The day is fast approaching, like a bear getting ready to come out of hibernation… 😉  Yes, on October 7, the first copies of my book, Whole Novels for the Whole Class: A Student Centered Approach, will arrive in Jossey Bass’ warehouse. And I will get to hold my book as soon as they can fly from California to New York City. I can’t wait!  I’m excited to share the body of experience and thinking that went into writing it. In the meanwhile, a PDF of Chapter 1 is available here.

I’m also excited to share the adventure here on this blog and with the CTQ community, which is a huge reason I was inspired and able to do this. Publishing this book may be my biggest teacherpreneurial accomplishment… and it’s not over!

Here are some of my to do’s–

  • plan a book talk; how to distill the ideas into, say, 40 minutes…
  • plan a PD session; how to teach some part of the whole novel method in, say, 60 or 90 minutes
  • create a video commercial for the book; how to entice readers in, say 2 minutes or less?
  • choose a few excerpts for friends and colleagues who have offered to post selections of the book on their blogs…
  • finish upgrading my personal website, so that more book related pieces, materials, and, ultimately, a forum specifically for educators trying out whole novels to discuss and get feedback, can live there…
  • get business cards! I still don’t have my own business cards.  (Personal note: I often think of this as an example of soft sexism. If I were male, somehow I think I would have gotten business cards a long time ago.)

It’s going to be a lot of work, but the wonderful thing is that people are interested in whole novels. I’ve gotten emails from several teachers around the country who want to try it out and have questions for me (since the book is not yet out).  Little could be more thrilling to me than that. Whole novels needs a lot teachers experimenting with it.

 

 

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Author

Ariel Sacks

Ariel Sacks began her 13-year teaching career in New York City public schools after earning her master’s degree at Bank Street College and has taught and coached in grades 7-9. She is the author of Whole Novels for the Whole Class: A Student Centered Approach (Jossey-Bass, 2014) and writes a teaching column for Education Week Teacher.

Ariel’s work as a teacher leader with the Center for Teaching Quality involved her in co-authoring Teaching 2030: What We Must Do For Our Public Schools – Now and in the Future. She was also featured in the CTQ book Teacherpreneurs: Innovative Teachers Who Lead Without Leaving.

She is currently working on a book about the role of creative writing in equitable, 21st century schools, and she speaks and leads workshops on the whole novels approach.

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