The Educators' Royal Treatment

Digital Readers Make Education Sense

by Ken Royal

I know that even the most technology-lost administrators are looking at reading gadgets like Sony’s Reader, Amazon’s Kindle, and Barnes & Noble's Nook. The obvious is that supplying these devices to students with downloaded texts and required reading saves money. Instead of paying for a $100 textbook, downloading it for $9.99 makes sense—even if the reading device is a couple hundred bucks. There is no reason to leave these just in the hands of commuters on a train—reading the Wall Street Journal, nor just in the hands of adults.

Learning firsthand…

Years ago, I borrowed a few AlphaSmarts for my 4th and 5th grade classes. And then I began to borrow more than my share. I discovered quickly that my non-writers began to write and my non-readers began to read—right off of them. Furthermore, kids used them for presentations, abandoning the usual 3 x 5 cards. When you can get kids that haven’t written, haven’t read, and fear presenting to do all of those things—that’s big. It caused me to lead a movement with PTO help to get AlphaSmarts into the hands for all students in grades 4 and 5—and to follow that with grade 3. I guess you could call that a 1:1 decision well before it became fashionable. I actually went to home meetings giving presentations to parents—all set up by the PTO. Parents wrote checks on the spot to support the venture—the low price of the gadgets made the latter a bit easier. I also had a principal who understood education entrepreneurship. It makes a difference, and more of a difference today.

It’s not about loving books with binders more or less…

Now, I love books as well as anyone—you know—the ones that warm from your own body heat rather than electricity, but some kids will read off the Reader, Kindle, and Nook who won’t read a traditional book. I’m figuring—whatever it takes.

Test them out…

If in doubt, try them in a resource situation first. Then think about the concept beyond that. I just picked three well known devices, but there are, and will be more options out there for sure—and the prices will get better. If your district leaders haven’t assigned an education tech leader to take a look at digital readers—they should.

"We teach this civilization into existence." — Junot Díaz

by Carla Beard

Ordinarily a line of teachers buying books wouldn't be newsworthy. But these teachers were at Thursday night's General Session, the opening of the National Council of Teachers of English annual convention in Philadelphia.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Díaz spoke casually to the thousand-plus educators, saying, "I'm with my tribe -- teachers -- and that's always a good feeling." He spoke briefly of his background as an immigrant from Santo Domingo. As a child he adopted his parents' dreams for his life ("doctor, lawyer, maybe an engineer"). In school, though, "I had teachers who stressed passionately the central role that art plays in civilization." He said that it was difficult to give up his parents' dreams when he decided to become an artist, adding, "To cultivate and pursue an authentic dream of your own is a person's most important calling."

Díaz encouraged teachers to remember their role. "We teach this civilization into existence," he said. "We're the people who connect the present with the past, but we also see the future."

Díaz also spoke on the value of reading. He said there is more to reading than just literacy, a statement that caught the audience's attention. "Reading is a way to connect with the human and with art. Reading asks us to practice a deep compassion. In reading we are asked to put ourselves in the hearts and minds of people who are different from ourselves. It lets us see ourselves as flawed, deeply contradictory beings, still beautiful and still deserving of love."

The convention continues until Sunday at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

What Kids Are Reading: The Book-Reading Habits of Students in American Schools

by Carolyn Rademan

Booksellers can tell you which children's books are purchased, and libraries can tell you what books are being circulated. But do we know what books kids are actually reading, cover to cover?

What Kids Are Reading:

The Book-Reading Habits of Students in American Schools, 2010 edition provides detailed information about the books kids are actually reading—from beginning to end—by grade, gender, subject area, and reading achievement level.

 

This insight comes from Accelerated Reader, the world’s most popular reading software and largest single database of student book-reading behavior. For the 2008–09 school year, upon which the report is based, the AR database includes the book-reading records of more than 4.6 million students in grades 1-12 from more than 15,000 schools nationwide.

Among the report’s key findings:

Book selection can be heavily influenced by trends. The influence of pop culture can be seen in the book choices of students in all grades. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid titles, by Jeff Kinney, dominate the top positions in grades 3-6, while Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series takes over the top spots in grades 7 and up. In the 2008 report, Harry Potter titles were prominent, but they did not dominate the top of the list to the extent that Twilight titles have.

 

Contemporary “classics” remain high on the youngest and oldest readers’ lists. Beyond the trendy titles, many of the same popular titles with a lasting presence remain high on the list, including many titles by Dr. Seuss and Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. In the middle grades, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton and Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet remain top reads. In spite of the strong showing by the Twilight series, high school students continue to read modern classics, such as Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.

 

Nonfiction is largely missing from the most-read lists. Except for a strong showing in the books widely read by struggling readers, especially in grades 4 and 5, nonfiction is mostly absent. To shed light on which nonfiction titles appeal to students as well as provide educators with ideas to incorporate reading in other subject areas, this year’s report includes lists of the Top 10 most-read nonfiction titles by boys and girls in grades 1–12.

 

Several top titles also appear on ‘most challenged books’ lists. To Kill a Mockingbird, Lois Lowry’s The Giver, Of Mice and Men, and other top titles appear on the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom’s lists of most challenged books.

