It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!
It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now...you just might discover your next “must-read” book! Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and I decided to give It's Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children's literature - picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit - join us! We love this meme and think you will, too. We encourage everyone who participates to visit at least three of the other kidlit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.
Announcement:
The winner of the Reading Revealed giveaway is:
Jenni Rodeghero
and
BN100
Congrats!
Thank you again to Scholastic for the opportunity to offer this giveaway.
Last Week's Book Adventures:
This week I realized Maybe You Should Talk to Someone was due at the library so I started reading it right away. I'm fascinated by it! I also read They Call My Güero by David Bowles which I can't wait to share with my students.
(Click on the image and/or links to visit the posts.)
Upcoming Book Adventures:
This week I'm excited to get back to The Stars Beneath Our Feet and to finish Maybe You Should Talk to Someone.
So, what are you reading this week?
Link up below and check out other blogs to see what they're reading! To help build our community and support other bloggers, we ask that you comment on at least three other blogs before you. Also, if you tweet about your Monday post, don't forget to use #IMWAYR!
Hello writer friends! I hope you had a great last week of writing with Kate and the Teachers Write community. I am so happy to be back to blogging! I shared two posts this week in my Exploring Identity series and I also shared a mini-review of a few educational books I'm reading that included a giveaway. That felt like huge progress!
One thing I've learned over the years when it comes to writing is to follow where my heart leads me. I've spent the last year giving myself A TON of grace after finding out last year that my agent was closing her agency. I wrote it about in last year's end-of-Teachers-Write post. My message then to myself and to everyone reading was to keep going. Giving myself grace was how I did that.
As much as I had plans to draft a novel last summer, it didn't happen. And then I thought this year I would get to it or revise my third novel, but it didn't happen. And then this summer, I thought for sure I would finally crank out a first draft of another novel, but again it didn't happen.
Even though I didn't write what I thought I would write this summer, I did find my voice again in my blog posts and that feels pretty amazing so I'm celebrating. Hooray for giving myself grace and celebrating progress. I hope you can reflect on this summer with Teachers Write give yourself grace for whatever didn't happen and celebrate what you did accomplish. Celebrate and keep going!
Did you catch all of Kate Messner's posts this week on using Kekla Magoon's The Season of Styx Malone as a mentor text? She had some great insight and advice for packing in information, dialogue, and figurative language. I hope you join me tonight to talk about Kate's ideas and share your own thoughts! (More info below!)
A reminder of my rules for Teachers Write Sunday Check-Ins:
1. We respect each other and the type of writing we do.
2. We are positive and encourage each other at all times.
3. We recognize and maintain this as a safe, inclusive environment for all.
**I reserve every right to put the smackdown on anyone who messes with our positive energy.**
Ideas for today in the comments section:
How did you do this week? Did you meet your weekly goal(s)?
What was the pit of your week? (The hardest part, the non-fun part?) What was the peak of your week? (The best part, the most-fun part?) What are you looking forward to beyond Teachers Write?
You'll need the link above to join the meeting. Please know that you'll have to download the Zoom app on your phone or computer and then click on the link and it should take you right into the meeting. You don't have to sign up or sign in but it will ask for your name. My advice is to sign in about 10 minutes ahead of time so you can troubleshoot. Let me know if you have any questions, my email is jen (at) teachmentortexts (dot) com. Thanks again for sharing your journey with Teachers Write with me! I love being part of this community and meeting teachers who write. Keep writing! Keep shining!
What you value and what you believe are important when it comes to knowing yourself but a few weeks ago, my friend asked me to name three things I absolutely know to be true. I shared those three things in my last Exploring Identity post, 31 Things About Me: Jen Vincent but now I'd like to expand upon them.
I absolutely know that I love myself. It's taken me a long time to get here but blogging about identity in 2015 helped me feel more whole. Writing about my life, people, places, and experiences that shaped me allowed me to better understand my unique experience with life and to appreciate my Latinx heritage. People, places, and things will come and go in my life but I love myself no matter what.
I absolutely know that stories make the world a better place. Telling my stories helped me grow to love myself. And in loving myself, I am better able to participate in the world. As a mom, writer, and educator, I'm better because I know my story, I appreciate my story, and I share my story with others. I started Story Exploratory because I know the power of story firsthand and I truly believe if we all owned our stories, shared our stories, learned from each other, and celebrated our stories, the world would be a better place.
