothing to fear from those 'haters' because I knew most of them would find books they liked and they would change their opinions...even just a bit.

Nine weeks later I destroyed our 'presurvey' chart on the whiteboard and had everyone place a new sticky on the board. We saw dramatic changes. My new students were surprised; my returning students knew this would be the case...they understand the power of choosing your own books, and in finding that one book that changes your mind about reading.

It's not enough to have students create the chart...if NBC taught me anything, it taught me the power of reflection and authentic assessment. I have learned to include students as partners in assessment. So, I displayed the two charts and asked students to look carefully and comment on what they see. They never never never let me down.

Themes develop. Students consistently mention time and choice. They appreciate both -- because, let's face it, time to read and freedom to choose what to read are seldom part of a high school student's day. One student said it for everyone: "Once people start reading and find their perfect book, they get on this reading kick and gain confidence in reading." Confidence often plays out in higher test scores: "My ACT score for English alone went up after taking this class twice."

Another strong theme is learning about books and genres, and finding that one book...that first book...that 'home run' book, as Jim Trelease, calls it. My returning students talked about this phenomenon at the beginning of the book, perfectly confident our 'haters' would find 'that book.' And most have done just that. One student put it this way: "The difference is we have gotten to read. The more kids read fun books, the more enjoyable it makes reading. Analyzing books can ruin even the best books, so it makes sense...this class provides a break." Another, even stronger statement: "[We've] finally been allowed to read books that [we] actually like...Reading for Pleasure attempts to undo what we've been taught since elementary school: literature at school = boring."

This idea of finding a book that can make a difference builds on Peter Johnston's view of  a 'dynamic-performance' view of learning. I have many students enter my class,  utterly convinced they'll fail. They see themselves, not as capable, confident learners, but as 'bad readers.' They don't think anything can change this. They are fixed in their view of their own learning and reading. Other people are good readers; they aren't. Students who've taken R4P more than once deeply understand the truth. We need to be open to the search. We need to let books find us. And when they do find us, we become strong, confident readers. In nine weeks, nearly everyone has found that book, and has a new view of themselves as readers now.

My one hold-out is the young man who is waiting for this magic he's been told about. A classmate jokingly suggested strangulation for messing up our chart...but I know this student -- he is a skeptic, he's smart and funny. His attitude is positive and his intentions are pure. He is really trying to find some joy in reading. He's worked hard searching for a genre he likes. He understands his current position: "Differences [in the charts]? I am alone in hate...you have brainwashed everyone. You are taking over the world. 'I pledge allegiance to the flag of Mrs. Swisher.' Seriously, I'm like two positions away from anyone. Now what? I must resist. I know that everyone in class is coming after me. After that last battle, I lost a leg. C took it. as long as I'm quiet they might not notice. Oh, God. They heard me...." How can I NOT love a kid who can tell me a story like this? How can I not spend time helping him find his home run book?

National Board, both my own process of certification and renewal, as well as my ten years working with candidates, has challenged me to look for student impact in everything I do. Because I know how valuable reflection is for me as an educator, I have deliberately woven opportunities for my students to reflect on their own learning, and what happens in class.

I trust my students to be learners and readers. They never let me down. Policymakers and administrators may not see what's happening in my room, but WE know magic happens.

"We Legislate; You Pay Two-Step"

It seems there's a theme to the proposed legislation in the OK Legislature this year: mandate and make someone else pay the bills. I call this the "We Legislate; You Pay Two-Step." Dance merrily away from the messes they create, high-fiving along the way.

There are three pieces making their way though the House and Senate that will create sweeping changes, and give already-strapped districts the bill. My cynical self sees this as a way the Legislators can shrug and say, "Well, we gave them this and that...not our problem now." I disagree. I believe we need to lay complete responsibility at the doorstep of the lawmakers desperately trying to deny their own accountability. They want everyone else to bear the burden while they slap each other on the back.

