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“Anyone who has ever taught eighth grade understands what a tough crowd this age group can be,” states Emily Campbell, an 8th Grade teacher at the Clinton School for Writers and Artists, speaking to hundreds of people gathered for the TCRWP's Annual End of Year Principals Conference.
“Not every book hooks the kids,” she states, “So, when Jerry Maraia invited us to prepare a performance piece based on Maya Soetoro-Ng’s first picture-book, Ladder to the Moon, my predictable response was to worry: worry that my students might be intimidated by the idea of performing their poetry for the sister of President Barack Obama and hundreds of people at TC’s Milbank Chapel; worry that they might not love a book they had not yet read; worry that, even if they did love Maya's book, could they really love it enough to rise to the occasion of writing poetry actually worth performing for such a distinguished crowd?”
It turns out that Emily had no worries once her students heard Jerry’s minlesson based on Ladder to the Moon. Jerry, a TCRWP staff developer, knows the art of inspiring students to read and write. He knew just how to engage the students in close listening during his read aloud of the story about the night a young girl imagines she is talking to her deceased grandmother on the moon.
Emily continues, “Every now and then a story comes along that is quite simply breath-taking. When Jerry read the last line, ‘Come, tell me everything,’ I saw transformation in the eyes of my students. His minilesson touched their hearts. I was so thrilled to see Joseph, Shakir, Mohammad, Julia, Greta, Simone, Matthew, Caroline and Marcus all sharing memories of people they had lost or never met, people whose legacy they felt. The kids wrote poems and letters paying homage to relatives who had shaped them. For one week, they wrote and wrote, filling their notebooks with memories and soul. At last, our Ladder to the Moon performance piece was born. On the evening of April 13, 2011, Maya’s generous spirit touched the hearts of the standing-room-only crowd gathered in TC's Milbank Chapel. As Maya told us about the inspiration behind her mother's story of family legacy and the call to service, one student whispered to me, 'She makes me feel so special.'”
You can learn more about the TCRWP author-visit with Maya Soetoro-Ng, held on April 13, 2011, in the Spotlight.
Once we saw the students' performance that night, we invited them to reprise their performance for the closing of the TCRWP's Annual End of Year Principals Conference, held May 20, 2011, at the New York Botanical Garden.
We invite you to view the 6-minute video clip (below) which is a combination of both performances, and shows how Emily’s students were inspired by Jerry's poetry writing minilesson based upon Maya Soetoro-Ng’s book, Ladder to the Moon.
"We're so proud to share with you the talented children of one of our schools," states Enid Martinez, standing in front of the fifty or more beaming students about to perform at the closing of the TCRWP's Annual End of Year Principals Conference.
Martinez continues, "They've been to the Academy Awards, they've been on Oprah, and now they're with us at the New York Botanical Gardens. I introduce to you the PS22 Chorus from Staten Island, led by Gregg Breinberg."
They even have a page on Wikipedia which reads, in part: The PS22 Chorus is an elementary school chorus from Public School 22 in Graniteville, Staten Island (New York). It is composed of 60-70 fifth-graders, and is directed by Gregg Breinberg. Students are assigned to the chorus after an annual auditioning process at the beginning of each school year. PS22 is the largest elementary school in Staten Island which draws students from a wide cross section of ethnic groups and socio-economic levels. The chorus meets twice a week during school hours to practice, and performs throughout the year at school functions, local events, and on special requests. The PS22 chorus was founded in 2000 by the school's music teacher, Gregg Breinberg. Since then the chorus has become an Internet phenomenon. In 2009 New York magazine called it "the best-known elementary-school chorus on the planet".
You can see the PS22 blog at http://ps22chorus.blogspot.com/
We hope you enjoy, as much as we do, the three video segments below.
TCRWP is always on the look-out for new books we can bring into our classrooms. With new books we can continue to keep our teaching fresh and our students engaged. On this page you will find several new titles we have recently come across and highly recommend. We have organized these books by genre and identified the type of book each is (picture book or chapter book). If you have any fresh, new finds to add to our list, we would be more than happy to hear from you and add your finds to this list. You can send an email to us at contact@readingandwritingproject.com
Disappearing Desmond by Anna Alter (Picture Book) (K-3)
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger (Chapter Book) (3-5)
Brontorina by James Howe (Picture Book) (K-3)
Extra Credit by Andrew Clements (Chapter Book) (3-5)
The Curious Garden by Peter Brown (Picture Book) (K-3)
SkySisters by Jan Bourdeau Waboose (Picture Book) (4-8)
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park (Chapter Book) (Level U)
A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban (Chapter Book) (3-6)
Saving Sky by Diane Stanley (Chapter Book) (4-8)
Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy (Chapter Book) (6-8)
The Liberation of Gabriel King by K.L. Going (Chapter Book) (Level O)
Jingle Dancer by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Picture Book) (Level M)
Walter: The Story of a Rat by Barbara Wersba (Picture Book) (K-4)
FAIRY TALES
Clever Jack Takes the Cake by Candace Fleming (Picture Book) (K-4)
FANTASY
Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark by Ridley Pearson
(Chapter Book, Series) (4-8)
HISTORICAL FICTION
The Luck of the Buttons by Anne Ylvisaker (Chapter Book) (4-8)
Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt (Chapter Book) (4-8)
Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool (Chapter Book) (4-8)
Where the Steps Were by Andrea Cheng (Chapter Book) (4-8)
POETIC NOVELS
Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy by Sonya Sones (6-8)
Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai (4-8)
GRAPHIC NOVELS
Mal and Chad by Stephen McCranie (Series) (3-8)
Dork Diaries (Series) (4-8)
NONFICTION
Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot
(Hybrid Structure, Picture Book) (3-8)
John Hunter is a teacher in Charlottesville, Virginia and the star of Chris Farina's acclaimed documentary World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements. In this inspirational talk, he describes his invention, The World Peace Game, in which 4th graders find a solution to world peace in about eight weeks using a board made out of plywood. Mr. Hunter has long ago learned that he cannot control every conversation in the classroom, and that to try to do so would be to lose the collective wisdom of the students. Mr. Hunter reminds us that the most powerful lessons come from moments we teachers could not possibly have designed.
Check out this motivational rally-cry that students at one of our schools, The Young Women's Leadership School of Brooklyn, created in preparation for getting everyone excited for the test this week and next...
