education – Peaceful Reader

Angst

Going through my mother’s boxes I located a folder of my college papers. Looking through the pages I was struck by the fact that they were all hand typed sometimes more than once as I edited. I thought about all the work I put into those papers, not just the typing but the thought process and the creativity. One of the papers was a typed final essay with 7 different questions about Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Maddening Crowd. I was struck by how easy having a computer makes all that writing a little bit different. A little easier to edit. And I thought…kids have it so easy these days.

And then I really thought about that statement and I quickly amended it in my head. We’ve created chaos for our children. Gaming and social media, screen time and streaming or binging series after series. We’ve let them grow up too fast. Kids have far less time for just being kids; playing outside until dark kind of time. Activities keep them busy like soccer and basketball but competition is different than just play. I’m not going to get all the way on top of this soap box but I worry about our youngest demographic.

Picking up my phone today I had an email concerning a new Iowa Senate bill being presented that would restrict schools from teaching social emotional learning. People in favor of the bill believe the ridiculous notion that we are trying to indoctrinate students into a specific LGBTQ lifestyle or critical race theory because we as educators want to help them manage their emotions. And don’t get me started on House File 8-removing any instruction about gender identity or all that Ron DeSantis is attempting in Florida. It’s beyond heartbreaking as a teacher. Because we want kids to be themselves. Promoting empathy and kindness or teaching real history as a teacher should not make us criminals.

I know the world is different than the 1970’s and 80’s when I did most of my growing up yet common human decency should still be prevalent. I fear in today’s Republicans a return to a world long ago, one where anything different was the enemy. I read a picture book to young students in the library about a young girl wearing a Hijab as she begins 6th grade-it doesn’t mean that I’m promoting the Muslim religion. So much to navigate in these waters. Our public schools are doing a great job everyday, taking care of all the students that we have and SEL has been a great help for all of us. With all that kids have to manage today helping them to understand themselves more shouldn’t be threatening.

Angst.

It's over (for now)

I’m not talking about the pandemic naturally but the 2020-2021 school year. What am I going to do with all this time on my hands now, you ask…? People have this assumption that teachers sit by a pool and day drink through the summer. That may be how some educators spend their time and it doesn’t really matter. I would love to be that free!

My time will be spent doing homework for two classes from Advancement Courses. One is on kindness and the other is on questioning. Lots of homework, lots of thinking, lots of writing. Hopefully I’ll have great finished products and plenty of new learning. I am looking for new skills to get me through the next 8+ years of teaching!

I am also doing something totally new this summer-I’m going to have our Hansen Library open five times during the summer. I’m excited about this new challenge and also fighting the urge to cancel it. As a teacher-librarian I love my students and I love my books! It’s like I’ve created my own living nightmare and I shake myself awake only to find out that all the books have gone missing. Ugh. But it’s going to be okay because they’re just books and their kids! It’s all part of the deal. A few missing books won’t hurt.

I have a lot of summer reading to do as well; books on my nightstand, dresser, bookshelves, etc that have been waiting to be read and books that I need to read for school for our Iowa Children’s Choice Awards.

I’ve made a promise to myself and others that I will complete 13 writing pieces this summer and I’m going to work on that as well. I have far more than thirteen so it’s just a matter of picking and editing. I will crack open a bottle of champagne when this becomes a reality because it’s about time.

Throw in a vacation and a few road trips and that about sums up my summer. I promise I still have time for day drinking by the water-a lake preferably! What about you?

An education for all…

(stock photo – 1970)

To be a teacher today you have to be a psychologist, play therapist, mediator, mother/father figure, and humorist all rolled into one. It’s not the easy job it once was; not to belittle teachers of the past but I think of the teachers I had growing up and they didn’t need to have quite the skill set we do now. I’ve interviewed some retired teachers to check my thinking on this and they agree. Teaching has changed; the pay has not. We work damn hard for our money and leave exhausted every day. Many of us work an hour (and sometimes more) at the end of the day to be ready for the next day and many of us spend weekend afternoons to plan for the week. It’s a lot of planning to keep kids interested in what we teach. We have to figure out ways to integrate technology but not too much. I don’t want to give kids the perception that everything fun happens on a screen. I stress books, reading, board games, and lots of time outside and that is true for in school and out. I want students I work with to enjoy school both in the library and in their classroom.

