Alran Books

I keep getting asked what do I think about Kindles.  Are they going to replace books and bookstores.  I don’t know.  I think like all media they have a place and a use.  We recently purchased one to see how we like using the device to read and how books are displayed on the device.

My first reaction was professional books don’t transfer well (not all the type is readable) but, this will be addressed as it is merely a technical problem but, until it does don’t waste your money putting professional books on your kindle if you want to read anything but the main text of the book.  My second reaction came when the third edition to Kindle came out the day my second edition arrived in the mail.  Will the Kindle be like so many gadgets out of date as soon as you purchase the product.  My third reaction, came when I held the Kindle and started to read.  It felt funny.   I was really frustrated not being able to flip forward and back through the book with ease.  For something so current it felt stagnant to me and very one dimensional.  I will continue to play with the electronic reader as it may be the future.

But,  questions go through my head,…

Will we all become speed readers with lower comprehension levels reading off the electronic screen?

Will be wasting tax payer money trying to keep updated kindles in the schools through lease and tech support  programs etc.. all in the name of progress?

Written text has let us uncode  human history of the common and not so common man, will this be lost as we go electronic?

Kindles have a place in the future we know that but, what will it be?   Will it be like the change the IPOD has had on the music industry?

So many resources, so little time. The web provides audios from Rosa Parks on sites like History.com, and there are endless lesson plans on a variety of sites. But, since our specialty is books, I am going to take the time here to list a few of my favorites.

Making History Mine, Grades 5-9(http://www.alranbooks.com/Details.cfmProdID=8355&category;=10). This book challenges students to take ownership of their history as an individual as well as a citizen of this country. This book is not specific to Black History, but could serve as a great launching pad to lead students to understand their past and embrace it.

Some of the books listed below can be found as part of Nancy Boyles Literacy Collection on our website, www.alranbooks.com, or can be ordered by mail or phone as our trade book collection is always changing.

This is the Dream, by Shore and Alexander is a book appropriate for younger grades addressing the civil rights movement. This book is now available in paperback !

Toni Morrison’s book, Remember: The Story of School Integration, is a powerful book. The photos and words strongly compliment each other. This book could easily be used with secondary students even though the target audience is probably grades 2-6.

We Are The One: The Story of Bayrad Rustin.  Rustin hales from the quaker area of West Chester, PA, and this hardcover book is the story of one man and his lifelong pursuit of civil rights for all.

Doreen Rappaport has three books that can be used across the grade levels. No More! Stories and Songs of the Slave Resistance, Free At Last: Stories and Songs of Emancipation, and Nobody Gonna Turn Me Around: Stories and Songs of the Civil Rights Movement.

My final choice is an old favorite of many, myself included. Jacqueline Woodson’s The Other Side is a beautiful story of a developing friendship during the days of segregation.

I could go on with pages of books, but these are a few of my favorites. There are countless sources of music, poetry, letters, and speeches that can bring this month’s curriculum alive for all students.

2009 was a very busy year. I hope to get a little better keeping up with the blog this fall between business travel and technical challenges I fell behind. There are many things I want to talk about this spring from the trade books that correspond with Nancy Boyle’s new book to Graphic Novels. So, please stay tuned as I get my thoughts organized this first month in 2010.

Somehow it is just unfair to have such gorgeous weather, now that the school year has begun. I hope everybody had a good weekend, and your travels were safe.

I just stumbled across a book in the last week or two by local author, Alice B. Fogel, that I really enjoy. The book, Strange Terrain, is about reading poetry, not writing poetry. Understanding the voice, the choice of words, and the phrasing in a poem are a few of the topics that Fogel discusses with the reader. Fogel’s book is organized in such a way that it can be used in an evening course, or a long term book group or semester class. The book is very approachable by a variety of ages from the secondary level on up. A district which has used Georgia Heard could easily add Fogel’s work to their curriculum.

If you go to the author’s home page, www.alicebfogel.com, you can see a long list of Fogel’s awards and teaching positions. After speaking with Alice the other day, I think that she would complement very nicely a professional development day or conference that is looking to bring in local authors and speakers on the secondary level. You can find Alice’s book at http://www.alranbooks.com/Details.cfm?ProdID=8554&category;=5.

Here’s a question I have for those who read this blog on occasion. Is anybody using opposites when teaching poetry? I was looking at some of the work poet laureate Richard Wilbur has done with opposites, and can see much more room for fun with this type of poetry.

