Links I Loved Last Week: A Round-Up of Online Reading 8/23/15

If you only read one post this week, make it Carrie Gelson’s Sunday reflection about the power of observation. We can learn so much by kidwatching.

The Nerdy Book Club has two wonderful posts about reading choice: Cynthia Lord shared her story about the power of choice and Ryan Hanna argues for “choice over points and prizes”.

Michele Knott wrote one of my favorite posts this week about ways we can be brave in our classrooms.

Alice Keeler has a must-read post about all of the ways that school does not prepare people for the real world. Now, what can we do about it? And also, can we stop pretending that we make kids do these foolish things because it somehow does prepare them for the real world?

Pernille Ripp urges us to stop perpetuating reading myths that simply aren’t true.

Three Teachers Talk is knocking it out of the park lately. Amy has written a really important post about reading and writing workshop: My Classes Are Only 45 Minutes–How Do I Do Workshop? And Shana shares how she’ll do a mini-lesson at the beginning of the year about reading like a writer.

Tara Smith reminds us of the importance of beginning writing workshop with actual writing–a reminder I needed as I was working on lesson plans this past week and trying to cram all kinds of things into my first class.

If you’re looking to increase the picture book section of your classroom library (and of course you are), check out Carrie Gelson’s list of must-buy illustrators. So many good books here!

Diversiverse is coming up in October. It’s so easy to participate: during the first two weeks of October, read and review ONE book written by an author of color.

Nonfiction is the only reading for grown-ups that I consistently love. Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness has a great guide to Six Resources for Finding Great Nonfiction.

Here are 12 good reasons to visit Canada: 12 bookstore kitties!

Herding Chickens has become one of my favorite adoption blogs, and she has a poignant post that really connected with me about Why I Wish We Hadn’t Adopted Our Children.