In the spring of 2012, a group of English Language Arts educators from Franklin, Massachusetts launched a highly successful middle school reading program around THE HUNGER GAMES. In this five-part special series, the teachers who orchestrated the whole-school read will detail, step-by-step, this year’s initiative. Parts I and 2 focused on how the team made this year’s book selection, THE HOBBIT, and encouraged student participation. In Part III, Mary Cotillo and Erin O’Leary discuss some of the challenges they’ve faced—and how they’re working as a team to overcome.

We know where we’re headed on this journey—we really do—and we know it’s going to be worth our while. How to get there? That’s another story.

Our merry band of literature lovers are much like Bilbo and the dwarves—prepared and peppy at the outset, tromping gamely through the Misty Mountains, blissfully unaware of the evils that are lurking around the bend.

If you are planning a school-wide reading program, please take a few moments to benefit from our experience as we highlight the pitfalls—both real and imagined—that line our path.

Challenge #1: Time

Although a read-a-thon may not seem like something that will dominate your life for several months, let us be the first to tell you: it can and it will.

We first hinted at our reading initiative in mid-October. We teased the reveal for about a week and made the surprise part of our journey. While we adults tend to get irritated when people (read: celebrities’ publicists) announce that they are going to make an upcoming announcement about an important announcement, our middle schoolers lapped it up.

After the reveal comes the reading. Not a big deal, right? Maybe not with a modern, popular young adult book with a glossy cover featuring knock-out models. But we’re not talking about heartbreakers; we’re talking about a furry-footed Hobbit. We needed to keep our initiative in the forefront of kids’ minds and capitalize on the tween desire to belong. Don’t get left behind! We peppered the school with propaganda, aired weekly videos encouraging reading, and ran daily “caught reading” contests. All of this takes TIME.

Here’s how we created our schedule: We knew we wanted the kids to see the movie as close to the release as possible, which gave us the target date of December 14 (before Christmas break—thank you, Peter Jackson!). Now, back up one week for those permission slips. If you want your students to have some level of accountability—a riddling or reaping or what have you—subtract at least one more week for that. That put us at a “due date” of December 3.

Which means our students had seven weeks to read THE HOBBIT. Literally, seven weeks.

Of course, our read-a-thon will not end when we walk out of the theater. The field trip is what requires the most planning and generates the most excitement among the kids, but we also rock some post-viewing school-wide events. In fact, we decided to save most of the activities for after the movie. It gives us some time to regroup, and also gives our little hobbits the chance to reconsider and join the throng. Last year we picked up an additional thirty-something tributes after the movie. Apparently, they didn’t know how cool we were.

Challenge #2: Faculty Support

Like any initiative, if your school is like ours, you’ll have reactions ranging from immediate “This is awesome! What can I do to help?” buy-in to “You’ve got to be kidding me, I can’t handle one more thing before Christmas” resistance.

If your budget allows, order copies of the book for your teachers. Make them signs for their classrooms, offer lessons, news stories, and articles, and provide logistical updates for your faculty as you are able. It’s not always easy, but don’t stress too much. Most are only concerned if an event interferes with their teaching day. If you can provide advance warning, most will happily accommodate.

However, there are some teachers who’ll be armed with a laundry list of questions, and you won’t always have answers. (See “Doubts” below.) Learning styles are evident even among adults. Some need to see the “big picture,” while others crave minutia, playing the “what if?” game. If you’re concerned with collegial dynamics, have the important stuff come from above. That’s what Gandalf is for. Remain as positive and kind as humanly possible; if your faculty isn’t excited about your initiative, the kids will suffer.

Overall, we’ve been blessed with incredible support that far outweighs any stray negativity that comes our way. We have more offers for support (and requests to chaperone) than we can possibly accept. We’ve found teachers are more than willing to tolerate disruptions to their schedule in exchange for the unifying effects of a school-wide adventure.

Challenge #3: (Self) Doubts

An adventurer’s greatest enemy is not a goblin or a giant spider or a dragon, but oneself. We intrepid few who willingly embark on such grand missions must be prepared to come face to face with our own doubts and fears. And, as was so beautifully illustrated to the Horace Mann Middle School contingent recently, we must be willing to stay the course.

