A Rookie's Book Sale Survivor Guide - How to Get the Best Haul Without Going Over Budget!

In my previous "How to Keep Your Classroom Library Fresh" post, I mentioned that library book sales are the one of the best and most economical ways to purchase books for your students to read in your classroom library. So far, March is shaping up to be Book Sale Madness Month! I have already been to two this week and have another two lined up for this upcoming week. At this point I have been to quite a few library book sales in my life, and I have seen some things! You would be surprised how intense, hostile, and

Children's Only Sales are the best to build your classroom library!

downright cutthroat it can be! Hostile? Intense? Cutthroat? Yup - you read that right. While you might think a library would be the last place you would find this type of environment, you're wrong! It can be as bad as fighting for the last shoe in your size, 80% off, at a sample sale at a designer store. People get crazy! And if you're new to the library book sale game, it can be a bit overwhelming. In this post, I will discuss some tips and strategies to help you navigate your local library book sales to keep you stress free, get the best books for your students, and avoid overspending!


Tip #1 - Make sure you have all the basic information about the sale. On the first day of many sales, it is "Preview Day." On these days, the sale is for "Friends of the Library" members only OR they require you to pay a fee to enter the sale and make a purchase. In the past, I have made the mistake of not reading the fine print and attending the sale on a preview day. I spent about an hour perusing the sale, selecting books, only to find out to purchase them I would have to pay an additional ten dollars for attending on the preview day. I ended up leaving the books I spent so long searching for, because to me the whole point is to get the books at the best price. Therefore, paying an extra ten dollars just wasn't something I was willing to do because I knew how many more books I could get for that ten dollars, if I just came back the next day. To avoid wasting your time, make sure you are attending on the public sale day, unless you are willing to spend more of your money to have first pick

1st one online, at a 9am Saturday sale!

Tip #2 - This tip relates back to knowing the basic information of the sale. If the sale is in a town that I know has a strong socioeconomic background, I always try to attend on the first day it is open to the public. People who frequent library book sales know which towns receive the best books, and they will be there, waiting online to get into the sale before it even opens. Today I arrived at 8:30 a.m. to the library so I could get online to enter the book sale when it opened at 9:00 a.m. I was actually the first person there! While when I arrived it was a ghost town, within ten minutes there was a full line of people down the sidewalk, waiting to get in. You want to get there early, so you can actually get a chance to get to the books. With so many people rushing in at the sale, if you are at the back of the line it's difficult to get to the books you want to look at and many of the titles you want, might be gone before you can get to them. Also, while knowing the 1st day of the public sale is important, knowing the last day can be just as, if not more important to growing your library. Almost always, on the last day of the sale, it is "bag day." A bag is provided to you from the library and however many books you can fit into it are yours for one flat rate. In certain towns, I attend on the first and the last day so I can have my first choice of books and get a bargain on those that I may have not saw at first in the craze of the 1st day of the sale.

A view of a "mild" crowd, after the initial rush. Shows the importance of arriving early!

Tip # 3- Beware the book buyers! While teachers like myself are among these book sale crazies, book buyers along with their scanners also line up to grab all the best titles first. To me, book buyers are the worst people to deal with at a book sale. I realize they are trying to supplement their income, but often times they are obnoxious, at least in my experience. They scan every book they can grab (I even have had one try to scan books I had already put in my bag!) taking all of the books that have the highest resale value, which often are the newest titles that my students want to read. I'd much rather battle over a novel with another teacher than a book buyer any day, because at least I know the teacher's motivation is the same as mine - to get the best books for her students. Book buyers are just looking to put more money in their pocket and they do so by taking books out of my students hands! GRRR! At least, that's how I see it. Some sales don't allow people with scanners, but for those who do, keep a look out for these book buyers and their tricky tactics.

How most books are organized at sales. You have to have a good eye!