 To read the full report, visit www.renlearn.com/whatkidsarereading.

Robert Newton Peck: A Day My Reading Program Didn’t Die

by Ken Royal

Seeking a Better Way 

As a young teacher in 1974, I was forced to use basal readers with my 4th graders, and have at least 3 reading groups—unbelievably referred in faculty meetings as the Bluebirds, Robins, and Crows. The three levels, if you could call them that for each basal never fit any of my students, and I got tired of hearing how father and mother gathered the whole family, including the dog, up for a picnic in the country. Believe me, which was even a big stretch for a family that usually was confined to the area behind a white picket fence.

What I did

I managed to get my hands on a box of paperbacks, with multiple copies, which were in a storeroom. It had some great titles, as well as great authors. I think it was actually for a program called Great Books. Well, I shanghaied that box. Then I did something, which teachers have done forever—I reached into my pocket to gather new, fresh paperbacks, again in multiple copies. I finished off my collection by visiting our small school library, lugging back all the books I was allowed to carry out. I was young, naïve, and didn’t think beyond doing what I thought was a good idea and in my mind the right thing.

Change

I collected all the basal readers, shared the books I’d collected, and began my own individualize reading program. Most students chose appropriate levels, while some needed help. It was the usual, good readers choosing easier books and poorer readers choosing higher-level books. I never said no to a book, but always suggested students to take another—at a more appropriate reading level. By using center activities, I found that I could conference students pretty effectively, as well as individualize instruction and assignments. Kids devoured the books, my non-readers became readers, and interests were developing based on reading.

The Authors

My students loved Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, and went absolutely bonkers for Robert Newton Peck, author of A Day No Pigs Would Die, Soup, and Soup and Me.
I began contacting nearby authors to see if they might visit my classroom. Maurice Sendak turned me down; he enjoyed writing for kids, but not presenting in front of them.
But I didn’t give up, and called Robert Newton Peck. Mr. Peck’s answer was “Sure, should I bring the horse?” I told him that I wasn’t sure if I could handle the horse. He agreed to come, and even bring books. He said that if it was OK, he’d speak to the school, as well as my class, so I set it up. Board members and administrators from other buildings wanted to be there, too. This was pretty thrilling.

A Day My Teaching World First Stood Still

Before school began, on the very morning Robert Newton Peck was to arrive, the principal came to my room and escorted me to his office. He was a WWII veteran, tattoos and all, with a knack for very colorful language. Well, he laced into me, replacing subject, verb and adjectives with swear words. The gist of it was that how could I decide to change the way students were reading in his building. He explained that my insubordination was grounds for dismissal. “Get those basal readers back in that class, and get out of my office!” Again, that’s the non-Navy version. I was devastated.

Carry On

I’ve spent other head-in-hands days in my career, but that was the first—and a very emotional beating. I went back to my class, and continued preparing for the day. My partner teacher asked me what had happened. She was planning her own basal reading revolution. I told her and my heart was shattered all over again—my brain was whirring.

Robert Newton Peck Arrives

Robert Newtown Peck walked into my classroom, wearing a cowboy hat, and actually had to bend his head to get through the door. He stood well above the classroom chalkboard. He was carrying his book Soup. He spoke to my class gently, telling us things about himself, writing, and the characters in his book. He answered all questions, and even told us about new books. They’d heard me read, but when Peck read, you could hear the love he had for his own characters.

Lunch with Robert Newton Peck

Lunch separated the classroom from the afternoon school-wide presentation. My partner teacher and I took Peck’s advice, and we found a spot outside, and sat down for lunch. All three of us sat on some rocks, ate, and talked. After some chatter about characters in his books, he looked at both of us and said, “OK, what’s going on?”
My partner teacher shared that my reading program had gotten me into some hot water with the principal. Peck said something about it being the reason he had visited, and that things tend to work out.

The School Presentation

The principal held the microphone and introduced Robert Newton Peck to the school, board members, administrators, and parents. Peck towered above him as he reached out to take the microphone. He started with, “Sir, did you actually pay money for that tie?” Everyone roared. The tie was awful. The principal’s face turned red as he backed off. And then, Robert Newton Peck talked books—real books—and not basal readers. He talked about his books of course, but it was more about books read by students, and used my class as an example. I’m not sure if all there knew what they were listening to, but I did.

Eating Crow

The next day, the principal again escorted me to his office—saying nothing. I was certain it would be for more of a tongue lashing, as well as an order to leave. Instead, in his office, he asked me to sit, and he was quiet. “I have to eat crow,” he said. I really didn’t know the expression, so he explained that after meeting with the superintendent and the board—they had decided to go in my individualized reading direction. “They want you to keep doing what you’re doing.”

I still remember that uneasy smile the principal gave me as I left his office. Again, my partner teacher wanted to know all. The next week, she collected her basals, and set up her classroom like mine. Not everyone in the building changed, but the ones that didn’t were now on the hot seat.