THE HOBBIT is not THE HUNGER GAMES. Last year we had students falling over themselves to participate. This year, the readers are much more reluctant. The book is long. It has old-fashioned language. There are no mutts or fireballs or love interests. It wasn’t long before we faced what Mary at least considered to be a disastrous realization: we were highly unlikely to fill six buses.

“But we HAVE to fill six buses,” the doubting voice in Mary’s head cried. “We have a mandate! We have a precedent! If we don’t meet these new, higher expectations, what will happen next year? We’ll lose our budget! We’ll have to fight tooth and nail for support just like we did last year. Not filling six buses is NOT an option! We need to change the program!”

So we did…almost.

First, we did some research to figure out where the first movie ends (THE HOBBIT film adaptation will be a trilogy) and figured that students would have to read roughly five chapters to understand the first movie. We talked about eliminating the requirement to read the book, opening up the field trip to those students who had read at least the first five chapters. This would encourage those students who were stymied by difficult language, bolster our numbers, and ensure our literacy initiative would be funded in years to come.

Oh, and the message the kids would receive about not having to read the whole book? The lowering of our standards? We’ll just ignore those issues for now. We’ve got six buses to fill, people!

Thank goodness, once again, for coolheaded administration. When we approached our Gandalf with our worries and suggested plan of action, we were quickly set straight. It mattered not if we had 50 or 500 students participating; our program (and budget!) was safe. We were reminded to keep our eye on the REAL prize. We are in this not for movie premieres, not for newspaper coverage, but for the kids. We are encouraging a love of reading and literature, and to do that we absolutely must require the students to read the whole novel.

And as for Mary’s worries that we’d only have a handful of kids participate? That was proven wrong on the day before Thanksgiving break, when we held a surprise early-riddling. Twenty five students qualified in an hour. Not too shabby!

Mary Cotillo and Erin O’Leary both teach English Language Arts at Horace Mann Middle School in Franklin, Massachusetts.



Six Buses: The Quest for School-Wide Reading Begins!

The Quest—Part 2: Monday Morning Hobbit-Backing

This post originally appeared on the Engage/Teacher to Teacher blog in November 2011.

The holidays present a host of challenges for teachers. Whether you are trying to preserve instructional time or simply break free of traditional holiday activities, here are ten titles that can help you reinvent your classroom’s holiday traditions. For each non-traditional holiday title below you will find a brief synopsis and an idea for connecting the book to the work of your classroom. What holiday season do you want in your classroom this year?

’Tis the Season to Notice

WE ARE AMERICA
Written by Walter Dean Myers
Illustrated by Christopher Myers

In their latest father-son collaboration, New York Times bestselling author Walter Dean Myers and Caldecott Honor artist Christopher Myers create a stunning journey through American History. The free-verse, non-fiction poetry and the epic illustrations offer homage to the diversity of people who have shaped America across its vast and complicated history. Offering resounding respect both for America and for those who have shaped it, Myers and Myers have found a way to say “Thank you” to all those we owe a debt of gratitude, from brick makers to presidents.

The cross-curricular connections for using this book are extensive. Our favorite, however, offers a variation on the traditional writing prompt: “I’m thankful for...” Instead, let children think about whom in history impacted the way they live their lives today. If they could say “thank you” in person, how would they say it and what would they say?

’Tis the Season to Break Stereotypes

NAVAJO YEAR: WALK THROUGH MANY SEASONS
Written by Nancy Bo Flood
Illustrated by Billy Whitehorne

The Navajo year begins in October, when summer and winter meet each other. In NAVAJO YEAR: WALK THROUGH MANY SEASONS, Coyote walks the reader through the thirteen months of the Navajo calendar. Illustrated by Billy Whitehorne, who lives in the Shonto-Black Mesa area of the Navajo Nation, this book captures the Navajo seasons with images and words. Presented in poetic form, with graceful and precise language, Flood manages an economy of words that makes the innate challenges of poetry appear easy. The book closes with a Navajo pronunciation guide produced by Berlyn Yazzie, Sr. The guide offers narrative descriptions as well as phonetic pronunciations of each of the months of the Navajo calendar. This book was carefully vetted, and offers a present-day counterpoint to stereotypes of Native Americans that abound around Thanksgiving.

You can use this book in math to make comparisons between our traditional calendar and the Navajo calendar. Use it in social studies to challenge students’ assumptions about Native Americans. NAVAJO YEAR is most valuable, perhaps, for the opportunities it offers to explore community, traditions, and special days across a calendar year. This book also lends itself to classroom events marking New Year celebrations.

