Upstate Schools Consortium: Penny Kittle

One of my favorite books about secondary reading is Book Love by Penny Kittle, so I was pumped to find out that she would be speaking at Furman University for the Upstate Schools Consortium. Some of my takeaways from her presentation include:

• book stack day-students stack up the books they've read that year and take picture. This would be fun to do on first day and take pics of their first book choice, around mid year and at the end of the year.
• her recommendations for reading is 50% independent reading, 25% book club/lit circles in class, 25% core texts. I shared this with our teachers because I'm afraid this is no where close to what is happening in our classrooms.
• 4 Things Empower Readers & Writers: volume, choice, modeling, feedback
• series readers become adult readers. She mentioned a boy that started with Hatched then read all of Paulsen. She knew she would need to push him though because boys want to read about a protagonist that is around 2 years older than themselves.
• Her breakdown for time on reading is roughly 1-9 weeks independent reading, 10-12 book club, 13-16 core text, 17-18 independent, 19-21 book club, 22-24 independent, 25-27 independent, 28-32 core, 33-36 book club. 
• She and Kelly Gallagher have a new book, 180 Days. Just added to my next order. Can't wait to read and share.
• her formula for finding your reading rate. Can be found in Book Love.
• book talk essentials: hold the book, know the book, read a short passage, keep records, accept help, remember how important your "blessing" a book can be.
• suggested conference questions found in Book Love and book club thought log questions: pennykittle.net Resources/WorkshopHandouts/BookClubs
• Connect with another class. She mentioned using shared Google docs and Flipgrid. She mentioned a connection with college students. I've since made contact with a nearby college and we are in the planning stages of connecting our book club/lit circles with her Adolescent Literature students. I'll share more as this project takes shape.
• She gave a shout out to her school librarian. Specifically, she mentioned her weekly book recommendations to staff. I currently put Loo Reviews in faculty bathrooms and change those monthly. Maybe I can do weekly recommendations on Smore or a similar tool next year.

If you ever have the opportunity to hear her speak, I highly recommend it. She was inspiring and encouraging. If you haven't read her book, what are you waiting for?