Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Kids, Reading and Mr. Schu


I love my job.  I love kids and kids' books. Sometimes, though I run into a true conundrum that give me pause and, of course, food for thought. One that has been gnawing at me for a while is the labeling of kids by reading level. I want kids to read what they choose, what they love! And, I want to be useful, helpful and relevant to my teachers. Leveling books is okay but I just don't love labeling the kids. ☹️ So, for now increasing the number of books a child who has to read by level can check out will have to do. After listening to @MrSchuReads, I have been thinking about this issue again. There is no simple solution for school librarians. He did tell me when Fountas and Pinnell created their system, it was as a teacher tool. Kids weren't even supposed to know their level. Now the kids search the OPACs by their current level. Aiii, yiiii, yiiii!  I really wish lots of teachers could hear John Schu speak! He is so on the mark, enthusiastic and pretty darned amazing!
Why is he  so amazing? Well, he is a person after my own heart. First, he loves books and kids. Second, he believes in school libraries and their importance, that these libraries are often safe havens to many kids. John is the ambassador for school libraries for Scholastic. Third, he believes kids should be able to choose what they love to read, like Donalyn Miller (The Book Whisperer) does. Fourth, he believes in kindness, the ripple effect it has, AND how important that is. Fifth, he believes in the importance of empathy. Last, and not least, he loves some of my favorite books and authors: anything Kate Dicamillo, anything Amy Krouse Rosenthal, The One and Only Ivan and so many more!! If you are in education and @MrSchuReads comes to present near you, go listen to him. It will be worth it, without a doubt!

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