Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Half a century.
That's a long time.
Charlie thinks it's forever.
It does kind of seem that way,
but it also seems like a flash.
Funny thing is that it rolls off my tongue and comforts me.
It doesn't bother me.
I have more clarity now.
I know what is important.


Lucy's belly laugh is important...a laugh that is so contagious that if you are sitting by her you can't help laughing.


What is important?


Charlie's understanding that she's smart is important, after all the years of difficulty with reading and school. Her feeling smart only helps to bolster her ability to support and help her friends.

What is important?

Liza's bear hugs are important. I am not sure I've ever felt a stronger more caring hug. Hopefully she has that hug inside her also to comfort her in difficult times.

Life is about humanness.

What is important is tearing down the walls of guilt, fear, ego so that we can begin to see each and every human who as someone who can shine. 
Love and compassion,
humans....that is what is important.

Half a century.
I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Friday, May 27, 2016

Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story (Review)


     We were married three days before 9/11 in Santa Rosa, California.  So much joy.  Then our world came crashing down the day of September 11th early in the morning in San Francisco.  We were working out in the hotel when we saw the news on the television.  I found myself on my knees crying, just like you see in the movies.  I was in shock along with the rest of the world.  But my shock was somehow closer.

     Our home at the time was in downtown Manhattan, three blocks from the World Financial Center.  The twin towers filled our south facing view.  How could this be happening?  This was my neighborhood, my world.  We eventually were able to go on our honeymoon but came back to our apartment 6 weeks later to be dropped off 6 blocks from our building to the smell of acrid smoke still lingering in the air.  (There was no vehicle access any closer to our building at the time.)  We walked the six blocks dragging our suitcases behind us as our tears blurred our vision.

    Nora Raleigh Baskin's phenomenal new book, Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story brought me back to this time of grief and jarring reality.  She chronicles four children from all different areas of the United States during the two days before 9/11.  You get to know the characters intimately and feel your heart tugging for them.  Her writing is utterly breathtaking.  "It sent a plume of dark smoke up into the sky, charcoal black into the robin's-egg blue of the once most perfect day."  The children later meet up at the memorial one year after 9/11.  Baskin's describes one of the boys' reaction, "It had made him more afraid and less afraid, both.  There was so much to mourn, and so much to be proud of, so many reasons to be at this memorial."  

    I still live and teach in this area.  My three daughters know the memorial intimately.  Our new apartment is 2 blocks south of the memorial now.  We see these lights each year out our window.  In fact, we started adoption proceedings for our first daughter when we were displaced citizens in California after our wedding.  We call Liza-Rae our 9/11 baby.  Each year we see the lights and walk by the flags that are put up in Battery Park to commemorate this horrific event and to remember the people we lost.  Baskin's words so describe my experience, "Above, the flags snapped like whips, and the crooning of the wind harmonized with the steady sound of human crying."  





     Baskin's book is a work of art.  She captures the mixed feelings and emotions surrounding this devastating event in American history.  Yet at the same time she gives us hope.  Through her characters she paints a picture of "oneness" of a humanity that shares feelings and beliefs, who is more alike than different.  It is a message our children so desperately need to hear in our world today.






Thursday, May 12, 2016

Back Door Kids

Watch the back door.

Some kids
show themselves
head on...

We know them,
they are the kids
who say our names
three times in a row.
Susie, Susie, Susie.

They are right in
front
of us.

I think the kids
who are
behind us
are the ones
we have to watch.
Carefully, deeply,
before they slip away.

Anita is one of these
back door kids.
Quiet, smiling,
rarely talking.

She has started
hugging me
from behind.

I've thought about
these hugs
the last few days.

She has a hard time
being seen.
But, being seen
is so important
for Anita.

If I didn't pay
close attention
to who was
behind me.

I might have missed her.

Who is your
back door student?
Are you seeing them?

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Goodbye

I should know this

about myself.

In times of deep and

penetrating emotion,

I NEED TO WRITE.

It is like my

meditation,

my calm place,

a pillow where i can lay

my restless mind.


Tomorrow I will say

goodbye

to a group of

valiant,

strong,

dedicated,

wonderful

Students.


We have been

together

for a year now,

these teacher warriors

and I.


We have experienced

growth,

loss,

learning,

and admiration.


#BxCohort,

thank you all,

for letting me be a part of your

journey.

I am humbled

and awed.


What lucky

children

await you.