’Tis the Season to Rethink What We Thought We Knew

THE ARRIVAL
Written and illustrated by Shaun Tan

Ask most students to describe a “pilgrim” and you will likely hear descriptions of women in bonnets and men in pointy hats with buckles on their shoes. You can help your children see Thanksgiving Day afresh (not to mention giving them a break from the common school traditions they endure over and over again) by showing them that “pilgrims” still exist.

THE ARRIVAL, Shaun Tan’s beautiful, wordless masterpiece is an award-winning book about an immigrant’s experience that will broaden your students’ definition of the word pilgrim, and offer new depth to what it means to be thankful. A beautifully complex text, THE ARRIVAL offers something for students of all ages. The wordless images will engage younger students, while older students can work through Tan’s invented alphabet, which allows readers to experience the same confusion immigrants experience as they face a new language in a foreign land.

The potential student responses to this book are many, but this book should probably be left to work its magic without extensive teacher direction. If anything, a simple, post-discussion writing prompt like, “I used to think..., but now I think....” can lend some consistency to student responses that could form a class poem or book.

’Tis the Season of Observing

NABEEL'S NEW PANTS: AN EID TALE
Written by by Fawzia Gilani-Williams
Illustrated by Prioiti Roy

While teaching your students about Eid, the celebration that takes place after the fast of Ramadan, NABEEL’S NEW PANTS will also show your students the ways that family holiday preparations are universal. From buying special gifts for family to preparing holiday food, this sweet tale carries a traditional note that any child can recognize, regardless of family traditions.

Roy’s gouache, watercolor, and ink illustrations help create a cheerful story of a mishap that leaves Nabeel with a most unusual pair of pants for Eid morning. This is a lovely and truly multicultural book: the author and illustrator are from India, the story is Turkish, and the glossary in the front of the book explains the Arabic terms used throughout.

Let your students use this book to observe the commonalities in holiday traditions. Students may discover that, even if cultural traditions vary, most holidays share the same, core elements, such as family reunions, giving, and anticipation.

’Tis the Season of Peace (In and Out)

THE PEACE BOOK
Written and illustrated by Todd Parr

Author/illustrator Todd Parr’s books present straightforward, accessible illustrations to teach sophisticated ideas, such as tolerance and love. While people celebrate certain seasons of peace in particular, we can think about the importance of peace throughout the year.

Parr lends concrete examples to this complex word, defining peace as multi-faceted. His illustrations show a range of peaceful moments, from caring for the earth to learning a new language. Use THE PEACE BOOK in your classroom to broaden classroom conversations beyond holiday calendar limitations.

For a deep discussion that can verbally prime comparably deep written responses, ask your students to think about whether peace is on the inside of them or on the outside. For further analysis, as what they think about this distinction, how inner and outer peace are connected, and whether it matters. You can even go page-by-page through THE PEACE BOOK and think about whether each illustration shows peace within or peace without.

’Tis the Season for Enough to be Plenty

THE SPIDER'S GIFT: A UKRAINIAN CHRISTMAS STORY
Written by Eric A. Kimmel
Illustrated by Katya Krenina

Spiders at Christmas? Children may wonder if you are talking about Christmas or Halloween. This story introduces a culturally significant holiday tradition that may be unknown to many of your students. In the Ukraine, spiders and their webs represent good luck. Many Ukrainians decorate their Christmas trees with spiders and webs.

THE SPIDER’S GIFT is a retelling of this tradition and its spider legend. This book is perfect considering the economic difficulties many will face this holiday season. The opening line will pull your students in as they learn that Katrusya’s family must figure out ways to turn little into plenty.

Let this story launch a campaign of holiday decorations or projects that appreciate nature and illustrate that something doesn’t have to be expensive to be beautiful. Paired with conversations about the dimensions of holiday traditions that aren’t sold in stores, students might find that getting down to earth, literally and figuratively, may introduce a new simplicity to a typically frenzied season.

