Reading Specialist

I obtained my Reading Specialist endorsement as a part of my graduate program, and the additional professional expertise in reading and literacy will immediately benefit all students. Reading is critical to everything students must do to succeed in the classroom, testing situations, and in future endeavors. My familiarity with assessment tools such as DIBELS and Star Reading, as well as my ability to interpret that data for classroom instruction has prepared me for reading education. I have also been part of a team that taught enrichment and remediation groups through the school's RTI and tiered response strategy. The knowledge I gained through this added training is of potential benefit to staff and colleagues with whom I might collaborate. Additionally, some of my corporate experiences, prior to Transition to Teaching, allowed me to successfully lead training sessions for others with whom I have worked, and this background is one which could also be of benefit in the area of literacy professional development.

I am excited to work with students in all areas of literacy in my future classroom. I will engage in ongoing, weekly conferences with students in reading and writing. Each student will have his/her own notebook utilized for these conferences and we will make notes each time we meet about what they are reading or writing, and ways to improve - tying into the strategies discussed and practiced in whole group. More importantly, my hope is that students see the correlation between reading and writing, and how intricately the two are intertwined. These conferences will be a great way for me to note the progress students are making, and can be used in students' data binders as well for assessment.

My classroom will be full of read alouds and time for students to share about what they are reading or what they have written. We will create a community of readers and writers who support one another, and offer suggestions to improve. Additionally, I wish to incorporate a variety of critical literacy texts to offer students the opportunity to explore and discuss challenging concepts through reading. Below is a short list of some texts I hope to utilize in my future classroom to engage students in critical literacy.

Social Issues Booklist

Topic: Body Image

                        Appearing Tonight: May Heather Elizabeth Livingstone (Olivier Dunrea)
                        Dumpy LaRue (Elizabeth Winthrop)

Topic: Bullying/Teasing (See Homophobia section as well)

                        Hooway for Wodney Wat (Helen Lester)
                        Simon’s Hook (Karen Gedig  Burnett)
                        Creativity (E.B. Lewis)
                    
Topic: Conflict/War
                     Playing War (Kathy Beckwith)
                     Feathers and Fools (Mem Fox)
                        The Butter Battle Book (Dr. Seuss)
                        So Far from the Sea (Eve Bunting)
                      Passage to Freedom (Ken Mochizuki
                        The Cello of Mr. O (Jane Cutler)
                        Gleam and Glow (Eve Bunting)
                         One More Border (William Kaplan)
                         Sami and the Time of Troubles (Florence Heide & Judith Gilliland)  
                         The Harmonica (Tony Johnston)
                         My Name Was Hussein (Hristo Kyuchukov)

 Topic: Gangs/Gun Violence

                        Stars in the Darkness (Barbara Joosse)
                        Just One Flick of a Finger (Marybeth Lorbiecki)
                        Your Move (Eve Bunting)
                        Making Up Megaboy (Virginia Walter)

Topic: Gender Equity 

                        Keep Climbing, Girls (Beah E. Richards)
                        Players in Pigtails (Shana Corey)
                        Just Like Josh Gibson (Angela Johnson)
                        Piggybook (Anthony Browne) Pair this with The Giving Tree (Shel Silverstein)

Topic: Homophobia

                        Molly’s Family (Nancy Garden)
                        Daddy’s Roommate (Willhoite)
                        Heather Has Two Mommies (Newman)
                        Oliver Button Is a Sissy (Tomie DePaola)
                        The Sissy Duckling (Harvey Fierstein)
                        In Our Mothers’ House (Patricia Polacco)

Topic: Homelessness, poverty

                     The Lady in the Box (Ann McGovern)
                        Fly Away Home (Eve Bunting)
                        Rent Party Jazz (William Miller)
                        A Shelter in Our Car (Monica Gunning)
                        Selavi: That is Life: Haitian Story of Hope (Youme Landowne)
                        The Orange Shoes (Trinka Hakes Noble)

Topic: Illness/Death

                        Deshawn Days (Tony Medina)
                        Old People, Frogs, and Albert (Nancy Wilson) EASY CHAPTER BOOK
                        Missing Maggie (Connie S. Owens)
                        What’s Happening to Grampa? Maria Shriver)
                        I Miss You (Pat Thomas)
                        Aunt Lucy Has Cancer (Connie S. Owens      
                        The Hope Tree (Laura Numeroff & Wendy S. Harpham)

Topic: Non-Traditional Families

                        Our Gracie Aunt (Jacqueline Woodson)
                        Visiting Day (Jacqueline Woodson)
                        Mommy Near, Mommy Far (Carol Peacock)
                        If Only Daddy Knew Me (Lila McGinnis)
                        Jin Woo (Eve Bunting)

Topic: Racism

                        Major Taylor: Champion Cyclist (Lesa Cline-Ronsome
                        Sister Anne’s Hands (Marybeth Lorbiecki)
                        White Socks Only (Evelyn Coleman)
                        Granddaddy’s Gift  (Margaree King Mitchell)
                        Freedom Summer (Deborah Wiles)
                        The Other Side (Jacqueline Woodson)
                        Henry’s Freedom Box (Ellen Levine)
                        Martin’s Big Words (Doreen Rappaport)
                        Goin’ Someplace Special (Patricia McKissack)
                        Whitewash (Ntozake Shange)
                        Coolies (Yin)
                        When Marian Sang (Pam Munoz Ryan)
                        The Skin You Live In (Tyler)
                        Skin Again (bel hooks)
                         
Topic: Social Class/Getting along with others who are different
                        Voices in the Park (Anthony Browne)
                        Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch (Eileen Spinelli)
                        The Summer My Father Was Ten (Pat Brisson)
                        Score One for the Sloths (Helen Lester)

Topic: Special Learners

                        The Big Box (Toni Morrison)
                        Ian’s Walk: A Story about Autism (Laurie Lears)
                        My Friend Isabelle (Eliza Woloson)
                        What’s Wrong with Timmy? (Maria Shriver)

Topic: Taking Social Action

                        Nasreen’s Secret School  (Jeanette Winter)
                        Si, Se Puede! Yes, We Can! The Janitor Strike in L.A. (Diana Cohn)
                        The Streets Are Free (Kurusa)
                        Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type (Doreen Crownin)
                        Giggle, Giggle, Quack (Doreen Cronin)

Note: Annotations and teaching activities for many of these books are provided in Creating Critical Classrooms by Lewison, Leland, & Harste  (2008).