Monday, April 25, 2016

Amazing Brain

 This weekend I was cuddled down in my bed reading and my 9 year old daughter, Charlie, was sitting next to me tinkering on a Chromebook.  If you don't know Charlie, you might want to read my previous post,  10 Strategies to Help a Reticent Reader Love to Read.  Reading has always been hard for Charlie.  But this weekend she showed me some of the many strengths that she has deep down in her amazing brain.
     How many of you use Google Slides?  I was just having dinner with a friend who has a PhD in education and she doesn't use Google Docs, let alone Google Slides.  So Charlie had seen me use Google Slides one evening when I was teaching at Bank Street College.  She was my official "clicker" so she had some idea of how this works.
     Back to this weekend on my bed.  Charlie asked me, "Mom, I want to make a slide show."  I literally opened a new slide document and she went to town.  I didn't have to show her how to insert a text box or how to insert images.  I was floored.  Before I knew it, she had started a slide show about cute puppies.  But even more interesting than her facility with the program, was her ability to manipulate the images and text to send the messages she wanted to send.  When I taught her how to use animations, where you drive which parts of the page appear in which order, she had a clear plan.  The picture of the dog had to come first, so that when the text came that said, "So cute too" that the reader had the context of the picture already.  She also researched about each type of cute puppy she wanted to write about.  So, when she introduced the maltese, she commented that "A maltese is known for being brave."  (We'll get to APA references a little bit later!)


     I was lucky enough this weekend to go up to TC and see Cornelius Minor talk about digital literacy.  I was struck by the idea of "reading images" and how so much of the world of the internet is about how you read images.  This is a wonderful thing for Charlie.  She has such visual acuity; the words are what are hard for her.  With this new medium to work with, Charlie's strengths shined through.
     After she finished the slide show about puppies, she decided that she could write a slide show about the books she read this weekend.  An amazing thing happened.  Because she was so jazzed about this new way of writing, she actually started to write so much more than she ever has.



     Charlie asked me to re-read her writing this morning before school.  As I was reading, all of a sudden she noticed that the names of the characters needed to be capitalized.  (She didn't get to all of them, but what a great noticing!)  She, herself, on her own, noticed this editing that needed to be done.  In addition, her retelling of the story was better than anything I have ever seen her do....she had the sequence down, she told the important parts, and all while being joyful.  Her engagement and drive with this project helped her to pull on knowledge that she has inside her and express it.
    How is it that we have these kids who have so much inside and yet, when they are placed in the structure of our schools, many times those amazing ideas and strengths don't shine.  I thank Charlie for teaching me, again, this lesson of paying such careful attention to how kids learn and meeting them where they are.  So I leave you with this question...How can you help a student to shine?  This isn't the only way; this was Charlie's way.  It is different for each child.  That is what makes teaching so exciting and so challenging.  Each little person's brain works differently.  How can we help them "turn on their smarts?"

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

When the girls were young

When the girls
were young,

Lots of work

Diapers
Rashes
Fevers

But now,
deeper work.

Friendships,
Feelings,
Springboard

To the world.

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Mindsets

Mindsets

Thinking about the idea of mindsets this morning.

Growth Mindset

Fixed Mindset

We are not

either

or...

We are all on a continuum.

Where am I now?  Am I ready to learn?

Is my guard down?  Am I ready to fall?

How do we help our students

not "get there" to

Growth Mindset

but LIVE Growth Mindset

with all its fits and starts.

Model vulnerability, courage and desire.

Friday, March 11, 2016

Fenway and Hattie

Yesterday morning I was checking my Twitter and what do you know, Victoria Coe messaged me saying she was in Manhattan for the day and did I want to have coffee!

The world woks in interesting ways.  My friend Jan says that "Whatever is for you doesn't pass you by."  I believe it.

Victoria and I had such a lovely conversation about writing, teaching and kids...oh and dogs, of course!  So powerful to hear about her process in writing this amazing book.

Some of the big take aways for me:

  • Writing is hard.
  • Writing takes a ton of revision.
  • Writing takes writing.  
  • We are all people learning and growing.
Thank you, Victoria!