HB1659 deals with National Board stipends and changes not only the amount of the stipends for National Board Certified teachers, lowering it from $5000 a year to $1000 a year, it also makes the payment part of a teacher's salary, thus transferring responsibility for the payments from the state to districts. I've written about this before -- it will make NBCTs less and less attractive as employees, and more and more expensive. The school districts never agreed to pay these stipends -- and in the current climate, they can't. But I see how attractive this is to lawmakers trying to find a way to fund their new teacher merit-pay scheme. Making districts responsible will instantly free $12 million-$15 million from the state budget. Win for them -- lose for districts.

Moving on, HB1062 'frees' school districts to allow teachers and administrators to carry guns on campus. I have linked to the latest version I could find. I've learned that versions change online and it's impossible to retrace the changes. It originally required 240 hours of training for an educator to carry a weapon, but that has been amended to 120 hours. The bill further requires any School Board that participates to pay for all training costs for educators...the cost of the actual training, any transportation and lodging costs. There are provisions that will free districts from any liability...I'm assuming for WHEN something goes very wrong and someone is hurt or killed. I can already hear them: "Well, we GAVE those teachers the right to carry guns. We can't be responsible for their mistakes." So, once again, the Legislature plans to make sweeping gestures of support for school safety, but to step away from any responsibility. How are districts who choose to participate going to bear the extra costs of training? Not their problem. They're too busy dancing away from accountability.

SB425 is the new voucher bill -- with a twist. As explained to us by Ryan Owens, of CCOSA, at the OKC Metro-area PLAC, it will allow students who graduate from high school early to take their per-pupil expenditure and pay college tuition. We were told the difficulty with this is the fact students are no longer generating this per-pupil payment, since they are not in a public school. So, schools will have less money generated for their per-pupil payments from the state. It sounds incredibly complicated...but is also sounds like public education money is being stolen from us to provide tuition to higher education institutions. The phrase from the bill that resonated with me: "The State Department of Education shall then reserve or retain from the total amount appropriated to the State Board of Education for State Aid purposes and any other revenues available for allocation for State Aid purposes the total cost for all scholarship payments." My question is: " Does this money come off the top of the State Aid, or is it taken from each individual district who has early graduates?" Either way, the answer seems to be public schools will see a loss of funds. More dancing...encourage early graduation, but don't support schools that produce these graduates. Punish them, instead. Add this to the punitive changes in the ACE scholarship program, and we see more tip-toeing away from our schools and our students.

Two-step: We make the rules and the laws; you pay and pay and pay. We give you less money; you pay and pay and pay. I wish our lawmakers were as serious about our students' safety and education as they pretended.

Notes from Parent Legislative Action Committee (PLAC)

I attended the informational meeting for PLAC, held in Norman. Speakers were informed and helpful. I hope we'll have more meetings in the future.

Parent Legislative Action Committee

Parent Meeting March 28, 2013

Meredith Exline – Metro PLAC – their group is nonpartisan and has no funding

Three legislators attended: Standridge, Nelson, and Martin

OK Policy Institute – Megan Benn, Outreach

School funding is 60% state, 10% federal, and 25-30% local

State has cut $220 million to schools, with an increase of 31,000 students. This means $200 less per pupil in expenditures

34% of the budget for common education…has steadily dropped since 2000

The state’s 20% drop in funding is third largest cut to education in the nation…behind only Alabama and Arkansas

Federal $$ will be affected by sequestration

Local – OK is 48^th in the nation in property tax collection per capita – paying 43% of the national average. We pay $597 – national average is $1388

State questions both resulted in less $$ for education: 758 will mean $3.5 less per year; 766 will decrease available funds anywhere from $32 million to $60 million.

