500 Episodes of Nuance and Hard Conversations

Recently I reviewed the book I Think You're Wrong (But I'm listening) by the amazing women of the Pantsuit Politics podcast. Today is their 500th episode. It is by far my favorite podcast. It is the one that I listen to on the exact day that it drops in my feed without fail, and that is because podcast that has given me so much hope, peace, and calm in the midst of the contentious storm of American Politics. I have so often called them my Political Prozac that I'm thinking of trademarking the term. ;)

I talk about this podcast a lot both on social media and with the people I know and love. And that's because I cannot stress enough how they have changed me and made me a better citizen.

 And as much as I talk about my love for Beth Silvers and Sarah Stewart Holland, I've never told anyone this story about what kind, gracious, and generous women they are. Back in 2018, serendipity caused Sara Kajder and me to get to present with Beth and Sarah at NCTE in Houston. When I mentioned in an offhanded comment on a Pantsuit Politics Instagram post in late 2017 that I was part of a presentation at NCTE that year in St. Louis with Sara and she had mentioned how she uses the podcast in her classroom to show her students how to disagree respectfully, Beth replied by saying that her mom, a former English teacher, was an NCTE member and actually sat next to Sara on a flight home from NCTE once. That led to Beth agreeing to have her and Sarah present with us the next year about ways to disagree respectfully in the classroom.

I've told the story of presenting with them at NCTE to many people. What I often leave out of the story is that even though Beth and Sarah had a brand new book coming out a few months after NCTE and I had assumed that their publisher would pay for their trip to Houston, Beth and Sarah actually paid their own way just to present with us. All because Beth knew what a valuable organization NCTE was for teachers and how much her mom loved and respected my dear colleague Sara Kajder. 

And so. What I'd like to attest is that Beth and Sarah don't just SEEM like the wonderful women they present themselves to be every week, they ARE those women. When you meet them in person, they are the exact same Beth & Sarah that you hear twice a week on their podcast (or maybe three times a week if you listen to their Nuanced Life podcast too).

So congrats on 500 episodes, Sarah and Beth! Here's to 5,000 more!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Follow Pantsuit Politics on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram (their daily newsbrief on Instagram is top notch!). You can also support them on Patreon.

And also: subscribe to their podcast!

It's Monday! What are you reading? 12-2-19

It's Monday! What are you reading? Is a wonderful community of readers, teachers, and librarians. Hosted by Jen over at Teach Mentor Texts along with Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers, participants share their reading adventures from the past week along with their reading plans for the week ahead.

My Monday posts are generally just a highlight of what I've been reading during the week so if you'd like to see all that I've been reading, follow my Goodreads page.

I'm back from NCTE and the ALAN Workshop and while I love going every year, I am finding my feelings of FOMO growing weaker and my desire to rest and recharge even stronger. Having said that though, here are a few highlights:

OOOOHHHH MMMYYYY. Getting to meet George Takei and thanking him for his activism and patriotism. 

Getting to help Jennifer Buehler moderate an amazing panel/roundtable session called YA Lit is Complex! with Samira Ahmed, Brandy Colbert, e.E. Charlton-Trujillo, Kekla Magoon, and Matt Mendez
 

Hanging out with Walden Award winner and finalists Elizabeth Acevedo, Emily X.R. Pan, and Adib Khorram at the ALAN Workshop

Visiting Edgar Allan Poe's home and grave

And apropos of nothing, finding this cute boutique called Cloud 9 that had this adorable sloth dress. It had pockets. I bought it. Duh. 

But back to the books...