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

This is what I know.  Not much.

download.jpeg     I grew up in one of those families….white, middle class, ok, California, not mid-west.  We didn’t talk about race.  At all.  My parents were wonderful.  My father was a well-known doctor, not just for his skill, but for his ability to listen, really listen, to his patients.  (Reality check, when have you been really listened to by a doctor recently?  Not that all doctors are bad, but many don’t listen.)  My mother was a teacher.  She had her own tutoring business and I remember all too often her leaning into the car of a parent of a teenager giving them some sage advice about parenting.  She also started an amazing organization that put over 200 community members into our schools in the low socio economic part of town each week to read to kids.  No slackers.  Kind.  Generous.  And...no mention of race, ever.
    I attended University of California at Berkeley, Go Bears!!!  Suddenly, I became more aware of race.  Here’s the problem.  I didn’t know how to talk about race.  I cowered in my classes never wanting to say the wrong thing.  I made it through with a degree in Spanish and still didn’t talk about race.
    I worked as a teacher in the Roseland School District in northern California for 9 years, 4 of which I was a bilingual teacher in a dual immersion program, yes, blond-haired, blue eyed Susie was the Spanish model.  My students didn’t know I spoke English until one day Brittany heard me speaking after school and said with a gasp, “Susie you speak English!”  To which I replied, “See Brittany, if you try really hard, you will get to speak Spanish this way!”  (When is it ok to tell white lies?  Worthy of another post!  Wait, even that expression...hum.)  
    During this time, I was the only caucasian teacher on the immersion team.  At one conference, one of the hispanic teachers said, “Wow, you are the only blondie!” to which I said, very nervously, “wait, if that were turned around and I called you out for being the only hispanic, I’d be in trouble.”  To which she responded.  “Good, now you know how it feels.”  This interaction didn’t do much for starting to talk about race.  Once again, I didn’t speak about for a long time.
    I am being vulnerable now.  I didn’t really start thinking about race and biases until I taught at Bank Street College.  The first year I didn’t address it at all.  Do you know when you look back at your teaching career and you think, “Oh those poor students?”  This is one of those times.  I didn’t know how.  I am not saying that I know everything now...far from it!  Did you read the title?  But, I am now willing to touch on the subject, to be vulnerable in front of my class, alongside them.  
   During my second year teaching at Bank Street, a student came up and told me I might really like a video she saw.  This was during Ferguson and the riots.  Verna Myers How to Overcome our Biases  This video changed me.  Myers, who is black and works to eradicate biases spoke about her OWN biases.  We all have them and we need to constantly be checking ourselves.  
    Two other resources I am currently reading are Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book, Between the World and Me about a black journalist and his open letter to his teenage son.  Breathtaking and hard.  The other book I am reading to my high school student.  (I don’t want to be the parent who doesn’t talk about race.)  I am reading Whistling Vivaldi by Claude Steele to her.  It is sparking discussions about race and stereotypes, something I never had growing up.
   I am actually horrified.  Horrified that I didn’t talk about race until now; that I spent my childhood never knowing there was discrimination going on everywhere.  Having children forces you to discuss things that make you uncomfortable.  We now talk to our children about biases and discrimination.  I think it makes me uncomfortable because I can’t believe that I didn’t know for so long.  It pains me.  
    So I am left with “What do I know?”  Not much...but I am learning.  I am trying.  I know I will continue to find biases within myself, I know I will stumble.  But the best I can do is have a growth-mindset about what I don’t know and strive to grow and help my children grow and be more conscious about race, stereotypes and biases.  

Monday, March 7, 2016

Books, Books, Books

    This weekend I was so proud of myself.  I officially gave away 3 bags of books.  That is a big deal for a #bookloving teacher who just can't get enough books.  But, who said I couldn't buy more books at the used bookstore?!
    If you read my post on February 6th, 10 Strategies to Help a Reticent Reader Love to Read you met my daughter Charlie.  It is always a dance with Charlie...I don't want to push her too much to read, but I want to offer it as a delicious activity that I love to do, and especially, I love to do with her.  
    So, back to the used bookstore, Homegoods in Soho...Remember, I had given away 3 bags of books?  (Remember how hard that is for me?)  Well, Charlie sat down on this darling blue (kids only) chair and I just couldn't help myself.  I started handing her books I thought she might like to read.  I absolutely let her choose...That's another post, the power of choice! 
     In the end we did buy...ok 1 bag of books!  (I can pack a bag really well and fit lots of books in one bag!)  Right now we are working our way through The Adventures of Hugo Cabret and she is reading Following Grandfather for her independent book.  I am just reminded, once again, of the power of books.

