April 2, 2013
by Denise Krebs
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Because we were going to see him speak, seventh graders researched Philip Gans, Holocaust and concentration camp survivor.
These two pictures tell the story of my small group of seventh graders. I tease them sometimes and tell them they are one organism. They are a collaborative, learn-together group. And when an “organism” is studying the Holocaust, sometimes it’s better to do it together.
Being in a connected world of collaborative learning together is a good thing.
November 29, 2012
by Denise Krebs
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When I first started teaching, I typed my students’ stories on an Apple IIE computer and printed them on a dot-matrix printer. I used the book-binding machine in the office to make books for our classroom library. We wrote letters to authors and delighted in their return replies. We had young authors’ days, where parents came in and read to us, and we to them (from our very own writings.) I talked to my students about my favorite authors and poets, and some of my students made my short lists. My goal was always to tell my students, in as many ways as possible, that they were writers.
These were a few ways I tried to blur the lines between authors and student writers, professionally-published books and pieces my students and I wrote. I wanted my students to not just learn English, but to know they were writers.
Fast forward (and it was fast) twenty-five years, and there are myriad ways to accomplish the goal of having my students know they are writers. I still do some of the things above. Except, now we write more blog posts and less hard-copy books in our classroom library. Instead of sending letters on chart paper to authors, we tweet them and share links to blog posts we write about them.
In the 21st century, however, there are clearly brand new ways to blur the line between teachers and students, authors and readers, producers and consumers, professionals and amateurs. As a result of social learning and the Internet, here are some of the new things we’re trying and the sweet results.
NaNoWriMoNaNoWriMo for young writers was a delightful find. (More about it here.) Eighth grade students in November come to English class and know just what to do. They write novels. Right now, they are furiously trying to reach their word-count goals by November 30.
Usually all I hear in the classroom that period of the day is light clicking on the keyboard and a tiny bit of music coming from the earbuds of some students. (Writing fiction is the perfect time to listen to music!)
However, a couple Fridays ago, the students seemed restless and talkative. Usually they are fully engaged in writing — anxious to reach their goal. However, this time they were chatting away, but strangely novel-related. I stopped for a bit to listen to the following charming conversation.
“My character has been kidnapped, and I don’t know how to get her saved,” someone said.
“I have a kidnapped character too.”
“Hey, me too.”
“What’s going on? Do we all have kidnappings in our novels?”
I was ecstatic. There were more conversations going on, as well — pockets of authors talking about their craft, not about the coming weekend. They were talking about plots and characters and other novelly-type delights. — It reminded me of the write-ins I go to with a group of adult NaNoWriMo writers. We are all writers.
I teach English, which includes both reading and writing for the junior highers. We are not reading group novels, but each student is making reading choices ala Donalyn Miller (the Book Whisperer) and Nancie Atwell. We are keeping track of our readings, but we’re not keeping long reading logs with summaries and responses like we used to. We no longer take A.R. tests.
Now we share books with friends just like real life. We encourage each other to find books we love, so we can make progress toward the 40-book challenge. Some students keep track on GoodReads, and some prefer to write a list in their English handbook. Some listen to audio books. Some read on Nooks and Kindles. Every opportunity to shape learners into life-long readers does not go unexplored.
The most interesting way that the line has been blurred is through online connections and interactions with “real” authors. These connections have 
certainly made me feel more like an author. When we connect with them online, somehow authors seem more like us.
Kenneth C. Davis
From a summertime tweet by Don’t Know Much About series author, Kenneth C. Davis, I set up a Skype session for my history class, and my class and Mr. Davis followed each other on Twitter. It reminded me of the Cisco “Welcome to the Human Network” commercial: ”…where the team [author] you follow, now follows you.”
R.J. Palacio
Author of Wonder, the wonderful and wildly popular book, which is on the fast track to becoming an anti-bullying classic. R.J. took part in a Good Reads book club. Funny, the concept is still so new to me that when I left the following comment, I really didn’t expect her to answer back. (Welcome to the Human Network! Remember, Denise?)
Kate Messner
The #TeachersWrite Summer Writing Camp, hosted by Kate, was an amazing experience. We were a group that included professionally-published authors, wannabe authors, and teachers just wanting to be better ‘writing’ teachers. The lines were blurred and we were all members of the same club.
Joanne Levy
Joanne was a member of the #TeachersWrite Summer Writing Camp. She donated a copy of her book Small Medium at Large for a door prize. I just happened to be the winner. I was so excited to receive the autographed copy with a large set of book marks.