And I can’t help but believe that part of the change had to do with Robert Newton Peck, and A Day My Reading Program Didn’t Die.

A Kid's Eye View of Scholastic's 39 Clues

 by Adora Svitak

[Adora Svitak is the published author of three books and the world's youngest teacher. She came up with the title above mainly because it rhymed.]

How would you feel if all your extended family members kept trying to kill you? If you’re Amy and Dan Cahill, you wouldn’t be surprised at all. The young brother-and-sister team are the main characters in the wildly popular series The 39 Clues. The books follow Amy and Dan as they go around the world looking for the “39 Clues.” Oh, and did I mention that they belong to the most powerful family in the world (most members of whom do display homicidal tendencies)? The books are, needless to say, chock-full with adventure.

Now you may be wondering what a book review is doing on the Educator’s Royal Treatment, and for a series of adventure books at that. My response? The 39 Clues is more than adventure novels—it’s a motivational reading tool, pack of cards, and fun read all in one. I should know—I finally read the first book, The Maze of Bones. Written by Rick Riordan, The Maze of Bones (unflatteringly) introduces the Cahill family and its quest to find the 39 Clues.

As far as motivating readers goes, The 39 Clues is a smash hit. Suspenseful and exciting, it attracts both boys and girls with its gutsy main characters (who, luck has it, are a boy and a girl). It’s not the hardest read, so kids won’t be hugely intimidated by the wordage. What’s more, it presents a card-collecting, game-playing, prize-winning opportunity. What more needs to be said?

The books are interactive on many different levels. Each book comes with six cards, each of which has an identification code. Kids go to the 39 Clues website to enter the code and create an online card collection. Players can enter sweepstakes with prizes ranging from $250 to $10,000.

The books are genuinely fun to read. I must admit that, although the books were a little juvenile for my reading level, that I was on the edge of my seat, reading as fast as possible to find out what happened next. And I don’t even like mystery-adventures.

However, educators may find the book a little misleading to younger readers—for instance, the books say that pretty much every powerful person who ever lived on Earth—Ben Franklin, Eleanor Roosevelt, etc.—was a member of the Cahill family. Which is, I’m assuming, not exactly true. So if you plan on having your students read The 39 Clues, make sure they’re clear on the fact that it’s fiction, through-and-through.

And while the story’s main characters aren’t always role models (like any brother and sister, they fight frequently), they do behave bravely in the face of danger and do what they think is right—which, more often than not, means acting nice to other Cahills, even when it’s not the most advantageous.

Although The 39 Clues definitely isn’t a history lesson, it provides a lot of motivation to under-confident readers and gives kids role models their own age. Test-drive it before you hand it to your students—but I warn you, you may be hooked.  

Digital Reading vs. Print Books

By Adora Svitak

I live in the Seattle area, and in those long ago days of August, it rained. Yes, raining in mid-August. Even we stoic Washingtonians agree that this is not supposed to happen. But, being a stoic Washingtonian, instead of complaining about it for the whole day, I curled up with a book.

You may wonder why I am telling you this. My question is, however superficial, would it be harder to “curl up” with a Kindle (or any other type of digital reading? And, because this is an education blog, the original inquiry leads me to questions about digital reading’s applications in education. Recently I heard about Amazon trying to market to college students by putting textbooks on the Kindle. Do you think digital reading has a place in your classroom?

To use the Kindle as an example, digital reading has its benefits. Some of the K’s features (as were dutifully listed on Amazon) include text to speech, its lightness and portability, its ability to hold over 1,500 books, adjustable text size, bookmarks and annotations, and a built-in dictionary.

For those of you who teach either sight-impaired students or auditory learners, the text to speech feature could be a huge boon. Instead of having to get Braille books, which are not always available and can be hard to obtain, you are able to have books read aloud on the Kindle. This is handy for English second language learners as well; hearing the pronunciations of words, and the written read aloud, can be very helpful when learning how to read English words. However, there have been criticisms that only certain books have the audio feature, and that the voice sounds “robotic.”

The portability of the Kindle is another selling point for Amazon. At 10.2 ounces, it’s “thin as most magazines” (Amazon). Instead of lugging heavy books around in backpacks, students are able to access multiple books with the click of a button. At the same time, its thin feature could make it hard to find if—or when— it gets lost. For a thin device, the Kindle can hold a fairly astonishing number of books—1,500, that is.       

One feature I would find especially handy would be the adjustable text size. I’m nearsighted and the fonts in books often seem too small to me. I’m sure that many other students share my predicament; being able to change the text size would solve that.

I personally really love highlighting words. I also enjoy the forbidden pleasures of taking notes in the margins of books. However, I carry personal responsibility for the well-being of all the books on my bookshelves, and so you will rarely find either offense detailed in any of my books. The Kindle allows students to use bookmarks and annotations, so that they can come back to relevant points in stories and read the notes they’ve taken—although recently, according to Puget Sound Business Journal, “a Michigan high-school student named Justin Gawronski [sued] Amazon.com Inc.—claiming that when the online retailer recently deleted the George Orwell novel “1984” from his Kindle reader, it also caused his “copious notes” to be “rendered useless.”