FY ’14 Barresi asked for increase of $290,000,000

                Gov proposed increase of $13.5

                Legislature thinks $75-100 million increase is possible

CCOSA – Ryan Owens talked about school legislation

A-F 

No attempt to work with OU/OSU, who called A-F ‘unsalvageable’…Legislation was to provide accountability program that was ‘valid, reliable and useful.’ Three bills:

HB2044 – Henke – CCOSA supports this

HB1658 – Denney – both these bills are by the original authors, tinkers around the edges

SB635 – Jolley – CCOSA has little confidence in either

Guns in school  

 HB1062 – passed the House. Gives local boards right to arm teachers – MODIFIED CLEET training (cut from 240 to 120 hours). Schools required to pay for training and all expenses. Unclear who buys the gun. Contact John Ford of Senate Ed Committee

Epi-pens

HB2101 – Fourkillers – trains personnel to administer epipen injection to student who seems to be in anaphylactic shock from unidentified allergy. Liability issues if the bill passes and schools don’t train personnel, AND if they do. Bill is a solution looking for a problem. No child in an OK school has died of this shock.

School Safety

SB256 – Shannon and Bingman – response to the Lt. Gov. Commission. Requires 8 drills a year – 2 lockdown, 2 intruder, 2 fire and 2 tornado…isn’t that fewer than we do now??

SB 259 – Bingman, Ford and Burrage –  Requires school to report presence of firearm on campus – Owens wonders how that will work with 1062.

Vouchers

SB425 – would allow students who graduate early from HS to take per pupil $$ they are no longer generating to a college for tuition. Will result in less $$ in schools. Early-graduates do NOT generate $$ for the schools they no longer attend, and yet the schools would be forced to pay for them.

OK Education Coalition unanimously opposes this bill

Virtual Charters

HB1660 – Denney

SB267 – Stanislaw – both will stop small districts from setting up Virtual  Charters, and then recruiting from other districts, snagging per pupil $$. Disenfranchises local taxpayers. Sets up a unified Board. In the House Ed Appropriations Committee

Unfunded Mandates

HB1711 – Thompsen, Brecheen – "changed the conversation!" Would demand all reforms be funded at 70% to become law. Owens listed current reforms that are unfunded or underfunded: TLE, CCSS, A-F, 3^rd Grade Flunk Law, ACE (EOI testing). This is not active legislation at the moment

Questions and Answers

• Pointed out OK EOIs are not recognized by higher ed or workforce as predictive of success
• Talked about deregulation of class size, library and textbook funding
• Question about the Lottery -- $$ is dumped into common school funding formula and is difficult to trace back to the source. Early $$ was used to fund teacher pay increases…61 districts receive no lottery $$ at all.
• I asked about ALEC and if they saw its influence. Answer was politically correct, given Legislators in the room: ALEC provides a forum for Legislators, some of our OK Legislators are ALEC members, ALEC does provide model legislation, but they weren’t ‘aware’ of ALEC language. I should have asked a follow-up question specifically about the Parent Trigger bill. My purpose was not to put the speakers on the spot, but to remind the Legislators that we DO know who’s a member, and we DO know that legislation is being given to them by ALEC.
• IDEA was mentioned…Owens said to contact Sen. Coburn…he is committed to feds paying their share.
• A question was asked about testing companies and costs…Pearson and McGraw Hill are the two main companies…OK DID have a contract with Pearson – now with MGH – current contract is for $8.9 million. Owens pointed out if OK used ACT or SAT, cost to the state would be $1-2 million
• Pensions were mentioned. OK’s unfunded liability for TRS is strong, but a new bill popped up in the last 48 hours to combine ALL pension funds into one…cannibalizing TRS (my words!!)
• A question was asked about the Governor’s proposal to cut taxes…$40 million will be taken out of the budget…still think a $13 million increase in education is possible
• A mother made an impassioned plea to talk – tell your story. Don’t try to debate the bill, but talk about how actions affect your families and your children.
• Meredith Exline: “We are not there (State Capitol) to debate the bills (with Legislators), but to share our hearts!”

Next Tulsa PLAC Capitol Day April 23 – 9am-1pm

A Review:BOOK LOVE by Penny Kittle -- with only 46 more days left in my career.