I absolutely know that things change. In June, I went on an excursion in Guatemala with my cousin Edgar through his agency, K'Ashem. We camped at Laguna Lachuá and swam in its brilliant turquoise water. When it was time to leave, I packed up my tent and my gear and went to sit by the water. Everyone else did the opposite, they swam as long as they could before they had to pack up, so I had the lake all to myself. It was serene. The water was clear and still and absolutely beautiful. (Here's a picture, that's me sitting in the hut.)
Soon Edgar came to tell me it was time to go. "No quiero ir," I told him as I wiped the tears streaming down my face. He laughed and reminded me that even good things come to an end and that's what's beautiful about life, it's always changing. It was hard to say goodbye to that moment but now I carry my cousin's words with me and work to cherish every moment because inevitably things change, whether I want them to or not. Naming three things I know to be true made me think about people, places, and experiences I've had and how they have shaped me. This is a great activity to explore for yourself and/or to discuss with students.
So tell me...what three things do you absolutely know to be true?
School starts for us on August 14th so I’ve been planning! I met with my 8th grade team last week and will be meeting with my 7th grade team in two weeks.
In our school, students have a 3-period block of English Language Arts and Social Studies so I’ll have a group of 8th graders in the morning and a group of 7th graders in the afternoon. I’m planning to start the year with conversations about identity with both groups so I read Being The Change by Sara Ahmed and Upstanders by Sara Ahmed and Smokey Daniels. Both of these are absolutely amazing and I highly recommend them.
I also read through the first Units of Study Writing resources for both grades and then I read Reading Revealed by Diane Stephens, Jerome C. Harste, and Jean Anne Clyde. To be honest, the content inReading Revealed is geared more towards K-5 but it’s still full of ideas so I’m excited to share it here as a giveaway for my K-5 friends.
Interested in what I’ve got planned for exploring identity with students? I’ll be sharing posts soon but to start, I took time to write about my own identity here. When it comes to identity, it is imperative to start first with ourselves so you might want to try this yourself. If you do, I’d love to see your list! Link it in the comments or paste in some of your 31 things about you. Feel free to use my 31 Things About Me post as a mentor text!
I've been thinking a lot about identity lately. My understanding of my own identity is constantly changing but I'm also starting the school year off with the theme of identity so I thought it would be good to do a blog series about exploring identity.
In 2015, I participated in the month-long Slice of Life Challenge. The ideas is to blog every single day for an entire month. I had spent time unpacking my identity and thinking about my experiences and how they shaped who I am so I decided to take the entire month to write about this. That month of blogging was so powerful for me. I cried while writing most of those posts! Those posts are probably some of the most vulnerable writing I have ever written. You can find links to them all in my wrap up blog post: The One Where I Have to Share My Stories if you're interested in reading them. But that was four years ago and I've learned even more about myself since then so I thought it would be good to share a little more about me again. This year during the March Slice of Life Challenge, my friend Mandy Robek wrote a post called 31 Things About Me at her blog Enjoy and Embrace Learning. Mandy got the idea from Lisa Keeler at Reading, Writing and Learning. Here's her 31 Things About Me post. I saved the links to their posts to use as a mentor text and now I'm happy to present my 31 Things About Me post!
I adore Megan Stielstra and her essays and would love to meet her someday! They inspired me to write a short story about loving Guatemala which then led me to buying a ticket to go and visit last month.
My friend Leticia recommended the podcast Let Their Be Luz to me so I listened to every single episode and it has been life changing in so many ways. I definitely recommend it!
We got a minivan last spring and I LOVE IT mostly because we can fit lots of people in with us and traveling with friends is always more fun.
Baths are amazing. I discovered Lush about a year ago and love their shampoo bars and their bath bombs.
Yellow is my favorite color.
The sun makes me happy. I even got a sun tattoo last year.
I think I'm fairly coordinated but for the life of me, trying to get better at something like baggo or bowling stresses me out.
I love Chocolate-Covered Katie's black bean brownie recipe (gluten free and vegan!) and I also love sharing them with people because most people love them too and never guess there's a whole can of black beans mixed in.
If I could live anywhere...it would be Guatemala.
I used to write regularly in my laundry room when I was working on my first novel.
People should have the option to take an afternoon nap. Like, this should be a regularly scheduled afternoon plan.
My first Story Exploratory workshop was in 2015. My sister and my neighbor came...which I considered a huge success but at the same time didn't think was a success at all. Then it took me until 2018 to remember how much I believed in Story Exploratory. In 2019, I filed for my doing-business-as certificate!
