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180 Days: Two Teachers and the Quest to Engage and Empower Adolescents
"Teaching is art-creation-and a curriculum map is only as good as the teacher who considers it, who questions it, and who revises it to meet the needs of each year's students." -Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle
Two teachers. Two classrooms.
One school year.
180 Days represents the collaboration of two master teachers-Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle-over an entire school year: planning, teaching, and reflecting within their own and each other's classrooms in California and New Hampshire. Inspired by a teacher's question, "How do you fit it all in?" they identified and prioritized the daily, essential, belief-based practices that are worth spending time on. They asked, "Who will these students be as readers and writers after a year under our care?"
What we make time for matters: what we plan, how we revise our plans while teaching, and how we reflect and decide what's next. The decision-making in the moment is the most essential work of teaching, and it's the ongoing study of the adolescents in front of us that has the greatest impact on our thinking. With both the demands of time and the complexity of diverse students in mind, Kelly and Penny mapped out a year of engaging literacy practices aligned to their core beliefs about what matters most. They share their insights on managing time and tasks and offer teaching strategies for engaging students in both whole class and independent work. Video clips of Kelly and Penny teaching in each other's classrooms bring this year to life and show you what a steadfast commitment to belief-based instruction looks like in action. 180 Days. Make every moment matter. Teach fearlessly. Empower all students to live literate lives.
Two teachers. Two classrooms.
One school year.
180 Days represents the collaboration of two master teachers-Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle-over an entire school year: planning, teaching, and reflecting within their own and each other's classrooms in California and New Hampshire. Inspired by a teacher's question, "How do you fit it all in?" they identified and prioritized the daily, essential, belief-based practices that are worth spending time on. They asked, "Who will these students be as readers and writers after a year under our care?"
What we make time for matters: what we plan, how we revise our plans while teaching, and how we reflect and decide what's next. The decision-making in the moment is the most essential work of teaching, and it's the ongoing study of the adolescents in front of us that has the greatest impact on our thinking. With both the demands of time and the complexity of diverse students in mind, Kelly and Penny mapped out a year of engaging literacy practices aligned to their core beliefs about what matters most. They share their insights on managing time and tasks and offer teaching strategies for engaging students in both whole class and independent work. Video clips of Kelly and Penny teaching in each other's classrooms bring this year to life and show you what a steadfast commitment to belief-based instruction looks like in action. 180 Days. Make every moment matter. Teach fearlessly. Empower all students to live literate lives.
256 pages, Paperback
First published March 22, 2018
278 people are currently reading
1923 people want to read
About the author
Penny Kittle
18 books486 followersPenny Kittle teaches writers at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. She is the author of Micro Mentor Texts (2022), 4 Essential Studies &180 Days (with Kelly Gallagher), Book Love (2013), Write Beside Them (2008), The Greatest Catch: a life in teaching (2005), and Public Teaching: one kid at a time (2003); she co-authored Inside Writing (2005) with Donald Graves and edited a collection of Graves' work with Tom Newkirk, Children Want to Write. She presents at writing conferences throughout the United States and Canada and sometimes much farther.
But if you want the real story… she dances and sings along to really loud music in her car; she just ate all of the M&M’s out of her trail mix; and she is the first one to keel over when they do those balancing moves in Pilates.
But if you want the real story… she dances and sings along to really loud music in her car; she just ate all of the M&M’s out of her trail mix; and she is the first one to keel over when they do those balancing moves in Pilates.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 361 reviews
April 28, 2023
If you're familiar with the authors' previous books, you'll probably feel slightly rooked by the amount of material that you've read before in earlier renditions. If you've seen no other works by Gallagher/Kittle, the book is a good overview of their philosophies and beliefs as well as of the writers and educational thinkers that have influenced them.
Beginning teachers may be enthused by the plan but, as it includes a lot of writing and reading and feedback via conferencing, class control issues will surely arise unless it is a most mature class OR the beginning teacher is adept at classroom management.
Conferencing is a key cog here and, quite simply, it is not as easy as it always comes across in books, no matter HOW experienced you are. I can just see the whole system crashing down as some teacher embarks whole-hog on this method and then is stymied by attempts to conference in a large room of partially-motivated or unmotivated students.
The final chapters seem a bit rushed compared to earlier ones (esp. the narrative unit), and one might dicker with the time allotted to various units, but in fairness, the authors leave adjustments in timing up to the teacher. Each class is unique and populated with students who have unique needs. These must be addressed.
For veteran teachers unfamiliar with previous works by these authors, this is a worthwhile summary of the authors' approach. For practitioners of desk work, handouts, and 5-paragraph essays, this is a MUST read (though of little use unless said practitioners are ready to question their entrenched habits and change).