Sometimes books find you at an opportune time in your life. This book found me too late...only 46 days left in my career, I find a professional soul-mate I would love to visit with for hours. We share a vision for what schools and teachers should be doing, and yet we came at it from different directions. We had amazing mentors early on: she worked with Don Graves and Don Murray. My teachers at Indiana University included Roger Farr and Carolyn Burke--and her mentor Kenneth Goodman called me his granddaughter. We've learned from the best, and we've both taken those lessons to heart.

We both know relationships are what matter in a classroom. Her stories of nudging students into books, and into more complex books, are fun for me, because I could tell her MY stories too. We know kids need to enjoy their books or they won't read. We both have seen too much 'fake reading' in our careers, and are savvy enough to call kids on it.

I appreciate Kittle's bravery to revamp her traditional Englishclasses to incorporate more pleasure reading...along with the required elements. Close to 20 years ago, my colleagues in my English department all incorporated a reading Friday into our classes. We modeled reading with the kids, and we began work on helping kids select books. But we kept it quiet...kids responded.

I decided more than 10 years ago, that wasn't going to be the route that worked for me, and I 'invented' my current class, Reading for Pleasure. This class allowed me the opportunity to concentrate solely on choice reading, reading for fun, and reflecting on reading. Hearing Kittle talk about her success, I wonder if I bailed too soon from the traditional English classes....I know our 9th and 10 grade teachers have students read during class...but not with the intentionality Kittle displays. I really like the combination of reading in class, and the reading homework she assigns. A creative way to add without overwhelming her kids.

I learned new ideas I wish I had the time to incorporate: Reading Break, similar to DEAR...I appreciated her honesty about the teachers and students who tried to subvert the school wide reading. That's kept me from pushing. She admits she teaches at a small high school -- 900, as opposed to the 2400 students we have at my school. More opportunities for resistant teachers and kids. She said her school confronts that by having administrators roam the halls and classrooms during Reading Break, and keeping everyone honest. I like her ideas.

Summer reading AND summer book groups sound awesome. Having school libraries open during the summer to allow students to check out books! Genius.

I'm trying desperately to figure out how to start using her Big Idea Books these last days -- a group of small notebooks, each dedicated to a Universal Theme, in which students can contribute reflections on their books. Kittle says she keeps hers from year to year -- what an amazing idea to connect readers over time...still thinking of how to pull this one off.

There are many ways we work in sync -- we both aim to build stamina and flexibility; we understand the importance of a 'books to read next' list. We both know we must read with our kids, read what they're reading. We both share books with passion. We build relationships with students, knowing that's the door into the books. We are both widely read, in popular books, YAL books, and professional books. We both feel the same frustration with teachers (especially English teachers) who are not readers and writers, who 'cover' a book and assume their job is finished. She highlights several difficult conversations she's had with colleagues who cling to that status quo thinking. I love her courage to confront, and can see she does it with respect and gentleness.

Those long conversations I wish we could have would be focused on some of the ways we diverge: she does conferences; I have students write and provide lots of feedback, carefully crafted to 'listen' in a different way. I read with my students; she does her conferences while they're reading. Because she does her work in the English class, she is able to have students be 'interdependent' readers, and make year-long connections among the books and the canon. 

I had a wonderful epiphany as I was reading. She brings up a concept I've heard of before: Fixed and dynamic thinking...do we believe our intelligence is fixed, and if we don't get something the first time, it's just too bad...and if we don't get something the first time, we just need to try another way. She says to her kids what I've heard my experienced readers say to each other..."You just haven't found the right books yet." I had my students create a sticky-note chart of their attitudes about reading at the beginning of the semester, and then asked students to comment on the data. It was an identifiable pattern from students who'd taken my class more than once, that the kids who 'hate' or 'HATE' reading just needed to find that book. My students understand the dynamic aspects of reading and especially reading for their own pleasure.

Loved this book -- wish it'd found me sooner. Add another book to the list of 'books I wish I'd've written.' Add another author who lets me know I'm on the right path...for 46 more days.

Book Review: THE GEEKS SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH

As a teacher, I try to find books to read that will help me see my students in new lights, and interact with them more authentically. I have only read two of Alexandra Robbins' books, but I highly recommend them to anyone wanting to understand teens and the pressures we adult place on them.