‘Tis the Season of Our Own Celebrations

SEVEN SPOOLS OF THREAD: A KWANZAA STORY
Written by Angela Shelf Medearis
Illustrated by Daniel Minter

SEVEN SPOOLS OF THREAD explains, in classic folktale form, the origin of Kente cloth as well as the seven Kwanzaa principles. Use this title to give your students an overview of this holiday, established in 1966. Minter’s bold, brilliant linocuts convey the strong family ties in a Ghanaian village that serves as the setting for this tale of seven constantly quarreling brothers. With a glossary, pronunciation guide, and craft activity section, this book supports numerous opportunities for exploring and understanding Kwanzaa.

The SEVEN SPOOLS OF THREAD also invites an exploration of all kinds of holiday traditions. You can support discussion and writing by asking a few of the following questions: What did the creators of Kwanzaa have to consider as they developed this holiday? What does Kwanzaa include that was missing from other holidays? What is the same about Kwanzaa and other holidays? What makes the particular holidays that students observe meaningful for them? What makes a holiday your own?

‘Tis the Season to Start Something New

I LIVE IN TOKYO
Written and illustrated by Mari Takabayashi

Brilliant illustrations accompany the authentic text that sometimes reads like a journal and other times like a caption. For each month, Takabayashi offers a two-page spread that chronicles one year in the life of Mimiko, a seven-year-old school girl who lives in Japan.

With special emphasis on Mimoko’s holiday observances and other family traditions, I LIVE IN TOKYO offers students a new perspective on family celebrations. Takabayashi’s illustrations are intricate, while the ideas are simple but rich. The book ends with a glossary of Japanese terms. I LOVE TOKYO is the perfect book for welcoming in the New Year. Each page offers its own writing prompt, such as favorite foods or hometown landscape. Combined, these prompts offer an authentic mentor text for an illustrated journal across a year.

In January, share this book with students and let them begin their own monthly journals. Each month they can add a two-page spread. When school ends for the summer, they will have enough of an investment in their journals to continue writing during the break. Perhaps you will be greeted next fall with last-year’s student’s returning to share their summer writing with you.

Jan Miller Burkins is the founder of Jan Miller Burkins Consulting and Literacyhead.com, and is an author of PREVENTING MISGUIDED READING: NEW STRATEGIES FOR GUIDED READING TEACHERS (IRA, 2010).

Rachel Watkins is the Assistant Editor of Literacyhead.com and the Children’s Book Specialist at Avid Bookshop, an independent bookstore in Athens, Georgia.



Holiday Book Reviews

Putting Books to Work: Judy Cox's ONE IS A FEAST FOR A MOUSE: A THANKSGIVING TALE

In the spring of 2012, a group of English Language Arts educators from Franklin, Massachusetts launched a highly successful middle school reading program around THE HUNGER GAMES. In this five-part special series, the teachers who orchestrated the whole-school read will detail, step-by-step, this year’s initiative. Part I focused on how the team made this year’s book selection. In Part II, Erin O’Leary offers a look into how they encouraged and sustained the enthusiasm of their middle school students.

With last year’s read-a-thon in our rear-view mirror, and THE HOBBIT unveiled at last, it was time to analyze some of the priceless takeaways only experience can offer as we started our journey over the Misty Mountains. You’ve heard of Monday morning quarterbacking? Call this Monday morning Hobbit-backing.

Publicity. We knew we needed good publicity right from the beginning. Citing last year’s success, we contacted our local newspaper as soon as we scheduled “the big reveal.” Just having the newspaper take notice made this more exciting for the kids. We were blessed to have a terrific reporter—and rabid Tolkien fan—assigned to our story. He spent over an hour at our school on Reveal Day walking the halls, talking to staff and interviewing students.

Teachers are notoriously humble—we don’t like to toot our own horns. Well, for the sake of your students, get over it. No one is going to make this connection for you. Be prepared to gush about your fantastic school, your dedicated colleagues, and your enthusiastic and supportive principal. Keep in touch—let them know how many kids have committed to reading the book, or which classroom is performing that famous Gollum scene. People like good news, and it doesn’t get much better than a school-full of kids reading.

Plus, parents buy papers and lots of ’em—including parents of thirty-something-year-old reading specialists.

Keep the conversation going. Middle-school students are deliciously divergent, their tastes changing on a dime; thankfully, you can usually use this to your advantage. They will be your best salesmen, your supporters, and your angels on the days you need them most. As distractible as they are excitable, they will also let you know what is working and what is not.

