It's been six weeks since I returned to school. Okay, one week of that was February vacation, but the transition was a little bumpier than I expected. 5 am sure comes early when it isn't exactly on your own terms. Pembroke Academy welcomed me heartily. The student senate planned and directed an excellent winter carnival celebration. And I really like my students this semester.
I think the love I'm feeling for these hormonal youngsters isn't just because I'm so fried even a week off doesn't help. I think it's because I've changed what I'm doing in the classroom. I returned to room 1026 armed with advice from Penny Kittle, Kelly Gallagher, and the former librarian whose workshop on the latest YA (young adult) books I attended in November. This is what I'm doing instead of just assigning books to read, I've given my students the opportunity to choose what they read. My hair's been on fire but it's a blast.
This experiment has taken me back to my roots. I was hired for my first teaching job as a substitute/team teacher with the school's reading specialist. While she wanted to drill the kids in phonics and word root stems, I shared books with them. It was the stuff I was learning at UNH while working on my Master's degree. The kids were reading. That's what they needed to do to become better at it. It's still what they need to do.
Yes, the classics and cultural literacy and following the curriculum are important. And I'll get to them later in the semester. Right now I need to meet them on their own terms. Right now they have to learn to make choices. Right now I need them to read.
Sadly, I haven't read much YA (young adult) literature in a few years. I'm a little behind, but catching up. And I've had a lot of help. Let me give a shout out to my school librarian Cristy Smith. She's been a great help-doing book talks, making topic lists, and finding things through inter library loan (Inter library loan! Who'd have thought! It's a marvel.).
I've read Exit, Pursued by A Bear, two of Jason Reynolds novels, and reread a couple of books by Patricia McCormick.
Today, International Women's Day, a day when many marched together in solidarity and love, I need to share with you a great trilogy that Cristy found for me. It's March, by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell. It's Representative John Lewis' memoir. And it's an awesome graphic novel.
Before you pooh-pooh it with the "I don't read comic books" nonsense, check it out the next time you are in a library or bookstore. It has those classic comic book illustrations. They will take your breath away.
Lewis grew up in Alabama. He came to understand the path of nonviolence through a comic book written about Martin Luther King Jr. He joined the movement. He's now part of history. The text and art work show the historical moments in a personal, human way. Somehow, it seems more real than it would be if you read just prose. That means it isn't always easy reading but it is compelling and accessible. I hope my students, and you, enjoy it as much.
Here is John Lewis in on Bloody Sunday in 1965 and at Comic Con in 2016.
Here's a review.