(image – JennyXYoung)

My daughter – Groovy Girl – is in high school now, a senior! When I started this blog she was just beginning elementary school, which she loved! She adored many of her teachers and was excited for the variety of activities they did. She hates school now and it crushes me. She loves learning and watches a lot of cool educational documentaries for fun. She is opinionated and understands a great deal about the world around her. So why do we squeeze the fun out of school at the middle and high school level?

She is sleepy every morning as she trudges off to school. She is tired from dance the night before and often stays up to midnight to finish homework. As a parent I’ve questioned why are we still doing dance when it leaves very little time for homework yet it is her absolute JOY. How can I take that away from her? I can’t. So we struggle through and she worries about if she’ll make it in college based on her high school experience. She gets little help from school counselors and her teachers. She’s smart, yet has to work hard, and she questions her ability all the time. Sometimes when she takes a test (1-4 performance-based grade) and doesn’t do well she has nowhere to turn. The class just moves on except technically they are supposed to reteach if kids are struggling. I want her to be able to retake a test to help her learn more. I want her teachers to reach out and see her even if she is the only one struggling with concepts. Our system at least in high school fails in this. She feels horrible when she doesn’t succeed and while I know the real world is often dog eat dog most jobs you learn as you go and you keep moving forward. We should allow failures to blossom into growth in all levels of education.

I am aware in all this that technology plays a role in her life and is often a HUGE hindrance in getting things accomplished. She can access homework on her phone and uses it for flashcards and learning apps like Quizlet but often that leads to checking IG, watching SnapChat videos from friends, the list is endless. After a recent conversation she deleted some of her time-wasting apps, which made her happy; to be pro-active but then said she filled that time with dancing around the house instead of more homework! I wish I had the answer or magical words to help. I don’t. Do you?

Teachers and students of today have a mixed bag of trouble and triumph. I hope she (and I) can make it through this year and that she will flourish in college. I want to enjoy this last year with her not spend every day helping her work out her frustrations and encouraging confidence in herself.

Prairie picture book shares great knowledge.

Plant a Pocket of Prairie

Phyllis Root and Betsy Bowen

2014

University of Minnesota Press

This is a gorgeous book. Every elementary school needs a copy of this bright and colorful work of art. It begins…

“Once prairie stretched for thousands of miles an ocean of flowers and grasses, a sea of sky, home for bison and elk, prairie chickens, burrowing owls, five-lined skinks, Plains garter snakes, and Ottoe skipper butterflies.”

The book challenges us to think about prairie and its disappearance in our world and challenges us the reader to plant a prairie be it big or small and if we were to cultivate a prairie, what would come and share in that bit of space? A ruby-throated hummingbird, monarch butterfly, or Dakota skippers might show up…

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The last four pages give full descriptions of prairie history, how to actually plant one, and animals that thrive in a prairie eco-system. This book can be used as a read-aloud or a starting point for research or the beginning of a major project. Use it, read it, love it. Betsy Bowen and Phyllis Root: can you add to this title and make it an ecosystem series?

Fifty Cents and a Dream; Young Booker T. Washington

I love books. Most books. This biography of Booker T. Washington is informative and beautifull. I’m so happy we have such a variety of biographies available to us now like Doreen Rappaport’s series. Strangely many low end readers though will still choose classic style biographies over picture book choices. Older versions are less complex, they have time lines in the back that give easy information so don’t get rid of the old; just make room for the new.

Picture book style biographies thrill me though. I love reading them outloud to a class. The words vibrate and the phenomenal illustrations bring this person’s life…to life!

Fifty Cents and a Dream: Young Booker T. Washington by Jabari Asim; illustrated by the amazing Bryan Collier is a a well-told tale of Washington’s early life as he went from slavery to a college-educated young man. I’ve read other versions about him and this one gave me more details about Washington’s life. I had no idea he walked 500 miles from where his family lived to get to Hampton Institute where he was able to study as a young man.

Excerpt:

“His money had run out
by the time he reached Richmond,
about eighty-two miles from Hampton.
He was so tired and hungry
that he could barely take another step.
The big city seemed scary and confusing.
So many shadows, and not a friend in sight! (21)

He keeps moving forward by getting a job to earn enough to eat and continue his journey. This book conveys Washington’s strong desire for education and his willingness to push himself to learn the alphabet, read, and go to school. He envisioned more for his life than what his parents had. It is hard to teach that willingness to throw yourself into education and I wish somehow I could time travel with (quite) a few select students back in time so they could see the reality of how special their public education is. No matter your color education is a priveledge previously only afforded to the wealthy and then mostly only males. While there is much reform that could be done to our educational system it is still a blessing to live in a world that educates all children.