My favorite feature would probably have to be the built-in dictionary. How many times have kids asked you what a word means? When you read a story filled with words you don’t know, the actual plot line can be difficult to understand. Anyone who’s read anything by Dickens can testify to this, myself included. Giving students the power to look up unfamiliar words not only builds vocabulary, it builds independence on the student’s part. Instead of having to constantly rely on others, they are able to find answers by themselves—which ties into my idea of giving kids control.

Although, at this point, this would be a perfect sales pitch for digital reading, I’m not a salaried employee of Amazon—so I’m going to talk about the disadvantages of digital reading too.

The Kindle is expensive. At $299 per device, or almost $6000 for a class of 20, it’s more than most schools and classrooms can afford, especially in a time of economic downturn. There are free digital reading programs available—for instance, my mom has a reading app on her iPhone that allows her to download classics—but, of course, an iPhone costs. Digital reading through eBooks, which can be downloaded free or at low cost, still require computers, and unless your school has a 1:1 program, you’ll have to share one eBook with the masses, which has its own problems—what speed do you scroll at, for instance? Even if you are able to get every student set up with their own computer and eBook, reading on a computer, I think, is harder on the eyes—and less visually appealing—than actually flipping through a book.

And how many kid-friendly books does the Kindle actually have? With its high price, it’s more likely aimed at adults—professionals, businesspeople. Thus it could be harder finding appropriate reading material for your students.

Last but not least, there is a feeling that comes with just grabbing a random book off the shelf—spontaneity. With the Kindle, since you pay for every book, you may be more careful and selective about which books you actually download—which could be a good thing, but also a limiting one. Think what would happen if you only read the books you wanted to read. I probably wouldn’t have learned addition. J In other words, that randomness that comes with looking at a bookshelf and choosing a print book, then thumbing through it, is lost.

Besides, good ol’ books don’t need electricity. You won’t ever hear the paperback in the corner complain about low battery.

Ultimately, both print books and digital books have their pros and cons. As for me, the rainy days have ended, and the sun shines benevolently upon Seattle once more. I’m going outside to play—and I leave it to you to decide which platform for reading is best for your classroom.

Letter Writing—What's That?

by Ken Royal

Great Letter Writing with a Purpose

I was recently reminded of this idea after a great e-mail conversation with a parent, as well as conversations with two brilliant 2nd grade teachers and an energetic 5th grade teacher.
It’s one of my favorite ideas to teach letter writing, increase student reading, writing, and presentation skills. It might even help keep the postal service going, too. As with anything, check with administration before, and then make sure parents know the plan.

1.    Share that you’ll be writing letters, and hand out rubrics and expectations. Be prepared for a few moans. If the rubrics are a distraction, or not appropriate at this time, wait for when they will be right to share.
2.    Start by having students brainstorm places to send letters. Could be a baseball team, museum, NASA, a scientist, a company, or to an environmental cause. In brainstorming everything goes at first. You really don’t want these sent to Aunts or Uncles, but rather something more businesslike and formal though.
3.    Edit the list with the students, and ask them to choose one or more. Ask students to consider one to three they’d like to write to. You may suggest that the choices be different, or team a group.
4.    Set up a computer lab time, unless students have computer access in class. Have students search for mailing addresses. Usually the corporate sites have an About, or Contact link. Students can help others find the mailing addresses. You may also get some address from a World Almanac in the library, or from a bookstore.
5.    Next, teach students how to write a great letter. With a purpose, they will be ready. The class can create a letter template together. Here’s where you may want to begin with another brainstorming to get the content right. Teachers can control it a bit, and add suggestions.
6.    Have the students write or key the letters. I suggest computers if you can. It’s best for editing and saving. Good way to reuse ideas for new letters. Activate voice to help ELL or visually impaired students.
7.    You may want to plan another computer activity to translate the letters into a different language. Try Google translations. It works pretty well, and is easy to do.
8.    Have students present their letters. This could be aloud in small or large groups. If you can, share some using presentation tools. Great for modeling and editing.
9.    Students will most likely want an opportunity to modify theirs after the presentations.
10.    Have student create calendars to keep track of letters. Also have them save copies of the final copy. Hopefully the original has been saved as well. Great for rereading, reteaching, comparisons later.
11.    Post the letters. Have students do as much as they can—address envelopes, etc.
12.    Sharing some great letters from history might be fun on mailing day.
13.    Suggest that students write more letters while they wait. Patience is important—this is not e-mail. Use the school's address for all return addresses.
14.    Be prepared, some may be returned unanswered, but some will be returned with primary source information, and sometimes envelopes and boxes of things for the writer, and many times for the class. There is nothing like a letter, envelope or package addressed to you. Just a note here—while it’s exciting for a student to get a package, you should know what’s in it. I recommended checking before final delivery. With luck, deliveries will happen throughout the school year.

Suggested tools:

1.    Document camera, interactive whiteboard, projector, or a just a regular whiteboard or large classroom display pad.
2.    Computers for searching address, and for word processing
3.    Envelopes
4.    Postage – if letter writing, or writing at all is in the curriculum ask for funding for the project.

