Classroom Library Tips (with Penny Kittle)

I had the pleasure of speaking with Penny Kittle, who teaches freshman composition at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. She was a teacher and literacy coach in public schools for 34 years, 21 of those spent at Kennett High School in North Conway. She is the co-author of 180 Days with Kelly Gallagher, and is the author of Book Love, and Write Beside Them, which won the James Britton award. She also co-authored two books with her mentor, Don Graves, and co-edited (with Tom Newkirk) a collection of Graves’ work, Children Want to Write. She is the president of the Book Love Foundation and was given the Exemplary Leader Award from NCTE’s Conference on English Leadership. In the summer Penny teaches graduate students at the University of New Hampshire Literacy Institutes.  Throughout the year, she travels across the U.S. and Canada (and once in awhile quite a bit farther) speaking to teachers about empowering students through independence in literacy. She believes in curiosity, engagement, and deep thinking in schools for both students and their teachers. Penny stands on the shoulders of her mentors, the Dons (Murray & Graves), and the Toms (Newkirk & Romano), in her belief that intentional teaching in a reading and writing workshop brings the greatest student investment and learning in a classroom.

In this interview, Penny describes the Book Love application process. You can find the details here. Applications are due by March 15, 2019. Good luck!

Interview Questions

1. What does that look like at the college level compared to the high-school level?
2. How often do you/did you add books to your classroom library?
3. How might teachers find books to add to their collections, especially when the books aren’t in their favorite genres to read?
4. Could you share a favorite story about a student who “challenged the limits” of what you had in your classroom library and how you handled it?
5. What’s the collective impact you’ve seen since the Foundation’s start?

Reflection

Penny’s transparency in working with students has always impressed me. Because of how she builds relationships, students feel like they can be honest with her about their reading lives–or lack thereof. In addition, she uses this transparency in modeling her own reading life, something that comes out clearly in her book talks, where students can sense her enthusiasm for the books she’s read. I’m definitely going to try that speed pass to build classroom community around reading!

Music Credit

Freedom featuring Snowflake by eshar (c) copyright 2010 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.