Best of all, to my mind? The book dismisses the notion of "master teachers." They do not exist. nd good as they are, even Penny and Kelly are not "master teachers." Teaching well is a constant challenge that is forever in flux, not only from year to year, but from class to class. This ain't no job for rookies! (Forgive me, Father, for I have writ "ain't.")
Beginning teachers may be enthused by the plan but, as it includes a lot of writing and reading and feedback via conferencing, class control issues will surely arise unless it is a most mature class OR the beginning teacher is adept at classroom management.
Conferencing is a key cog here and, quite simply, it is not as easy as it always comes across in books, no matter HOW experienced you are. I can just see the whole system crashing down as some teacher embarks whole-hog on this method and then is stymied by attempts to conference in a large room of partially-motivated or unmotivated students.
The final chapters seem a bit rushed compared to earlier ones (esp. the narrative unit), and one might dicker with the time allotted to various units, but in fairness, the authors leave adjustments in timing up to the teacher. Each class is unique and populated with students who have unique needs. These must be addressed.
For veteran teachers unfamiliar with previous works by these authors, this is a worthwhile summary of the authors' approach. For practitioners of desk work, handouts, and 5-paragraph essays, this is a MUST read (though of little use unless said practitioners are ready to question their entrenched habits and change).
Best of all, to my mind? The book dismisses the notion of "master teachers." They do not exist. nd good as they are, even Penny and Kelly are not "master teachers." Teaching well is a constant challenge that is forever in flux, not only from year to year, but from class to class. This ain't no job for rookies! (Forgive me, Father, for I have writ "ain't.")
April 18, 2018
I just finished this, and I already know I need to reread this. And curl up in a ball and weep. And frantically unit plan and reimagine my classroom. And read a hundred more books and a thousand more articles to gather mentor texts. And run around talking everyone's ears off about what writing and reading instruction can really look like in a classroom. And...okay, I'll stop.
The biggest question I am left with in this book is "how do I grade?" I agree with Gallagher and Kittle's assertion that practice must be valued, but not graded. They favor holistic grading. I'm still uncomfortable with that idea. I'm grateful to have the summer to reconsider my grade book and possible ways I can try out the writing workshop model in my classroom.
I feel a little bit like I'm in grad school again: overwhelmed and just too darn excited.
The biggest question I am left with in this book is "how do I grade?" I agree with Gallagher and Kittle's assertion that practice must be valued, but not graded. They favor holistic grading. I'm still uncomfortable with that idea. I'm grateful to have the summer to reconsider my grade book and possible ways I can try out the writing workshop model in my classroom.
I feel a little bit like I'm in grad school again: overwhelmed and just too darn excited.
June 30, 2018
More detailed review to come, but just know that this book is AMAZING. If you teach (any level, but particularly high school English) you NEED to read this book. Anyone who knows me is well aware that I unabashedly spread the Gospel of Penny, and I'm yet to encounter any work from Kelly that isn't top-shelf awesome. Having checked that bias at the door, I still maintain this is a must read for educators who genuinely want to rediscover their "why" and get better at what they do.
I usually fly through PD reads like this, but there is so much highlighting and aha-ing and annotating and thinking and reflecting to be done that I took my time and digested 180 Days over a 2 1/2 week span. I began jotting down notes in the introduction. Now that I've finished, I have what amounts to a Thought Log/Writer's Notebook nearly entirely full of wisdom to help me with my planning, crafting, and revising for MY next 180 days with students.
There are many solid professional development reads out there, and I'm indebted to the ones that have led to seismic shifts in my teaching trajectory and philosophy. I can now say that 180 Days will be the latest to register on my pedagogical Richter scale.
I usually fly through PD reads like this, but there is so much highlighting and aha-ing and annotating and thinking and reflecting to be done that I took my time and digested 180 Days over a 2 1/2 week span. I began jotting down notes in the introduction. Now that I've finished, I have what amounts to a Thought Log/Writer's Notebook nearly entirely full of wisdom to help me with my planning, crafting, and revising for MY next 180 days with students.
There are many solid professional development reads out there, and I'm indebted to the ones that have led to seismic shifts in my teaching trajectory and philosophy. I can now say that 180 Days will be the latest to register on my pedagogical Richter scale.