Later when I saw Kate’s and Joanne’s books sitting side-by-side on the shelf in our public library, I couldn’t help but think I was looking at books written by my friends.
Sharon Creech
All authors don’t respond back personally. However, even when they don’t, connected authors like Sharon Creech share a new side of themselves and add to their body of work on blogs and through tweeting. Authors’ work is no longer limited to the hard- and paperback books found in the library and book stores.
Those are just four authors that I’ve met on Twitter. Thank you to Joy Kirr for this whole list of other authors on Twitter you can connect with.
What a joy to be a teacher, learner and writer in the 21st century!
November 16, 2012
by Denise Krebs
26 Comments
In Loving Memory
Richard B. Reed
June 16, 1943 – November 13, 2012
On Tuesday evening this week, my healthy, exuberant, funny, life-loving brother died unexpectedly of a heart attack. It was a surprise and shock for all of his family and friends.
Of course, I’ve been thinking of him all week and the hole his absence has left.
I wanted to share some of my memories to let you get to know this brother I love.
One of my earliest memories was when he came home from college one day, and he and Paula were going to go to Disneyland for the afternoon. I was the luckiest four-year-old in the world, when they took me with them! With four other siblings in school and a baby brother at home, he chose me!
His entire career was devoted to law enforcement — starting as a military policeman for the U.S. army, and retiring as a captain in the California Highway Patrol. When he was in the service, in Germany, he sent home gifts, like this stein and little wooden scene, which came for my 7th birthday. At the time, I wondered why he sent it, asking, “I thought he was in Germany. Did he go visit France? This has an F on it.”
“No, that’s a 7 for your birthday”
I just thought they were wrong and quit arguing, but I always treasured this gift from my big brother. (It wasn’t until many years later that I finally got it — some people really did make their 7′s like that.)
When I was about eight, my mom must have asked him to teach us to swim. Perhaps she just asked him to make sure her youngest three kids wouldn’t drown if we fell in the water. He taught us to swim, not American-Red-Cross-swimming-lesson-style. This was pure Rick-style — throwing us into the pool at his apartment and helping us make it to the edge. I guess it worked; we’re still here.
Rick owned the only motorcycles I have ever ridden on. I always felt proud when he came over and took me for a ride.
When I was an adult and getting ready to move to Michigan to be closer to my future husband, he took me aside and gave me a fatherly talk. (My own father had died when I was seven, so he was a faithful fill-in.) His little talk with me included an offer to buy a plane ticket back home, just in case I needed it.
Later when I asked him to walk me down the aisle and give me away at my wedding, he said yes and wrote a three-page letter in response. In part…
My Dear “Lil” Sister,
I received your letter today. This is undoubtedly the first time I ever sent a letter back by return mail!
He gave me good wishes and guidance for my upcoming marriage, along with plenty of his signature sarcasm and ribbing, but poignant passages, like this one, have made me keep this letter for the past thirty years:
I love you so much and I would be so very proud to share June 11th with you
and Keith by ‘escorting you down the aisle.’ Or, any other way you choose (excepting parking cars).
As for your other questions and comments,
- Fine.
- No.
- No, not quite as much.
- I’m glad for you, if you’re happy.
- Yes, I will.
- Thanx.
- See you then.
And here’s a note from Rick from my daughter’s baby book. (I really didn’t order him to write in her book!)
My own daughters have wonderful stories about him too. When they were very young, they didn’t get to see Rick and Barbara very often. However, they did know that Uncle Rick and Aunt Barbara were the ones who got them the teddy bear necklaces with a 
“100% genuine diamond” embedded in the tummy.
On one of their trips to Arizona, when Katie was four, they took us out to Olive Garden. We stayed late, enjoying conversation and a leisurely dinner. Someone ordered tiramisu for dessert, and Katie sampled a bite and loved it. She kept eating it until it was gone. Rick ordered her another piece.
Katie laughs about the time Rick threatened her high school boyfriend that if he didn’t take good care of her, he would come back to take care of him.
Last summer I got this birthday card from him. Look at the inside (and back, where he answers his own question) to get to know more about this warm, fun-loving man.
Back of the card, and the answer to Rick’s question.
The last time I saw Rick, we were together saying goodbye to our mother who died two years ago. As one of my sisters said, that is not enough time between generations.
We will all miss him terribly.
