The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy March 20, 2010 Literacy Spring Fever Cures


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The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
March 20, 2010
Literacy Spring Fever Cures

Literacy in the Spring

It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so.
Mark Twain

Here in northern Maine we're reveling in an early spring - the ice is almost gone on our little lake, a month ahead of schedule. With the distractions of beautiful weather and flowers sprouting, it's a safe bet that whatever hearts are aching for in schools, it's likely not more of the same reading and writing we've been doing all year.

Yet most of us don't have much choice when it comes to the curriculum - we have to continue established routines to get through everything that's expected of students and ourselves come summer. But if productivity is down and boredom is way up, it might be time for just a brief shake-up in plans, if only to acknowledge the change in seasons.

Here are three of my favorite ways to bring students back to a focus on literacy in the midst of spring fever:

1. Outside Observations

Take your students outside, journals in hand, for 15 minutes of quiet observation, sketching, and writing. It's a great segue into lessons on details, text elements, and how illustrations enhance text. The bonus is it gets everyone where they want to be, at least momentarily - outside.

2. Focused Free Writing

With older students, I found starting the class period with five or ten minutes of free writing on any topic chosen by the writer was a marvelous way to get students to "dump out" whatever it was that was distracting them. I rarely if ever collected the writing - that wasn't the point of the exercise. It was amazing what a calming effect this beginning had on students, and the sacrifice of five minutes at the start of class was well worth the trade-off for the quiet focus the activity fostered.

3. Brainstorming Rights and Responsibilities

This suggestion comes from Katie Doherty in this week's feature article. When Katie found most of her middle school students were hopelessly off task during reading and writing workshops, she worked with them to discuss and recommit to shared rights and responsibilities.

I hope the start of spring finds you echoing the writer Doug Larson's thought - Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush. I realize many newsletter readers are in the southern hemisphere, or live in temperate climes with little seasonal change. But wherever you are, no matter the weather, I hope this newsletter finds you with a light step and a cheerful tune in your heart. We've got quite an eclectic mix of resources this week - I hope you enjoy them!

Brenda Power
Editor, Choice Literacy

Free for All

When the only students intent on reading and writing were two students poring over a forbidden note, Katie Doherty knew she had a problem. In Literacy Rights and Responsibilities, she shares (with good humor) how she worked with her middle school students to get reading and writing workshops back on track:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/1115.cfm

If you find yourself pondering the changes in how families work with schools (and are more likely to challenge decisions), you might enjoy this guide to dealing with Generation X parents from Edutopia:

http://www.edutopia.org/generation-x-parents-relationships-guide

What a wonderful idea - Parent/Child Book Clubs. Imagination Soup has a fun post and some good links to get you started. This might be a useful link to pass along to your parent-teacher organization leaders:

http://imaginationsoup.net/2010/03/parent-child-book-clubs/

Join us this summer at our new location just outside Boston, Massachusetts July 27-30th for summer workshops. We have a full slate of presenters including Jennifer Allen, Aimee Buckner, "The Sisters" (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser), Katie Doherty, Clare Landrigan, Tammy Mulligan, Franki Sibberson, Andrea Smith, and Karen Szymusiak. You can download the workshop descriptions and registration form (a two-page PDF file) at this link:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/wrentham2010.pdf

Summer Events Update: The Portland, Oregon; San Antonio, Texas; and Columbus, Ohio CAFE in the Classroom workshops are SOLD OUT. Limited seating remains for the San Antonio Delight in Words workshop. Thanks so much for your enthusiastic response - if you are interested in these summer workshop topics, please consider registering at our Wrentham, Massachusetts or Tacoma, Washington locales where there is still space available.

For Members Only

Earth Day is just around the corner in April. Franki Sibberson has a terrific new booklist, Books to Celebrate Earth Day, to help you make some connections between the event and your literacy workshops:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1114.cfm

Is your staff overwhelmed with emails, announcements, and articles to read stuffed in their mailboxes? Jennifer Jones faced the dilemma of trying to support teachers in her literacy coaching role without bombarding them with more to read. Her solution, Daily Tidbits, is a nifty idea for giving colleagues very small chunks of practical classroom advice they can readily use:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1113.cfm

Literacy workshops rely on peers working well together, which is why students need some explicit instruction on how to select partners. In this week's video, Joan Moser leads a demonstration lesson on picking a partner and then debriefs with the classroom teacher:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1109.cfm

Finally, our new cluster on Teaching Students to Preview Nonfiction Texts includes contributions from Franki Sibberson, Andrea Smith, and Karen Terlecky:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1112.cfm

That's all for this week!