The milkweed has not bloomed yet, and I haven’t seen many Monarchs yet, but I have fielded a few questions about what books I would recommend for a unit on butterflies. So I will take today to pass on a few titles to hopefully save somone a little time. We carry all these books, even though they may not appear on our website; if you are looking for a copy, please give us a call. The first book is the obvious Eric Carle’s The Hungry Caterpillar. For those unfamiliar with this book, it takes the reader through the stages from caterpillar to butterfly. Young and old love this book and it could be used as a template for students to create their own books about the changes an insect or amphibian goes through over time. The second book is Sam Swope’s book Gotta Go, Gotta Go. This little paperback tells the story of a Monarch butterfly and its trip south to Mexico, and then the full circle of its life. The third book I would choose would be Melissa Stewart’s A Place for Butterflies. This book is only printed in hardcover format at this time, but there are teacher resources available on the internet (go to Melissa’s home page). It should also be noted that Melissa is local (Acton, Mass) and goes to schools to speak about her books. This book shows the habitats of many butterflies all over the U.S. as well as maps showing the ranges of the many butterflies. There are countless books on butterflies, but these three books seem to cover the aspects of life cycle and habitat that are needed for the units of study.

There seems to be a lot going on with writing this summer and there are, of course, a few new books out on the subject. Currently, I am reading Mark Overmeyer’s book, What Student Writing Teaches Us: Formative Assessment in the Writing Workshop. This book follows Mark’s first book, When Writing Workshop Isn’t Working (grades 2-5). Mark, like many teachers, is a person who loves teaching because he is always learning, and always figuring out a better way to teach. Currently, he is actively involved with Colorado’s Writing Project, and worked in both an elementary and middle school doing the research for this book. Mark’s overall message throughout the book seemed to be listen and look for what the students need to move ahead with their writing. This may seem obvious as a teacher, but with writing programs and prescribed rubrics, it is not always as easy… or obvious. Mark points out places where we may fail to listen in our effort to grade or assess certain aspects of students’ work. I liked the student interviews about the grading process. I think this added to the book and at times made me think of Ralph Fletcher’s Boy Writers. Mark’s voice is conversational and easy to read, and I think this latest work of his could provide for some interesting discussion in a book group.

http://www.alranbooks.com/Books.cfm?keywords=when+writing+workshop

http://www.alranbooks.com/Details.cfm?ProdID=8517&category;=4

There are always little things that can slow down the release of a book, but it looks like the long anticipated release of Nancy Boyle’s new book is coming closer. October remains the release month for the book, in plenty of time to put the 40 new lesson plans into use. I will try to answer some of the other questions I have been getting so districts and individuals can plan ahead. As far as budgeting, this book will cost more than Nancy’s other books as it has more features than past books. If you plan for $40 per book you should be safe; if it’s lower, all the better! The book addresses grade level 2-8, and ties in with both trade books and RTI. As with all of Nancy’s books, it will have an easy to use format and be classroom tested. On Friday December 4th, 2009 ALRAN Books will host Nancy at Lombardo’s conference center in Randolph, Mass for a one day conference where Nancy will talk predominantly about the information in this book. Let us know if you’d like to attend – we’d love to see you there!

This spring I have been in more districts than ever before. It has been a great deal of fun working on developing curriculum for a variety of subject areas from Math ( I think this spring we have the best selection of professional resources for math of any year yet), Science , Social Studies (we have a wide selection of both student and professional books- some really great picture books for use with all ages), ESL/ELL and of course Reading and Writing PK-12.

My teaching certification is in Social Studies and History so, I admit, I am partial to spending time in the stacks reading through the many titles. Candlewick, Tilbury House, and Scholastic’s nonfiction series have some great books for students; thought provoking with strong images.

One of the most popular teacher resources for students this year has been the four book series of Leveled Texts for Social Studies available for Early America, Expanding & Preserving the Union, The 20th Century and World Cultures Through Time. The books are aimed at Grades 4-12 and each book contains 15 different articles each written at 4 different levels ranging from grade 1+ to grade 6+. The articles are all printed in the same size type and have the pictures and maps in all the same locations. The one big difference per article is at the bottom of each page there is a square, triangle, circle, or star. These symbols help teachers differentiate instruction for the different levels of readers. The CD in the back of the book makes it easy to print out these articles for your students. The comprehension questions for each reading level at the end of the article are a real bonus.

In a year when having differentiated materials for every student in your classroom is key these articles can really help out. They are not your “full curriculum” but, they will supplement what you are currently using in your classroom and be a good answer to meeting the needs of differentiating your classroom. If your school has funds for RTI these books will easily fall under that category too.

It looks like the rain is here for another day or so I expect will make my way through some more of the new releases. My next blog will be on Burkin’s new book, Practical Literacy Coaching: A Collection of Tools to Support Your Work. It looks to be good read for tonight.
Alison