The School Principal Just Friended Me?

Social Networking in Education

by Adora Svitak

What pops into your head when you hear “social networking?” Teenagers and text lingo? Facebook and MySpace? Stalkers? Maybe one thing that you didn’t think of was education. I believe that education is one of the most important potential new aspects of social networking. Because sites like MySpace and Facebook are so popular with the middle-and-high school crowd, educational networking allows you to reach your target audience using tools we are comfortable with.

Social networking is all about sharing. Admittedly, some people share too much (don’t you dare give that anonymous online friend your street address!) but educators can decide what is shared, and turn the social networking site into a center of sharing educational content—so that students are learning in the process. The most basic forms of sharing on a social networking site include email and chatting, or instant messaging, both of which are available on Facebook without having to download software.

Facebook also allows users to write on a friend’s “Wall,” the public writing space in your profile. This would allow educators to post student-specific assignments, tips and tricks, or other information. Through the “What are you thinking?” type-in bar at the top of your own homepage, you can post text, photos, videos, events, and links. All of your “friends”—your pupils and colleagues—will then be able to view this update. This hugely powerful tool gives you the ability to reach out to students and staff with the click of a button.

My older sister, Adrianna, will be a ninth grader this upcoming school year. She is also an avid Facebooker. We both enjoy taking Facebook “quizzes.” These can be decidedly random, with titles such as “What Harry Potter character do you most resemble?” to “Which type of cookie symbolizes your personality?” It got me thinking, however, that educators could utilize the popularity of such online quizzes to send students the occasional pop quiz. It wouldn’t have to be all serious—you could throw in some joke questions, give the quiz a funny title, or pretend that it’s a personality quiz (“Which Renaissance Painter Are You Most Like?”) while actually including questions that test the student’s ability to comprehend the information. Such methods may seem just a little dishonest, but it ties in with my mantra of “Get ‘em by surprise!” The last place a student expects the week’s pop quiz is on a social networking site.

Besides quizzes, social networking sites have the added benefit of offering students an “easier way to communicate,” according to Adrianna. As I have said often, learning is really a two-way street. Facebook allows students and teachers to make learning an interactive, communicative, process, where both sides can exchange thoughts and develop ideas. Questions that students never can ask—or answer—in front of their peers may be less taboo online.  

Adrianna also said that social networking gives you room to fine-tune your thoughts—that it’s “less stressful when you can backspace what you said if you don’t like it.” When used properly, social networking as a method of communication can actually help students develop their reading and writing skills; when students are able to express themselves in a virtual environment like a social networking site that they enjoy using, they may feel more comfortable about language arts. Social networking as a method of communication gives students more options; you can share video, pictures, links, etc., on someone’s Wall, through chatting or email—the choices are limitless. What’s more, you can be selective as to who you socialize with. Students’ Facebook pages are where they communicate with people they are comfortable with—which should include you.   

I know that not every teacher is crazy about the idea of exploring yet another Internet tool. On her Facebook Wall, my mom raised the question, “Do tech tools create [more] challenge[s] for teachers to manage in the classroom?” One respondent, Karyn Romeis, replied, “Of course they do, but that’s no excuse not to use them. They form a part of the landscape of life, and excluding them from the classroom is to deny a whole world of opportunity.” The likelihood is that many of your students are citizens of the online social networking world. Why not establish a continent of education?  

10 Tips for Building Your Classroom Library

by Wendy Zachrisen

1. Don't Only Include Books
Research says that it doesn't matter what kids read--they just need to read a lot and on the right level. Books are great, but so are magazines, comic books, online text, postcards, catalogs, text on cereal boxes--whatever!

2. Select Books at Correct Reading Level
Cater to students' diverse reading levels. For independent reading, each child should read books right on, or a little below, her reading level. Plus, you'll want books at a slightly higher level for guided reading groups. Aim even higher and also make sure to have books on hand that advanced peers (or you) will read to other students. Kids may progress rapidly, so ensure your collection is large enough to "grow" with your class.

3. Find Books on All Kinds of Topics
Book topics can make or break a child's love of reading. You may be able to anticipate some topic preferences based on age, but better yet, survey kids at the beginning of the year to find out what they like!

4. Explore the World of Non-fiction
Many children gravitate toward factual books, especially ones with beautiful, real-life photography rather than illustrations. Animal fact books are almost always a sure bet. Don't forget books that are functional and hands-on (cookbooks, how-to crafting books, and more).

5. Consult Online Booksellers' "Favorites"
Internet bookstores like Amazon and Barnes & Noble provide favorites lists created by customers--many of whom are experienced parents and teachers. Search these sites to find lists of books recommended for children who are the same age as your students.

6. Let 'em Make Their Own Books
Students love to read books that they, or peers, make! Kids can write stories and then draw pictures for each page. They can even personalize their homemade books with family photos. Collate the books using construction paper, a hole-punch, and yarn. Or, reduce required prep time by purchasing sets of Make a Story Journals. Hey, you join in and make a book for your classroom too! Your lil' admirers will clamor to read it. :)

7. Ask for Recommendations
Tap into friends and colleagues for suggestions. Ask other teachers, your librarian, parents, neighbors, and anyone else willing to give their 2 cents.