When I trained for (and ran) the Chicago Marathon in 2003, I would see rabbits all the time. I always thought they were my grandpa coming to visit me and to remind me that I was strong and beautiful. Since starting up my Story Exploratory workshops, I've seen more rabbits again and now I really think it's a sign from the universe that I'm on the right path and that I should keep going.
Any time I visit a new place, I like to find a local coffee shop and/or an independent bookstore. They are the coolest places.
I've been vegetarian since 2010 and vegan most of those years. I swear, my skin is softer. And I kid you not, I feel absolutely zero menstrual cramps (and before it was bad!).
I consider myself to be super low maintenance but my friend Elizabeth sells Color Street and I do like doing my nails from time to time.
Star Wars is an epic love story and I'm a huge fan.
Adopting our puppy Perdi from a shelter in 2015 was one of the best decisions of my whole entire life.
Tacos are amazing. Just like ice cream in a cone, you don't need utensils or containers so they're good for the environment too!
I'm always up for an adventure.
Sometimes I wish I had a more Latina name. Even my maiden name, Jennifer Jones, wasn't Latina. Our names are such a part of who we are and my Latinx heritage isn't represented in my name. Although, when I went to Guatemala earlier this summer, I met people whose names sounded American to me so maybe what I really need to do is get over this idea of names belonging to a place.
The first time I experienced professional development in my school district that focused on identity, I cried. It was emotional for me because identity and discussing topics of anti-racism and being anti-biased is something important to me but at that time, it felt like we never discussed it as a system.
I love winter but don't like all the stuff that goes with it. Especially as a mom...snowpants, hats, gloves, boots...ugh.
Writer's workshop is my jam. I'm so lucky that I had teachers who gave me the experience with writer's workshop as a student because it just made sense to me as a teacher.
The kidlit community is the best.
I find it hard to half-ass anything. But sometimes in life, you have to decide it's okay to put in the minimum so my motto has become, "We're going to full ass the minimum."
One of the best compliments a student ever gave me was when they said, "Mrs. Vincent, you're like a student." Yup. I'm a true lifelong learner and super proud of it.
I often feel like people don't understand me. Like my ideas are so out there. Like I approach things differently. Like I'm comfortable diving into things. Like I'm not worried about stuff. Sometimes it's lonely and other times it feels pretty badass.
I've been known to turn down a lunch invitation because I had an amazing, just-ripe avocado waiting for me at home.
I cry. A lot. But most of the time I cry because I'm so so so happy and that's how my body reacts. I also see it as a form of cleansing. It's my body's way of releasing or processing the emotions...I think? I'm not really sure but these two explantations make sense to me at this time.
There are three things I absolutely know to be true: I love myself, stories make the world a better place, and things change. (I have a blog post about this coming up next!)
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!
It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now...you just might discover your next “must-read” book! Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and I decided to give It's Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children's literature - picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit - join us! We love this meme and think you will, too. We encourage everyone who participates to visit at least three of the other kidlit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.
Last Week's Book Adventures:
Last week I started reading The Stars Beneath Our Feet by David Barclay Moore and I reread Upstanders by Sara Ahmed and Smokey Daniels. I also read a stack of picture books as I've been prepping for classroom bookaday. AND I also read the first two books for Lucy Calkins' Units of Study for writing. Fun times!
Last Week's Posts:
(Click on the image to visit the post.)
Upcoming Book Adventures:
This week I'm going to keep reading The Stars Beneath Our Feet and am hoping to get to The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon which is this week's Teachers Write mentor text. Kate Messner has been sharing some great writing ideas at her blog for Teachers Write! And if you've been writing this summer, I'm hosting a meet up next Sunday at 7:00 CST via Zoom. If you want to come chat about writing, plan to join me!
So, what are you reading this week?
Link up below and check out other blogs to see what they're reading! To help build our community and support other bloggers, we ask that you comment on at least three other blogs before you. Also, if you tweet about your Monday post, don't forget to use #IMWAYR!
Hello writer friends! How did we do this week! I can't believe how fast the time is flying. I went to school a couple of times this week. My younger son helped me get my bulletin boards covered and then both boys helped me move some bookshelves in. Lucky for me, a friend was moving out of her apartment at the beginning of the summer and had two tall bookshelves she was parting with. The previous teacher also left a few bookshelves there that I need to paint. I picked out a beautiful dark blue color at Home Depot and am planning to go in and paint on Monday. Super fun!
