Book Review: Zac and Mia by A.J. Betts

Book Review:  Zac and Mia by A.J. Betts

Summary from Goodreads:

"When I was little I believed in Jesus and Santa, spontaneous combustion, and the Loch Ness monster. Now I believe in science, statistics, and antibiotics."

So says seventeen-year-old Zac Meier during a long, grueling leukemia treatment in Perth, Australia. A loud blast of Lady Gaga alerts him to the presence of Mia, the angry, not-at-all-stoic cancer patient in the room next door. Once released, the two near-strangers can’t forget each other, even as they desperately try to resume normal lives. The story of their mysterious connection drives this unflinchingly tough, tender novel told in two voices.

Winner of the 2012 Australian Text Prize. 

My Thoughts: 

I think I was one of the few who liked Zac & Mia better than The Fault in our Stars.  A.J. Betts writes in a way that makes the characters very realistic.  Mia is selfish and refuses to let those closest to her know that she has cancer.  She is angry and doesn't handle her cancer well - the loss of hair and her loss of part of her leg.  She complains and pushes everyone away, including Zac. This doesn't make her likable, but it does make her real.  

Zac, on the other hand, is sweet and caring and has his heart in the right place.  He deals with his cancer in an almost light-hearted way.  He made this book special and why I kept reading. 

 Zac & Mia takes a thought-provoking look at friendship and overcoming the odds of this deadly disease.  Well worth it!

Let It Go: Using Reading and Writing Workshop To Develop Reading and Writing LOVE

If you want to try Reading/Writing Workshop in a high school, consider this advice...

Two weeks ago my colleagues and I presented at the Illinois Reading Conference. Our focus - how we have started to change the culture of reading in our school by using reading/writing workshop. The highlight of the whole presentation was the advice that my colleagues gave to the attendees.  As teachers we all know that the hardest part of a reading and writing workshop is not reading how others do it, but instead actually implementing it with our own students.    

Here were my favorite "Must Do's" from our presentation:

#1 - Set aside 10-15 minutes everyday for independent reading.  By giving students time, we are acknowledging that we believe reading choice is important and we care about them growing as readers in our classes.  Our students now cherish this time in class.  They are actually reading and many times grumble when the timer goes off and we have to move on to the lesson.

#2 - Book Talk everyday.  The more we share books with students, the better our chances of helping them find one that they will read.  The best recommendation I learned from Penny Kittle is to hold the book, know the book, and share a passage with the students.  Every time I read a page or two of my favorite parts, it increases the likelihood of that book being checked out. We also do Teacher Book Talk Tuesdays where we switch up rooms and book talk in a fellow English teacher's classroom for the first 5-10 minutes.  Kids love hearing what other teachers recommend.  Book trailers are also a hit for hooking students into books.

#3 - Conference with your students.  To motivate our students to read more, we have to get to know them individually - their likes, dislikes, etc.  Our teachers conference with students any free minute that they have (before class, during reading, during writing, homeroom, after school, during sports practice, etc.) These conferences help us know what to book talk in your classes and can help you stretch a student to a more challenging text.

My colleague's electronic log

#4 - Hold your students accountable. Have your students fill out a reading rate log and a to-read list.  Our students set weekly page goals based on their reading rates.  As they become better readers, their reading rates increase and they are expected to read more.   We do give them a "stamina grade" each week.  If they are meeting or exceeding their reading rate goal they receive full points.  

An example of a to-read list

How to find your reading rate

       








#5 - Have your students reflect on their reading growth.  At the end of each term our students write a reflection.  All of our reflection prompts come directly from Penny Kittle, Kelly Gallagher, and Teri Lesesne's books.  This writing gives us an opportunity to help our students set goals and evaluate how they are doing in class.  This is the most powerful writing I have seen from students. When I read these, I always make sure to have a tissue box nearby.

An example reflection prompt from last spring

I can honestly say that we are changing the reading culture of our school one student at a time.  It definitely isn't easy and in the beginning, students will push back.  But, don't give up. You will see a change too.

Let It Go: Using Reading and Writing Workshop To Develop Reading and Writing LOVE

Over a week ago I had the priviledge of presenting at the Illinois Reading Conference with three of my colleagues and my department chair on how in little over a year we have started a massive culture change in our school when it comes to reading. Thinking back to that day, I don't think any of us thought that we would have over fifty people attend our presentation.  There were plenty of other amazing presentations going on at the same time as ours so to see our room packed made me realize even more that what we are doing needs to be shared! Building an English classroom around reading and writing workshop is not a new concept at the elementary and middle school level, but is definitely not as popular among high school classrooms.

As a former elementary teacher and reading specialist, this is all I have known throughout my career. I have read everything by Nancie Atwell, Donalyn Miller, Linda Rief, Donald Graves, etc. When I tried to share these stories with my colleagues, many told me that high school is "different" and we couldn't do that because we are preparing our students for college.  Then Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle showed up in my life.  After reading all of their books AND attending their workshops, I knew that this could be done in a high school English classroom.  I just needed a few teachers willing to take the plunge.

Here is some advice on how to get started:

#1 - Read the research and books by all of the authors above and then get the support of your department chair.  Without her support, there was no way that the teachers I work with would have ever felt comfortable taking this risk.

#2 - Convince your department chair to do a summer reading book club with Readicide by Kelly Gallagher.  It is short enough and will get teachers to start thinking about their practices.  We started there and teachers implemented a few of his ideas throughout the next school year.  The teachers who really believed in Kelly Gallagher's work asked for his other books - Deeper Reading, Write Like This, and In the Best Interest of Students.


#3 - Hand Penny Kittle's book, Book Love, to those jumpers in your department who are tired of their students "fake reading" and "spark noting" everything.  I gave a short presentation about her work at an end of the year department meeting.  That summer I had one teacher buy her book and completely change the format his classroom.  He was the "lone nut" (If you haven't seen the First Follower You Tube video - you must if you are wanting to implement change.) and jumped in head first.  But once he was in, others followed.

The change in his approach

If we can do this at our school, you can too!  In an upcoming post, I will share the best advice our teachers have for making this successful.