Thank you to the astute María Laura Bargas who informed me that the chapter breakdown I had posted this summer was actually missing some of the chapters in it! The chapter guide of what to read when therefore needs to be modified, so here is the new guide:
Week 5: Chapter 8
Week 6: 9-10 – to the end
Thank you so much for catching this!
On Saturday, a dream of mine came true when I got to see Kevin Henkes as he finished his author tour in support of Waiting, his incredible new picture book. Not only did I get to see him speak about his process as writer, but I also got to thank him for doing anything with the Global Read Aloud. He says he thinks it is incredible to think of all the students that are reading The Year of Billy MIller right now.
So ore than 200 classrooms submitted questions from around the world and boy, it was hard to pick, there were so many good ones. I hope you like the ones I picked and even more, that you like the answers he gave. I know I did.
Question 1
Niyati Best-Paudyal from The Miami Valley School asked, “What part of the writing process do you like the most?”
Answer
Before I begin to write, I think for a long time. I think about my main character and try to envision everything about him/her. For Billy Miller I thought about Billy’s family, his friends, his school life. I thought about where he would live. I thought about how old he would be. I thought about what he would look like. I do all this before I actually write. This is my favorite part of “writing,” because there is so much promise. Anything is possible.
Question 2
Cohen in Mrs. Draper’s Class, from Oshawa,Ontario,Canada asked, “How did you find art in your heart?”
Answer
I think I was born with art in my heart. To find it, I sometimes need to be inspired. It might be a walk in the woods near my house, or a trip to a museum, or reading a book that unlocks the art and allows it to flow.
Question 3
Elaine Blanton’s Grade 2 Class from Calgary, Alberta, Canada asked, “Are any of Billy’s adventures/experiences based on your personal second grade experiences in childhood?”
When I was writing Billy Miller I tried to remember my second grade self, but more than anything Billy’s experiences are based on my son’s and my daughter’s second grade lives. My wife and I volunteered in both our children’s first and second grade classrooms once a week. So I had four years of being with first and second graders on a regular basis. This was the real inspiration for The Year of Billy Miller.
Question 4
Mrs. Trollop’s Team from Wausau, Wisconsin, USA asked; “Was it hard to become a writer? How did you get people to want to buy your books?”
Answer
I loved books when I was a boy, so it seemed natural to me to want to become a writer. I was lucky. When I was 19 years old I traveled to New York City from my home in Wisconsin looking for a publisher. Greenwillow Books offered me a contract for my first book, and I’ve been with the same publisher for 35 years. My publisher markets and promotes and distributes my books for me. My publisher gets people to want to buy my books.
Question 5
Mrs. Bartlein’s Class from Erin, Wisconsin, USA, asked, “What are you hoping others will learn by reading The Year of Billy Miller? What’s your message?”
Answer
I don’t think about what people will learn from my books. I do hope that people will like my stories, that they will be entertained. I don’t try to teach anything. I try to write engaging stories with interesting characters. I try to write good sentences. It’s as simple and difficult as that.
Thank you so much, Mr. Henkes for answering some of our many questions.
When Amy Krouse Rosenthal and I spoke this summer, she asked if she could help dream up events for the project, and as anyone would probably do, I enthusiastically replied, “Yes!” So behold: the first idea she created. Thank you Amy for making this world a better place for all of us.
Join us the week of October 26th – October 30th for GLOBAL RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS
What do you get when you put together Global Read Aloud and Random Acts of Kindness? Global Random Acts of Kindness! For one week, the #GRA15 community all across the globe will set out to brighten someone else’s day, be it classmates, teachers, family, or complete strangers.
Check out Amy’s videos for some inspiration:
What kindness will you spread? Please use the hashtag #GRAK15 to share your ideas and acts!
With almost 200 different classes taking the survey, the results are in…The Global Read Aloud thinks it’s a….
Where did we get responses from?
Many of you have contacted me to ask if you could have a marker placed for your specific location on our official Google Map. Yes, you can. Simply fill out this form and I will get them placed on the map.
I will not place locations not added to this form.
Imagine receiving the following email:
Kevin is so impressed with GRA15 and would love to get involved.
He’s on the final leg of his tour this week and unavailable, but he would be able to answer questions from teachers and students next week. He is not on social media or email, as you know, but might you or someone else involved with GRA put a call out for questions this week that Kevin will answer and then he can answer 5 (or so) of them the week of 10/26
Wahooo!
So between now and this Friday, October 16th, I will be collecting possible questions for Kevin and then send them to him. So this is your chance to have your students ask their most burning question about him or The Year of Billy Miller. Do check and make sure he has not already answered your question on his blog, that will make my choosing the 5 he will answer a little bit easier.
I finally found a way to create a map of all of the participants and the many different countries and states that are represented in the Global Read Aloud this year. I did not do actual towns or schools, so this is only one marker per state or country, otherwise there would be about 9,000 different markers on here. But still, just look at this!
PS: This map is locked, sorry, but that way it will not be deleted again.
The one thing that takes this amazing project to a whole other level is the ability for students to communicate. Do not treat this read aloud like a regular 1980’s novel study. If you are using worksheets, pre-made tests then you are completely dropping the ball. Instead as a teacher, do your homework and make connections. Through platforms like Edmodo, Twitter, Weebly, Kidblogs etc… it has never been easier. Don’t wait for others to do the legwork for you in terms of connecting. You are capable, so start adding teachers and classrooms now.
Once the platforms are in place let your students connect with other kids and teachers around the world, and share information and ideas about the book. Engagement, understanding and enjoyment will never be higher. In other words students will love reading and arriving to class in the morning. Trust me!
Here are frameworks I have set into place so my kids can get the most out of the amazing Global Read Aloud Project:
It is the eve of arguably the most important project you will run in your room this year. Please embrace the opportunities the great Pernille Ripp has afforded us. I hope this post has given you some ideas. I will be reading “Fish In A Tree” as there is zero percent chance I would pass on a Lynda Mullaly Hunt novel. If you have not connected please don’t wait any longer. Write me a comment below or send me a message on Twitter @rondorland and I will add you to my novel contacts. The map above are the connections I made last year, and if you click here you can read a post I wrote last year on just how engaged my class was. Happy reading everyone!
The Global Read Aloud 