I’ve tried blogging with my students for what seems like an eternity. Each year I try it, and each year it seems to fail miserably. I couldn’t really figure out why until I read Katharine Hale’s post on branding student writing.

This post was a game changer for me. My students are so passionate about different things. Branding their blogs around their passions made perfect sense.

Here’s a quick break down of how we got things off and running:

Day 1: I gave students some time to explore some branded blogs, and I showed them the video below.

Day 2: We brainstormed ideas for what our blog’s brand could be.

Day 3: Students chose their brand, and created a list of possible blog post topics.

Day 4: Students wrote a post introducing their blog to the world. This is where kids learned the nuts and bolts of Kid Blog.

Days 5-6: We looked at how you can share stories in a blog post.

Day 7: We learned about commenting on blogs.

Days 8-9: We looked at how you can share lists in a blog post.

Days 10-11: This is where we are now. We’re currently looking at how interviews can be a part of a blog post.

The outline of our unit didn’t take place over 11 days.  Some days my lesson was centered on blogging, and other days we were working on other things.We are constantly going back and adding possible blog posts to that original list we made day 2. Right now I’m trying to help them see as many different types of posts as I can, so that blogging is something that pops into their head throughout the course of their day. If a kid is going to baseball practice, I want them to think about interviewing their coach. When a kid has a karate demo, my hope is that they consider sharing that story.

The biggest reason that I feel like I am FINALLY having success with student blogging is because students truly have time and choice. Their blogs are branded based on their passions, and I am giving them time throughout our day to work on getting their writing to their audience. Many parents are on board which helps tremendously. Kids are blogging at home, and parents are leaving comments.

We have a lot to work on, and our blogs are in no way perfect. Some kids seem to be moving at warp-speed while others are plotting along like a tortoise. The thing that makes me the happiest is how passionate my writers are when they are working on their blogs. Passion leads to greatness.

If you’d like to check out their blogs just click on the image below. If you do get a chance to stop by, be sure to leave a comment or two. You will make their day.

I’m trying to do a better job of helping my students set personal reading goals, and developing a plan to accomplish that goal. It has been fun to see their goals change as they grow as readers. At the beginning of the year, many of sets goals that you would expect from 8 year olds. I want to read harder books. I want to read big books. I don’t want to have a goal. I still had a couple of kids that set a goal of reading longer books. I talked with them about what that really meant. In doing so I learned a lot about them as a reader, and they learned a lot about themselves.

Here are a some of the goals they set:

• Read one book at a time.
• Read the same book at home and at school.
• Read more at home.
• Try reading a couple of fantasy books.
• Find a new series to read.
• Know what book I might read next.
• Understand why an author chooses to write books in certain points of view.
• Remember to bring my book with me to school.

I like to think their goals reflect the growth in their understandings of what it means to be a reader. Heck, many of the goals they are setting are the same that I set for myself at different times during the year.

My students have always loved Bill Thompson’s books. We’ve read Chalk, Fossil and Typewriter this year. Today I asked them to tell me what it is that they love about Mr. Thomson’s work. They responded with a partner on a Padlet I created.

Here are some of their responses:

• We think Bill Thomson dose a really good job with making something funny come out of something scary. He also makes the characters come to life in scary moments and funny moments: In Type Writer they run around crazy when the huge crab appeared. Also in  Fossil and Type Writer Bill Thomson makes something magical happen.
• We think that bill Thomson puts awesome details and pictures in his books. 
• We think that it was cool how Bill Thomson in Typewriter and Fossil put like in Typewriter what they typed it came to life and in Fossil what was in the rock came to life. We also liked how he makes every picture realistic.
• I love how in Bill Thomson’s books the characters have to figure out how the magic works. 

• I love how in the Typewriter and Fossil there is magic in them. I love how in Fossil and The Typewriter both have a problem in it. I think that the Typewriter & Fossil also Chalk actually have magic in it & that’s what makes it so magical.  

•  We like how he makes the stuff come alive and then disappear. Another thing we like is Bill Thomson put a lot of details in the pictures. 
• Bill Thomson  uses a lot of details in his pictures. He fills up all his pages with a background and leaves no white spaces. He doesn’t put words because the pictures tell the story. 
•  I like how in Fossil and The Typewriter  the characters don’t talk. In both books Bill Thomson makes the things comes to life. Both books have good illustrations. 

As you can see, my students are huge Bill Thomson fans. Can you blame them? His illustrating and storytelling skills are phenomenal.

