The Joy of Children's Literature

All students who enter the classroom come as members of families, neighborhoods, religious groups, sports teams, clubs, and organizations--each of which is a community of practice. Communities of practice are places where human beings develop competence through their interactions with each other. Through these interactions, we define our identities. Classrooms are also communities of practice where each student possesses unique knowledge and perspective that pushes the thinking of every other student. Elementary school teachers have many and varied opportunities to get to know their students on an individual basis--who they are as members of families, neighborhoods, religious groups, sports teams, clubs, and organizations--that will influence the instructional decisions, conversations, text selections, teaching points, and connections they make throughout the year. Middle and high school teachers have less time with their students, but still usually see them on a daily basis over a ...

Announcing the release of the second edition of   The Joy of Children's Literature Isn't the new cover exquisite! There is also a new foreword written by Esme Codell , for which I am very honored. The second edition has many new and updated features and new technology resources! To read a detailed description of The Joy of Children's Literature , 2nd edition, and to order a copy, click here . You may also visit my new website for information and access to many of the technology resources: www.thejoyofchildrensliterature.com Please send me your feedback!

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post, Skyping Across Boundaries: Part I , in which I discuss a partnership between the preservice elementary teachers in my reading/language arts methods course and Amy Moser's fourth grade classroom around the book Spilling Ink by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter. During that post, I reported on the Skype session my class conducted with Mrs. Moser prior to the beginning of school in preparation for our blog buddies project. Today, I am reporting on the second Skype session my class conducted with Mrs. Moser's fourth graders in which the blog buddies "met" each other. Mrs. Moser and I met in advance and paired up the students into blog buddies and I distributed the list to the preservice teachers in class. On the day of the Skype visit, each of the preservice teachers stood and introduced them self to Mrs. Moser's class and announced the name of his/her blog buddy. When the fourth grader's name was called, s/he stood up. In this way,...

Some of you may have read a few of my earlier posts in which I went on and on about the new School of Education building in which I now teach with the latest and greatest technology.You may have also read a post in which I discussed the virtual author visits via Skype that two of the teachers in my children's literature course conducted in the spring. Now, these two things have come together in powerful ways to provide experiences for the preservice teachers in my reading/language arts methods courses. Amy Moser, the fourth grade teacher who conducted the virtual author visit with Ellen Potter ( Spilling Ink ), and I are pairing up our students into blog buddies! Her fourth graders and my preservice teachers will both be reading Spilling Ink and blogging about the "I Dare You" prompts in the book. Once they have written their individual blog posts, they will comment on their blog buddy's response. Before we started the project, I wanted the preservice teachers...