8. Think Big!
Add giant-size books to your collection. Big books are just a little more fun, and children are captivated by their jumbo nature. Of course, these "giants" make it easier for children to see pages during shared reading, but please let kids read them during independent reading time as well!

9. Cater to Special Needs
Simply put, all kids have special needs. Anticipate common issues like attention difficulties. Select some books that have very simple page backgrounds, a lot of empty (and preferably white) space around the words, and words that are printed in the same, predictable location on every page.

10. Give Easy Access
Squat down at your students' height and make sure you can reach books safely and easily. Many teachers store books (grouped by reading level) in milk crates or on low bookshelves. I'm a big fan of sling bookshelves for really young children. These shelves display books with the covers, rather than spines, facing out. It's almost as if the covers scream, "Read me!"

Hillsborough Schools’ Upgrade Makes the Difference

District Resource Teacher Melinda Richwine’s, Hillsborough County Public Schools in Tampa, Florida (8^th largest district in the nation), helped implement a recent Accelerated Reader Enterprise upgrade that affected 140 of the district’s 209 schools.

“With such a large number of students and teachers, sometimes it is challenging to get a new message out to everyone and provide quality training to so many employ­ees,” said Richwine. “But there is no doubt—our district, schools, teachers and students have been successful with this Accelerated Reader implementation.”

The district upgrade was necessary to get the entire district on the same page, and away from various versions of software.

“Before standardizing our elementary sites with the Renaissance Place platform, we had six or seven differ­ent versions of the software running, and each site purchased the quizzes of their choice, which caused an inequity among schools,” Richwine said, reflecting back to before the district’s schools gained access to the more the 125,000 AR quizzes through the Enterprise upgrade. “One site may have purchased only 5,000 quizzes, while another site had purchased 25,000.”

High mobility rate and transfers within schools in the district had also been a concern.

“Before, a student’s AR record didn’t follow him/her, unless the media specialist requested the transfer file be sent to the new school. Even then, if the versions of AR were not compatible, it could cause problems,” said Richwine.

“We chose to use Renaissance Learning’s Renaissance Data Integration feature, which runs each evening and updates our RP server with our student information system. When a new student comes into class, their RP record has been transferred from their previous site if they’re from within our district, or added if they’re new to our district. This has made the program so easy for our students, teachers and administra­tors—they do not have to manage any data. This feature is absolutely fabulous! This is one of the features I would never want to do without.”

But technical issues weren’t the only obstacles the district had to overcome.

“One of the most important things we did was a massive re-training of not only our teachers, but of our district staff as well,” she said of the district’s choice to purchase Renaissance pro­fessional development.

“We wanted to let the teachers, students, and parents know this program was something different than the AR they were used to. This helped dispel some of the AR myths that were lingering around,” she said. “We now emphasize individualized goals, percentages over points, and students competing with themselves. Students who are reluctant readers are excelling with individu­alized goals that are obtainable, instead of blanket grade level goals that feel too large for them.”

Visit the Renaissance Learning site at http://www.renlearn.com/ar/ to learn more about Accelerated Reader, and check Renaissance Learning’s Extraordinary Educators newsletter for more:

http://www.renlearn.com/Profdevel/success/.

Sylvan Dell's Fall Line-up: Picture and eBooks

Sylvan Dell’s  Fall line-up of beautifully illustrated picture books are ready.
The books are also available as eBooks, and the audio can be played online in either English or Spanish. So, students can hold the books, or 2.0 view the books. In my opinion both options have value, and I'd do both. Try the online preview at Sylvan Dell Publishing to see what you think.

Pandas, elephants, giraffes, brown bears, and monkeys share how things add up in What’s New At The Zoo by Suzanne Slade.

In Mother Osprey, by Lucy Nolan, sort of an ocean Mother Goose, is familiar, yet different enough to make these nursery rhymes for Buoys & Gulls fresh.

Count Down to Fall, by Fran Hawk, is a counting book that uses animals from squirrels to owls in Autumn-themed pages.

And in Moose and Magpie, by Bettina Restrepo, Magpie and Moose swap riddles throughout, with plenty of animal facts tossed in as well.

Another, book Baby Owls Rescue is due out in early September.

The Association of Educational Publishers Honors Best Learning Resources

 Looking for a list of this year’s best educational products?  Well, look no further.  The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) announced the winners of the 2009 Distinguished Achievement Awards during the annual AEP Awards Banquet & Gala in Washington, D.C., last Friday, June 12, 2009.

This year’s best products were awarded in four categories: Curriculum, Periodicals, Professional Development, and Technology Innovations.  

The winners in the Curriculum Category included:

• Discovery Education streaming from Discovery Education won the Reference Resources Category for Grades 6-8.  Discovery Education streaming is a digital learning resource with up to 9,000 full-length videos segmented into 71,000 content-specific clips that are tied directly to state and national standards.