“I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43
September 17, 2012
by Denise Krebs
7 Comments
Alert: I don’t typically write about politics or religion, so I’m forewarning you. Turn back while you can…
Subscription image from iClipArt for Schools in Iowa
For close to 40 years, I have been registered to vote as an independent. I’ve never liked political parties, and I still don’t.
Today is Constitution Day, September 17, 2012, the 225th anniversary of the Constitutional Convention’s signing of the U.S. Constitution. In school we are celebrating this day, also called Citizenship Day. Because of that, I suppose, I spent some time this weekend considering the preamble.
As I said at the beginning, it is unusual for me to write about politics; I’ve been fairly apolitical throughout my life. However, it was just last week in a blog post, that I first called myself liberal — I’m liberal with my photographs, I said. Today I feel I am a liberal for two more reasons.
First, I believe the Constitution’s preamble gives a fairly liberal agenda that necessarily calls for a strong government if we are to provide these things:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
In addition, I am a follower of Jesus. Each day I read a chapter in the Bible, and yesterday my bookmark happened to be at chapter 10 of Mark. Here are just a few quotes from this one chapter:
About divorce: “What God has joined together, let no one separate.” verse 9
About heaven: “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” verse 15
About wealth: “Go and sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” verse 21
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” verse 25
About position: “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.” verses 43-44
A liberal question: “What do you want me to do for you?” verse 51
About faith: “Go, your faith has made you well.” verse 52
There are 88 additional chapters in the gospels about Jesus’ life on earth. Besides the things above, he said much more — impossible, crazy, profound, amazing, revolutionary, liberating things — like “Don’t be afraid”, “Do not judge”, “Be perfect”, and to the religious hypocrites: “You snakes!”
I believe the government was ordained and established to help all its people, and I want to be like Jesus, so I guess I am a liberal.
Subscription picture from iClipart for Iowa Schools
June 24, 2012
by Denise Krebs
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Great Writers on Reading
“When I am reading a book, whether wise or silly, it seems to me to be alive and talking to me. Sometimes I read a book with pleasure, and detest the author. It is easy enough for a man to walk who has a horse at his command. The invalid is not to be pitied who has a cure up his sleeve. And such is the advantage I receive from books.
“They relieve me from idleness, rescue me from company I dislike, and blunt the edge of my grief, it if is not too extreme. They are the comfort and solitude of my old age. When I am attacked by gloomy thoughts, nothing helps me so much as the running to my books. They quickly absorb me and banish the clouds from my mind. And they don’t rebel because I use them only for lack of partimes more natural and alive. They always receive me with welcome.” ~Montaigne
“Let me read with method, and purpose to ourselves an end to what our studies may point. The use of reading is to aid us in thinking.” ~Edward Gibbon
“Books are to be called for and supplied on the assumption that the process of reading is not a half-sleep; but in the highest sense an exercise, a gymnastic struggle; that the reader is to do something for himself.” ~Walt Whitman
“How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book. The book exists for us perchance which will explain our miracles and reveal new ones. The at present unutterable things we may find somewhere uttered. These same questions that disturb and puzzle and confound us have in their turn occurred to all the wise men; not one has been omitted; and each has answered them according to his ability, by his word, by his life.” ~Henry David Thoreau
“Book love, my friends, is your pass to the greatest, the purest, and the most perfect pleasure that God has prepared for His creatures. It lasts when all other pleasures fade. It will support you when all other recreations are gone. It will last you until your death. It will make your hours pleasant to you as long as you live.” ~Anthony Trollope
I found all the above quotes on the back of a book copyrighted in 1959, To Appomattox: Nine April Days. There was no information about the book at hand, just inspiring reading quotes from great writers.
In addition, I’ve been reading Nancie Atwell’s The Reading Zone: How to Help Kids Become Skilled, Passionate, Habitual, Critical Readers, and I keep running across quotes I want to remember:
The goal is “to read for pleasure, but not for idleness; for pastime but not to kill time; to seek, and find, delight and enlargement of life in books.” ~Robertson Davies
In reading workshop, the delights are intrinsic, always: This week I got to experience a whole world with characters I loved; inside me I traveled, wondered, worried, laughed, cried, raged, triumphed. The passions aroused by stories and characters are the prize. ~Nancie Atwell
Frequent, voluminous, happy experiences with books — preferably in a room that’s filled with good ones and in the company of a teacher who knows how to invite and sustain a love of stories — are the way to teach and learn reading for a lifetime. ~Nancie Atwell
“The vicarious experience of reading can shape our essence, change us, just as firsthand experience can.” ~Sydney Jourard
The Reader’s Bill of Rights
~Daniel Pennac
This afternoon I decided to claim my rights as a reader and I did a little skipping and browsing of the rest of The Reading Zone. I was disappointed in Chapter 5 on Comprehension. She argued against what’s been written on reading comprehension since Pearson’s research in 1985. That would include some of my favorite writers — who write primarily about using the comprehension strategies good readers use — Ellin Keene, Susan Zimmerman, Cris Tovani, and Stephanie Harvey. The strategies from Mosaic of Thought have made it into the Iowa Core–one of just two additions Iowa added to the Common Core Standards.
