Sunday, September 6, 2015

DigiLit Sunday - "Stories from the Teaching Life" Podcast Series with Penny Kittle



      I love that Margaret Simon has started a Sunday Link Up for posts about digital literacy at her blog to challenge us to share our technology journeys.
 
Stories from the Teaching Life with Penny Kittle cover
 
     Last week, I blogged about The Yarn with Colby Sharp and Travis Yonker.  This week, I have another wonderful podcast series for you!  Stories from the Teaching Life with Penny Kittle is must-listen!  First of all, if you've ever seen Penny Kittle speak, you know that even the sound of her voice can make you teary (or is that just me?).  She has such a special quality to her stories and messages.  You can hear the passion she has for books, writing, and kids with each breath she takes. 
 
     The first story, "Start Where They Are," is told from Kittle's book, Book Love.  If you haven't read this book yet, remedy it right away!  The second story, "Risk, Voice, and Clarity in Teaching" is the speech she gave for the  National Council of Teachers of English in November, 2009 when her book Write Beside Them was given the James N. Britton Award.  "My First Steelie" is an excerpt from The Greatest Catch: A Life in Teaching.  I loved this teaching memoir in which she told stories of fishing with her dad and related them to working with students.  I loved the fourth episode, "Beyond Courtship,"  from Public Teaching: One Kid at a Time.  While the other stories were familiar to me, I hadn't read or heard this one.  She starts it by telling of a time her husband both delighted and embarrassed her when coming to her classroom one day to serenade her on their anniversary.  The final episode, "Of Froglegs, Crickets, and Superman's Cape," also from Public Teaching: One Kid at a Time, shows how brilliant Penny is in crafting a story, and how the classroom can be surprising, chaotic, and amazing.  If you're a student teacher or are mentoring a student teacher, this one is for you!
 
     Penny has a way of telling the truth, inspiring you, and making you realize how teaching can be the most rewarding and most difficult profession in the world.  Enjoy listening to her voice, her messages, and her call to make each day in the classroom the best one yet.  Just as a little gift before you go, here is Penny Kittle talking about creating lifelong readers...
    

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for alerting me to this series. Thanks for linking up today.

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  2. I heard about this series last week - it's now on my list. Thank you!!
    Are We There Yet?

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