As far as writing goes, I explored some stories this week and worked on blog posts. It feels sooooo good to be blogging again. I'm so happy to be back to blogging and to having tons of ideas to share. One of my posts that I'll be sharing this week is 31 Things About Me. I saw my friend Mandy Robek do a similar post in March and after thinking so much about identity and how to start the year talking about identity with my students, I thought it was a great way to re-introduce myself. So look for that this week!
In terms of the amazing mentor texts that Kate shared this week...I wasn't up for rhyming fun in my writing BUT I read both books and enjoyed them. I added both to my list of picture books to share for classroom bookaday and have ideas for using them as mentor texts with my students.
This week I'm hoping to do some more blogging and spending some time with my novel.
A reminder of my rules for Teachers Write Sunday Check-Ins:
1. We respect each other and the type of writing we do.
2. We are positive and encourage each other at all times.
3. We recognize and maintain this as a safe, inclusive environment for all.
**I reserve every right to put the smackdown on anyone who messes with our positive energy.**
Ideas for today in the comments section:
How did you do this week? Did you meet your weekly goal(s)?
What was the pit of your week? (The hardest part, the non-fun part?) What was the peak of your week? (The best part, the most-fun part?) What are you looking forward to and planning for the week ahead?
And don't forget to join us for a virtual check in!
You'll need the link above to join the meeting. Please know that you'll have to download the Zoom app on your phone or computer and then click on the link and it should take you right into the meeting. You don't have to sign up or sign in but it will ask for your name. My advice is to sign in about 10 minutes ahead of time so you can troubleshoot. Let me know if you have any questions, my email is jen (at) teachmentortexts (dot) com.
Here is the date and time for our last Mentor Text Meet Up:
ALSO...on Monday, I'll be hosting a writing workshop with Story Exploratory.
If you haven't seen me posting about Story Exploratory you can check it out here. And find information about workshops here. It's a passion project of mine and if you're someone who loves to write, I'd love for you to check it out!
Last week I was at Nerdcamp Michigan for the seventh year in a row! I can't believe how much it has grown. It's always amazing to be surrounded by so many nerds. It fills me up and definitely gives me fuel to keep moving forward. I'm so glad to have it in my life.
This year, my older son went with me again. He even came up with a Nerdcamp handshake! (Check it out at the end of this post!) It was fun to have him there with me again. Colby, Alaina, Suzanne and the rest of the Nerdcamp team did an absolutely amazing job yet again. Being so far away, I don't get to help much or see all that they put into making sure camp runs smoothly for everyone but I know they spend a lot of time to make Nerdcamp as successful as it has been year after year. I barely took any pictures but I did manage to take a selfie with Colby. I'm proud to call such an amazing, kidlit advocate my friend.
Colby invited me to moderate the opening panel this year with a focus on feminism. It was a huge honor to take the stage with these amazing women: Patricia Valdez, Laura Shovan, Supriya, Kelkar, Alicia D. Williams, and Pernille Ripp.
They had amazing ideas to share and I found myself taking notes as they talked and wanted to share them here!
I started us off with some words from Roxane Gay. In her article Why I Am A Bad Feminist, Roxane Gay said, “It was easy to embrace feminism when I realized it was advocating for gender equality in all realms, while also making the effort to be intersectional, to consider all the other factors that influence who we are and how we move through the world.”
Later, I shared the definition of "intersectionality" from critical race and gender studies professor Kimberlé Crenshaw. In an interview, she explained, "Intersectionality is a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects. It’s not simply that there’s a race problem here, a gender problem here, and a class or LBGTQ problem there. Many times that framework erases what happens to people who are subject to all of these things." I believe feminism is simple...but also very complex and wanted to try and discuss this in the short time that we had.
To start, the panelists had a few books to share:
Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir
by Nikki Grimes
Other Words For Home
by Jasmine Warga
Queer Heroes: Meet 52 LGBTQ Heroes From Past and Present!
by Arabelle Sicardi, illustrations by Sarah Tanat-Jones
Laura Shovan reminded us that, "Feminism is all about choice." This resonated with me because all too often women aren't given a choice or laws take away our choices.
Pernille Ripp said, "We should embrace anger as a tool." Too often women and girls are asked to be kind and sweet and expected to be happy all the time so I agree with Pernille. If we're raising and/or teaching brave women, we all have to embrace when passion might look like anger. Because anger can lead to action. And don't we want students to stand up for what they believe in?
Artist Gareth Hinds drew us during the panel!
At the end, I asked the panelists to share what they were sick and tired of when it comes to feminism in kidlit. Here's their list!