Sunday, March 6, 2016

A letter to Mari

A letter to my friend's sister who died in 2008 of cancer.  I was reminded of this letter after I read Dan Tricarico's post  on "One Good, Small Thing."  It reminded me of this post.  Thanks, Dan.  http://www.thezenteacher.com/blog

November 8, 2008


Dear Mari,

I lit a candle for you yesterday at church.  It’s strange.  I hadn’t talked to Aracely in a few days and somehow I knew it was getting hard.  I guess I am a true believer that there is a spiritual communication that happens when we are open to it.  You would have loved it, my three little girlies were there wanting to help.

I also have a very special candle lit for you at home.  It is a candleholder we used after my grandmother died, my mother died, the people lost in 9-11, and John’s father.  We keep it going for a few days and it truly brings a spiritual peace to the house.

I know you are much more at peace.  I picture your journey with the talked about bright light entering another wonderful, pain-free world.  I know you knew you’d be there with my mom.  It gives me great comfort to know she will be able to comfort you, because I know even though you’ve gone to such a better place, I think it will still be heavy to think of the loss your children and family face.

On the one hand, I know the pain they will have; the severity, the profound feeling of loss, grief, loneliness.  I know the empty space in their heart will never be filled.  But, I also know that the hole becomes less painful, and actually, if they learn to let you…you will be a comfort to them.  I call on my mother often…ask her questions, pause in a tender moment and know that she is there, watching and comforting and strengthening me.

You must be very proud of your family.  They gave your care their all.  They dearly wanted you to live, but they also just wanted to care for you because you were their cherished mother, wife, sister, and daughter.  You must be proud because so much of what they showed you in your journey, you actually taught them.  I think they will realize this more and more in their path through life; how much you shaped and molded their lives.  The beauty is that there is so much living in each an every one of them yet to come and so many of their choices and decisions will reflect back to you.  You are so deep within them that your physical presence was just one aspect of your impact.

One of the things, the beautiful things, that the death of a loved one shows us is how to cherish life.  It’s like you have this newfound wisdom that you depart to those of us who are not yet as wise.  You taught me to savor each moment with my children.  Tonight I took a bath with all three of them.  I washed each one’s hair, gave them foot rubs, let them pour water over my head.  I had piles to clear, junk drawers to clean and bills to pay…but you once again taught me that those things are not the important things in life.  Mari, as I was washing their beautiful hair and they were giggling and splashing, I thanked you.  I feel so honored to have shared life with you.  I can’t believe how lucky your family is to have had you in their lives.

I love you,



Susie

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

The Great Connectors...Books

“You are a connector!” my friend Angela said to me many years ago.  She had just finished reading Malcom Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point.  “These people who link us up with the world...these people on whom we rely on more heavily than we realize – are Connectors, people with a very special gift of bringing people together.” I do love to connect people…”Oh, you should meet so-and-so because they love doing x just like you!”  This was long before I became an avid reader.  In fact, I didn’t become a reader really until I went on vacation in Mexico and pulled a calf muscle.  Internet service was terrible and all I had was a stack of my children’s books.  I found a new love.  
I think the fact that I didn’t find a love of reading until well into adulthood has helped me connect children with reading.  I remember in high school I started dating a guy who was so super smart.  I thought, YES, I am so set!  I will just study physics with him and I will have such an easier time with the class.  Unfortunately, Steve knew physics well, but he just had a mind for physics.  I didn’t.  He had no idea how to help me understand.  He had always understood physics.  I hadn’t always understood books.  Because I can remember a time when I wasn’t in love with reading I think I understand how to help kids learn to love reading.  
What I recently started to understand is that sharing books is another way to extend the “connector” in me.  Ask my students and my friends...every conversation usually contains the words, “Oh, have you read such-and-such a book?  You will love it.”  Lately I have realized that one of the reasons I love books so much is that I love connecting books to people in a similar way that I love to connect people to people.  Ultimately, though,  books are the Great Connectors.  They connect us with our deeper self, they connect us with the world around us and they help us understand each other as one humankind.  
As a teacher isn’t this our role?  We have to provide students with books that they feel connected to...after all, they have to know what the endgame is.  Why do all of this work to learn to read in the first place?  As Stephen King says, we need “to be flattened by a book.”  It is our job to help them gain that feeling.
Kids won’t love all the books we love, but if we start with books we love, our passion will rub off.  The later work for us is to begin to delve into books we wouldn’t normally choose to be able to talk with students about books that push us, as teachers, out of our comfort zone….but that discussion is for another blog post.  That being said,  here is a list of 10 of my new favorite books I use to connect kids with books.