May 8, 2018
180 Days is about how two very notable English teachers fit "everything" in throughout the school year. I've loved the other Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher books I've read but I honestly didn't love this one. I felt that, if you boil it all down, they were advocating for conferences for reading and writing -- but they didn't spend a second on the logistics and management of this. They talked about how it was difficult and time consuming but not how they made it work or managed it. I'm all for conferring but have yet to figure out how to make it work in my middle school classroom with 25+ kids and this book didn't do anything to help me figure it out, only to feel guilty and envious about not doing conferences. I think you'd like it if you're a new teacher or are trying to figure out how to plan a new course.
July 6, 2018
I'd give this 8,000 stars if I could. Every language arts teacher in America needs to read this.
July 4, 2019
Lots to think about and will be trying a fair amount of these ideas this year. I really like the idea of multiple laps in a writing genre rather than just one big project, giving students time to practice and build skills to a larger piece. I liked the daily routines and structure as well, giving students tons of choice in daily practice with reading and writing as well. I also really enjoyed the discussion of values at the beginning of the book, and think this is important for all teachers to consider. What are my values, and does the time I spend with students reflect and support those values? In some ways, yes. In other ways, I've got a lot to work on! Their values that most resonated with me were that reading identity matters, and writing identity matters.
I would have liked more specifics in some areas. In other words, I often just wanted more, an even more granular peak into their daily schedules. I'm glad they show us the reading and writing maps of the year, but am interested in how they work together/overlay on top of each in a given class period. What does each class period look like as they're covering a core text over four weeks? I suppose I'll try some things and found out for myself.
I would have liked more specifics in some areas. In other words, I often just wanted more, an even more granular peak into their daily schedules. I'm glad they show us the reading and writing maps of the year, but am interested in how they work together/overlay on top of each in a given class period. What does each class period look like as they're covering a core text over four weeks? I suppose I'll try some things and found out for myself.
August 12, 2018
I'm so glad Gallagher and Kittle continue to value the teacher's role in creating curriculum and giving students choice and ownership in class. I'm a huge fan of their philosophy, and I enjoyed hearing them get into the minutia of why they prioritize certain things over others (namely independent reading and writing over everything else).
That said, despite the stated intention of this book, I'm still not sure how to fit it all in-- but this time it's more on my end, not in the classroom. Gallagher and Kittle spend a lot of time explaining how many weeks go into which units and how class time gets divided, but because they seem to eschew reusing materials and instead tie their school year to current events, I'm wondering how their personal time gets used. When do they read? When do they collect hundreds of mentor texts? When do they write all these models of brand new projects? When do they grade or give feedback? If the answer is 4am, I'm going to settle for mediocrity and sleep in.
That said, despite the stated intention of this book, I'm still not sure how to fit it all in-- but this time it's more on my end, not in the classroom. Gallagher and Kittle spend a lot of time explaining how many weeks go into which units and how class time gets divided, but because they seem to eschew reusing materials and instead tie their school year to current events, I'm wondering how their personal time gets used. When do they read? When do they collect hundreds of mentor texts? When do they write all these models of brand new projects? When do they grade or give feedback? If the answer is 4am, I'm going to settle for mediocrity and sleep in.
July 2, 2018
Typical of both Kittle and Gallagher. I became a little overwhelmed at the end. They began the book trying to answer "how doe we do it"? but I don't think that they truly answered the question. They did provide a map of the year and even a breakdown of a class period. They offered numerous activities and topics for lessons. I suppose the real point is, that we should use their expertise, and build our classrooms based on our shared belief that real reading and real writing must inform everything that we do. An inspiring read. A foundation for changing our practice. A movement towards providing authentic education.
July 18, 2018
Honest, insightful, thought-provoking, and inspirational! Amazing! Amazing!👍 A must read for all ELA teachers!!
August 11, 2018
Absolutely essential reading for high school ELA teachers. You won’t find day to day lesson plans, but you will discover the essential framework for a year of reading and writing instruction.
September 5, 2018
So all the teaching blogs I was reading this summer that raved about Being the Change (which I think is pretty great) also raved about this one. There are some interesting and useful things in this book--but overall it is not as specifically useful for me and I didn't ultimately find it quite as exciting of a read, due to that mostly.
The biggest thing that made it not as useful for me is: they are very heavily concentrated on writing (versus reading). Both in terms of their daily schedules, and also in terms of how laid out some things in the book are. I would have loved as detailed of reading sections as they did for writing (the last few chapters), but that's not where their focus is.
Some of that is that they're teaching high school (whereas I'm teaching 6th right now), or some of it may be a different emphasis from their administrations, but at my school, and in my grade level where I will have a few kids at 6th reading level but many (MANY) more reading far below grade level, I have to devote a lot more of my daily schedule to reading strategies (and applying them!) and really can't focus on writing as much as they do. Yes, writing drives reading and vice versa, but that's just not the reality of my school's expectations.