I recently reviewed:

Saturday by Oge Mora


I recently read and enjoyed:

Kiki & Jax: The Life-Changing Magic of Friendship by Marie Kondo and Salina Yoon
#KonMarie for kids

Pluto Gets the Call by Adam Rex, illustrated by Laurie Keller

Pluto may no longer be a planet but we love him even more for it. 16 Words: William Carlos Williams and the Red Wheelbarrow by Lisa Rogers and Chuck Groenink If you’ve always wanted to know the inspiration for William Carlos Williams’ brief but thoughtful poems, look no further than this sweet picture book. Stepping Stones by Lucy Knisley I am a huge fan of Lucy Knisley's graphic memoirs so I was elated to discover that she has a new middle grade fiction graphic novel. This book does not disappoint. It is a fictionalized version of her own childhood experience of moving from the city to a farm and learning how to deal with not only the culture shock of going from an urban to rural environment, but also the drama of a new blended family, gaining a step-father and step-sisters.

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei

When George Takei was 5 years old, his family was ripped from their home by American soldiers and sent to a Japanese Internment Camp, labeled "Alien Enemy" despite being American citizens. This is the story of that experience as well as his reflections on how that impacted his political views in later years. You would think it would embitter a person, but instead it compelled him to be an active and involved citizen, reminding us all that in no other country would it be possible for him to be a political prisoner as a child and then giving a speech as an adult in the home of the man (President Roosevelt) who imprisoned him. This book is an important exercise in putting things into perspective.

Kent State by Deborah Wiles
This book is structured like a novel in verse but it’s so much more than that. The varying perspectives are of collective voices and points of view, showing the reader just how difficult it was to get a consensus on what happened on that campus back in May of 1970. But even more important than that, Deborah Wiles circles it back around and points to how this moment in history still matters today and compels you, the reader, to be a vocal and participating citizen in our democracy. Put this book at the top of your TBR pile. I promise you won’t be able to put it down.


Currently reading: 

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

Happy November!

Three reasons why I'm excited it's November:

1) My birthday

2) NaNoWriMo

3) NCTE convention in Boston where I'll be presenting for the first time and also working as a staff member. I'm not gonna lie, #3 is the one I'm most excited about. :)

Bookish Teachers Invaded Las Vegas for NCTE

Disclaimer: I have to immediately apologize for my lack of articulateness and overuse of superlatives like amazing, awesome, and inspiring throughout this post. For the past week I have been avoiding writing this recap because the sheer wonder of all that I encountered during my five days attending this amazing conference overwhelmed me. But alas, I go back to work tomorrow and I know if I don't do it now, I will continue to procrastinate and it will be Christmas before I can actually sit down to write a proper reflection. Also pardon my narcissism at the sheer number of photos of myself I posted in this recap. :)

Last year I attended the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) convention for the first time because it was in Chicago, a mere 4 hour drive from where I live. But since last year was such an amazing, inspiring experience, I knew that Chicago would not be my last NCTE experience and lobbied to make sure I could attend again in 2012. In fact, I was also lucky enough to attend the 2-day ALAN (Assembly for the Literature of Adolescents of the NCTE) workshop after the main convention as well.

This year the convention was held in Las Vegas and for some this might mean skipping sessions to hit the casinos, but I assure that I am not one of those people. In fact, I am proud to say that I did not gamble once during my entire stay in Vegas. Nerdy, bookish people and the vices of Vegas just don't mix.

That by no means implies that I had no fun; quite the contrary. I had so much fun and so many amazing experiences that I am often brought to tears remembering and reliving the time I spent hanging out with old friends and meeting new ones.

The festivities got underway on Thursday evening with a few pre-convention sessions to choose from. I chose to attend the Penny Kittle, Kelly Gallagher, and Jim Burke session with some Nerdy Book Club friends. Listening to these three inspiring teachers talk of their passion for teaching and what really consists of best practices helped to reaffirm that what I'm doing in the classroom really matters.

I continued to attend some wonderful sessions throughout the course of the conference, but the Thursday night pre-session is really the one I will take the most from.

