Yesterday was an exciting day for me! The Fed Ex truck pulled up while I was eating breakfast and delivered 3 heavy boxes. My newly published book, Laura Candler's PowerReading Workshop: A Step-by-Step Guide had arrived! This book was published last year in ebook form as Empowering Readers: A Quick Start Guide to Reading Workshop, but it was revised and updated in 2011 and given a new name. Seeing it in print for the first time was a special moment for me.What is it about a print version of a book that makes it seem so much more real than an ebook? Is it the fact that I grew up as a voracious reader and constantly had a book in my hands? Perhaps the sensation of holding a physical book is similar to the "comfort food" feeling of eating forbidden homemade treats I once enjoyed. Print books recall those happy childhood years I spent discovering the joys of reading.
Don't get me wrong - I'm a huge fan of ebooks - I love the fact that they don't take up space on my shelf and I don't lose them. I've been writing ebooks for the last 3 years and I've been purchasing them longer than that, so I obviously see the value in them. In fact, Power Reading Workshop is available in digital form because ebooks are so darned convenient! But there's still something about a print book that grabs me. I wonder if children born today will have the same affinity for print books? Somehow I think not. Their "comfort book" feeling will be related to holding an eReader of some sort!
As I hold my first print first copy of Power Reading Workshop, I'm filled with gratitude for the many inspiring books that convinced me to try reading workshop, books like Steven Layne's Igniting a Passion for Reading and Donalyn Miller's The Book Whisperer. I'm also grateful for the teachers who field-tested the strategies in Power Reading Workshop with their students and helped me fine-tune the program.
As an avid reader myself, it saddens me that many of today's kids haven't discovered the joys of reading. So when I discovered the power of this approach a few years ago, I knew I had to share with others, especially upper elementary teachers like myself, teachers who would appreciate step-by-step directions for implementing reading workshop. I set up a discussion group called Empowering Readers to help me tweak the process, and I'm indebted to those teachers for the terrific ideas they shared and the solid advice they gave me. Now that many of them have wrapped up a year of reading workshop, it's been extremely gratifying to read the success stories that have been sent to the group - stories of kids who love to read AND who have made tremendous growth on state reading tests.
Reading Workshop really does work! The method works when kids are reading print books, and it will work just fine when print books no longer exist. But in the meantime, I'll treasure my very first print copy of Power Reading Workshop!
Note: If you would like to learn more about this approach, I invite you to join me in a webinar on reading workshop to be held July 21st. Visit my webinar page on Teaching Resources for more information and to register.
I discovered a new book at a bookstore that reminds us about the printed book. The title is "It's a Book" by Lane Smith. It's dialogue between a young donkey and an adult monkey. The young one keeps asking how do you scroll, blog, text, tweet, etc. with the book that the monkey is holding. The monkey's mantra is..."It's a book." You can see a trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4BK_2VULCU. I so want to read it to my class although it does use the term we usually don't say for donkey at the end. Congrats Laura...I ordered my Power Reading Workshop the day it was posted and can't wait to get it all the way across the country in Washington State! ~Shelley Houle
ReplyDeleteFrom Vicki Martinez, Charleston, IL:
ReplyDeleteI to ordered the book the same day that it was offered. I teach Special Education 4th grade instructional students and also co-teach 4th grade. I have been teaching with Reader's Workshop for approximately 3 years. Each year the skills and growth that I have seen have gotten better. But I myself, as I teach, didn't feel as though I was guiding the students the best. I know that with this book, Power Reading Workshop, I will be more successful and feel more confident! Thanks Laura and the Empowering Readers for all you hard work!
Shelley, thanks for the link! The book looks great and I'm planning to check it out. Thanks to both of you for the kind words! I hope your copies arrive soon!
ReplyDeleteI hope this generation of readers still discovers the joy of reading a printed book. It's kind of hard to take the laptop to bed with me, even the netbook, and I can't afford other options yet. I love getting new books, and one of my goals as a teacher is to share that love and joy with my students. I'm interested in this, but the budget's kind of tight at present, having just moved house, but maybe Christmas. I'll have to get the e-book, because there's no guarantee a print copy would actually make it to me in Cambodia (although the postal system is getting better). I'm moving grade levels with some of my kids this year, and it was very exciting to know that some of my kids wanted to be in my class next year because of my classroom library. Awesome to see kids enjoying reading.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Karen! Print and digital books both have their place - without the digital version you might not be able to even read Power Reading Workshop! But print books still have their appeal.
ReplyDeleteAmy Gosla, Tucson, AZ
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Laura! That must feel so exciting to hold your book and to see your hard work in print! I'm very excited to get my printed copy. I've been reading my e-book, but it's not the same. I agree with Karen, we can not let real physical die out.