 Tip #4 - Know what you're looking for, before you walk in the door. This doesn't mean that you have to know every single title that you will buy before walking into the sale - far from it. If this were the case then I would never be open to some of the new, amazing titles I have discovered at sales. When I say know what you are looking for, this could include certain titles, but it could also mean particular genres or books at particular reading levels. For example, today I had no specific titles in mind when I went to the sale, but I knew that I would only purchase books which would complete or add to an existing series I had, were recent bestsellers that my students would be eager to pick up, or were new titles in the sports or romance genre, which I need to add to in my existing library, as these are both popular genres with my students. If I didn't go into the sale with this game plan, I would probably be overwhelmed. There are boxes, upon boxes of books at these sales, with titles that usually are in no particular order or category. If I didn't have specific things in mind while I scoured through the boxes, it would be difficult to find anything.Also, if you don't have anything in mind about what you are looking for, you might end up buying way too many books. A game plan will definitely help save you money! While it's tempting to shove as many books as you can into your bag because they are so cheap, it adds up quickly. Being more selective also pays off in the end when you bring the books back to your classroom, because it means you have purchased books with your students likes, needs, and interests in mind.

Final selections. Note the recently released hardcovers!

Tip #5 - Take a break while you're at the sale to sort through what you've picked up, weed out titles that you don't need, and go back in to look for more with a fresh perspective. While you're looking through boxes, especially if it is crowded and there are people all around you, you really don't feel as if you can take your time to peruse through the books. I usually toss into my bag whatever looks interesting and I think my students might like. When my bag is full, I find an empty corner of the room to go through, prioritize, and sort. Then I go back in and look again. I almost always find a book I missed when I go back through the boxes. Then I sort through one last time before I check out. Not doing this can be dangerous for your wallet. Some things to consider when you are prioritizing your book selections: 1) Do I already own a copy of this title? If so, is the book popular? Would another copy of this title be read by my students, or is one sufficient? 2) Is this book really going to appeal to my students? Is it a title or a genre that they have been asking for or that I know they read? 3) Is the reading level right? Is it too high for my students or is it too low? Asking yourself these questions will help you avoid overbuying.

More final choices after a 2nd sort 

Line up hardcovers at the bottom of the bag

Tip #6 - Effectively pack your bag, especially at a bag sales! When you are at a bag sale the whole point is to get as many books as possible in to the bag. To do this, you have to pack your bag the right way. Bags are usually provided at the bag sales, and are most often paper grocery bags. If you're not careful with how you pack the bag, not only will you not be able to fit enough into it, it will also be likely to rip. It's happened to me before! When you are off to the side sorting through your books is the best time to repack your bag. The best ways I've found is to avoid the bad breaking and to get the most books in is to put all of the hardcover books, which are significantly heavier on the bottom, instead of stacking them on top of one another. The bag is much more stable and able to fit more if you line them up against their spines, the way they would be displayed if you had them in a book shelf. After you build this "base" for the bottom of your bag, it will set a solid shape for the bag and you'll be able to get much more inside of it. At a sale today, I had two people compliment me on my bag packing skills - my response to them was "It's not my first rodeo!" It's even better if you are allowed bring your own bag. If this is the case, I bring a large IKEA bag, or I bring reusable grocery bags. They are much more durable and tend to be easier to carry because you can sling them over your shoulder, if needed.

End Result - Over 50 books packed into one bag!

Tip #7 - Scour the adult section of the sale for misplaced YA books. This is my number one secret to obtaining good titles. If you stick just to the young adults and children's section of the sale, you will miss out. The people who sort the books for these sales are largely volunteers, who are trying to work as quickly and efficiently as they can. I have also found that they tend to be senior citizens, who might not be as knowledgeable about which titles are young adult, unless the cover blatantly appears to be for younger readers. At the sale I attended today, I was able to fill up an entire bag of young adult books (and quite good titles, might I add!) by looking through the adult section of the sale. Also, there are some adult titles that your students might want to read. For example, many of my female students love Nicholas Spark and Jodi Piccoult books. I've also had quite a few male students embrace the Kite Runner and Into the Darkness as new favorites. The adult section is also a great place to find biographies and other non fiction books on sports figures. This is where I obtained copies of Friday Night Lights, The Blind Side, and Beckham. Stephen King books are also popular among my students.

