Dear WinkWorld Readers,

I’m back with a glimpse into chapter three, Animals and the Alphabet.

 Yesterday on a early morning walk to one of my fav libraries in Tucson, Himmel Park Library, I was enjoying all of the clever sayings on the sidewalk of bricks, which are given as donations to help support the library.  The picture of this brick is not in the book, but only because I just found it.

Here is an image from Katie Knox, which will be in chapter three.

Next, here is the visual of the contents of chapter three which Missy Urbaniak created for me.

And, finally, here is the opening story of chapter three.

Love and Literacy Last

Much of what I know about teaching and learning, I learned from The Benson Kids (Wink, 2011) in the 1970s and 1980s. One of the things I learned from those kids was that literacy mattered and that it was the gift of a lifetime, but I also learned that the love we had in that classroom would also last. Literacy and love would link us together for our lifetime. When I think of these junior high and high school students, I am always reminded of Paulo Freire’s words of wisdom.

Education is radically about love.

(Freire, as cited in Wink, 2011, p. 2)

Recently, I was sadden and thrilled when a precious little neighbor girl was sobbing because the puppy died in a story, which her mom was reading to her.

“Please read it again, Mommie,” she sobbed to her mom. I was saddened, as the little girl could not stop the tears from running down her face, and I was simultaneously thrilled, as she wanted to hear the story again and again. This reminded me so much of when I used to read Where The Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls to The Benson Kids, when they were 8th graders. We lived on the desert, and the students, who always seemed to be hot, sweaty, and dirty, came running into the classroom after their lunch.

“Please read to us,” they begged. At that point in my career, I didn’t know if reading novels to 8th graders was good or bad, but I could see that the students would settle down and be ready to face the content of the afternoon if they were given the opportunity to decompress with a story.

I now know that reading stories to anyone of any age, hot or cool—dirty or clean—has untold cognitive, affective, and social benefits. Year after year, the students always wanted to hear Where The Red Fern Grows, and it always left us with a few tears and many poignant memories.

Old Dan and Lil Ann

“Lil Ann died peacefully yesterday,” Darcie said to me when I arrived to visit her after an absence of decades. When she greeted me with those words, we both immediately knew the literary reference, although years had passed since I read Where the Red Fern Grows to Darcie and her fellow 8th grade classmates.

 Simultaneously and instantaneously, Darcie and I were carried back to the final scene in the book, when “Old Dan,” the trusted hunting dog, died after saving Billy from a mountain lion attack. In the story, “Lil Ann,” the female hunting dog, died within a few days of a broken heart. Darcie reminded me that this fictional scene was so sad for me, that I was not able to continue reading aloud to the class. Fortunately, another 8th grade student jumped up from his desk to read the final pages of the novel to his classmates, Darcie, and me. Tears and silence prevailed, as none of us wanted to re-enter reality.

And, now here I was reconnecting with this former student, the day after her own beloved “Lil Ann” had died.

***

To my copy-editor friends, who are reading this, yes, this example is taken from my pre-copy-edit-version, as the post-copy-edit-version just had too many mark ups on it.

Hi WinkWorld Readers, 

I am still sitting here working on copy edits and sharing a bit as I go.

Here is a glimpse of Chapter Two, Loving Those Stories, from forthcoming The Power of Story from Libraries Unlimited ABC-CLIO.

a)First, I want to share an image from Katie Knox.

b)Next I want to share the visual Table of Contents from Missy Urbaniak for chapter two.  Thanks, Missy.

c)An example of a story from chapter two.

Linda Huff, a teacher librarian in TX, shared this story with me. I hope you enjoy.  I particularly like the very last part, where Linda is speaking of how her grandfather learned English.  Happy Reading.

            If you are here, with this paper now, with your coffee, at your breakfast table, in your armchair, or on your coffee break, taking time out to read, you already value one of the fundamental pillars of culture—reading.

            As our days are getting shorter and the weather is pushing us indoors, we look for ways to occupy and entertain ourselves. It is true, that most often, we are at the Red Box looking for the next blockbuster movie, or browsing Netflix or Amazon for a title that matches our mood, but allow me to defend reading for a moment.

