Hello, everyone: I’ve been doing a few workshops and PD sessions this fall. Please join me if you can. I’d love to see you. Also, if you’d like to work together, please visit the Work With Me link to check on availability. I have some limited availability for the spring and summer of ’24 and would love to make it work. I’ve experienced such great energy working with educators who are digging in to Literacy is Liberation! Finally, I’ve uploaded the most recent columns from Educational Leadership and other publications where you can download them for free; they make great short reads for faculty PD, BTW.
Hi there! I’ve been doing some housekeeping around the site and wanted to quickly summarize what’s new for folks. As always, I appreciate you stopping by.
Updates to the Publications, Podcasts, Multimedia page. You’ll find a link to my new column with Ed Leadership, my guide for educators for Jacqueline Woodson’s latest picture books (I was so honored to write these), and other resources I’ve written that you might find useful.
Updates to my Year-In-Reading page, where I chronicle what has kept my reading life moving along, albeit at a very different pace. But, it’s my pace, and the books I’ve read have been quite lovely.
Updates to where to Find Me and How to Contact Me. Thank you for reaching out and bringing me to your schools! I have limited availability for 2023; if you’d like to work together, please, be in touch and we’ll see if a collaboration makes sense.
A dedicated page to my book, Literacy is Liberation: Working Toward Justice Through Culturally Relevant Teaching. The book continues to be so well received! Thank you for letting me know, leading book studies with your faculty about it, and DOING THE WORK. Please take a minute to share a positive review wherever you got your copy, as word-of-mouth from other readers is the strongest endorsement I could hope for (and for which I’d be so grateful). I’m here to help you, too! Let me know if you need me. I’d love to work with you.
Finally, it’s still August. Barely. I’m holding on to this poem by Lorca; last stanza from “August” is below.
I realize that I keep most active on Twitter, and if you’ve found me there recently, or even stopped by here, I want to first welcome you and thank you.
Over the last bit of time, I’ve chatted with authoress Erin Entrada Kelly at the Boston Book Festival about her new middle grade novel (a must read), Lalani of the Distant Sea. Erin’s selfie game is strong as you can see below. I love this picture so much! (BTW: if you are looking for some fabulous short stories, I also can’t say enough about Erin’s; that’s how she got her start writing MG novels–her short stories!).
Erin Entrada Kelly. I LOVE HER! (photo credit: EEK)
I completed my time as judge for the Boston Globe-Horn Book awards. The winners are incredible. Please, read, buy, and share these amazing books. I was definitely fangirling HARD the entire night.
I presented about equity and literacy a few times, including the Scholastic Reading Summit in Greenwich, CT (Black Boy Lit); at ILA with my favorite #squad: Aeriale Johnson and I about Black and Brown boy lit (I love working with Ms. J; I’m going to see if we can make this a permanent thing!), with Julia Torres about how literacy affiliates and chapters can really, truly think about diversifying their affiliates, and with all of my favorite people–Anna Osborn, Tiana Silvas, Aeriale, and Tricia Ebarvia about teachers and action research. Anytime I can spend with them is self-care. We laugh. We cry. We plot revolution. We go to Sonic. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I should also note that none of my ability to get up and chat with folks would have been possible had not Lizabeth Moore been my ELA and Speech Team coach for all those years in high school. I have eternal love and gratitude for her for seeing and nurturing something in me when I was just a teenage mess, and for also building and supporting a community of young people, some of whom are my dear friends to this day.
In the last two months of 2019, I’ll hope to reflect on the year, be grateful for the abundance that grows in my life, from friendships, to family, to mothering my boy (and am still getting powerful feedback from folks who have been moved by that post), and remember that I’m happier when I’m disconnected (Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism has been good for this), but I have a Twitter habit I just can’t quit. Shrug.
I’ll be at NCTE in Baltimore with the #DisruptTexts (Tricia, Julia, and Lorena German) crew and keynoting at the Conference on English Leadership CEL on Monday. If you’re in Baltimore, please, say hello!
Three quick things that are saving my life right now:
-committing to cooking a few nights a week. I’ve decided to cook from two cookbooks, Julia Turshen’s Small Victories and Lucinda Scala Quinn’s Mad Hungry. Both have easy, delicious recipes that I can pull together with minimal planning and shopping, and my kid tends to like it. Oh, and Smitten Kitchen. Always, always.
–Occupational Therapists for children. I’m convinced all young children need them. ALL. I’m learning so much from the one who works with us and how much the body’s core regulates, well, everything.
–returning to a reading habit. I have been able to read only what I want, and I realize how much of a privilege that is after judging the award. I’m making up for lost time and reading nearly 100% exclusively BIPOC authors. ONLY. And I’m making sure to read BIPOC authors that I don’t have a lot of experience reading so I can build my own windows and sliding glass doors (Bishop, 1992).
I have a number of 2020 PD dates already on my calendar. If I’ll be spending time with you in the new year, I’m looking forward to learning together. If you’d like to bring me to your school or workplace, please send me a message. I have some limited availability and love working with departments, districts, and community organizations.
I’m aiming to update the rest of the site with articles, podcast links, and sundry information that helps to know what’s new around here, with an eye to returning to a regular writing flow soon. I promise!
Dr. Kimberly N. Parker 