Tip #8 - Leave your jacket and your purse in your car. Book sales usually take place in the library basements, and these locations are almost always warm. Add to that a jacket, and the body heat from the crowd and you will soon be overheated. It can also be cumbersome to carry around your purse and a jacket while kneeling down and looking through boxes and carrying a heavy bag full of books. These items can quickly gets in the way, especially in an overcrowded room. Save yourself the heat stroke and give yourself more dexterity and mobility by leaving them in your car.

My co-worker and I after a successful book haul!

Tip #9 - Bring a friend! Many books sales can be as intense as a Black Friday Sale at a department store. You might need someone with you to look out for certain titles for you (and grab them if they see them!) as well as help each other block out some space so can get to look at the books you want to. When I go to sales, I usually arrange the outing with my co-worker. The great thing about going together is that she teaches 6th grade, while I teach 8th grade. This means that we are usually looking for very different types of books (it would be a little counterproductive of us to go together if we were going to fight over the same titles). Sometimes we tell each other certain titles to look out for, other times we ask each other to look for books in particular genres. Going with a friend increases your ability to find what you are looking, provides you with a voice of reason if you are overspending, and most of all moral support during the chaos of the initial rush of the sale. But most importantly, when you are done shopping, you have someone to take a book sale selfie with ;)

Socratic Seminar Showdown! Engage Your Students in Discussion

Socratic Seminar Resources to use for any discussion

 At one point or another, every teacher has written in their lesson plans "Students will engage in a discussion on (insert topic of lesson here)." But what really happens when you have a whole class discussion?

In most classrooms this is what a "whole class" discussion looks like: You, as the teacher, pose some thought provoking questions to the class. A few students raise their hands (usually the ones who always have their hands up anytime you ask a question) and offer their response. And while you might occasionally call on a student who doesn't have his or her hand up, by the end of the "whole class" discussion, you have only actively engaged a handful of your class in the conversation. The majority of the class is usually left passive, despite your best efforts to include as many students as possible. The other issue with traditional "whole class" discussions is that you, as the teacher, are doing the most work because you are leading the discussion, generating the questions, and are keeping it going. Why not put the onus back on your students and allow them to take charge of the conversation?

Socratic Seminar is an excellent way to accomplish this. This activity allows all of your students to participate in the class discussion, whether they happen to be speaking or not! It also addresses the Common Core Speaking and Listening Standards, which sometimes fall to the wayside when there is such a focus on reading comprehension and writing to help students meet the expectations of state tests.

If you're unfamiliar with Socratic Seminar, here's how it works:

• Pick a topic you want your students to discuss, based on what you're teaching
• Assign your students material to read, based on the topic
• It could be a chapter in a novel, a chapter in a text book, or an article
• In my class, I usually assign students a packet of multiple sources, so they have more to discuss
• You can also give students a variety of different types of sources to make for a more interesting conversation
• For example: When I do Socratic Seminar for Fahrenheit 451, I have students read a selection of pages from the novel and assign them various non fiction articles to read to assess whether or not Bradbury was prophetic in his visions of the future. This allows them to make connections between fiction and nonfiction resources.
•  Tell your students to annotate the source or to take notes. They should be encouraged to write down any questions, make connections, and highlight important quotes that they can use to support their opinions in a discussion
• If it is your students' first time doing this activity, you might want to give them a few questions to focus on, so they have a starting point for their conversation
• The next day, arrange the desks in your room into two circles - a small circle of 4-6 chairs in the middle of the room (depending on how many students you want to participate in the conversation at a time) and a larger circle with the rest of the desks in the room that surrounds the inner circle
• Before the conversation begins, I usually review the focus or the topic of the conversation with my students, as well as go over appropriate conversation behaviors that I want to see in the circle, and negative ones I want them to avoid
• Assign 4-6 students to be the first to go in the inner circle or take any students willing to volunteer as tribute!
• Be sure to tell the chosen ones for the inner circle that the rest of their classmates will not be spared! When I do Socratic Seminar, I make sure EVERYONE goes in the inner circle, so everyone in the class will have an opportunity to take part in the discussion
•  Set a timer (I usually give students about ten minutes) and write some focus questions on the board to help the students get back on track if there is a lull in the conversation
• Sit back, and watch the conversation unfold - completely generated by your students!

