Dear WinkWorld Readers,

As someone once said to me, “I love your daughter’s blog, but yours is all about learning.”  I wasn’t sure how to respond, but I could tell that the speaker meant no ill-will; none taken.

Dawn Wink: Dewdrops.

This time WinkWorld will be personal, and not about learning, she said with tongue firmly planted in her cheek…

I’ve always really liked my birthday, but this one was very special, as I received beautiful greetings from so many friends and family members.  In addition, it was the 10th anniversary of being a cancer survivor.  I so remember when I was hoping for one more year of life; five was beyond my dreams.  The two drugs, herceptin and arimidex, had just come off trial in March 2006, when I was diagnosed, and the doctor thought we should try.  Way to go, Dr. Zhou! I am amazed by my good health and so very thankful.

When I got on Facebook for my birthday, I started my day with a photo of this cake, which was created by a former student from Mallorca, Spain.

This cake was created by Dawn Doig who now lives in Ulaabaatar, Mongolia.  Dawn, how did you ever find turquoise food coloring in Ulaabaatar?!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

WinkWorld Readers, where in the world is Ulaabaatar, Mongolia?

Next, I received this photo from my brother, Jim Richardson.  Maybe I have seen this before, but I have no memory of this photo.  Thank you, Jim, for this treasured gift.

This photo really tugs at my heart, as my mother died of cancer less than a year before the picture was taken.  I look at this photo and wonder: Who did my hair?  Who washed and ironed that dress? I have no idea.

Yes, my blog is usually about “learning,” and this one is very personal.  For the first 30 years of my career, I believed the idea that we must separate the professional from the personal.  However, I started to notice that my personal life informs my professional life and visa versa.  Now, I realize that I cannot separate who I am, as a person, from who I am as a professional.  Once I realized this,  I started bringing my whole self into my teaching and learning; the last 20 years of my career in education have been far richer and deeper.

Yes, I started teaching 50 years ago. Life is crazy good.

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

We, prairie people, get really excited about hummingbirds, and with all of the news of the Tucson Festival of Books, I forgot to tell you that I found a nest right outside of my room on a branch at eye level.  At first the mama hummingbird would immediately fly away, but now she is doing some serious nesting, and will let me get within a foot of her before she flits away.

Here is the nest from below.

Here are the eggs in the nest.

And, we wait….

Welcome to the World: Two baby hummingbirds.  And, the feeding has begun with a flurry.

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

The Tucson Festival of Books (TFoB) ended yesterday with 140,000 of my best friends celebrating literacy.  I arrived on the University of Arizona campus Saturday 8 a.m. and finally left reluctantly after singing and dancing to the music of José Luís Orozco 5 p.m. on Sunday. Lots of his music right here.

If you read the previous WinkWorld, you may remember that I was worrying about having to miss Jonathan Kozol.  Not to worry.

Another highlight for me was working the Teachers’ Professional Development table with a local high school girl.  I asked her if she had any fantasy books, which she could recommend as gifts for Wyatt and/or Luke.  Check our her list here, and she continued on the other side.  An avid reader, indeed.

She also told me about a unicorn on the UofA campus:  Who knew?

However, my absolute FAV photo of the TFoB is posted below.  I found these two right outside the Free Books Tent. Thanks, Stocker Foundation!

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

TFoB:  Life is just too short to ever miss this wonderful event where 10s of thousands of readers come to celebrate literacy.  Previously, I shared the 2014 Tucson Festival of Books (TFoB), when the participants numbered well over 100,000 wild and crazy readers and authors.

2014 TFoB

Tucson Festival of Books: WOW

I am excited to meet 4 new authors, when I facilitate for their panel discussion.  Each of these authors has a webpage/blog and/or presence on social media, which I share below.  In addition, I am lucky enough to get to help in the Education Building of UofA with the Professional Development for teachers.  How lucky am I?  And, think of all of my new friends.

4 New Authors/Friends Follow.

Amy Sue Norton, Women Fiction Writers

Lisa Fenton and Liz Steinke

Melissa Clark

Here is my planned schedule:

Saturday, 11:30 to 12:30, Student Union, KIVA, “Mending Webs: Adventures in Reuilding a Life”

Sunday, 10:30 to 1:30, College of Education Building, Professional Development for Teachers desk – I will be either at their table on first floor, or at their table on 3rd floor.  Teacher friends, hope you can stop by and say hello.

