Reading Instructor Feedback on “Elijah’s Coin”

Dear Mr. O’Brien,

I am one of the teachers to whom you were kind enough to provide a class set of books.  I wanted to write to you and let you know what a wonderful teaching tool “Elijah’s Coin” was in my classroom this year.  I designed and entire unit around the book for my 7^th and 8^th grade Intensive Readers along with a graphic organizer package to help them with comprehension and vocabulary.

I read the book aloud each day and stopped throughout each chapter for discussion and relate to life opportunities.  My classroom consists of variety of types of students and behavior is often a factor.  However, during the read aloud of “Elijah’s Coin” I had NO behavior problems.  Students could not wait for me to begin. They listened intently and asked questions to better understand the book.

When I came to the point in the book about Elijah giving Tom the coin I tossed the coin to the student who asked and answered the most questions.  From that point forward the coin in each class changed hands based on the student with the most effort and understanding.   You would not believe what a motivator that coin became.  Each student participated in each lesson trying to earn the right to take the coin home for the day.  I even had one student, who had been at four schools during the past year due to behavior issues, earn the coin.   He promptly lost the coin and refused to come to school.  After a call from his mother who said she could not be upset with him due to the fact he never cared what a teacher thought or liked a book so much.   A quick phone call and a new coin he was back in class answering questions and participating once again.

At the point where challenge coins were discussed I gave extra credit to anyone who knew a member of the military to ask them to explain about the coins.  The feedback was amazing, students told of family members who were so excited to tell their story to my students. The reactions when they realized who Vic was and why he didn’t get the coin from Elijah were amazing.  When I finished the book each student was given the assignment of writing an essay about my purpose for sharing this book with him or her.  The student I mentioned above wrote me the most amazing insightful essay about how this would change him and his decisions he will make from now on!

You gave me the opportunity to share with my students, and in turn it gave me the best lesson of the year. Reading the essays that the students put so much effort into was so rewarding for me.  After I read each class’ essay I chose the student with the best insight into the book and gave them the coin to keep.  Sharing this book with my students provided me with the most rewarding gift as a teacher – undivided attention and loving my lesson.

Thank you for allowing me to give the gift of reading to my students.  I would enjoy any future books you write to share with my class.

MS, Intensive Reading Instructor

Florida

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From the Publisher: If you are interested in using Elijah’s Coin in your classroom, please contact us at info at AandNPublishing.