Outer Circle Overview

What does everyone else in the class do do while your 4-6 students are having a conversation? They listen, of course! How do you know if they're listening? You have to give them something to do and hold them accountable, otherwise, as teenagers tend to do, they will tune out. While the inner circle is having the conversation, the outer circle has to fill out an overview worksheet of the conversation. This worksheet requires them to critique the conversation behaviors of the whole group by noting conversational strengths and weaknesses, and also select an individual in the group to give feedback to. Additionally, students can record their own thoughts, comments, and questions that they would have said if they were a member of the inner circle. I also ask students to evaluate the most important topic the group discussed and list any important topics that they may have not discussed in the time allotted. After the inner circle is done, I also usually go around the outer circle and ask each student to give the inner circle feedback.

Rubric for Outer Circle

This way, EVERY single student participates in the discussion! You will be surprised how adept students are on picking out important topics or connections. Every time I do Socratic Seminar, I am pleasantly surprised with an insight a student has about a novel or a topic that I never even thought of. Some of those insights that the students had, have even turned into inspirations for lessons for me! However, if you feel an important topic is missed, you can either address it with the whole class to engage the students in further discussion or see if any students in the outer circle mention the topic that was left unaddressed in their outer circle overview card .

After one group is done and they have received feedback from the outer circle, I have the inner circle complete a worksheet reflecting on the conversation they just had. Then we switch, and new students go in the inner circle until everyone has had a chance.

In regard to assessment, I use rubrics to assess the responses students give on their outer circle overview worksheet and a  separate rubric to assess the participation of the students in the inner circle. I keep track of the the participation of the inner circle by using an observation recording sheet.


You might be thinking that some of your students are so shy that this could end up being a disaster. While the first few times the conversations can be a little awkward, especially with shy students, eventually they get the hang of it. Students are also motivated to participate when they know their grade for the day is going to be tied to their participation in the discussion.

Coupons for Socratic Seminar Winners

However, another way I have found to motivate the students to fully engage in the discussion is through a little healthy competition! Students love competition, they love games, and they definitely love prizes. I turn Socratic Seminar into a game by assigning students in the inner circle points for displaying positive conversation habits and using textual evidence to support their claims. At the end of the discussion, I tally up the points and declare a winner! The winner of Socratic Seminar earns a coupon from me for either a homework pass, 5 points on a quiz, 5 points on a test, or the ability to hand in an essay late without penalty. But you can make your prizes for whatever you feel will best motivate your students.

In the end, when you use Socratic Seminar you are engaging your students in a completely student centered and student generated activity, that requires them all to use high order thinking skills and participate.

If you would like to use Socratic Seminar in your classroom and are looking for resources, please check out my Socratic Seminar Made Easy product for all of the materials featured and listed in this post.

Keeping Your Classroom Library Fresh!

I am a lover of books, a bibliophile, a bookworm extraordinaire. Books make me happy. Books give me an escape. Books are a central part of my life.

It wasn't always like this for me. As a child, I was never read to. I went to elementary school with no knowledge of how to read and the wonders that books held. Words alluded me, until one day - they didn't. It all clicked. From then on, I couldn't get enough. I devoured them by the dozens, eating the words, drinking in the air of other worlds, times, and places.

My love of literature is the main reason I chose to be an English teacher and one of the biggest joys I have in teaching is getting students to fall in love with books. To me, the best way to achieve this is to show my students how important books are to me. One of the ways I try to share my love of books with my students is by having an extensive classroom library. My classroom is relatively small compared to others in my building, yet it holds 30 books shelves and over 1,700 titles! They literally surround my students when they are in my class, the perimeter of the entire room lined with shelves holding books of all genres, waiting to be read.