            There is power in reading! As an elementary school teacher, I am fortunate to be part of the bustling library at the center of our school. Two years ago, I was able to attend a seminar on English Language Learners. The keynote speaker, Stephen Krashen, a guru on language acquisition, summed up a very inspiring conversation by saying, “If you want language success in all areas of academic learning, foster a love a reading in your students.”

            So, with the support of an administration that is willing to explore all avenues of learning, our English as a Second Language (ESL) classes are now centered in the library. Just being among books and reading for the fun of it has helped transform our ELL students. Our students are becoming more verbal, confident, and their reading levels are burgeoning, as their language development is steadily progressing. Mostly though, they enjoy reading.

            At the end of October, our school invited parents to come in to visit with their students’ teachers during Parent-Teacher Conference Day. I sat in on several of these conferences and discovered a recurring issue. Students who struggled in reading comprehension also struggled with math word problems. They were able to calculate math problems, but had difficulty in setting up the calculations found in word form.

            I hypothesized that this is a comprehension problem, an issue with reading. As with math, science and social studies texts require higher levels of reading comprehension. These core subjects require a higher level of reading abilities.

            Teachers do a great job with reinforcing conceptual learning and exposing students to a variety of strategies for learning across the curriculum. The student who is reading on grade level is always more able to grasp these concepts because they are not hindered by reading comprehension.

            At the conclusion of parent conferences, we encouraged parents to have their children spend more time reading, with the reminder that reading well has the power to transform.

            My own parents are first-generation Italians, and were educated in New York at a time when English as a Second Language did not exist. In New York in the 1930s, practically everyone was a second language learner. My mother reminisces about seeing my grandfather return from work every night with a newspaper, which he used as his ESL instruction. Reading with frequency worked. It still does!

One to chapter three for me. I’ll be back when finished.

OK, WinkWorld Readers, here is a little overview of chapter one, as I finish the copy edit for this section. Remember, first an image, next a visual Table of Contents, and finally one story from chapter one.

An image from Katie Knox in Chapter One, Loving that Literacy

Visual TOC from Missy Urbaniak

And, one story from this first chapter.

Road Warrior Literacy

            Once upon a time, long, long ago, I used to commute between two worlds–1534 miles door-to-door. Ginny, my beloved black Labrador and I had many grand adventures while driving through California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and South Dakota during those 25 years. In addition, we witnessed many changes on our Western commute.

            In the early days, we seemed to be driving though safe little dusty, rural communities. We stopped in state rest areas for Ginny to run and play. We drove without cell phones or computer connectivity and didn’t worry. The truth is that there were often long, endless stretches without AM or FM radio stations. In the early days, I used to mutter that I couldn’t get a good cup of coffee from Turlock to Rapid City.

            Eventually, I began to notice changes. The mining money transformed little dusty ranch towns into bustling clean communities with better roads, more lights, clean parks, and swimming pools. Ginny and I experienced the explosion of technology, and I found that if I parked near any casino in Nevada, I could jump on their internet service provider—free. This was long before I knew anything about cyberspace security. Eventually, I began to notice a greater variety of radio programs to help pass the long hours. I could find more music and news. I remember when I started to find better coffee, more often, and finally even a latte.

            Many of these social and technical changes were very positive. However, simultaneously I began to feel my sense of security change to a sense of vulnerability. I started looking for safer paces for Ginny to run and play and for me to rest a bit.

Ah-ha: The library

            We could go into any town during that long commute and find a local library. I felt totally safe in the parking lots, and Ginny could run and play. When I entered the buildings, I found air conditioning and clean rest rooms. You guessed it–they even had books. Lots of books—just for my pleasure. Reflecting on those days of travel, I can now see that this is when I developed my Road Warrior Literacy and fell madly in love with public libraries. No more rest areas in isolated areas for Ginny and me.

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

As I mentioned in an earlier blog posting this a.m., I am in the midst of a copy edit blitz, and as I finish the copy edit for each section, I will share briefly. My plan is to share (a) an image from Katie Knox from each chapter; (b) a treasured visual Table of Contents (TOC), which Missy Urbaniak created as a gift for me; and (c) a story from each chapter.  