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  1. IF I WERE A BOOK by Jose Jorge Letria

“If I were a book, I’d help anchor you to your truest self.” I used this new favorite book today with a group of third graders during a Read Aloud Lunch.  It talks about all the things a book wants from its reader from the book’s perspective.  Jackson wanted to borrow it first!  


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2. ENCHANTED AIR    by Margarita Engle      
Margarita Engle uses poems to tell the gripping story of her childhood where she had to live between cultures of Los Angeles and Cuba.  In our country of immigrants, this story rings true and helps kids see that they are not alone in feeling pulled between cultures.  My friend Deki, who teaches 5th grade in the Bronx, has many children who are pulled between two cultures.  In fact, she herself, is an immigrant from the Dominican Republic.download.jpeg


3.. THE WAR THAT SAVED MY LIFE    by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.
     I had pretty invasive foot surgery earlier this year which forced me to be bed-bound for weeks.  You guessed it…I read.  I was intrigued by this title.  War, usually bad thing, saved her life?   Turns out, I haven’t felt so connected to a book in a long time.  The main character, Ada, turns out is crippled, born with a clubfoot.  I won’t tell you more about it because I don’t want to spoil it, but how much closer to home can you get?  Her strength and resilience inspired me on some pretty hard days.

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4. PAX    by Sara Pennypacker
“After a hundred years of scrubbing by a dozen different families, this house would probably still smell bitter.”  I am speechless.  This writing is breathtaking.  Peter, the main character in the story, searches for his pet fox, Pax.  Pennypacker researched the characteristics of foxes and creates an incredibly believable character in Pax.  Also Peter is dealing with the recent loss of his mother.  So many students connect to this book on many levels.  I even started wondering what our pet rabbits were thinking!



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5.. GEORGE    by Alex Gino

In my classes I teach at Bank Street College, we have many discussions about how important it is for kids to see themselves reflected in books.  Finally, we have a book for kids who don’t feel comfortable with the gender they were born into.  “Playing a girl part wouldn’t really be pretending, but George didn’t know how to tell Kelly that.”





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6. THE TRUTH ABOUT TWINKIE PIE   by Kat Yeh      

Family life is messy.  Period.  No family is perfect.  Yeh exemplifies that imperfection in this new book.  She normalizes the mess.  The main character, Gigi, short for Galileo Galilei...ok, stop right there.  If that doesn’t pique your interest...Anyway, the main character is searching and pining for her real mother.  I won’t tell you what happens, but for me with my 3 adopted girls it struck a chord.


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7.   CRENSHAW  by Katherine Applegate
I’ve seen kids and adults connect to this book immediately for different reasons.  Tracy, a graduate student, revealed that she had been homeless last semester.  Again, there is such power in seeing yourself in a book.  Also, just yesterday, I met with a 2nd grader who continued to meow like a cat.  She ended up naming her cat Turbo and we decided that Turbo could come out 3 times a day at school...the other parts of the day, strong girl Ashby needed to speak.  Ashby is crazy about cats.  She loved the idea of Crenshaw being a big friend for the main character, Jackson.


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8. THE BOYS WHO CHALLENGED HITLER    by Phillip Hoose
My 14 year old daughter Liza had to do a biography study last year in school and chose Adolf Hitler.  She was horrified  by the destruction and anguish this man caused.  So when I found this nonfiction book about boys who stood up to Hitler she was all in.  The book is a combination of narration and first person accounting by Knud Pedersen, one of the original Churchill club, of how the resistance of a group of young boys eventually helped lead Denmark to fight back.

9. ROLLER GIRL    by Victoria Jamieson      download (4).jpeg
I love this graphic novel!  In my family we have a mantra, “Strong girls rock!” My poor husband, he is surrounded by the E-Team as we call ourselves!  Jamieson’s Astrid embodies that strength!  Charlie, my 9 year old who struggles with reading LOVED this book.  Additionally, what is fabulous about this book is that it is intriguing to boys too.  My friend Kara’s son Solomon, a 5th grader, finished the book this week and thought it was “great and had a great message.”  