• PCI Reading Program Level Two from PCI Education won the Special Education Category for Grades K-5.  The curriculum is designed for students with developmental disabilities or significant learning difficulties, and helps nonreaders become readers by enhancing a student’s sight-word vocabulary.

• The Key to Tracker from Key Curriculum Press won the Mathematics Category for Grades 6-8.  The online subscription service serves as the online companion to the Key to… workbooks, and offers teachers online tools to increase their students’ knowledge of basic math skills.

Each organization was honored for their outstanding products and leadership in the education industry.  Their respective products are designed to improve students’ knowledge and success in reading, math and science, giving them the skills necessary for future achievement in school and beyond.  In addition, these products offer a unique approach to teaching and learning, providing teachers with more time for instruction and keeping students engaged and on task.

For a complete list of AEP Award winners, visit www.aepweb.org/awards/winners.htm.

ReadSmart Makes Reading on Small Devices Readable

ReadSmart is 21st Century Text Software, based on over half a century of reading research.

I had an interesting talk with ReadSmart’s chairman of the board and co-founder Thomas Bever, Ph.D, who has been working in the fields of cognitive science and psycholinguistics for over 40 years. I also spoke with chief technology officer John Maher. ReadSmart an Arizona-based company has a software application that improves text legibility and readability. Beyond that, it has wonderful implications for use in handhelds.

The technology is based on peer-reviewed scientific research, which supports phrase-based formatting to improve reading comprehension, retention, speed as well as enjoyment. ReadSmart’s device-specific typesetting optimizes reading of digital books on handhelds, such as iPods, while maintaining the look and feel of print books—including the illustrations.

“We’ve got an analyzer that looks at text and does a very good job at identifying where the phrase boundaries are,” says Bever. "The software does it automatically."

Here’s the kicker, above and beyond getting a book on an iPod in a more aesthetic way, this software addresses—automatically—what reading teachers have done for students since the 50s—rephrasing text for improved reading performance. “What happens with the ReadSmart Spacing is that the eye fixation patterns of average readers becomes like that of superior readers—comprehension and speed is improved,” says Bever. And he has the research to back that up.

I actually tried this out on an iPod, and it worked. I’d pretty much given up reading anything really lengthy on a small handheld. Probably goes back to bad experiences with PDFs on them—it wasn’t fun. I have to admit, that while the iPod screen was certainly small, I had no difficulty reading the text, and looking at footnotes that appeared on the same page, without opening another. I know there are larger reading devices out there, but it seems ReadSmart has something here. I mean, having an iPod is commonplace these days—in and out of the classroom.

“We can preserve the text and images the way they were in the actual book,” says Maher. Touch devices are perfect for this, because scrolling using finger-touch control works best. “The software even bookmarks—it remembers where you left off when you've stopped reading—for no worries finding your place when you come back.”

A bit of geek-talk:

“The software works on algorithms that optimizes the efficiency of reading through phrase-based formatting, and spacing of text into chunks of meaning that are the most informative to the brain,” says Bever.

Try it yourself!

I played with this on an iPod—in a short time, I didn’t think about the device at all—it really was like reading a book. I got a kick out of seeing the illustrations.

If you'd like to try it yourself, download a selection of classic book chapters at no cost, and the entire book for a low cost at http://books.readsmart.com/. That site is optomized for iPod Touch and iPhone viewing. The company will be officially launching the site at the iTunes Store very soon.

Check the ReadSmart site to learn more: http://www.readsmart.com/

Online Tool Helps Schools Leverage Stimulus Funding

Are you an educator under pressure to make quick choices regarding funds available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)?

The Turbo Solutions Builder from PCI Education offers an easy way to find the safest and most popular products that can be purchased with IDEA and Title I stimulus funding.  The Turbo Solutions Builder saves educators valuable time, by allowing them to view products based on the specific needs of their students.  The online tool begins by asking each user to select a combination of criteria, including grade level, disability category, subject area, and funding type.  Based on these selections, the Turbo Solutions Builder searches a relevant portion of the PCI Education offering to provide a list of top product recommendations.  More than 1,300 products from PCI Education and other publishers are available through the Turbo Solutions Builder.

PCI Education offers educators instructional materials for a wide range of students with special needs, including significant or developmental disabilities such as autism, as well as products for English language learners and students performing below grade level.

Burst Reading: Wireless Generation's Larry Berger

The Royal Treatment Talks Burst Reading with Wireless Generation CEO and Co-Founder Berger

Larry Berger, Wireless Generation CEO and Co-Founder talked to me today about the company’s curriculum move called Burst Reading, an early literacy intervention. As Berger puts it, “We’ve been building things that support instruction, but it’s unusual for us to deliver the curriculum for teachers on the instructional side.” Previously, Wireless Generation has gone right to the edge of this, and then teachers would have to figure out what to do with the data collected, and pulled from various textbooks and solutions, and finally determine how t use it for instruction.
It was time, according to Berger, for a new Wireless Generation product that was instructional and delivering reading intervention material in a way that is more responsive to the data.