We're sick and tired of...
boy books versus girl books
boys don't read books with girls on the cover
boys versus girls
girls being objectified
microaggressions
books where the girl needs a boy to tell her she is beautiful
gender norms - coded words
being a feminist means being angry
It was such an amazing panel!
The rest of Nerdcamp was also awesome as well and here's my son and Alaina sharing the Nerdcamp handshake. It's been so cool to see him come to camp and embrace his nerdy-ness!
Last but definitely not least, Nerdcamp Junior was fantastic. I was a group volunteer again and got to hear Kathi Appelt, Jonathan Auxier, and Kristin O'Donnell Tubb talk about their books. The kids had a great time!
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!
It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now...you just might discover your next “must-read” book! Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and I decided to give It's Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children's literature - picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit - join us! We love this meme and think you will, too. We encourage everyone who participates to visit at least three of the other kidlit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.
Last Week's Book Adventures:
This week I readAlly Carter's Dear Ally: How Do You Write a Book? and I also read Be The Change by Sara Ahmed. I thought I had read Be The Change but I think I bought it when I bought Upstanders and then never read it all. It was super helpful as I started to make plans for the school year! I'll be blogging about my beginning-of-the-year plans soon!
I also read Tiger Vs. Nightmare and Peter and Ernesto: A Tale of Two Sloths which are both early reader-ish graphic novels. They were cute!
Last Week's Posts:
(Click on the image to visit the post.)
Upcoming Book Adventures:
This week I'll be rereading Upstanders and reading Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns by Hena Kahn and illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini and Cheerful Chick by Martha Brockenbrough and illustrated by Brian Won. Kate Messner is featuring these two picture books for Teachers Write this week as mentor texts and I'm excited to follow along. Be sure to follow along with Kate's blog!
So, what are you reading this week?
Link up below and check out other blogs to see what they're reading! To help build our community and support other bloggers, we ask that you comment on at least three other blogs before you. Also, if you tweet about your Monday post, don't forget to use #IMWAYR!
Hello writer friends! I hope you had a great first week of Teachers Write! I realized that I never shared my writing plans for the week...so I need to start there. This summer has been amazing but it's been full of lots of little trips which have made it hard to get into a routine. My older son and I were at Nerdcamp last week and then I went in to do some planning with my 8th grade teammates so that took my attention. I also did some Story Exploratory planning which took time as well. My goal for the week was to get back to blogging and I'm happy to say that I did brainstorm some blog posts and I even wrote one that I have scheduled for next week.
This week I'd like to write a few more blog posts but also get to a novel I've been thinking about for a while now. I've done a lot of character work and I've worked on a broad outline so it's time to write...so I just have to do it! BIC - butt in chair, right?
The blog posts I outlined have to do with going back to teaching and Story Exploratory and I'm feel rejuvenated when it comes to blogging. When it comes to my novel writing, I picked up a writing book at the library that I read this week, Dear Ally: How Do You Write a Book by Ally Carter.
I like how this is written for a YA audience and can definitely see recommending it to a teen who loves to write. I can also see sharing parts with my students. She shares some advice from other authors and ideas for different parts of the writing process which I really liked.
Speaking of advice for writing, I'd love to hear what you thought of this week's mentor texts! I had the pleasure of meeting Patricia Valdez at Nerdcamp. She was on the Feminism for All Panel that I led. I've used Joan Procter, Dragon Doctor as a mentor text for one of my non-fiction picture books but I liked how Kate talked about both of the books and gave ideas for brainstorming and/or revising. Feel free to share in the comments or join me in the Zoom chat to share in person! (More info below!)
A reminder of my rules for Teachers Write Sunday Check-Ins:
1. We respect each other and the type of writing we do.
2. We are positive and encourage each other at all times.
3. We recognize and maintain this as a safe, inclusive environment for all.
**I reserve every right to put the smackdown on anyone who messes with our positive energy.**
Ideas for today in the comments section:
How did you do this week? Did you meet your weekly goal(s)?
What was the pit of your week? (The hardest part, the non-fun part?) What was the peak of your week? (The best part, the most-fun part?) What are you looking forward to and planning for the week ahead?
And don't forget to join us for a virtual check in!
You'll need the link above to join the meeting. Please know that you'll have to download the Zoom app on your phone or computer and then click on the link and it should take you right into the meeting. You don't have to sign up or sign in but it will ask for your name. My advice is to sign in about 10 minutes ahead of time so you can troubleshoot. Let me know if you have any questions, my email is jen (at) teachmentortexts (dot) com.
Here are the dates and times for future Mentor Text Meet Ups:
