Literature that Resonates: Engaging & Empowering Middle Level Learners

LITERATURE THAT RESONATES Engaging and Empowering Middle Level Learners Kansas Association of Middle Level Educators 2015 Conference

Dr. Vicki Sherbert College of Education Kansas State University October 12, 2015

Read Aloud: •Resonate: (v) to evoke images, memories, and emotions •What images do you hold in your mind after hearing the first three chapters of Auggie’s story?

•What memories from your own life does this cause you to recollect?

•What emotions do you feel at this moment?

Why focus on literature that resonates?

Students who meet the Standards readily undertake the close, attentive reading that is at the heart of understanding and enjoying complex works of literature. They habitually perform the critical reading necessary to pick carefully through the staggering amount of information available today in print and digitally. They actively seek the wide, deep, and thoughtful engagement with high-quality literary and informational texts that builds knowledge, enlarges experience, and broadens worldviews.

They reflexively demonstrate the cogent reasoning and use of evidence that is essential to both private deliberation and responsible citizenship in a democratic republic. In short, students who meet the Standards develop the skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening that are the foundation for any creative and purposeful expression in language.

-Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects June, 2010 p. 3

Why focus on literature that resonates?

Students who meet the Standards readily undertake the close, attentive reading that is at the heart of understanding and enjoying complex works of literature.

• What roadblocks do we sometimes encounter when asking students to undertake these rigorous tasks?

• “A book isn’t rigorous if students aren’t reading it.”

- Penny Kittle, Book Love (2013), p. xvi • “We must connect students to books that force them to pay attention, to think and wonder, to imagine and believe, and then to read for the rest of their lives.”

-Penny Kittle, Book Love (2013), p. xvi

Why Children’s/Middle Grade/YA Literature?

"When we enter the sound and images of a story -­‐ led by a writer's vision and voice -­‐ we live within a blend of our own experiences and those in the book."

-­‐Penny Kittle, Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers, (p. 22)

Why Children’s/Middle Grade/YA Literature?

"The three essential components [of a reading workshop] include the literature itself, response to literature through the language arts, and literature conversations."

-­‐Marjorie Hancock, A Celebration of Literature and Response: Children, Books, and Teachers in K-­‐8 Classrooms (p. 50)

Selecting Literature that Resonates • Look for books that allow students to glimpse themselves in the text.

• Look for books that allow students to see the world through the perspective of others.

• Look for books that portray accurate information.

• Look for books that convey value and respect for the characters and their life experiences.

• Look for beauty.

Literature that Resonates

Disabilities and Challenges

Literature that Resonates

Disabilities and Challenges

Literature that Resonates

Disabilities and Challenges

Literature that Resonates

Racial & Ethnic Diversity

Literature that Resonates

Racial & Ethnic Diversity

Literature that Resonates

Military Families

Literature that Resonates

Military Families

Literature that Resonates

Military Families

Literature that Resonates

Family Struggles

Literature that Resonates

Family Struggles

Literature that Resonates

Middle School!

We have them hooked. Now what?

• Literacy Practices to move them from Engagement to Empowerment – Read aloud – Silent Reading – Conversations about reading – Write about reading – Apply strategies only after they’ve experienced resonance with text

We have them hooked. Now what?

• Academic Moves for College • In Defense of Read Aloud: and Career Readiness: 15 Sustaining Best Practice by Must-­‐Have Skills Every Steven L. Layne Student Needs to Achieve by Jim Burke & Barry Gilmore

We have them hooked. Now what?

In the Best Interest of Students: Igniting a Passion for Reading by Staying True to What Works in the ELA Classroom by Kelly Steven L. Layne Gallagher

A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end.

You live several lives while reading.

-­‐William Styron

Contact information • Email: sherbev@ksu.edu • Twitter: @sherbev • On Behalf of the Learner blog: https://onbehalfofthelearner.wordpress.com/

Presentation Book List Disabilities and Challenges Draper, S. (2010). Out of my mind. New York: Anthem Books for Young Readers.

Erskine, K. (2010). Mockingbird. New York: Puffin Books.

Lord, C. (2006). Rules. New York: Scholastic Inc. Palacio, R. J. (2012). Wonder. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Palacio, R. J. (2014) 365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne’s Book of Precepts. New York: Alfred A. Knopf

Racial & Ethnic Diversity Mason, M. H. (2011). These hands. New York: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.

Nelson, K. (2013). Nelson Mandella. New York: Katherine Tegen Books.

Pinkney, A. D. (1998). Duke Ellington. New York: Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Paperbacks for Children.

Pinkney, A. D. (2002). Ella Fitzgerald. New York: Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Paperbacks for Children.

Pinkney, A. D. (2010). Sit-­‐In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down. New York: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Presentation Book List Military Families Anderson, L. H. (2014). The Impossible Knife of Memory. New York: Viking.

Cooney, C. B. (1992). Operation: Homefront. New York: Bantam Books.

Holmes, S. L. (2009). Operation Yes. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books.

Parry, R. (2009). Heart of a Shepherd. New York: Random House Children's Books.

Schmidt, G. D. (2011). Okay for Now. Boston: Clarion Books.

Williams, S. M. (2009) Bull Rider. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books.

Family Struggles Hunt, L. M. (2012). One for the Murphys. New York: Scholastic.

Grimes, N. (2005). Dark sons. New York: Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children.

Knowles, J. (2012) See you at Harry's. New York: Candlewick.

Shafer, A. (2006). The mailbox. New York: Delacorte Press.

Turner, A. (2006). Hard hit. New York: Scholastic.

Presentation Book List Middle School George, K. O. (2002). Swimming Upstream: Middle School Poems. New York: Clarion.

Holm, J. L. (2007). Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff. New York: Atheneum.

Professional Resources Atwell, N. (2007). The reading zone: How to help kids become skilled, passionate, habitual readers. New York: Scholastic.

Burke, J. & Gilmore, B. (2015). Academic Moves for College and Career Readiness: 15 Must-­‐Have Skills Every Student Needs to Achieve. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Beers, K., Probst, R., & Rief, L., Eds. (2007). Adolescent literacy: Turning promise into practice. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Gallagher, K. (2015). In the Best Interest of Students: Staying True to What Works in the ELA Classroom. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Hancock, M. R. (2007). A celebration of literature and response: Children, books, and teachers in K-­‐8 classrooms (3rd Ed.).

Boston: Pearson.

Kittle, P. (2012). Book love: Developing depth, stamina, and passion in adolescent readers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Layne, S. L. (2009). Igniting a Passion for Reading: Successful Strategies for Building Lifetime Readers. New York: Scholastic.

Layne, S. L. (2015). In Defense of Read-­‐Aloud: Sustaining Best Practice. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Miller, D. (2009). The book whisperer: Awakening the inner reader in every child. San Francisco, CA: Josey-­‐Bass.

THANK YOU!