That new venture is called Burst and it’s geared to the K-3 student population. It has the usual thee benchmark assessments—beginning, middle, and end of year, but doesn’t stop there. Burst supplies teachers with a PDF lesson—10-day prescription for teachers to use with their reading groups. At the end of 10 days, there is a short—minute assessment, the students and groups are re-evaluated—and teachers get a new 10-day group prescription. This process continues throughout the year. The 10-day lessons are understandable, useful, and personalized - playing to what has always been a teacher's strong suit—appropriate lessons geared to properly and frequently assessed students. It’s something that administrators can support, and something teachers can do. The program is for student in levels K-3 at this time. I like the idea of having a PDF prescription printout that changes every 10 days and doesn’t require teachers to track down, compile, and organize group lessons—they will, too. It focuses on teachers teaching and not students on computers.
“Teachers should have tools that support decisions about differentiated grouping, and they shouldn’t have to assemble by hand every lesson, and every sequence of lessons that each different student group might need. We built Burst in support of the teacher,” says Berger.

http://wirelessgeneration.com/

The Royal Treatment Talks Burst Reading with Wireless Generation CEO and Co-Founder Berger

Larry Berger, Wireless Generation CEO and Co-Founder talked to me today about the company’s curriculum move called Burst Reading, an early literacy intervention. As Berger puts it, “We’ve been building things that support instruction, but it’s unusual for us to deliver the curriculum for teachers on the instructional side.” Previously, Wireless Generation has gone right to the edge of this, and then teachers would have to figure out what to do with the data collected, and pulled from various textbooks and solutions, and finally determine how t use it for instruction.
It was time, according to Berger, for a new Wireless Generation product that was instructional and delivering reading intervention material in a way that is more responsive to the data.

That new venture is called Burst and it’s geared to the K-3 student population. It has the usual thee benchmark assessments—beginning, middle, and end of year, but doesn’t stop there. Burst supplies teachers with a PDF lesson—10-day prescription for teachers to use with their reading groups. At the end of 10 days, there is a short—minute assessment, the students and groups are re-evaluated—and teachers get a new 10-day group prescription. This process continues throughout the year. The 10-day lessons are understandable, useful, and personalized - playing to what has always been a teacher's strong suit—appropriate lessons geared to properly and frequently assessed students. It’s something that administrators can support, and something teachers can do. The program is for student in levels K-3 at this time. I like the idea of having a PDF prescription printout that changes every 10 days and doesn’t require teachers to track down, compile, and organize group lessons—they will, too. It focuses on teachers teaching and not students on computers.
“Teachers should have tools that support decisions about differentiated grouping, and they shouldn’t have to assemble by hand every lesson, and every sequence of lessons that each different student group might need. We built Burst in support of the teacher,” says Berger.

http://wirelessgeneration.com/

Bob Lemire Founder Lexia Learning

Lexia Learning--a labor of love.

I had the privilege of interviewing Bob Lemire, founder of Lexia Learning. At 76 Bob is as passionate and energetic today as he was 24 years ago when the idea of Lexia Learning was born. Like many, Bob and his wife, Virginia, experienced the wonder of how offspring can be so different. Bob and his wife did pretty much traditional things--reading in the lap--while their daughter learned to read, and she had no difficulty with school or reading at all. But when the couple's son Bo came along, reading didn't take and he was struggling. Around 4th grade, Bob says that the public school gave him a call and told him that he needed to take his son to a psychiatrist, because the school was not only worried about his reading, but his behavior in the classroom as well.

The Lemire's didn't know where to turn, but one of Bob's train-commuting acquaintances  was a physician, Dr. Edwin Cole, at the time Director of the Language Clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital and he immediately diagnosed Beau as Dyslexic. "Cole, who started the Carol School in Lincoln, prescribed two tutors and told Beau that he wasn't doing anything bad--and that he wasn't the problem. Furthermore, that Bo was going to read and life was going to be good. The process began, and Bo learned one skill after another...after another." Within a month he had a part in a play and his confidence back.

In 1978, Bo was enrolled in the Greenwood School, a private school for reading impaired students. Bob shares that this was the time of the "Reading Wars" when phonics was being driven out of public schools, but finding a home in these private schools. Lemire's personal experience and Cole's schools for teaching dyslexic  kids to read by using trusted tutors was the seed. It caused Lemire to ask another acquaintance in 1980 if he could create a computer program that could do what the what Orton Guillingham reading flashcards could do--to help students absorb sound-symbol correspondence. Lemire wanted to reproduce that totally student-centric learning for all students. When you think about the timing of this, there is no doubt that this was the height of future-thinking at a time when few schools had computers to do it. So, beyond launching the new idea with new technology, Lemire found himself in the position of having to find ways of funding and getting computers into schools as well. "Some people began crossing to the other side of the street when they saw me coming," says Lemire. His perseverance paid off and Lexia Learning began paying dividends with dyslexic students and in special education classroom--and today for all reading students.

And if you're wondering about Bo...he's a successful corporate member of the Lexia company. He did learn to read, raised a family...and life is good.