In addition, sometimes it was hard to reconcile what they said they did over the year specifically in reading, and then look at their daily schedules (published in an early chapter) where it was 10 minutes independent reading and maybe 8-15 minutes for reading-focused stuff with the class. The rest was working on writing, for the most part. But how are you getting through X, X and X in 18 total reading minutes per day? My kids DO write about their reading every day and also do other writing, but we spend a lot more time both in small and large group focused on talking about reading then was shown in their schedules.
Ultimately this was a book that gave me SOME ideas and SOME resources, whereas Being the Change gave me a LOT of both. Then again, this book is much more a picture of their combined, and solo, experiences across a couple years of teaching, and is not intended to be "Here is a lesson you can use" the way BtC is. So that's more a "three stars based on me and what I needed/wanted from this book" versus saying "three stars b/c it didn't achieve what it was meant to." Thought of in that manner, I think it did achieve what they wanted, but reviews are ultimately about what a book means TO YOU, right, when you're writing your own goodreads review and not reviewing the book for say a national publication recommending whether teachers might want to read it.
And thus ends a lengthy review brought to you by post-first-day-of-school insomnia. Enjoy! :)
The biggest thing that made it not as useful for me is: they are very heavily concentrated on writing (versus reading). Both in terms of their daily schedules, and also in terms of how laid out some things in the book are. I would have loved as detailed of reading sections as they did for writing (the last few chapters), but that's not where their focus is.
Some of that is that they're teaching high school (whereas I'm teaching 6th right now), or some of it may be a different emphasis from their administrations, but at my school, and in my grade level where I will have a few kids at 6th reading level but many (MANY) more reading far below grade level, I have to devote a lot more of my daily schedule to reading strategies (and applying them!) and really can't focus on writing as much as they do. Yes, writing drives reading and vice versa, but that's just not the reality of my school's expectations.
In addition, sometimes it was hard to reconcile what they said they did over the year specifically in reading, and then look at their daily schedules (published in an early chapter) where it was 10 minutes independent reading and maybe 8-15 minutes for reading-focused stuff with the class. The rest was working on writing, for the most part. But how are you getting through X, X and X in 18 total reading minutes per day? My kids DO write about their reading every day and also do other writing, but we spend a lot more time both in small and large group focused on talking about reading then was shown in their schedules.
Ultimately this was a book that gave me SOME ideas and SOME resources, whereas Being the Change gave me a LOT of both. Then again, this book is much more a picture of their combined, and solo, experiences across a couple years of teaching, and is not intended to be "Here is a lesson you can use" the way BtC is. So that's more a "three stars based on me and what I needed/wanted from this book" versus saying "three stars b/c it didn't achieve what it was meant to." Thought of in that manner, I think it did achieve what they wanted, but reviews are ultimately about what a book means TO YOU, right, when you're writing your own goodreads review and not reviewing the book for say a national publication recommending whether teachers might want to read it.
And thus ends a lengthy review brought to you by post-first-day-of-school insomnia. Enjoy! :)
April 24, 2018
If you are a Language Arts/Reading/English teacher, you need to read this book. Life changing!
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September 22, 2024
There’s so much good stuff in this book. I know I’ll keep coming back to it time and time again. I just wish I would have finished it before school started, because now I’m in the trenches and overwhelmed already. Finishing this book now makes me more anxious, like there’s a mountain of more stuff I’m not doing or not doing right. I guess that’s why it’s not a 5, but it’s not the book’s fault. I’m going to take a breather and then go back and dive into the many, many notes and highlights I made along the way. This book is a goldmine of resources that I’m excited to explore.
July 30, 2018
This is a must read for ELA teachers. So much good thinking and philosophy in here. Even if you want to do things differently, there is a lot of little tools, tidbits, and modular lessons that can be used.
I'm really thankful for such an open and honest experience from two professional teachers. Would love to see more such examination of a teaching year from others.
I'm really thankful for such an open and honest experience from two professional teachers. Would love to see more such examination of a teaching year from others.
July 9, 2018
I would love to see this be required reading for teachers, literacy coaches, education students, administrators, parents ~ yea, it's that good. "Thirty-some" years into this profession and still learning ~ thanks for the invite, KG & PK.
July 1, 2020
I will never get tired of learning and growing as a teacher. This book ignited that spark to get me back into the groove of my passion! I can’t wait to implement all of the great nuggets of wisdom I found throughout this book.
August 10, 2020
Life changing for how I conduct my classroom. This method gives me the freedom to teach reading and writing to foster enjoyment rather than completion. I plan to implement the structure this year and am super excited!