Nancie talked about connections with self, text, and world mostly in the negative sense, about the “irrelevant bumps” that come in to disturb the reading zone. Certainly there are some of those, but good readers know when their understanding breaks down, and they have fix-up strategies for getting back in the zone.
It’s true that strategy instruction is only important for a certain population of readers–the ones with decoding skills but aren’t using comprehension strategies. Proficient readers don’t need to be taught the skills because they already have them. That’s why her students rebelled at the sticky notes she required them all to write.
Overall, however, I gleaned many good ideas from The Reading Zone. I’m going to make some fairly radical changes in my language arts curriculum next year. More choice. Less quizzes, tests, and book projects. More reading homework and accountability. I believe my classes will be more relevant and rigorous than they’ve been in the past. Atwell’s book has some great resources–a list of openers to help students write their letter/essays in response to books, a list of questions to ask students during individual conferences, and a great two-page reading survey for the first day. This was a book worth the read/browse.
I’ll report back next year about how it’s going!
June 19, 2012
by Denise Krebs
7 Comments
One of my favorite education quotes is “The teacher is the chief learner in the classroom” by Donald Graves.
I heard a remnant of another quote by him recently, so I was searching for it. It is about encouraging students to bring their obsessions into the classroom. While I didn’t find the source or exact quote, I did run across this — the philosophy of education by Mrs. Wilson, primary teacher at Minds in Motion Academy in Ohio, and couldn’t leave it without sharing it. She said it exactly like I believe it!
PHILOSOPHY
If we are truly to build on children’s natural creative abilities, we need to create a classroom of the possible in our program….a classroom where it is possible for children to explore their obsessions, take risks in their thinking and apprentice themselves to many other learners; a classroom where there is a shift in the focus of control from teacher to student, where students take more responsibility for the problems they chose to solve; a classroom where it is possible for children to create personal inventories of their knowledge and their stories.where they aren’t expected to check their cultures at the door; a classroom where there is time for students to be the learners that they are born to be, and where we as teachers appreciate and delight in the extraordinary creative abilities of each child.
Beautifully said, Mrs. Wilson! I want to go to your school!
Now I’m still looking for that obsession quote by Donald Graves. I need to read some of his work!
May 20, 2012
by Denise Krebs
7 Comments
Class of 2012
At one of the parties I got to tour a student’s barn.
I have been reading personal experience narratives about that barn over the years, so it was fun to visit it.
I loved the light shining in.
The Barn Full of Stories
The Wall of Fame
Circle of Light
And bonus! I got to meet my namesake, which is a young goat. Miss K is raising three goats for 4-H. They are named Snap, Crackle Krebs, and Pop.
Crackle Krebs
Miss K with Crackle
I love living in Iowa!
I took lots of pictures at the barn today and Miss K said, “Now, you are probably going to write a blog post, right?”
Right! Thanks, K, for inspiring me to do so!
April 6, 2012
by Denise Krebs
11 Comments
I’m a pretty good cook. People say so, anyway.
Do I have a natural aptitude for cooking? Maybe. Did I have good teachers? Perhaps. But, most of all, I was allowed to be curious and learn from my mistakes.
Like the time in junior high when our little kitchen group in cooking class turned up the oven to 450°F degrees to hurry the banana bread along. Earlier, when Mrs. Gies had told us we would have to bake it one day, and eat it the next day, we thought she was wrong. I suppose we were disappointed and suspicious enough to go against her directives. We cranked up the oven (Marlene was the instigator), and the bread raised and browned. It was a beautiful, perfect banana bread, beckoning us to eat it. Ha, we said to our teacher (under our breaths, of course). She was so cautious, and for nothing.
