What's on your reading list?

I think every teacher looks forward to those two magic words: summer break.  I also think that every teacher (well, every dedicated teacher anyway) does much more work over summer break than he or she intends.  Call me crazy, but the thought of planning for a new school year with no other commitments (grading papers, sponsoring club meetings, calling parents, etc.) hanging over our heads is almost exciting.  This summer I plan to focus on two things:  incorporating more technology in the classroom and becoming a better teacher of writing.  I feel the coursework of this class has given me tons of great ideas for the former.  As for the latter, I plan on reading some professional books that will hopefully guide me toward strategies that will help me help my students hone their writing skills.

To that end, there are a few books I hope to read:

• Write Like This: Teaching Real-World Writing Through Modeling and Mentor Texts by Kelly Gallagher
• Writing Reminders by Jim Burke
• Teaching Argument Writing, Grades 6-12: Supporting Claims With Relevant Evidence and Clear Reasoning by George Hillocks, Jr.

Replacing Shakespeare

I recently read an article in Time magazine titled "How I Replaced Shakespeare."  Naturally, I was intrigued.  The author, Joel Stein, writes about his realization that language arts teachers have begun to assign non-fiction texts in efforts to satisfy the new Common Core standards, as the reading and comprehension of non-fiction text has become a major focus in education.  Stein admits that he was astounded to find that teachers were assigning his work (he writes regularly for Time), and he "regularly get[s] emails from students asking about [his] use of anastrophe, metonymy, thesis statements and other things [he has] never heard of."

In his humorous, at times sarcastic essay, he argues that the best way to improve his writing is by reading something that makes him think, namely literature.  He quips, "teaching language through non-fiction is like teaching history by playing Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start the Fire'."  His point of view is an interesting one.  Yes, it's our job as educators to prepare our students to be productive citizens in the workplace, but are we doing them a disservice by guiding them away from great literature?  Stein argues that "school isn't merely training for work; it's training to communicate throughout our lives."  There is no question that kids need to enter the workforce knowing how to read and comprehend non-fiction text; but, it shouldn't come at the expense of the texts that teach us something about ourselves and the world around us.

New Semester, New Challenges, New Content

This semester, I am taking two additional courses, both of which will fuel the content of my posts over the next few months.  While my previous posts were dedicated mostly to young adult literature, posts over the next few months will be about methods of teaching secondary language arts, including posts about professional books and articles I will be reading.