Reader Spotlight 

How long have you been in education? a principal at Hemmeter Elementary?

I’m in my ninth-year as principal. I taught fifth grade prior to that for nine years. I also ran the afterschool program at Hemmeter. All in, it’s my 20th year.

 

How has reading impacted your life?

In so many ways, throughout my career. I was not an avid reader growing up. I made it through high school without reading a whole book. I’d listen to conversations or read Cliff Notes to pass classes. Truly, I wasn’t a reader at all. As I was taking college classes for education, I was doing field work in Mrs. Kelsey’s fourth grade class, and I fell in love with Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. I wondered… “Where has this been all my life?” When I tell this story, most people who know me are surprised because I always have a book recommendation. I’m the reading principal.

 

But, saying I wasn’t a reader wasn’t true. I loved comic books. All through my life it wasn’t considered real reading and wasn’t valued. It has been an avenue I’ve tried to promote. And, now graphic novels have just exploded. If I found two or three graphic novels when I was a kid, I’d be lucky. Now, it’s rows and rows of graphic novels. Children’s authors like Dave Pilkey from the Captain Underpants series fame are over the top of the New York Times best seller list.

 

I was maybe seven or eight years into my career and about ready for change. I was frustrated with the state of education and reading was frustrating me the most. I loved reading. I was an avid reader and wanted to be able to pass that on to students. Reading in school wasn’t real reading. It was filling out worksheets, a basal reader (a grade-leveled series of textbooks produced by an educational publisher), and workbooks. Everything at school was built about AR (Accelerated Reader). This approach was blocking students from being readers. I would talk to a student about Harry Potter. One day he was loving the books. The next day he was reading Dr. Seuss. I asked why the switch. It was the end of AR book challenge and he needed points and Dr. Seuss books could be read faster. So they were reading for the points not for the love of it.  

 

I told a children’s literature professor, I was frustrated. She suggested I read, The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Reader in Every Child by Donalyn Miller. It was exactly what I wanted reading to look like in my classroom. I followed her on social media and ended up getting to know her. She has shaped my view on reading more than anyone. I am blessed to call her a friend. I followed the Nerdy Book Club on Facebook, which was started by Donalyn Miller and Colby Sharp. Colby was a teacher and part of the Michigan Reader Association. These were two people who were the top voices for me when it came to best practice reading instruction. This changed the course of everything. My passion for teaching reignited. I wanted to spread what they were saying in their book here (at Hemmeter).

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What is the book you recommend most? Why? It changes with the times. I try to keep up on what kids interested. My all-time favorite is The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. I love how she weaves the story together. And, also The Giver by Lois Lowry. Lately, I’ve been loving stories about Peter and Ernesto, who are two sloths. I’ve been really recommending this series to kids. Kids here love, love, love graphic novels. I’m always on the lookout. Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Luen Yang is really good. It’s set in 1960s. And, for picture books, See the Cat by David LaRochelle is my new favorite book. It’s about a narrator and dog responding on each other on every page. Narrator: See the cat. Dog: I’m not the cat. It’s fun. We read a picture book every day in every classroom. Two of my all-time favs – The Book with No Pictures by BJ Novak and Naked by Michael Ian Black (The boy only wants to wear a cape).

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It has been difficult year for everyone. What has helped you through the pandemic? How has it changed how you lead? It’s been a challenging year, just keeping students safe, dealing with restrictions, having quarantines for teachers and/or students, figuring out how to provide instruction to them. It’s been tough navigating through. Everything has become political. It’s hard enough as it is - dealing with all the requirements and different learners. Your job is to help students to reach their full potential. Adding the pandemic then gets that much tougher. More difficult with outside influences and families can’t keep their politics out. Most frustrating thing was when the decision to keep kids’ home was made, half the people were happy, and half are screaming at you. That’s the draining part – just getting through all that.

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The pandemic changed the way I lead in a couple of ways. One, doing what I could to focus on the mental health of the people in the building, making sure my teachers are able to have strong mental health. I take something off their plate so they can focus on the most important things and eliminate the unnecessary and work to show appreciation. I try to do little things just to remind the teachers of how much they are appreciated. I brought in meals to staff so there is one less thing to do. Keeping the K cups stocked and candy in teacher’s lounge. Letting them know what a great job they are doing.