Stalking Scholars

My absolute fav scholar to be in attendance is Jonathan Kozol, but sadly his two presentations are at the very same time as my previously mentioned commitments.  No worries, I’ll be out stalking him on the UofA grassy mall, and he is hardly the first scholar whom I have stalked.  Last year, it was Noam Chomsky; I had great success.  However, the first time I ever stalked a scholar, it was Adelberto Guerrero during the mid-80s.

http://www.joanwink.com/store/teaching-passionately/teaching-passionately-professor-beto/

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

Sometimes it just falls smack into your lap, when you least expect it.  I was beating myself up as I didn’t have anything to post for Week 9, as the teachers just finished their midterm and are moving forward with individual writing assignments–more to come on that later.

As I was rushing for a flight this a.m. for the Tucson Festival of Books, I received an unexpected phone call and  unexpected email.  The phone call was about a family in Faith SD, who wants to give books to kids on the Cheyenne Reservation for summer reading.  The email came from Gillette, WY, where a group of teachers had just read Richard Allington, and now want to collect books for kids for summer reading. I will post the Allington article at the end of this blog.

The question from each of them:  Where do I find books for my Free Little Library?

They both thought that I might know people/groups who will send books.  I believe such groups exist, but I only use 2nd-hand bookstores and Goodwill/Salvation Army locations.  I have also discovered that almost all libraries have ways of donating books to others.

In addition, I have noticed that when you start looking for books, books start arriving.  I love to go out to our LFL to find that a passerby has left a book.  I love to go to our treasured little post office (Howes, SD) and find that a friend has mailed a book for our LFL.  More than once I have received boxes of books from friends who just want to share.

I am confident that by simply sharing this story, books are going to start moving from dusty shelves into kids’ hands.

Thanks to all of you who help get books to kids.

Posted below here, you will find the article which the Gillette teachers recently read.  In addition, I am posting two of my favorite books on summer reading.

Richard Allington Writes, and Gillette Teachers Act

Allington’s research (1)

Summer Reading: Program and Evidence by Fay Shin and Steve Krashen

Summer Reading: Closing the Rich/Poor Reading Achievement Gap by Richard Allington and Anne McGill-Franzen

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

This week, the teachers have been playing with and reviewing some of the ideas found in Critical Pedagogy: Notes from the Real World (2011) from a PowerPoint, which I created.

PART ONE

PART TWO

Help yourself to anything, which works for you.

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

This one is just for fun.  Can you read this entire poem aloud?

At the bottom of this post is also a recording of the poem being read by someone who really can read it without stumbling.

Have fun.

“The Chaos” by Gerard Nolst Trenité.

Here are the words, if you would like to have a copy.

Thanks to JimmmyJam (YouTube) for reading part of it for us.

WinkWorld Readers, again this issue is for the teachers in my class, but you are more than welcome to come along for the ride.  Teachers, last week you explored new software, and it was great fun to see your creations.

Below here, I will list some of the software which you used.  First, I have chosen to share a voki.com, which Jill created to impersonate me. Enjoy.  Jill reported that her students loved creating their own.

Several of you created Powtoons and others created StoryBoardThat

Another new software for me was Canva,  and two of you played with that. Others which you shared came from Kahoot.it, FunBrain, Planbook, Remind, Prezi, Quizlet, Animoto, Socrative, and several examples from Google.

In language acquisition, we guard against ‘fossilization,” and apparently the same is now true of educational software.  It is too easy for us to fossilize in our use of just one or two types of software.  Not so, the students: They jump right in and try any of the formats.  We have to stay up with them.

Next week, we will have our midterm writing assignment.  You might want to watch this video again before you begin writing.

Week 6, 2.16, Krashen: Pulls it all together in 25 minutes.

Dear WinkWorld Readership,

I know that many of us are trying to understand the new education bill, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which recently replaced NCLB and RttT (Race to the Top).  My initial understanding is that it is good for school libraries, which helps everyone.  However, I am not so optimistic for kids and classroom teachers, who are once again focused on nothing, but the spring tests.  Why? Why? Why? Classrooms should not be filled with pain and shame; classrooms need to be filled with love and learning.

In the post below, Diane Ravitch and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) help us unpack the new ESSA.  Thank you to Nancy Bailey for bringing this piece to our attention.

Does the Every Student Succeeds Act MASK No Child Left Behind?

Dear WinkWorld Readers, as you can guess, I am posting this for the teachers in my class, but any of you are free to watch and enjoy, too…..

Teachers, here are some questions you might like to focus on as you watch: How are language acquisition and literacy alike?  What is the role of communication? What does this have to do with Cosmo, the Parrot?

Many thanks to Deb Harrison for alerting me to this golden nugget.