June 2, 2018
Gallagher and Kittle never disappoint. I’ve learned so many things that I want to put into practice next year! #recharging
April 7, 2019
An excellent resource for all teachers. Much of this book is a synthesis of some of their previous work. It might be redundant at times in those cases. However, it is still incredibly useful for planning and instruction.
July 6, 2019
This sets up a great framework for teaching. Like Sean said, it’s nice that they start with their values. Partially bc that’s important to me, and partially because it helps me (and their students) to have a more transparent look into our agreement/disagreement with them.
I think this is a strong skeleton of a year plan. Although they say that they’re taking us through what happened, I feel as though I’m still looking at a “what they hoped would happen” version. I guess that’s okay if you’re publishing a book
I think this is a strong skeleton of a year plan. Although they say that they’re taking us through what happened, I feel as though I’m still looking at a “what they hoped would happen” version. I guess that’s okay if you’re publishing a book
July 16, 2021
I really admire both Kittle and Gallagher. They have great ideas and student-focused intentions. They practice what they preach and experiment each year. I am taking many new ideas from this book. Furthermore, I am hoping to become an educator like the two of them.
July 18, 2022
Genius, every word. These two are so inspiring... I only wish we could emulate their work in every ELA classroom. They are making a difference and it matters!
May 4, 2018
Great inspiration for planning the year to come!
October 10, 2018
I had high expectations for this book, and it met all of them. First Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle - how could it not be great? What I love is they each detail demographics of their schools and classes and lay out unit plans, yearly curriculum, and daily tasks for both. They honestly discuss structuring classes, reading and writing instruction, and grading. I have so many pages earmarked for future lessons and know this is a book I'll return to often.
July 1, 2018
A thought-provoking collection of beliefs, strategies, and ideas. This book helped to clarify some of the things I've been trying in the classroom--both affirming and challenging, this is a book I'm glad that I own, as I will be revisiting it regularly.
June 26, 2018
I loved so many of the ideas presented in this text and it is causing me to rethink so many of the current practices of my classroom (ahh- so much to work on this summer!). I am giving it 4 stars instead of 5 because I feel Kittle and Gallagher overlook the idea that most districts have reading and writing constraints that we must work within, and I would love more ideas about how to make this model work with, for example, required texts and restricted book lists.
November 19, 2018
I loved this book. Finally a book for secondary English teachers that explains how to thoughtfully map out a year of lessons. Highly recommended.
June 27, 2018
By far the best professional book I’ve read to date. Exactly what I needed to hear. So excited to start prepping for change in the next school year!
August 8, 2019
This book is filled with great teacher practice tips for building up students' literacy skills while also giving authentic and meaningful assignments.
Some teachers may mistakenly pick up the book and think that Gallagher and Kittle will be telling them their exact lesson plans for 180 days. This is not a curriculum guide - thank God! Both teachers believe that giving some organizational direction to teachers allows those teachers to use their professional discretion and to change based on student needs.
I wished that the book provided more support on setting up conference times w/students (when!? If I'm writing while they're writing or reading while they're reading), had enhanced their argument writing section (the informative unit was so spot on), and reflected on how they - as already excellent teachers - evolved after experiencing this challenge, and gave advice to others who may be crazy enough to replicate this experience.
Definitely worth the read for any teacher of literacy!
Some teachers may mistakenly pick up the book and think that Gallagher and Kittle will be telling them their exact lesson plans for 180 days. This is not a curriculum guide - thank God! Both teachers believe that giving some organizational direction to teachers allows those teachers to use their professional discretion and to change based on student needs.
I wished that the book provided more support on setting up conference times w/students (when!? If I'm writing while they're writing or reading while they're reading), had enhanced their argument writing section (the informative unit was so spot on), and reflected on how they - as already excellent teachers - evolved after experiencing this challenge, and gave advice to others who may be crazy enough to replicate this experience.
Definitely worth the read for any teacher of literacy!
July 9, 2018
I wish I could give this book more than five stars! I have never read a “research book” that made me do all of the following: smile, cry, pound my fist on the table in agreement, call various teacher peers and mentors, watch a wide variety of videos, go through 2 packs of sticky notes, and most importantly, feel completely validated. This book represents all of the beliefs I have had that have been called “too risky” or even “ineffective.” Penny and Kelly prove volume, feedback, conferring, choice, student talk, and writing with our students matters. This book should be handed out to any new English teacher, for it has the power to change the way our students (and many teachers) view learning. As Penny and Kelly say at the end of their Afterword, “may you find the strength to rebel” after reading it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 361 reviews