Hey, y'all. I'm here at the 7th annual Georgia Conference on Teaching Writing and Reading, organized by Dodge Learning Resources, at the Georgia National Fairgrounds in Perry, Georgia. I'm talking with teachers, and learning from them, over the next couple of days.
Even in this difficult economy, more than 700 teachers have registered for this conference.
I'm ready to dissect Freedom Summer and talk about how that book came to be, and share what I've learned about reading like a writer, through using Freedom Summer's text, and many other wonderful picture books.
And then, as always, I'll talk about accessing your story -- how do you do that? How do you help your students understand that their lives contain the magical stuff of story -- many stories, important stories -- right there under their noses? And how do you help students find those stories? How do you help them write about "one clear moment in time," and shape that moment into personal narrative?
I love this work. And I'm going to love love love learning from my fellow presenters. Just look at the company I'm keeping this week (opens in pdf). Stellar. I'm humbled, and I'm lucky.
More from the other side of this day. I hope you are writing, reading, reflecting, doing, and saying yes to summer.
"Initially, I chose a book called Barnaby Goes to School. I thought it would be a safe and easy book and would be something everyone could use, relate to and read in their classrooms some day. Then I ran across, literally, Freedom Summer while searching for another book in the library. I had walked by it on the shelf as I searched for another book. Seeing the cover illustration and glancing at the title as I walked by, it was almost as if the book reached out and grabbed my shirt sleeve to stop me and say “Hey, pick me!”. I instantly fell in love and got lost in the pages as I remembered what my life was like not being able to stay the night with my friends because I “was not like them and they were not like me”. The story is one that is timeless. It will never lose its importance in society and it is presented on a level for anyone of any age to understand. The illustrations in this book, in my opinion are simply spectacular." This was a part of a presentation I had to do for my Elemenary Education class this semester. I just want you to know how much I adore this book. It means a lot to me and I must go purchase a copy at the bookstore before I take the copy I have back to the library because I don't want to miss a chance at telling my future teacher peers about it. God Bless You for writing such a beautiful story.
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Gretchen McCombs
JSU Elementary Education Student
Jacksonville, AL
jsu6294j@jsu.edu