I hope you enjoy.

First, an image from Katie, which will be in the Preface.

Second, a visual presentation of the contents of the Preface from Missy. 

And, finally, a little story from the Preface.

My Perspective

            Let me remove all mystery and share my perspectives, which will flow throughout the chapters. First, librarians are teachers, too—the entire school or the public library is their classroom. Therefore, throughout much of this book, I will use these three words interchangeably: teacher, school librarian, and librarian. I will try very hard not to use words like, libreachers or teabraians, but that is exactly what I mean. I find that I am in very good company in this new and emerging understanding that librarians are teachers, too. The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) has a new position statement (http://essa.aasl.org/aasl-position-statements/), which supports my understandings. In addition, as you read the following chapters, you will find that libreachers or teabrarians are some of my favorite people in the whole world.

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

Time to hunkered down on my dear desert and begin/end all of the copy edits from the book compositors, who are the people who use laser focus on each word, sentence, image, citation of each page to make the book as clean as possible.  Now, it is my turn to emulate their laser focus as I review their comments/corrections.

As I do each chapter, my plan is to share a bit of the content with you visually, and I am so grateful to Missy Urbaniak, who one day surprised me with the visual of the contents of the whole book.  I actually have it laid out in front of me on my table now, as I work.

OK, I begin, as the cicadas are singing like crazy outside my slider door.

When I finish with the Preface, I will share it.

Hey WinkWorld Readers,

Look what I just found on my publisher’s webpages; I had not yet seen this cover.  The compositor and I still have a little work to do later this month. At that time I plan to share some visual chapter summaries, which Missy Urbaniak created for me.  Thanks, Missy.

#veryexcitedontheprairies

Just click on the title below to read about the book.

The Power of Story

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

Meet the wonderful Atall School (K-8) of Meade County, South Dakota.  As some of you know, I have been reading and sharing books with this group of students for the past three or four years. I am loving the memories, which we are creating.  The truth: I am crazy in love with these kids, and I so appreciate the fact that the school community allows me to be a small part of the group.

(Atall School, fall 2016)

Recently, I introduced Missy Urbaniak, the teacher at Atall, to Dr. Paul Theobald, a leader in rural education in the US.  I first met Paul while we were both at TX A&M.  I was thrilled that Paul did an interview of Missy and published it with Rural School Collaborative, and I very much appreciate that Paul and this Collaborative agreed to share with us.

Before WinkWorld was a blog, it was a newsletter.  My previous posts (2002 – 2014) on  Prairie Pedagogy are still posted on my webpages.

Here is the most recent Rural Schools Collaborative

Click here to read the interview of Paul Theobald and Missy Urbaniak.

(Atall School, fall 2016)

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

What in the world is personalized learning?  It sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Be careful.  I have a hunch that it is called personalized learning to fool well-meaning people. I fear that it means one little person sitting in front of a computer (which the district has to buy), a program (which a district has to buy), and specific software (which  district has to buy), plus someone to “manage” the kids and computers.  

Ka-ching. Ka-ching. Ka-ching.

I fear the day will come when we just have managers, computers, and kids…  I far prefer my tax dollars be used to support a teacher, who actually knows the students and their needs and the wishes of the local community.

In what follows is a little overview of scholars, whom I respect, and their thoughts on personalized learning, which is also known as competency-based education.

“Testing All The Time? by McDermott, M., Robertson, P., and Krashen, S. (2016). Language Magazine, January.

Donalyn Miller on Twitter simply says:

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

I was recently reminded of this story, which was published originally in “A Vision of Vygotsky,” a book which Le Putney and I wrote and published in 2002. I’ll post the complete citation at the end of this blog post.

Yes, in this article, you will learn a little about the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), a little about educational thought leaders, and a little about how to clean a white board, when it has been smeared with red permanent marker.  The ‘mumbo jumbo’ comment near the end of this story came from a student.  

Yes, this really did happen–you cannot make up stuff like this.

Happy Reading.

Mumbo Jumbo Theory

Wink, J., & Putney, L. G. (2002, pp. 104-107). A vision of Vygotsky. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.