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10. CIRCUS MIRANDUS    by Cassie Beasley  
All I have to say about this book is magic.  I have a former student who is now in 6th grade.  Alessia doesn’t like sad books.  She sent me a letter recently to connect.  When I wrote her back yesterday, I sent her a picture of the cover of this magnificent book.  Part of growing up is learning to hold sadness along with the joys of life.  This book helps us do this brilliantly.  “Michah” said the Lightbender.  “What do you think magic is?”  “I guess it’s what’s inside of people like you,” he replied.  “The parts of you that are too big to keep just to yourself.”  Brilliant.

BONUS!!!  . DEAR BASKETBALL    by Kobe Bryant      
My 3rd grade boy writers adore basketball. When I brought this poem out as a mentor text, Dashiell and Banjo’s eyes lit up in a way I hadn’t seen all year.   Many have thought of the great Kobe Bryant as an important sports model for kids, but now we can hail him as a literary model.  What a striking way to announce your retirement.  Inspired.kobe-01.jpg

“I’m ready to let you go.
I want you to know now
So we both can savor every moment we have left together.
The good and the bad.
We have given each other”

Click the link to read the whole poem.  Kobe Bryant Dear Basketball


This is a call to us as parents and educators to help our children connect to wonderful literature.  We just have to bring the right books to the table and the literature will take care of the rest.

Monday, February 15, 2016

The Value of Vulnerability

Vulnerability.  There, I said it.



About six months ago I saw an advertisement for an amazing Heinemann PD weekend focused on inquiry.  I asked a few colleagues to attend with me...Who wouldn't want to go to beautiful Santa Fe?!  Unfortunately no one could go.  So of course, I asked my husband and 11 year old daughter to go.  Great.  Done.

There were a couple of things that  I didn't count on.  One was having to have foot surgery about a month before our departure.  Talk about being vulnerable.  All of a sudden I had to ask for help from almost everyone.  Hard.  I am a fast walker and a fast "doer."  The Fonda hotel is an absolutely beautiful and majestic place with an amazing history filled with intrigue and hidden spaces.  It also has many areas where there are three steps up.  Problematic.  The other thing I didn't count on was feeling so alone there.  For some reason I hadn't thought that part through very well.

So, the first morning I walked into this huge ballroom and it seemed like all the participants were already there with their groups.  (I chose not to have the buffet breakfast there because how was I supposed to drive my cart and hold my plate...I know, I know I should have asked for help.)  I am actually a very outgoing and extroverted person when I know people in a group but, I knew no one.  Gulp.  No one.  I knew Smokey Daniels from his picture on the cover of the brochure...seriously.  So I finally decided to go up in front to a table right in front of him.  I can't tell you how amazing it was for him to welcome me with his bright smile and warm voice.  I ended up sitting right there in front at a table with a group of women who had come together as a district.

So even though I had a group to talk to they were all there together.  I was the outsider.  Each time I went back to our room I would tell my husband, "I don't want to go out there again."  Don't get me wrong, it was a fabulous conference but I was still feeling alone and my cart made me even more alone.  I would be "walking" and chatting with people and boom, three steps.  I would have to open the little door to the open air mechanical lift at which point the people I was walking with went on.  So I felt even more alone.  It gave me so much empathy for people who are handicapped.   Each time I knew it was good for me to go back but I can't remember when I've felt so vulnerable.

Through the process I came to understand what my students feel both in the public school where I teach in Manhattan and at Bank Street College.  We encourage our students to be vulnerable all the time, to read a book they aren't used to, to work in groups with people who are new to them.  As teachers, we can become comfortable with what we know and how we teach, steering clear of new challenges for ourselves.  Yet, I always tell my students at Bank Street that it is in the uncomfortable and gray area where they learn the most.  How humbling it was for me to be living that discomfort and how powerful to go back to them and report about my discomfort and pushing through.

Vulnerability is so much less daunting when you embrace a growth mindset; when you know you don't have to know it all or be right all the time.  In fact, I would suggest that when we are more vulnerable, we create a deeper connection and community through our example.  Isn't that what we want for kids?  We have to model vulnerability, to show them that it is safe and it is necessary for growth.  That is where the most profound learning is.

Oh, and if you were wondering, the weekend was great and in the end, I learned a ton about La Fonda through the inquiry process and if you had been passing by, you might of heard my group singing "La Fonda" to the tune of "La Bamba."  You could have also heard me singing into the microphone, "Baila, baila!"  

