Four Corners of My Classroom #SOL23

I'm sitting in my classroom with 15 minutes left in my prep period. I typically have my slice ready the night before. Not today.

I look around my classroom, a place that brings me great joy, and I realize I have a slice sitting right in front of me. I know several slicers have written about 4 corners or 4 items in front of them. Here are my four corners in four minutes.

Books take up my entire back wall of my classroom. Here is one corner where the book shelves sit between my "corner windows." 

This is the other side of that back wall where I have storage space. And guess what is in there? Yes, more books. But these are my student book club books and are not on the shelves.

I like to call this corner, the business center with the posted objectives, the pencil sharpener with pencils for students, my mailboxes for each period to turn in papers, the safety manual and procedures, and all monitored by our mascot, Little A (which stands for Alices--yes, a one-of-a-kind mascot!).

The last corner is my "teacher space" where I keep my pen and pencil obsession.

Just in time! Time for lunch and time to post my now-written slice!

 

Join Two Writing Teachers and other teacher-writers as we 
share a slice of life during the month of March. 

My Journey with a Leveled Library

Discussions on leveling books and libraries seems to be elevated lately. This topic was the discussion in several conferences this week so tweets were flying.  The National Council of Teachers of English  posted "What's Your Lexile Score?" today.

This trend has me thinking about my own journey with a leveled library.

I teach in an Accelerated Reading district, and most of the classroom libraries are leveled. When I first began teaching, my library was leveled too. That's just how it was done, and I didn't know any better.

After reading professional books, especially The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller, I began to see the light and the damage I was doing to my students. I began to slowly add baskets of popular series and authors, as well as baskets of genres and nonfiction topics. Because I taught 4th grade, many of my students did not know how to choose a book other than from the leveled baskets. 

We had a learning curve which I continue to fight today. One the of the first discussions I have with my middle schoolers is what they notice about our classroom library. Many immediately notice that the books are not leveled, and I tell them they never will be. I teach them to choose books based on their preferences and how to determine if a book is appropriate for them. This is part of teaching the reader.

I worked with a teacher who had a different philosophy of teaching reading then I did, especially when it came to AR. We often disagreed, and he often quoted, "Programs don't teach readers, teachers do." 

He is absolutely correct, and I agree 100%. 

But what is a leveled library doing? Many libraries are organized by matching colored baskets, clearly labeled with AR levels.  This "program" is teaching our students how to choose books.  Not teachers. 

I will continue to fight against "programs teaching readers" and limiting their ability to choose books for themselves. I will continue to advocate for choice.

My journey with a leveled library has ended.

One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating a place to share our Slice of Life. Read more slices or add you own here.

This week as I was searching through my tubs of books looking for a picture book I wanted to use for a lesson, I came across this book.  Just by looking at the book, I could not recall which book it was or from where it came.  It certainly was not familiar.

I pulled it out and looked at the spine and realized it was a Cynthia Rylant book.  Then I remembered how this book came to be mine.   Our school library in my previous school occasionally weeds out books, and teachers are first in line to take them.  When I saw this was a Cynthia Rylant book, I immediately grabbed it because I knew I could use it in a lesson at some point in time.  

Today, I opened the book and two things caught my eye.  The first one was written at the top of the title page.   "Not AR."  You see, some people have this ridiculous idea that if it is not AR, then kids can't read it.  I know, pretty sad.  I am quite confident this is one of the reasons why it was discarded.

Then I looked toward the bottom of the page and much to my delight, I found that it was a signed copy from 1986!  I do not remember noticing this when I first choose the book.  I am sure I only looked at the title and author and knew I wanted it, but did not open the book.  It has taken me several months to discover this wonderful message written inside.  What a treasure for me and for my students!

A Slice of Life - My Classroom Library

The middle of July brings with it thoughts of a new school year and teachers heading back to their classrooms in preparation for a new class of students.   I spent several mornings last week cleaning, unpacking, and trying to get my room back together.  

The area of my room which ALWAYS gets my attention first, is my classroom library.  It is my absolute favorite part of my room, and I believe it is a direct reflection of me and what I believe in. When someone walks into my classroom, I want them to think, "reading is important in this room."

The past four years I have arranged my room so that the library is like a little room within my classroom.  It is a secluded area, and the students love to go in and lay on the floor with pillows and read.  When the students arrive on the first day of school, the library is blocked off, so they can't go in or even see in.  They all want to know what is in there...creates quite a mysterious effect.   I always tell them it is a very special place, and some day soon they will be able to go in.  A couple of days later, we have a library grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.  I give them bookmarks and pencils and together as a class, we have our first reading celebration.

This year due to the high number of students in my class, I have had to open up the library to allow more room.  At first I did not care for the new arrangement, but I am starting to see the possibilities.  It now houses my gathering spot for minilessons and what better place than my library!

The past couple of years I have also made some changes on how I organize my books.  We are an Accelerated Reader corporation and most teachers have their books arranged by book levels.  I am not a fan of AR and quietly express this to my students, parents and other teachers.  I think there are many other ways to get kids to read - but that is another post!

Trying not to rock the boat but still hold fast to my beliefs, I started organizing my books by different categories.  I pulled out the most popular series, favorite authors, Mrs. Eck's picks, and new books and created separate baskets for those, while leaving most books still organized by AR levels.  This worked well and only solidified my belief that kids need to know how to choose books arranged as if they were in a bookstore, not by AR level.

This year I have decided to organize some new baskets according to genre.  As I was perusing the baskets and pulling out books, I started thinking about how these new baskets could be used with my genre lessons while creating a learning experience for my students.  I am thinking about letting my students do the organizing as they are reading.  After a student reads a book and uses what he/she has learned about genre, they can decide where the book belongs.

As of right now, the baskets are empty, waiting for books that my students will read.  What do you think?  Do I dare continue decreasing baskets of AR book levels and creating more authentic organization, or do I keep it in AR levels like most other teachers.  I would love to hear your thoughts and how your classroom libraries are organized.

Have a great week!

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TWO WRITING TEACHERS