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Posts Tagged ‘reading connections’

Authors are my Heroes

Posted in Slice of Life, tagged , , , on October 13, 2015| 16 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for Tuesdays Slice of Life Challenge.

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for Tuesdays Slice of Life Challenge.

Last week I wrote a Slice of Life post about the injustice of reading levels and my dear student Emily. Cynthia Lord, author of A Handful of Stars, saw my post and commented that she wanted to send Emily a signed copy of her book. I was overjoyed, but I kept it a secret. The package arrived Friday with a few added trinkets Cynthia sent straight from her desk. She sent a small rock bearing the words “A little extra brave.” Cynthia wrote to me that she carried this rock around as she worked on the book. So personal. So special. She also added a little star hanging on a string to symbolize “star friends” like the characters in her book. Another personal touch.

I brought the care package with me to school on Monday. Emily is an early arriver. She was walking down the hall when I got there, so I took her aside to share the package with her. To say she was thrilled is almost an understatement. She just kept repeating, “I feel so special.”

I wasn’t quite sure how to share this with the class. I didn’t want any of them to feel jealous or left out. I talked to Emily about it. I told her my concerns and asked her to decide if she wanted to share or keep this to herself.

When her art teacher arrived, Emily took the package with her to show her. When she went to library, she took the book with her to show the librarian. Then we had read aloud time. Emily whispered to me that she wanted to share it with the class. I started off by explaining that Emily lost her mother last year. Then I explained how the character in A Handful of Stars also lost her mother. After I told the students about my blog post and tweet out to Cynthia Lord, Emily showed her prizes. No one spoke. No one was jealous or bitter. They were respectful and happy for Emily.

These gifts cannot replace such a huge loss, but I believe that Emily’s heart is full. She has a rock to carry with her every day that will give her strength and bravery and will always remind her that authors are heroes and that one day, she may be a hero, too.

A gift of love and bravery

A gift of love and bravery

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Making Connections

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged , , , on August 7, 2012| 10 Comments »

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Today is the first day back to school for teachers. Kids come on Friday. So naturally, I am thinking about how I can make a difference in my students’ lives this year. A lofty goal, I know, but I am all tuned in to Common Core and challenging students to be responsive readers. One of the ways students can respond to a text is to make a connection from one text to another.
While reading about Gabby Douglas this weekend in the USA Today, I felt a connection between the “significance” of her accomplishments to those of other African American sports heroes.

One of my favorite middle grade novelists is Christopher Paul Curtis. He wrote the Newbery winner, Bud, not Buddy, and Newbery Honor Book, The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963. Both are in my classroom library. His latest novel is The Mighty Miss Malone. Like his other novels, Miss Malone is set in historical context, the Great Depression. Deza’s family is struggling to make ends meet. Her father is injured and is unable to work. The town is all tuned in to the big fight starring Joe Louis, the Brown Bomber. I have to admit, I did not know that Joe Louis was a real hero until my husband told me about it. He looked up an article for me on ESPN.

I enjoyed reading about Joe Louis. One quote stood out for me. His son said, “What my father did was enable white America to think of him as an American, not as a black. By winning, he became white America’s first black hero.”

In The Mighty Miss Malone, Deza asks her father what “a credit to your race” means. He says that it has to do with intentions. What he points out to her is that someone who says that is probably not to be trusted.

Gabby Douglas said she didn’t think about being the first African-American to win the title. She didn’t, but others have, even so far as to argue about her hair. What century are we in, people? I think Gabby Douglas is a sports hero, like Joe Louis, as an American.

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