Friday, February 12, 2016

A Five Star Book That Spans Many Years



I discovered this book a few months ago and fell in love.  If you've read my blog post, 10 Strategies to Help a Reticent Reader Love to Read, you will know about Charlie, my 4th grade daughter with Dyslexia. 

8 An Animal Alphabet is one of the books that helped Charlie enjoy reading.  The amazing thing about this book is that it can be read with a child who is just having fun looking at the pictures, (you have to try to find which animal is repeated 8 times on each page) or a child who is learning the letters or letter sounds.  

Or, it can support counting 8 objects...26 times!  (Can you find what animal is appears 8 times on the A page?) Or, as with Charlie, we took turns reading the names of the animals at the bottom of each page so it helps with decoding and also learning the names of unusual animals.  

There is also a great guide in the back with a picture of all the animals and their names.  (I will admit to you that I had to use this resource various times during our reading!)

Most importantly, this book is a joyful read....and a fabulous gift.  


Tuesday, February 9, 2016



The Writer Awakened

    Water takes a long time to boil...especially when you watch it.  I don't know why I kept watching my writing water and it wouldn't boil.  It took talking to Dan Tricario, author of The Zen Teacher, for an hour only to have him say, "Susie, I am not sure you want to hear this, but I think you are a writer."  Why did this wake me up?  How odd.  For some reason, it just turned a switch in me.
     Now all I think about is how each detail could be a story...something to write down.  I have felt this urgency to write from time to time in my life.  Perhaps it really started when my mother contracted CJD, the human form of mad cow disease.  That 61st year of her life and the community involvement in her dying process has been a story waiting to come out.  Next, I have written letters to my daughters, now 9, 11 and 14 almost monthly trying to tell them all about their childhood and the small details in between the everyday breaths.  I felt an urgency to write after my friend Aracely's beloved sister, Mari, died of cancer much too early.  I was lucky enough to spend cherished hours with her right before her death.  I wrote Mari's children a letter from Mari's point of view to console them.  In times of crisis or intense love, I feel it is what I can give.
     I am actually in awe of this process.  All I needed was for someone to really believe in me and say, "You are a writer."  How simple and yet how powerful.  It is almost surreal for me.  It was like Dan was both giving me permission but also pushing me to see what he saw in me.  I have had people tell me along my path that they thought my writing was good, that I should pursue something in writing, but his words were different.  "I am not sure you want to hear this, but I think you are a writer." I decided I do want to hear it, Dan.  I do want to let the water boil.  I want to get my thoughts on paper.  It fuels me and frankly, that's what being a writer is about.
     Now I clearly see how our careful language can ignite the passion to write in our students.  The simple sentence, "You are a writer."
     

Sunday, February 7, 2016



Five Star Book!
Enchanted Air by Margarita Engle

This morning I gave myself permission to read...something that is hard with three kids, three jobs, a husband and a household to run.  As I sat in the living room, coffee in hand, I relished Engle's beautiful poetry that so powerfully weaves the two lives of the protagonist...one in California and the other in Cuba.  She finds herself torn between two cultures which only becomes worse as the Bay of Pigs crisis arrives.  Her mother's family, many of whom are still in Cuba, become something her family doesn't talk about anymore.  It is confusing and frustrating for her.




WAITING TO UNDERSTAND

At home, silence.
At school, chatter.

During visits to Dad's relatives,
long, complicated arguments
about Communism.
Capitalism.
War.
Peace.
Survival.

I escape to Aunt Marcella's
quiet den, where I read magazines
and adventure books,
instead of listening
to grown-up
confusion."  -p.142


A must read!


Saturday, February 6, 2016

10 Strategies to Help a Reticent Reader Love to Read

10 Strategies to Help a Reticent Reader Love to Read

            “Do we have to read?”  “I am bad at reading.”  “I don’t like reading!” exclaims my 9-year old daughter, Charlie.  Horror! I LOVE to read.  Reading is my life.  I am a reading specialist at PS234, an adjunct professor at Bank Street College, and a literacy consultant.  How could my own daughter have such negative feelings about reading?  First, my daughter has Dyslexia.  Reading has always been hard for her, no, excruciating for her.  Reading is where she doesn’t feel smart.  Now chess…that’s another story.  Reminds me of Ally Nickerson from Fish in a Tree.  (You HAVE to read that book by the way!)
            This fall I realized something.  Just because she has Dyslexia doesn’t mean she has to hate reading.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’ve read to her since she was 7 months old.  (Can you figure that out?  Why not since she was in the womb?  She was adopted!  Ha!  Did I stump you?)  But, understandably, she doesn’t like to read to herself.  So, reading specialist that I am, I decided to make it my business for her to start to love reading and to grow her reading muscles, her reading stamina!  Here is a list of 10 things I’ve done to help her.