Bryan Collier’s illustrations are explained in the back as images on watercolor and collage on paper. He added many fine details like as he begins his journey Washington wears a shirt made of map paper and bubbles float on many pages detailing Washington’s dreams.

Thankfully we have books like this to allow for deeper understanding of a great man’s life. We should know more than just the bare facts. Thank you to Little, Brown and Company for my review copy. While they provided me with a copy of the book; this review shares my own thoughts and I was in no way paid for my words. The book stands on it’s own and I highly recommend it for all readers and collections.

Click to CBC Diversity for an excellent review and
Publisher’s Weekly review.
Reading Rockets has a wonderful video of Bryan Collier to watch.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Saraswati's Way

by Monika Schroder

2010

233 pages, including glossary

I love to get books directly from the author. Monika Schroder contacted me and asked if I would read and review her book and I casually replied “Yes, I’d love to…” and at that point you never know how it’s going to turn out but the book was wonderful. I especially loved learning more about Indian culture and I fell in love with Akash and his passion for learning.

Summary: Leaving his village in rurual India to find a better education, mathematically gifted, twelve-year-old Akash arrives at the New Delhi train station, where he relies on Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, to guide him as he negotiates life on the street, resists the temptations of easy money, and learns whom he can trust.

Akash’s story demonstrates how difficult in many cultures it is to become educated and even though the United States has a public school system we experience the same; if your family does not value education that fact alone will make it hard to be a good student. Akash has been in school but his math knowledge exceeds his teacher’s and he needs to locate and pay for a math tutor so he can pass the a test and get a scholarship to get into a good high school. His father believes in Akash’s education but when his father dies his grandmother is quick to send him off to work in the rock quarry.

After only a few days at the rock quarry Akash has the chance to “see” the ledger keeping all the accounts for the quarry. When he realizes it will take him years and years to pay off his grandmother’s debt he chooses to run away. He knows he has what it takes to change and his desire is to be educated. Jumping a train to Delhi Akash is hidden by a portly train employee.

In Delhi he doesn’t know anyone and ends up sleeping in a box through the night. While he’s taken himself out of one bad situation (rock quarry) he quickly finds living on his own has its drawbacks. He has to deal with other boys fighting to stay alive, police, and drug dealers. While Akash makes some good decisions and some bad ones he learns to keep his focus on finding an education. On the train platform he eventually meets Ramesh-ji who runs the magazine stand. He lets Akash sleep on top so he isn’t bothered by the police officers in the night. Ramesh and Akash build a good relationship, realizing there is more to each of them than one would think.

Three Quotes:

Other street boys befriend Akash and teach him the ways of the station. They all have ways to deal with their homelessness and hunger.

“I will fly away,” Deepak said, fluttering his arms. His face distorted to a horrid grin.

“Are they okay?” Akash asked.
“I told you,” Rohit said. “The glue makes you see things that are not there.”
“At first,” Sunil said. “Then it makes you drowsy and when you can’t stop it turns your brain into glue.” (31)

and

“How come you didn’t go to the movies?” Ramesh asked. “Isn’t it Friday today?”
“I didn’t want to go. I need to save my money for a tutor. I found a man at Pahar Ganj who will teach me math.”
“That is very wise of you,” Ramesh-ji said, suddenly speaking in English.
“Ramesh-ji, I didn’t know you spoke English.”
“Maybe you would like to practice your English with me. For the kind of school you want to go to, you need to speak, read, and write English well. Didn’t you even bring an English textbook?”
“How do you know English?” Akash asked.
“I used to work as a cook for British people,” Ramesh said. “That was a long time ago.” (35)

Schroder does a great job of intergrating Indian culture so anyone reading will have learned from their experience…

Akash would have like to accompany him to the temple, but since Ramesh didn’t offer to take him, he didn’t dare ask. Navratri, the nine nights before Dussehra, had always been one of his favorite festivals. In the evenings he had joined the other youths from the village to watch the dandia dance. The men would form a circle on the outside and the women one in the inside. When the music began each cirle started to rotate slowly in opposite directions. (34)

I loved reading this book and couldn’t wait to see how Akash dealt with the street boys and the drug dealers, especially when he decided to become a courier to make some money. It is an intense story and I was cheering for Akash to get back on the right path. Luckily his deep desire for an education does win out and Akash and Ramesh find a way to work together.

This is a perfect middle school mulitcultural read. Thank you to Monika Schroder for sensing my need to read her gem. To find it at an Independent bookseller near you, click on the title…Saraswati’s Way