Corner view of the wall of shelves

Despite the vast number of books I have amassed, it never seems to be enough. I am always looking for new titles to add to the library, keeping myself up to date with the latest young adult books, and of course, asking my students for titles they would like to read.

Books alphabetized by title and separated by genre

But let's be real here - books are expensive. I would have to earn a lot more than a teacher's salary to have been able to get so many books into my room if I purchased every single one through Barnes and Nobles. So how did I manage to get some many?

My back wall of shelving

If you are looking to expand your classroom library on a teacher's budget, there's several avenues you can take.

1.  Library Sales - this is the main way I have managed to amass so many titles. Booksalefinder.com is an amazing website that allows you to see all of the library sales that are happening in your state. I regularly scour this website, marking down the dates of sales in my area. Depending on the library, books are priced for as little as .25 cents to $2.00! Most sales are over the course of a week or several days, and usually on the last day the libraries host a bag sale. During bag sales, you pay one price for a bag and whatever you manage to fit in the bag is yours! I have been to bag sales that sell bags for as little as $1.00 but can range usually up to $10.00. Despite the overall price you pay for the bag, you'd be surprised at how much you can fit in the bag, so either way it is a bargain. On top of the already discounted price of books at library sale, I have been to several sales where they also offer teacher discounts. If you're really looking to expand your library the most, the quickest, and the cheapest - library book sales are your best bet!
2.  Student Donations - Sometimes certain books just don't click with students, so they aren't attached to them. I always tell my students that I am open to accept any donations of books they no longer want (so long as it's OK with their parents). You could go one step beyond and send a letter home asking for donations to parents. Finally, lurk and be on the lookout during locker clean-out. My school does locker clean out at least twice a year. I am usually walking up and down the halls with a crate, taking donations of any unused school supplies that student's don't want, but inevitably I also manage to get at least three novels each time my students purge the black hole of their lockers. I have even had students that I don't even teach bring me books they don't want during locker clean out!
3. BookCase.Club - This is my latest discovery, and so far I haven't been disappointed. Do you love getting packages in the mail? Do you love surprises? Do you love books? Then this is an avenue you need to look into! BookCase.Club is a monthly subscription box of books! What could be better? This is my third month receiving the box and so far I love it. The website allows you to choose a genre that fits your reading interest. They have a "Teenage Dreams" case which focuses solely on Young Adult books, perfect for my middle school students, but also great for high schoolers. Each month I look forward to "unboxing" and sharing the newest additions to the library with the students. This service has given me the opportunity to share the excitement of a monthly book surprise with my students and give a book talk about our newest reads. By far, this subscription box has the best price with only $9.99 a month for two books (usually both hardcover). So far I haven't had one book that was a duplicate of something I already own in my classroom library. I have found that this is a great way to monthly add to, refresh, and share my love of books with my students. Below you will see the last three boxes I have received in January, February, and March (today!)

January's Box

February's Box

March's Box

The moral of the story is, if we want our students to be readers and if we want to build a community of reading, we need to show our students that books are something that is important to us. My library is something I am proud of and the best way I show my students how much books and reading are important to me. Check back late for future posts about the best ways I have found to organize my library. Happy reading until then!

Test Prep Without Teaching to the Test - Narrative Writing Task

March is upon us and usually this is the time of the year when teachers start to feel the test prep pressure. Administrators may as well be Paul Revere with their constant reminders of, "The PARCC is COMING! The PARCC is COMING!" And while we all know the redcoats...er...state test.. is upon us, there's usually nothing a teacher hates more than to stop everything and just start teaching to the test.  Yet despite how much we loathe this, most of us are guilty of doing it at one time or another. I know I am - guilty as charged! In my first few years teaching, I definitely felt the pressure to stop everything and just teach straight to the test.

The problem with this is not only did I hate doing it, my students hated it too. Just the mention of the word PARCC and my students roll their eyes and start to groan. So I have decided this year to save both myself and my students the torment of straight up teaching to the test.