  1. Lots of BOOKS!  Research shows that the more books a child has, the more likely they will become a reader.  (These can be books you own or books from the library!  I once had a friend who visited the library each week with her son and brought a carry-on suitcase to schlep the books back and forth!
  2. The RIGHT MATERIAL!  So Charlie is not reading at grade level.  At school she might be a “yellow, yellow,” but we need to break out of the idea that all reading needs to be in the form of chapter books.  Picture books are especially wonderful for her.  They serve as a type of connector book.  I have read them to her for many years and now she can decode enough that she can read them herself.  Also, they give her visual supports for comprehension.  Graphic novels are also amazing for her.  In Charlie’s school, the school librarian, Paula, does a fabulous job of playing with different types of texts.  She told me the other day that she had a student who loved reading magazines.  After a few weeks, she compared a stack of the magazines he had read to two chapter books exclaiming, “Look how much reading you’ve done!”  Beautiful!  
  3. CHOICE.  Tons of research supports the concept that if kids choose what they read they are more engaged in reading and they actually read more, which makes reading easier…this brings us back to books…do you see a pattern?
  4. TRADE OFF…Wait!  Don’t stop reading.  I usually tell parents that they should not trade off reading.  Let me clarify.  A parent’s time to read aloud to their child should be sacred.  So cuddling down before bed and reading from a novel each night is fabulous. (Right now we are reading Wonder...another book you have to read!)  I still stand by that.  But, I am talking about the additional time that Charlie needs to read for independent reading at home.  We started off reading every other page.  As she has grown with her stamina, now I read every third page.  This pattern will continue, her time increasing and mine decreasing, in order to help her increase her reading stamina.  As reading becomes easier for her, it will also become more pleasurable.
  5. Pay attention to the PICTURES.  Charlie is a child who can put together a 1,000 piece puzzle.  Many Dyslexic children have this type of visual acuity.  Many books, such as A Sick Day for Amos McGee have tiny figures or animals that appear in almost every page.  Charlie adores having contests to see who can find the red balloon (in A Sick Day…) first.  (Inevitably, I lose!)  This isn’t necessarily increasing her decoding skills but is sure is increasing her engagement with books….which increases her desire to spend time with books, you see the cycle.
  6. Create a reading NOOK.  Take a basket and have your child fill it with some of their favorite books.  (This circles around to the power of choice!)  You can put it right next to their bed or on the foot of their bed.
  7. Let them STAY UP 10 minutes longer!  Gasp!  So, Charlie has her bin of books, and, a very important tool…a flashlight or a reading light.  (What kid doesn’t love a flashlight?!)  The whole idea that they get to stay up later makes everything better!
  8. Be a MODEL.  In the age of technology what often happens is as adults we read more and more on a device.  How many times do you check the news on your phone?  That is all reading but the problem is that it is virtually invisible to our children.  So make an effort to read an actual book or magazine in front of your child every day.
  9. TALK about books.  Charlie has never read Fish in a Tree.  It is a bit too complicated for her at this point.  But she knows exactly who Ally Nickerson is!  (Did I mention that you should read that book?)  I’ve talked to her in detail about the book.  From these conversations she understands how books can actually help to redefine a person.  She has now started chess class and is actually a star.  As the new Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Gene Luen Yang says, “By reading…we gain knowledge and skills others don’t expect from us.”  Because Charlie has always had a hard time reading, and because she goes to a school specifically for children with language based learning differences, there can be a perception that she isn’t smart.  That couldn’t be further from the truth!  Seriously, you have to play chess with my daughter!  She is 9 and frankly, I’d place my bets on her!!
  10. Keep READING ALOUD to your child.  I still read aloud to Charlie every night.  Of course she has to read to herself for her schoolwork and hopefully, one day, pleasure.  But, by stripping away the stresses of decoding, Charlie can just relish in the beauty and excitement of story …here we go…you have to choose the right BOOKS!  (Nerdy Book Club is a great place to start if you don’t know what books to read! https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/)