The most memorable part of my time in Vegas, however, was getting to hang out with all of my Nerdy Book Club friends, some old, some new. Friday night was one I will never forget because Donalyn Miller and Colby Sharp hosted a party for all NCTE attendants who were also Nerdy Book Club blog posters. Normally I am shy, awkward, and stand-offish at parties, but this was no ordinary party. I was in a room full of 60 people, all of whom were book-lovers. There wasn't a conversation I could join where I didn't feel like I belonged.

There were so many highlights from the Nerdy party, but here are some of the best:

Getting to hang out and talk with beloved Nerdy author Jenni Holm:

Meeting author RJ Palacio, who wrote one of my favorite books of 2012, and of all time, Wonder:

Watching author Jonathan Auxier give the best book talk/yo-yo demonstration ever (see the video here):

Hanging with my Nerdy friends from Michigan:

Brian Wyzlic, Niki Barnes, Colby Sharp and me

Finally meeting people in person I've tweeted with for the past two years:

Me with Katherine Sokolowski, Cindy Minnich, Paul Hankins, and Lea Kelley

Getting hugs from and talking with my teaching idol, mentor, and friend, Donalyn Miller:

In addition to meeting new Nerdy friends and hanging out with old ones, another wonderful part of the NCTE/ALAN experience is meeting and talking with authors and publishers.

I can't thank the publishers enough for being so generous with their time and showing their passion and excitement for their books. I am especially grateful to Kellie Celia from Walden Pond Press who spent time with me over dinner talking about books and teaching. Her enthusiasm for the books in her imprint was so infectious that I told her she must book talk with my class via Skype so my kids can hear another voice of an enthusiastic book lover.

Speaking of book talks and enthusiastic book lovers, I'll never forget standing in line for a Libba Bray signing with Danielle from Mercurial Musings. We spent our time waiting talking about books and I couldn't help but be completely swept away by the way she drew me into the book she was talking about. Even though she teaches high school, I think I need to some how find a way to get her to talk to my students about books. 

And then there were the authors. I cannot tell you overall what wonderful people YA and middle grade authors are. Some of my most vivid memories of NCTE and ALAN will be from the authors I met and conversed with.

I loved talking to Gabrielle Zevin, author of All These Things I've Done, about how even though people are calling the series a dystopia, it is so NOT. Gabrielle completely agreed with me and then went on to say that it's really a character story and she wrote it thinking it was more of a Dickensian family saga but that sort of label doesn't exactly sell books these days the way "dystopia" does. Because we bonded over the dystopia thing, Sherry Gick and Niki Barnes and I got her to secretly (shhhh...) tell us the title of the third book in the series but it's top secret so I can't tell any one. ;)

Gabrielle Zevin and I bonding over our mutual disagreement over genres :)

Proof that our conversation existed

More bonding at the ALAN author reception. :)

I'll also remember meeting Ruta Sepetys, author of one of the most important books of the decade, Between Shades of Gray. I introduced myself to Ruta at her Penguin signing and mentioned that I was the teacher of the kids of one of her dear friends from college. As soon as I told her who I was, she got up from the signing table, came around and gave me a big hug. We were able to connect again that evening at the ALAN reception where Brian Wyzlic and I made a case for why her publisher needs to send her back to Michigan when her newest book, Out of the Easy, comes out in February.

Me with Ruta Sepetys

Ruta's speech the next day at the ALAN workshop was so moving that it brought me to tears - the kind of tears you can't easily hide and spend the next 10 minutes trying to pull it together as you wipe them from your eyes. If you want an inkling of how inspiring it was, watch this video.

More NCTE/ALAN memories:

With Sherry Gick and Niki Barnes

With my girls Jen Vincent and Alyson Beecher

Jen and Gregory DFTBAing it up :)

With another one of my teaching mentors: Kelly Gallagher

With literary rock star, Sherman Alexie

With Shannon Hale

With Libba Bray

With Chris Crutcher

With the adorable Jo Knowles

Middle grade authors: Blue Balliett, Rebecca Stead, Jo Knowles, Kate Messner and Jody Feldman

Graphic novelists extraordinaire Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman

And of course, I can't forget about the books. I filled 2 carry-on suitcases and shipped a 43 lb box of books home. I can't wait to share this bounty with my students! Once again, thank you so much to the authors and publishers for being generous with their time and books, and as always thank you so much to my Tiwtter PLN, particularly the Nerdy Book Club, for making me a better teacher and person.