Thanks Amy! I know you'll love the print copy, and it will serve as an easy reference in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your new book. I am anxiously awaiting my copy. As Jefferson said, "I can't live without books." I have a Kindle, a Nook, an ipod, an ipad an iphone, and a Droid. I still want my HARD copy books.
ReplyDeleteThanks Genevieve! I know exactly how you feel!
ReplyDeleteI did receive my copy of your new book and it is great. I love the practicality of it all and how it meshes with our current literacies initiatives. Anyone who has never tried a workshop approach would be well served buying this book. Even the diehard basal lovers may be enticed to digress when they see how wonderfully painless "crossing over" will be!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your kind words! Hopefully they will inspire teachers to give reading workshop a try!
ReplyDeleteI received my copy of your book and I love it!! It has helped me to streamline my lessons and organize everything. My first week of school was so organized thanks to you!! Can't wait to see what it looks like in a month.
ReplyDeleteI love the combination of the digital edition and the hard copy. Keeps my hard copy nice and clean -- I'm kind of anal about the condition of my books. Thanks again for all your hard work and sacrifice.
Stephanie, thanks so much for your kind words! I appreciate it!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations and best wishes for continued success in your wonderful and important work, Laura. Your comment about the difference between an ebook and a print book called to mind a recent discussion I had with another author. (I'm an author and publisher based in Illinois and have shared my passion for reading and writing with students, teachers, and parents in 39 states, Europe, and New Zealand.) Your question -- "But there's still something about a print book that grabs me. I wonder if children born today will have the same affinity for print books? Somehow I think not. Their "comfort book" feeling will be related to holding an eReader of some sort!" -- was at the heart of the earlier discussion I mentioned and am addressing in an article just being completed. Here's an excerpt. "The jury is still out, of course, and the novelty dimension of ebooks garners sales and media attention, but other considerations suggest that both ebooks and print books are here to stay. Interesting data is coming out of studies suggesting that there's a time and a place for digital texts and a time and a place for print. An Ohio State study showed that both understanding and retention are greater with print material than with digital, for example. Other studies are raising questions about the ocular and other health dimensions of spending hours with digital text on what is essentially a portable monitor. Beyond that, I have noticed that there is an even greater hunger in human nature than the hunger for novelty. I refer to the innate human hunger for intimacy, not the ersatz, one-night-stand version of "intimacy" foisted upon us endlessly by the media, but the real thing: the caring, attentive, listening, and understanding presence of one living, sensing, breathing, thinking human to another. Printed matter facilitates that in situations such as parents reading to children in bed or sitting on their laps, parents reading to children anywhere for that matter, because printed matter accommodates itself to the human setting and has a sort of quiet, background presence, always at the ready but never intrusive. It facilitates the caring, attentive, listening, and understanding presence of parent to child and child to parent. Electronic devices, on the other hand, are somewhat invasive, calling attention to themselves first with on-off switches, option selections, monitor adjustments, battery or other power needs, and the like. Those device-centered intrusions interrupt the caring, attentive, listening, and understanding presence of parent to child and child to parent. The bottom line here is that techie-products make reading analogous to riding a motorcycle, not very conducive to social interaction while going down the highway, even when traveling in a group. Printed books are analogous to driving a van with friends along, enjoying each other's company and talking about each other's lives and interests. The motorcycle probably will get you to your destination faster, if that's all you care about. The van will get you to your destination a little slower, but will enrich your life in other ways. So any affinity for printed books over Kindle or other digital devices is perhaps somewhat a product of conditioning, but it also is at least as much if not more so a conscious decision based on what qualities of life are important or even essential." I have written much more on the subject, of course, but there is not room here. Some of it is reflected in my responses to a New Jersey reading specialist's request for a Back-to-School Night message to parents. My responses have been consolidated chronologically in a single page at http://johngilejournal.blogspot.com/. Again, congratulations, Laura, and best wishes to you and to all the teachers you are helping to effectively introduce children to the wonderful world of reading. -- John Gile, www.johngile.com
ReplyDeleteThanks, John! You make some really good points. It's interesting that just the other day my 17-year old daughter wanted to get a book and I asked her if she wanted it in Kindle format. She said no, she just wanted a book she could hold in her hands!
ReplyDeleteI have used the Power Reading Workshop and love it! It is simple and easy to follow and has lots of useful lessons and ideas. Thanks for this great resource!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! Did you know that I don't use this blog anymore? My blog is now located at www.corkboardconnections.com. Come visit me there!
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