Based on the YA historical fiction you’ve read, write a description of the genre.

Book Talk: “As if” talking to students. Goal is to entice listeners to read the book. Two-three minutes long. (It’s OK to read a little.) Book Review: Audience is colleagues; “teacher talk” is appropriate. Goal is to help readers decide when/whether/how to use book. Review is posted online for anybody interested in reading it.

Book Talks: Historical Fiction

Readicide Review Quickwrite in response to this passage from Readicide, p 59: “[This is] what has gone wrong in our schools: the creation of readicide through intensive overanalysis of literature and nonfiction. Young readers are drowning in a sea of sticky notes, marginalia, and double-entry journals, and as a result, their love of reading is being killed in the one place where the nourishment of a reading habit should be occurring—in school.” Choose ONE SENTENCE from your quickwrite to read aloud for our “waterfall of ideas.”

Flow- “the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it … for the sheer sake of doing it” (61). Achieving “flow” in the classroom:Can we? How can we? Should we?

Too MUCH Instruction Too LITTLE Instruction Start with plenty of help – or, at least, plenty of help available – then decrease level of intervention until students can function independently.

Other metaphors: Finding the Sweet Spot, Moving from the guided tour to the budget tour Framing: providing necessary background knowledge Teaching students to re-read Big chunk / Little chunk Strategies good readers use (pp )

HOW? (How much is enough? How do we “let go”? Then what?) Variety: Lots of strategies; lots of choices. Multiple methods: Whole-class novel Book clubs SSR Multiple responses: Written word Spoken word Artifact Drama Music Video You shouldn’t do every activity for every book!

What makes a fire burn is space between the logs, a breathing space. Too much of a good thing, too many logs packed in too tight can douse the flames almost as surely as a pail of water would. So building fires requires attention to the spaces in between, as much as to the wood. When we are able to build open spaces in the same way we have learned to pile on the logs, then we can come to see how it is fuel, and absence of the fuel together, that make fire possible. We only need to lay a log lightly from time to time. A fire grows simply because the space is there, with openings in which the flame that knows just how it wants to burn can find its way. (Teaching with Fire, ed. by Sam M. Intrator and Megan Scribner) Fire by Judy Brown

“It is important to note what the students in [the McQuillan] study did not get. They didn’t get worksheets. They didn’t get points. They didn’t get sticky notes to place in the books. They didn’t get book report forms. They didn’t get grades. They were simply given good books and time to read them.” (74) “Numerous studies have found the most powerful motivator that schools can offer to build lifelong readers is to provide students with time in the school day for free and voluntary reading (FVR).” (75) Some final (for now) Readicide quotes:

Alanna Lindsey Sara Hayley Jared Leslie With your book club members, talk about your book club selection: First, just talk. (What aspects did you like or not? Why?) Next, make a list of possible ways to use your book in class. (Keep CCSS in mind.) Be ready to share your ideas with the rest of us. Time: about 30 minutes

Discuss some activities to address these standards with your book talk books.

Looking Ahead: Detailed Lesson Plan Pull these from CCSS list; 2-3 for a short lesson; 3-5 for a long lesson: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature.view Statement of general skills or knowledge (close to “standards” language): Students will comprehend the plot of a novel. Students will cite specific evidence to support their claims about plot. Students will differentiate between author and narrator. Students will identify and explain narrator’s point of view. Demonstration of skills or knowledge specific to this lesson: Students will explain plot of Soldier Boys. Students will cite specific evidence from text to support claims about plot. Students will describe POV of protagonists in Soldier Boys.

TSWBAT identify and describe author, narrator, point of view, and plot of Soldier Boys. TSWBAT cite textual evidence for descriptions above. Understanding of “textual evidence”Audiobook for sight-impaired student. Literary terms: author, narrator, point of view (or perspective), plot Use of textual evidence to support claims Lecture & discussion Modeling Guided practice (with poetry) Individual writing (paragraphs) Whole class, small group, individualn/ateacher readaloud

Next Week: Feb 20Contemporary realistic fiction (aka, “problem” novels), pt 1. Discuss, in book club 2, your “problem” novel. Discuss using such novels in the classroom. Feb 27 Quiz (literary terms). Contemporary realistic fiction, pt 2. Book talk 2: contemporary realistic fiction. Using contemporary realistic fiction for CCSS.