To accomplish this, I needed to find ways to embed the skills, tasks, and activities they will be expected to complete on the PARCC in my daily instruction. While this might seem a daunting task, it's not as out of reach as you might think.

Most English teachers have novels that they love, and I am no exception. I am fortunate enough to be able to teach many wonderful novels that never seem to get old. Currently, I am teaching Fahrenheit 451, written by one of my all time favorite authors - the late, great, Ray Bradbury. If you've never had the pleasure of reading one of Mr. Bradbury's stories, you must remedy that as soon as possible by picking up one of his novels!

Bradbury's stories are AMAZING to teach with middle school students. His science fiction, dystopian tales capture their interest like no other author I have encountered thus far in my career. One of the things that makes Bradbury's writing so amazing his prolific use of figurative language. He can paint murals across buildings with his words.
 
How does this translate into PARCC prep? Well, one of the tasks my students will be expected to perform on the PARCC is writing a narrative essay. Their narrative will be based on a passage that they will be given. In order to do well, my students will have to either continue the story they were given or re-write that story from another point of view. They will also be required to imitate the author's style of that particular passage.

What better text to teach them how to imitate author's style than Fahrenheit 451?  Bradbury's writing is full of imagery, metaphors, similes, and personification with lines like: “It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history. With his symbolic helmet numbered 451 on his stolid head, and his eyes all orange flame with the thought of what came next, he flicked the igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky red and yellow and black. He strode in a swarm of fireflies. He wanted above all, like the old joke, to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the furnace, while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house. While the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning”(Bradbury 1). 
 
So throughout the course of our reading I ask my students to write narratives based on their sections of reading of Fahrenheit 451.  This allows me to accomplish quite a few things aside from just test prep. While obviously, it is introducing my students to the types of prompts they will be exposed to on the test, it affords me the opportunity to teach them so much more. I get the chance to reintroduce plot structure to my students by having them outline their own stories using the basic plot conventions of an exposition, rising actions, climax, falling actions, and resolution. It also addresses the plot device of point of view and allows them to see how a story' perspective or tone can change through manipulating point of view. It also give us a chance to study the author's use of language and how those literary devices effect the reader and reveal to them insights on both plot and character. And finally, narrative writing gives my students the chance to be creative in their writing, when they are often confined to the formal style of an analytic, argumentative, or research essay.

All of those teaching opportunities, plus test prep and neither myself nor my students feel weighed down with the burden of test prep! Instead we can continue discussion about a text that we are both invested in and no mental drain, panic, or fear at the mention of the infamous PARCC.


In future posts I will share more ways I have incorporated dreaded PARCC Prep into my instruction of novels I love. But for now, if you are currently teaching Fahrenheit 451 and would like to use my narrative lessons please click on the following links:
Narrative Writing in "The Hearth & the Salamander"

Narrative Writing in "The Sieve & the Sand" 

Narrative Writing in "Burning Bright" 

Narrative Writing in Fahrenheit 451 Bundle Product

  

Welcome to Mad Musings of an English Teacher!

Welcome to Mad Musings of an English Teacher! Recently, I have been contemplating creating a blog to write about my experiences teaching 8th grade English and finally decided to take the plunge and start.

Being a teacher is something I truly love. There is nothing better than finding a way to make my students fall in love with a piece of literature, improve their writing, or simply seeing their face change when they have a moment of clarity.

In my short tenure of 5 years as a teacher, I have taught every grade from 6th to 12th, but found my true niche with 8th graders. While some people cringe at the thought of middle school students in general, especially 8th graders, I feel like they are the perfect fit for me. They're old enough to delve into some classic and serious literature, and young enough to really make an impact on.

My goals for this blog are both personal and professional. On a personal level, I want to use this blog as an outlet to write. I have always had a desire to be a writer, but often find myself too busy or caught up in my work to take aside the time. Hopefully, this blog will be a way for me to write more frequently. Professionally, I want to be able to join the community of teacher bloggers to share my ideas, strategies, lessons, and materials with others.
So I welcome all to the mad musings of my English teacher brain. I hope you join me down the rabbit hole...