10 for 10: Picture Books an English Teacher Enjoys with Her Sons

This morning while browsing twitter within minutes of waking (according to #twitterrevolution I am not alone in this behavior), I noticed in my feed #pb10for10 and decided to take a look.  Here's what I learned:  Mandy @ Enjoy-EmbraceLearning and Cathy @ Reflect & Refine sponsor a Picture Book 10 for 10 book jog each August.

I couldn't resist.  So here I am on Saturday morning posting my own 10for10 post.  Theme:  10 pictures books an English/Arts & Humanities Teacher enjoys sharing with her sons.  I like these books for a myriad of reasons—for the exposure to authors, music, artists, beautiful words and language, and most importantly because they became not only my favorites, but between my two sons (now ages 10 & 12) these became their favorites as well.

1.   Henry Builds a Cabin  by D. B. Johnson

My English teacher self couldn’t resist sharing this book with my sons.  Thanks to D.B. Johnson, my sons have a full awareness of who Henry David Thoreau is and why I think his work is important.  There is also available--Henry Climbs a Mountain and Henry Hikes to Fitchburg.  We've read them all, but the boys like the dimensions of Thoreau's cabin in this one.

2.  Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk

As library mouse hides away in a school library writing his own books for each genre, this is an excellent tale reminding us that we are all writers.  This is another message I wanted my sons to hear to encourage them to enjoy writing and know that they are capable.  (Right now neither of them prefer writing because most of their writing experiences at school have been spent practicing for the state writing test)

3.  John Coltrane’s Giant Steps remixed by Chris Raschka

Illustrations, words, and style all portray improv—this book is a great way to learn about jazz improvisation.

4.  Slowly, Slowly, Slowly said the Sloth by Eric Carle

From an early age, my oldest child has enjoyed science and nature, and since we enjoyed other Eric Carle books, this one became a delight to us because of the beautiful language and vocabulary.  At the end of the book, the sloth finally replies to the onslaught of attacks from other animals who accuse him of being lazy.  “It is true that I am slow, quiet, and boring.  I am lackadaisical, I dawdle, and I dillydally.  I am also unflappable, languid, stoic, impassive, sluggish, lethargic, placid, calm, mellow…”

5.  Old Cricket by Lisa Wheeler

"Old Cricket woke up feeling, cranky, crotchety, and cantankerous, so when his missus asked him to ready the roof for winter, he came up with a clever plan."  We loved the opening lines as well words the old cricket uses instead of curse words of today.  Plus, it’s a great tale about how the cricket tried many excuses to get out of work but really just needed to dig-in and prepare the roof for winter.

6.  Lego Star Wars The Visual Dictionary

This one became a favorite for my youngest son because of his interest in building and creating with Legos, and his love of all things Star Wars.  I have to admit, it took a while for me to enjoy this book, but after reading it again and again with my son, I couldn’t help myself.  Plus, this book became a great example to me of why we can’t base all our reading decisions for students on Lexile level.  This Lexile level for this book is much higher than my son’s Level, yet he can read the book because it’s a perfect match for him as a reader.

7.  The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

We definitely have this one memorized and can recite it in its entirety.  Who doesn’t love this one?

8.  Masterpieces Up Close:  Western Painting from the 14th to 20th Centuries

With flip open tabs and close-up shots of sections of each painting, this book became a great one for teaching my boys about masterpieces of Western visual art.

9.  The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

What I love about this one?  My ten and twelve year old will still let me read it to them periodically and they love the story.

10.  Hush Little Baby by Sylvia Long

I end with this one because my ten year old still asks me to sing this version of the song to him at night when he goes to sleep.  This natural and beautiful adaptation of the old lullaby has been part of our nighttime routine for twelve years (My oldest is twelve).  Once the boys heard the original version of the song and commented that it was incorrect.  Though my twelve year old no longer asks me to sing him to sleep on a nightly basis, my ten year old is still cool with it and asks me to sing this song to him right before he nods off.  (Sshh:  He would be embarrassed if he knew I’m telling you—if I’ve been out of town for work or if he’s sick—the twelve year old has asked for the song within the last year).

The Grouchy Ladybug & Naysayers

The topic for this post has been coming for several months now as I've been dealing with a couple of naysayers in my world of education.  You know the type?  The ones who find something wrong with everything you suggest or a problem with any idea you pose?  Earlier this year I started reading articles for tips on dealing with naysayers, and I have attempted to apply some of the tips and have thought through many of the suggestions and the implications around the approaches.  Basically, I have spent an enormous amount of energy thinking about how to deal with negativity and naysaying.  Last night, it even crept into my dreams while I slept.  Obviously, it’s time for me to re-think the strategies I've been using to deal with naysaying and negativity.