After a few weeks, the initial buzz of Reveal Day had dissipated. Although my concern was met with “That’s okay—they’re reading!” we knew the students needed something. Not since Michelle Kwan took the ice has my sign-making cheerleader-self come out in such force. Have enough enthusiasm and blind faith for everyone. Keep the halls decorated, take pictures of students reading, pose teachers with the book, cut out news articles, record teacher testimonials, and show that movie trailer one more time!

When in doubt, pit them against each other in competition. In one day, we launched a “Get Caught Reading” campaign: If your photo is “captured’ by an “elf,” you’ll receive part of Smaug’s Treasure (a $5 gift card and a pencil). I still have students who tote their copies of THE HOBBIT to the bathroom, just in case.

If you have to deal with an unexpected hurricane or snow day, have a contest for who can read the most. We even tossed around the idea of a faculty “beard-a-thon,” but if you want to keep your friends, the competitions are better left to the kids.

The major benefit to choosing THE HOBBIT was the visibility of the book itself. We knew there’d be a Hollywood premiere, magazine articles, TV commercials, and paraphernalia for sale. There’s a “Hobbit Second Breakfast” menu at Denny’s, and a Tolkien display at our local bookstore. On this, you can’t put a price. When students feel as if they are part of something bigger than themselves and sharing a common experience, they buy in, and they remember.

Don’t be intimidated. During one of my crazier moments, I emailed the folks at Warner Brothers. You know, one of those comments@ addresses. To my complete surprise, I received a response from one of their local reps. Now I have a name and a phone number, and before too long, boxes of insanely cool Hollywood swag—all for free.

Don’t tell the kids, but there is talk of tickets to the premiere. Even more surprising is that they want to work with us. They think we are doing a phenomenal job. They think we are doing them a favor.

We are so much cooler than we think we are.

The Peeps. Surround yourself with people who are as crazy as you are and have just as much blind faith in the read-a-thon’s potential. When you are one person trying to pull this off, you’re an easy target for the demons of doubt and negativity. You are an anomaly, exhausted and probably a little nuts. When you are a literary posse, you are a movement (though still exhausted and a little nuts).

You will need their different opinions—the logical one telling you that you can’t buy t-shirts for the entire school, the creative one who peppers the hallways with posters delineating Rivendell and Mirkwood, the savvy one who reminds you of early and often teacher communication, and the literacy soul mate—the one who shrieks and cheers when she spots that Galadriel costume on sale. Ebb and flow with each other’s insight, excitement and concern. As long as no two people throw their hands up and cry at the same time, your read-a-thon will be just fine.

Be flexible. Last year, we had a relatively new dystopian bestseller on our hands, threw together a read-a-thon in six weeks, and ended up with half of the school at the movies on a sunny Monday in March. We didn’t have the luxury of planning for what-ifs; instead, we were forced to make decisions as we went, which is not always a bad thing.

A year ago we didn’t have a clear vision, and end-game, time to worry, or a budget. We also didn’t have a precedent. Now we do. Dripping with the kind of symbolism only English teachers can appreciate, we found ourselves with some reluctant participants. They were pretty sure they wanted to go on this adventure (“The movie is during school, right?” “Will Ms. Cotillo dress up again?”), but “The book is just so long, and I really don’t understand it, and there are words I don’t know…I kind of just want to go back to my little hobbit hole.”

Okay, so maybe they didn’t mention that last part, but the hobbit-ness of their responses was profound. Quite frankly, they need a Gandalf to inspire them, and a mob of dwarves to encourage them right along the trail. Now is not the time to doubt the integrity of your choice; however, be open to what they need—be it YouTube links, audio books, chapter summaries, book discussions after school, or timelines and quotes lining the hallways.

Remember, in THE HOBBIT, Gandalf leaves. He does not solve every problem—he trusts Bilbo. We need to trust our kids. They will rise to your high expectations. Let go and have faith. Every year, every book, every child is different; it is up to us to see the brilliance of its potential, even when no one else is looking.

Erin O’Leary received her B.S. in Elementary Education and English from Framingham State University and her M.S.Ed. in Language and Literacy from Simmons College. Currently enjoying her eighth year teaching, she channels her inner Gandalf while working as a reading specialist at Horace Mann Middle School in Franklin, Massachusetts, and looks for any opportunity to combine a good book with crazy kids and lavish costumes.



Six Buses: The Quest for School-Wide Reading Begins!

Teaching Tips: How THE HUNGER GAMES Got a Whole School Reading