I have been doing some assignments to go along with the Boothbay Literacy Retreat in order to earn graduate credits as an independent study toward my doctorate. One of the assignments that I built in as I proposed what I would do for the course was reflections. Last night when I got back from the evening of events, I reflected on the experience this far. I will try to post abbreviated versions of my reflections on the blog. As I started typing I realized that I should narrow it down to one piece of the evening.
Last night Kylene Beers gave us a glimpse into the history of the retreat, now in its third year. She mentioned that her and Robert Probst's vision was to have a retreat, rather than any other style of professional development. They wanted to make sure that it was hosted at a stunning location in the north, so it would not only be beautiful, but it would be cool enough in the summer to spend a lot of time outside. It was also important to end the first night with storytelling. We were in for a treat. Penny Kittle read aloud to us from her books, Public Teaching and The Greatest Catch. In the moment, I was not focusing on anything else but the stories of her life and teaching that were captivating me.
Yet, when I sat down to reflect last night, I realized so much more was happening. Penny Kittle was reaffirming my belief that regardless of the age, we should be reading aloud. Though I advocate reading aloud and read to my students on a daily basis, I had always thought of myself as someone who did not enjoy texts being read aloud. My mind often wanders and then I am not able to flip back to see what I missed. I thought it had to do with the type of learner that I am. However, last night my mind was engaged the whole time. I realized that as an adult, I can enjoy being read aloud to with the right text and the right reader. I thought back to why I enjoyed the experience so much, and thus, Penny's storytelling turned into a mentor for how to read aloud - facial expressions, voice intonation, pausing...
Another layer of learning from this was a mentor as a writer. Penny wrote with incredible voice, and it was fun to actually hear it being read aloud from her so that the voice comes through even stronger. I can imagine her students being enthralled when she is sharing her writing with them as mentors of process. Again, I was thinking about the way she was reading and the effect it had on me and relating it back to looking at my teaching to examine how I can improve when I am sharing my writing with my students.
Finally, it was inspiring. As she was reading, she was making me want to grab for my writer's notebook listing out my own teaching experience stories and what I would tell if I was writing a collection of essays about my teaching experience. Since I went to bed last night right after returning from the session to shower and reflect, I think I will wrap up this post and grab my notebook and feel the wonderful release of thoughts on paper.
(If you want to see a brief post about the weather here, you can see it on my other blog.)
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