Follow all of the stops on his tour!

Yesterday, my third grade Destination Imagination team competed in a regional competition. I’ve really enjoyed being their team manager the last few months, and I could not be more proud of the growth they have shown. I’ve been thinking a lot about how we prepare our students for the world that they live in, and I think that if we had as many parents volunteer to coach DI teams as we do to coach youth soccer/baseball teams, the world would be a much better place.

Happy Saturday, Mr. Schu! I hope your back is feeling a little bit better.

BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO

I had a blast spending the last two days at our state educational technology conference. Coming home from a conference is always a very reflective time for me. Here are some of the things that have been running through my head the last handful of hours.

I made this fun sign in the MACUL Makerspace.

• I am really going to miss Ms. Haney (my principal). She is leaving this summer to become the superintendent of another district in our area. It is always fun going to a conference with friends from Parma. We always have a lot of fun, and my face usually ends up sore from all the laughing I do. Ms. Haney takes just as good of care of her teachers at conferences as she does at school. It will be so odd to attend a conference with a different principal in the future.

• I believe in miracles. Last year, near the end of the school year, one of our teachers was in a horrible car accident. I remember standing together as a staff in a circle, with held hands, the Friday after the accident. Ms. Haney led us in prayer after telling us that it would take a miracle for him to make it. By the grace of God, he made it. He’s still recovering from his brain injury, but he is well enough to volunteer at school multiple days a week, AND he joined us for MACUL. Spending the last two days with him was magical. He brings joy to everyone that he comes in contact with.

• #TeamJXN is the bomb. Jackson County ISD has 3 educational technology coaches that help teachers effectively use technology in the classroom. My wife joined the team in October, and I have been blown away by the work their team has done the last handful of months. They do such an amazing job of empowering educators. Kelly just joined the team, and I was excited to get a chance to meet her at MACUL. I can’t wait to get her in my classroom. Ann just may have the most energy of any one person that I have ever met. I’m so thankful that she is working with teachers and students in Jackson. My lovely wife Alaina totally rocked her session: Differentiate Like A Boss. I heard so many amazing things from the educators in the room. She left us empowered, and excited to head back to the classroom.

• Stop-motion fascinates me. Last week our amazing art teacher was telling me how he was doing a stop-motion project with his fifth graders. He told me that he doesn’t want kids to think that art is just drawing. He is doing an amazing job showing all students that they are artists. I was fascinated by the use of Legos to create stop-motion that I saw in the MACUL Makerspace area. I’m looking forward to trying it out over the next couple of week in my classroom. I think it just might be a cool way to help my students understand fractions. Aren’t we always looking for ways to help kids “get” fractions? The video below is an example of how awesome I’d like to see my students get at stop-motion. DREAM BIG!

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• Session are getting better. I’m not saying that conference sessions were ever bad, but I really feel that educators are raising the bar. We are getting better at teaching. We are getting better at using technology. We are getting better at differentiating instruction. I just think we’re all better at what we do, and it shows in the passion and delivery of conference sessions.

I love picture books that get kids moving, and Mariam Gates’s Good Morning Yoga fits into this category perfectly. My hope is that the readers in your life enjoy Good Morning Yoga as much as the young readers in mine.

I hope you enjoy my interview with Mariam Gates!

Interview

1. Can you tell us a little bit about GOOD MORNING YOGA?

Good Morning Yoga gives kids a yoga flow they can learn and easily do on their own (or together with an adult). I wanted to create a book that was not about “how to teach yoga to kids” but rather gave them a way to immediately engage with the poses. The benefits (for all of us) for adding a little space between our reactions and our actions through any mindfulness practices are vast. Through Sarah Jane Hinders’ magical and vibrant illustrations, Good Morning Yoga teaches kids breathing exercises and yoga poses to help them to focus and feel calm inside. And most importantly, it’s fun! 

2. What is your favorite thing about writing for kids?

I love the fun and playful quality of writing for kids. It makes everything I encounter a potential story idea (a missing sock on an adventure, a canary who wants to be a rock star, a cookie delivery service run by squirrels). 

3. What’s the hardest thing about writing for kids?

Over-thinking it. Luckily I work with kids every week so I have instant feedback on what they find interesting (and what they don’t). Writing deadlines also help me so much because they make me focus on what I am writing rather than second-guessing it.