We set the table, poured the drinks, and placed our beautiful banana bread in the center of the table. We knew we were the envy of all the other expectant cooks in the surrounding seventh grade foods class kitchens.
However, when we sliced it, the raw goo, along with any vestige of our cooking cockiness, ran out onto the cutting board. I don’t believe Mrs. Gies “punished” us for going against her instructions. She was a wise woman who knew we learned more from our ruined banana bread than any scolding she could give us.
Another learning experience came the first time I tried to make a favorite family recipe. It was a disaster. The recipe was called Hamburger Pie. I missed a key instruction: brown the hamburger. Yes, I used raw hamburger in this recipe, and it was inedible when it finished baking. Because my older sister patiently explained to me what went wrong and helped me recook the filling so the ingredients weren’t wasted, I was able to learn from my mistakes.
I could go on and on about the mistakes I’ve made in the kitchen–uncleaned shrimp, egg whites that don’t whip in a blender, etc. etc. I am quite sure I have learned more from my mistakes than my successes.
I need to remember this in the classroom. I believe in student-centered learning, lifelong learning, student choice. I believe in STEM education, genius hour, and everything that would say YES to letting students be curious, get dirty, and make mistakes. I have to remember how powerful this kind of learning is.
I hope you are giving your students room to make mistakes!
January 15, 2012
by Denise Krebs
13 Comments
In my driveway before the drive began
The roads were 100% snow covered in some areas, and I had precious cargo in the van with me–students on the way to a quiz bowl meet. There were dozens of photographs jumping out to be taken, but I had precious cargo and I couldn’t stop–we would have been late and there were several cars in the ditches.
Since June, I have been taking many more photographs. Most of them with my point-and-shoot camera, and I am no expert. However, I have gone from the one who didn’t have a camera, or if I did, the batteries were dead to one who is always prepared and on the lookout for photos.
Last summer I received a tweet from Sheri Edwards inviting me to participate in the June, July, and August Project (#JJAProject) which was started by some fellow teachers. After that was over, a few of us continued with the Teachers’ Foto Friday (#TFotoFri) once a week group. Now, about 20 teachers and I are attempting the #T365Project, a picture a day in 2012.
But back to my snowy road trip. This was the first snowy day of the year and only the second of the whole winter! I was so taken with all the beauty, finding photographs everywhere I looked — from the quick sparks and snowy powder shooting up from the blade of the heavy snow plow in front of me to the gentle, intricate flakes falling and melting onto the warm windscreen of the van.
Today, instead of taking the pictures, I could only talk to myself about them.
Some more photos I missed…
After a long day, we turned around and retraced our steps, the snow mostly gone after a sunny winter day. However, the images continued to come.
Without my camera, I discovered that my year-long photography adventure is making me a better observer, a better describer, and a better writer. As a literacy teacher, I couldn’t help but wonder if taking photos would have the same effect on students’ writing. What do you think?
One of the photos I took after I arrived at our destination.
January 8, 2012
by Denise Krebs
13 Comments
Today would have been my mom’s 90th birthday. I have been thinking about her so much lately. I miss her a lot. She was loving, fun, and selfless.
Clockwise from upper left, 1988, 1949, 2006, today
jalapeño sweats
i
I’d never seen my Grandma grey and worn.
This shrunken woman in the hospice bed
cannot be my grandma. My grandma lives alone
in Yucca Valley, hiking on the dirtroads with muddy furrows that sink like
the laugh lines on her cheeks. She conceals
wispy hair under immaculate wigs. Despite
sore hammer toes she works her sky-high heels.That day I hiked the furrowed roads alone,
adrift amidst waxy Creosote.
Stringy jackrabbits, baby quail gambol,
flitting through dry gulches like rowboats.Somehow I didn’t want to be inside
Spring Break two thousand ten, when Grandma died.ii
Spring Break two thousand ten, when Grandma died,
I arrived in time for bon voyage,
the convalescent odors scattered by
tamales, Spanish rice, tortillas, guac,and Grandma, a bit tipsy on boxed wine.
One last boisterous fiesta while the Reeds
were still a family, whole and feeling fine.
The jalapeño sweat displaced the needsthat lay beneath the cornered hospice sheets.
The jalapeños were what got to me,
the smiles against those hospice whites.
The laugh of one you love is therapywith nebulizer and glass of sweet rosé.
I’d never seen my grandma worn and grey.By Maria Krebs
And one I wrote after she died.
Close to Me
