I do not have grad school classes this summer, so I will be taking advantage of the time to really work on professional development, plan, and read for pleasure. I document my pleasure reading at another blog, Much Madness is Divinest Sense; an RSS feed from that blog appears in the right sidebar.

I want to read or re-read the following books this summer:

• The First Days of School by Harry Wong (this is a re-read; it’s time for a refresher)
• Write Beside Them by Penny Kittle (this one never left my Currently Reading list in the sidebar, but the truth is that I didn’t have an opportunity to finish it during the year with so much on my plate)
• Blending Genre, Altering Style by Tom Romano (another one I need to finish)
• Designing Writing Assignments by Traci Gardner
• Genre Theory by Deborah Dean
• Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe (just a review; probably not a word-for-word re-read)
• Teaching Grammar in Context by Constance Weaver (again, just a review)

In terms of planning, I want to really write some good units using UbD and make sure the year flows and is connected by large ideas and that students can see explicit relationships among the literature selections, concepts, and writing assignments. I want to also integrate grammar instruction more with literature. I’d like to be more involved at the English Companion Ning and also try to read Kelly Gallagher’s book Readicide, as he’s conducting discussion at the Ning.