4. If you could spend one day inside a book, which book would you pick?

I would spend the day with all the zany creatures in Oh the Thinks You Can Think! by Dr. Seuss. 

5. What advice do you have for the young creators in my classroom?

Be your own biggest fan! Writing and creating of any kind can be lonely at times; you have to decide that what you are doing is meaningful and good, even if only to you. I wrote my first full-length “children’s story” at 9 years-old about a baby rhino who would not eat her lunch. I still think it’s a great story!

Last week I finished the amazing Maybe A Fox. Reading it was an emotional roller coaster. I’m thankful that I had the opportunity to interview Kathi and Alison about their gorgeous book.

My words will appear win black, Kathi’s in red, and Alison’s in green.

1. Can you tell us a little bit about MAYBE A FOX?

Maybe, but then I’d be giving it away. (1)

Kathi and I became friends the instant we met each other –you know how that happens, sometimes in life?—and the very first week we knew each other, we vowed someday to write a book together. We didn’t know anything about our book when we began to write it, so we made two rules: 1) it would be about two sisters who were somehow separated, and 2) it would have a fox in it. Writing “Maybe a Fox” was very different from writing most of my books. I have a particular voice, as a writer, and so does Kathi, and we had to figure out how to create a whole new voice that didn’t belong to either of us, but to the book itself. Thank goodness we had each other, because when things got hard –and boy did they, this book took many years of rewriting before it was any good—we had each other to rely on. (5)

2. What is your favorite thing about writing for kids?

 For one, kids love a good joke. For another, they also see the world in new ways, which allows me to imagine the world as a totally fresh place. I love that. (3)

My whole childhood was pretty much spent with my nose in a book –my sisters called me The Bookworm—so when I’m working on a children’s book, it feels like a return to some of my most wonder-filled days. Reading a book back then made me feel as if the inside me were living in another world at the same time as the outside me was going to school and doing her chores. Wait a minute, what am I saying? Reading a book STILL makes me feel that way. (4)

3. What’s the hardest thing about writing for kids?

The hardest thing is writing prose that is exciting enough to keep their attention. The next hardest thing is making sure that the story is good enough for them. (2)

The hardest thing about writing for kids is that I feel a tremendous responsibility to and respect for children, and I want to make sure I never, ever underestimate what kids are going through and thinking about. (1)

4. If you could spend one day inside a book, which book would you pick?  

Is this a trick question? Because I love so many books it’s hard to choose. My favorite book of all time is Black Beauty, but I’m not sure I want to go that far back in time. Wait, I know, yes—it would be Millions of Cats because I love cats, and I might take one home with me. (4)

I would spend it inside “Heidi,” climbing up the mountain to visit her Swiss grandfather. Heidi was a lonely girl, and in retrospect, I was lonely too, and I used to read that book over and over. Partly because I felt less lonely when I read it, partly because I love to hike up mountains just like Heidi did, and partly because the illustrations in my family’s copy were so utterly beautiful. (3)

5. What advice do you have for the young creators in my classroom?

a. Learn the names of the plants in your neighborhood including the trees, the wildflowers, the weeds and the shrubs.

b. Take lots of time to daydream.

c. Write about the things that matter to you, including the things that scare you.

d. Read everything you can get your paws on—books, magazines, cereal boxes, road signs, etc..

e. Turn off the TV and leave it off. (5)

My best advice for writing and for life: Whatever you do, do it with your whole heart. When you really, really care about what you’re doing, and you put your whole heart into it, you are making the world a better place. (2)

Happy Saturday, Mr. Schu!!!!!

Some pretty cool things happened this week. My students were featured in this amazing Sophie Blackall video.

I was pretty tickled when I saw my tweet in the trailer to Dan Santat’s Are We There Yet?

It was also a sad week. My principal, Ms. Haney took a job to be a superintendent in another district. I’m trying hard to be happy for her.

My principal, Sue Haney, is leaving Parma Elementary.

I’ve known now for 24 hours. I can now almost make it two hours without crying. She’s that good.

Ms. Haney accepted a job to become the superintendent at a neighboring district. I feel very lucky that Ms. Haney believed in me enough that she hired me to teach in the school I attended as a child. My dream school. For that I will be forever grateful.

Last year at the Michigan Reading Association Annual Conference Ms. Haney gave an amazing talk about how she has build a culture of reading at Parma Elementary. She gave a version of the talk again at Nerd Camp. You can watch the talk below.

Good luck, Ms. Haney. You will be missed.