Peering at the books on our bookshelf in the living room this evening, I noticed an old copy of Eric Carle’s The Grouchy Ladybug and decided to read it for inspiration.  Of course the grouchy ladybug in this story is grouchy because he doesn't want to share, so he travels around the world provoking fights with larger animals and then saying “hey you—want to fight?---oh you’re not big enough…”  This ladybug is in such a bad mood that he picks a fight every hour for an entire day with insects and animals of every size.  At the end of the day, a whale’s tale slaps the ladybug into his proper place, sending him all the way back to the leaf where the story began, where the friendly and cheery ladybug is waiting to share a leaf full of aphids.  The grouchy ladybug eats the aphids shared with him by the friendly ladybug and ends up thanking his cheery counterpart.

I suspect the negative people I encounter are afraid of change or they don't want to come across as not knowing everything.  But we must admit change is needed in public education to meet the needs of learners.  I push for changes in education and transformation to the usual way of working because I'm not okay with the current situation.  I want new and innovative learning opportunities for kids and for adults, and I'm not okay with hearing people say "that's the way we've always done it" or "if you are around here long enough you will learn that's not the way things work around here" or "that's just the way X school is--you'll never change that!"  

The Grouchy Ladybug story with a happy ending leaves me feeling positive tonight because I know the reasons I push for change in education are for the right reasons, and there will always be naysayers.  I just need to remain cheerful and committed to the process.

5 Terrific Pairings of Print and Non-print Texts to Increase Engagement

Having always had an interest in photography, film, and non-fiction, I never had much trouble incorporating the reading of non-print texts into the classes I taught. When reading fiction, I generally paired it with non-fiction or non-print text based on a general topic or theme. Text pairing is not only an effective way to engage students; it also provides opportunity to teach students many of the important skills they need to be successful in life.

Fortunately when I entered the teaching profession well over a decade ago, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the International Reading Association (IRA) jointly published The Standards for English Language Arts two years prior. I utilized these standards throughout my teaching career, and I still refer to them when working with teachers or when writing and researching programs and policies in my job.

Standard number one calls for students to read a variety of print and non-print texts…

Some of my favorite pairings occurred in the classroom and others outside of the classroom because my young boys and I have enjoyed reading and exploring texts together.

Five of my favorite pairings over the years include…

Pairing #1 Slowly Slowly Slowly Said the Sloth by Eric Carle. Paired with YouTube clips of sloths moving slowly. It was one thing to see the pictures in the book, but curious boys were always interested in seeing video. Here’s one we watched together after reading the book. This was one of the videos we accessed online; there are many more YouTube clips on sloths now, but this one happened to capture our interest several years ago.

Pairing #2 Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk. Paired with images of various libraries and new short award winning film. The boys and I have read and re-read Library Mouse together innumerable times over the past five years. Usually we use it to launch my youngest son into his favorite journal writing activities because he enjoys writing non-fiction. Even now that they are both beyond picture books for their own reading, we still enjoy some of our favorite picture books again and again. In fact, we like Library Mouse so well, I’ve taken to using it in writing workshops with teachers as we explore critical literacies and paired texts. Most recently, I’ve paired the following print and non-print texts for workshops with teachers. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore short film (link not permitted) and Most Interesting Libraries of the World.

Since my teaching years were spent primarily in high schools, my experience with texts for middle grades is only just beginning as my fifth grader and I discuss the books he now reads. As we transition into those important middle grades years, let me share one of our favorite picture books about Henry David Thoreau.

Pairing #3 Henry Climbs a Mountain by D. B. Johnson paired with images of Walden pond and replicas of Thoreau’s cabin found online. There are actually several books by D.B. Johnson depicting various stages of Thoreau’s life, and we like them all, but our most interesting conversations between mom and sons tend to come from this particular text. Some of these similar conversations were shared with my high school students as we read Walden.

Pairing #4 Walden by Henry David Thoreau and Mexican War Lithograph. This pairing worked nicely because it brought conversations about another aspect of Thoreau’s life, and it also brought history into the classroom. Many of the students I taught in this particular English class were also students who were viewing this same lithograph in their U.S. history class, so students made connections and saw school as more than isolated courses in a school day.

Pairing #5 Ballad of Birmingham by Dudley Randall, Newspaper clipping, and various images from the bombing. Conversations around these texts center not only around the historical event but also around the rights of people in today's society. Are we all treating others appropriately? Are we discriminating against others for any reason or using violence in an attempt to solve our problems, or are we following the lead of Thoreau who practiced civil disobedience?

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