Her recent publication Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers is the perfect read (or Valentine gift?) for a teacher who loves words and hopes to spark that love of reading in her students.
And here begins our Valentine to you, Penny Kittle.
A Warning.
When you read books written by Penny Kittle, you might just want to write beside your students. When you write beside your students, you might just want to keep a writing notebook. And when you keep a writing notebook, you might just want to share your writing struggles and thinkings and failures and successes with your students. And when you share your writing struggles and thinkings and failures and successes with your students, you might just want to try writing workshop in your classroom. And once you try writing workshop in your classroom, you will see how your students start to craft words because they have watched your writing struggles and thinkings and failures and successes. And once you see how the students start to craft words, you might just be inspired to try something else.
Like read right beside them.
And when you read right beside them, you might just find yourself talking about books. And once you find yourself talking about books, you might just find your students reading those books. And when you find your students reading those books, you might just find yourself conferencing about them with those books. And when you are conferencing with your students about those books, you might just find more books to love. And when you find more books to love, you might find your library shelves need expanding. And when your library shelves expand, you might just find that your students' love for books has expanded as well. When your students' love for books has expanded, you might just find that they have found friends in those books, have discovered the meaning of life in those books, have found the answers to questions they didn't even know they were asking in those books. And when that happens, those students might feel so connected with those books that they might want to take a picture with those books. And when they want to take a picture with those books, you might just find your classroom walls decorated with book love. And when you find your classroom walls decorated with book love, your teacher heart sings a happy song.
So. Consider yourself warned.
And here ends our Valentine to you, Penny Kittle.
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| Penny Kittle feeling the love from a couple of North Dakotans--Callie Bowen and Jaime Jarmin. |
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