My students and I judge how good a book is by the number of sticky-note flags I put into the book I tend to 'sticky' great writing, important point by the author -- anything I need to find quickly when discussing the book or the ideas IN the book. Let me tell you, GEEKS bristles with stickies. Robbins has added an important book to the literature of the sociology of secondary schools...I loved her book OVERACHIEVERS, and was eager to read this one too.

She takes six students and one young teacher through a school year, from the first day to graduation. She shows us who they are, what they value, with whom they interact. She must be a dynamite interviewer, because kids open their hearts to her and she treats that gift with respect.

The format is similar to OVERACHIEVERS...as she tells us about one of her characters, she links an issue he or she is dealing with to the research. These informational essays bring a new light and a context to her characters' concerns.

She introduces a term that is vital for her book: quirk theory: "Many differences that cause a student to be excluded in school are the same traits or real-world skills that other will value, love, respect, or find compelling about that person in adulthood." In other words, wait, be patient. Trust yourself. Don't give up hope. High school is temporary -- and life is what's important.

As she returns to each character throughout the year, we learn more and more about those interactions that add burdens to their lives. I was horrified when she reveals one of her characters is a young teacher who deals with mean girl bullying from OTHER TEACHERS! The school must be incredibly toxic to allow teachers to bully each other, and talk about other teachers to the students. I was horrified.

Robbins challenges each character to change something about his or her interactions with others and the last half of the book reports their efforts to break out of the fringe they've relegated themselves to. Whitney, the mean-girl prep learns to reach out to others, but is then excluded by her original friends. Noah attempts to show his natural leadership, the leadership that was rejected by traditional elections in school. Danielle just tries to smile...to talk to others. Blue (oh how I love Blue) is dealing with a mother who ridicules and belittles him, personal depression, a secret about his sexuality, and 'friends' who take over his projects and leave him out in the cold. His challenge allows him to show everyone a whole new Blue.

I was thrilled to read about Sachse High School in TX, where they attribute an all-school 'drop everything and read' period every day to an improvement in their school. It 'really made a difference in the culture of our school.' How exciting to see a school have faith in the power of reading and fellowship to break down barriers. I want to learn more about this school.

I always DO have favorites as I read about these dynamic kids. Blue and Whitney will hold special places in my heart...like the others, theirs is not a Cinderella story with a fairy-tale ending, but there are quiet victories, lots of self-reflection, and genuine growth. My least favorite was probably the teacher who saw herself as the 'only' adult who cared about the kids. Her self-centeredness was sad...I felt some of the kids had a deeper understanding of life than she. But it was her story of victimization by colleagues that horrified me the most.

Quotes that I want to remember:

"Middle school...has been called the Bermuda triangle of education."
"Meanness can be divided into two categories" overt and alternative."
"Groups can trigger the brain's inclination to take shortcuts...the group's opinion trumps the individual's before he even becomes aware of it."
"Conformity is not an admirable trait. Conformity is a cop-out. It threatens self awareness."
"Like lady Ga Ga, the quirk theory assures marginalized young people that some day they will be welcomed for the same reasons that classmates relegate them to...'the land of the misfit toys.'"
"Students vastly overestimate their classmates' use of alcohol, drugs and cigarettes."
"Studies show that students perceive parents who have negative attitudes about alcohol and drugs to be more caring."
"The permissiveness of parents who want their kids to be popular can lead to tragic consequences."
"The overemphasis of standardized tests forces teachers to teach the same restricted, un-inventive curriculum."
"Conformity is a mask behind which students can hide their identity or the fact that they haven't figured out their identity yet."
"Better to be lonely and real than to hide behind a mask of self deception. The loneliness will pass."

If you're a teacher, a parent, an aunt or uncle of a teen I recommend it. If, in your work, you ever interact with teens, I recommend this book. If you were a teen, cafeteria fringe, or popular, I recommend this book.