I know I have failed to mention a large number of people in this recap and for that I apologize. Even if I didn't mention your name, know that there are way more people that inspired me than were mentioned in this recap.

I can't wait to see you all again in Boston and meet more new friends!

NCTE Recap

How do I begin to recap one of the most memorable experiences of my teaching career?

For those of you who don't know, NCTE stands for National Council of Teachers of English. I never thought to go to this conference before because it was always held in some far-off locale and it just never crossed my radar. But 2011 marks the 100th anniversary of the NCTE and the convention was to be held in Chicago, a mere 4-hour drive from where I live. So upon the encouragement of my Uncle Tom, who has been going to NCTE for 25 years, I asked my principal over the summer if the school would help pay for the trip. She agreed and the rest is history.

If you are an English teacher, I highly encourage you to try to make it to NCTE sometime. It will reinvigorate your teaching. As my friend Jillian from Heise Reads and Recommends so aptly put on Twitter, in a time where teachers get kicked down and treated like they don't matter, NCTE "reminds me that what I do is invaluable & that I am supported & appreciated."

For that reason alone, the conference is worth the time and money.

So what memories do I bring back from NCTE? Too many to properly quantify, but I'll try my best.

Getting to see my teaching mentors like:

Donalyn Miller

Penny Kittle

My uncle, Tom Romano

Meeting Twitter friends like Jillian (@heisereads)

Meeting favorite authors like:

John Green

Laurie Halse Anderson

Jackson Pearce

Kenneth Oppel

Carolyn Mackler and Jay Asher

I met many other authors that I didn't get pictures of, but whom I'm equally grateful to have met, like Kate Messner, M.T. Anderson, Chris Crutcher, Linda Urban, Linda Tashjian, John Coy, Tommy Greenwald, and many others.

And let me tell you something about YA and middle grade authors. They are such wonderful people. Every single author that I met at NCTE was so amiable and if they didn't have a long line, would sit there and chat for a while. I just happened to catch Jackson Pearce and M.T. Anderson at a time when there was a lull in their line and I had such lovely conversations with both of them.

Something else I cannot speak of highly enough is the generosity of the publishers who came to NCTE. I never in a million years imagined that I would be bringing home so many books. I am not lying when I tell you that it was almost 100! My husband drove to Chicago with me so we could make it a little vacation in addition to a professional trip and thank goodness we drove instead of took a bus or a train because this what our backseat looked like when we packed the car to leave:

When we got home, I pulled all the bags of books out of the backseat and started making piles. These are all the books I got signed:

And these are all the books I got for free:

To say that my students were excited when I came back to school on Monday was an understatement.

As my NCTE weekend came to a close, I had dinner with the person who encouraged me to come in the first place: my Uncle Tom, along with my Aunt Kathy and cousin Mariana, who is also an English teacher. As the evening began to wind down, I hugged my aunt and uncle and thanked my Uncle Tom profusely for encouraging me to come to such career-affirming experience. No wonder he's been going every year for the past 25 years.

When times are darkest in my teaching career, I am lucky enough to be blessed with a principal who can talk me down off the ledge and tell me that I'm doing the right thing. I know that not everyone else is that lucky. Which is why NCTE is such an invaluable experience. For me however, it was another one of those opportunities during a rather dark time to help me see that I am, indeed, doing the right thing.

But just what is the right thing? It's really very simple: practice what you preach. Model the life of the writers and readers you want your students to become. Reject all notions that test prep and/or mindless worksheets should replace authentic learning. Reach for the hearts as well as the minds of your students. The rest will take care of itself.