We have lots of suggestions at the Choice Literacy website for launching staff meetings and study groups. Many of these icebreaker activities start with teachers sharing what is going well in their classrooms, and how they will use from they've learned from those successes to become even better teachers.
 
When I was working with new and veteran teachers in mentor groups, I often began from the opposite perspective.  I'd read aloud from a book I'd edited many years ago with my friend Ruth Shagoury titled Oops: What We Learn When Our Teaching Fails. We collected brief stories of failure from 40 of our friends and colleagues.  It's striking how many of the funniest failure stories are from the first year of teaching.  For example, there's the story in the book of a new teacher who planned an extravaganza of a field trip to the coast as the culmination of her oceanography unit in the fall.  She got a big discount from the museum they would visit, almost every family sent an adult to tag along on the trip, and excitement was in the air.  But on the morning of the field trip, 60 students and family members waited and waited in front of the school for the field trip buses to arrive.  It finally dawned on the teacher that she had forgotten to order buses.
 
After reading this story at a staff meeting, I remember one of the mentor teachers describing how on her first day of teaching kindergarten she managed to "misplace" one of her young charges before they even entered the building from the bus drop-off spot.  It's a long story involving a mom who didn't want to send her daughter to kindergarten, a local policeman, and a principal who was baffled at how a new teacher could manage to lose a student before the first day of school officially began.  Luckily the tale has a happy ending, and everyone in the room was howling with laughter by the time she finished.
 
My first teaching job was at a community college instructing students in a basic writing course.  I was 24 years old, looked 15, and didn't have a clue what I was doing.   I remember going into a conference with a student who had written a horrible essay, and I was uneasy about telling him he was flunking the course.  He started the conference by saying, "Are you nervous?"  I replied, "Yes I'm nervous, because you're not doing well in the class - so this might be a difficult conversation."  He replied, "Well, I'm nervous because I was going to ask you out on a date!"  Worst Writing Conference Ever.
 
When you share your funny stories of failure with young teachers, they are delighted to laugh with you, and usually breathe a huge sigh of relief.  They realize what might feel like a career-ending moment at the time often is just a good story down the road.  Nothing forges a stronger bond than a good belly laugh together.  And when you share the stories of failure that are heartbreaking, everyone realizes the awesome responsibility we carry as teachers.   Either way, new teachers soon understand failures are inevitable in teaching, and what matters most is that you keep learning from them.

This week we have two terrific articles from the Choice Literacy Archives that highlight learning from failure.  Plus more as always - enjoy!
 

Brenda Power
Editor, Choice Literacy
 
 
Free for All

 
From the Choice Literacy Archives, two stories of failure and reflection -
 
In A Tale of Two Coaches, Shari Frost examines the differences between a literacy coach building relationships with teachers, and another who is failing to connect:
 
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/742.cfm
 
Jan Miller Burkins invites colleagues to evaluate her work as a literacy coach, and this brings up memories of a spectacular teaching failure from years before:
 
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/369.cfm
 
This is an inspiring one-minute video no matter your age - If You've Never Failed, You've Never Lived.  The sports fanatics around you might be surprised to learn Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team (and it made him cry):
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tjYoKCBYag
 
Ann Marie Corgill shares a touching story about hurtful comments from colleagues, and how a teaching friend and Byrd Baylor's book Everybody Needs a Rock renewed her spirits:
 
http://bit.ly/dam1Hj
 
Pete the Cat is a fantastic children's book to read aloud to kids or adults for a positive take on failure (or at least unexpected speed bumps along the way).  We all "step in it" once in awhile, and the goal is to just "keep walking along, singing our song" anyway.  This video of the author performing the book is a delightful way to introduce the text to children or colleagues:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUubMSfIs-U
 
Cute Alert - there are many video versions of Pete the Cat on the web, but this preschooler reading aloud is my favorite.  You might share this  video at a parent night to launch a discussion about the value of reading aloud to children at home. The behavior of the toddler listening in is fascinating, and the world would be a happier place if more of us were wearing that little reader's fabulous pink hat:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNAeRy6jS7c
 
We're piloting a new service at Choice Literacy - small three-week online courses focused on topics of high interest to teachers and literacy leaders.  The first course, Demonstration Lessons, will be led by Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan from October 12 - 26.  Participants will view three webinars, receive coaching and support from Clare and Tammy between sessions, and view excerpts from the Choice Literacy Demonstration Lessons DVD.  You can view more details about the course or register online with a credit card at this link:
 
http://workshops.choiceliteracy.com/courses/category/24531
 
 
 
 For Members Only
 

If you're looking for ways to integrate web browsing in your classroom literacy workshops, you'll enjoy Franki Sibberson's article on Using the Web to Find New Ways into Books, Songs, and Stories:
 
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1266.cfm
 
Teaching students the strategy of visualizing is complex and fun at the same time.  In Cover-Up Stories, Heather Rader details a simple technique for teaching visualization to readers of any age.  It's part of her "Injecting Writing into Everything" series:
 
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1263.cfm
 
Karen Terlecky develops a plan for read alouds with her 5th grade students.  She explains her choices, comparing selections to last year's list:
 
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1249.cfm
 
We have a two-minute Quick Takes video bonus this week.   In Connecting with English Language Learners, Ruth Shagoury has advice for teachers who suddenly find themselves grappling to communicate with students who speak a different language:
 
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1267.cfm

Video Updates:  We continue to repost many videos in new formats and players (with higher resolution and full-screen options).  As we make these improvements, we'll announce them in the newsletter. Here is an updated video you may want to revisit -
 
How do you confer with readers who are eager to move into "big fat chapter books," but may lack the strategies and skills necessary to understand longer texts?  Joan Moser confers with seven-year-old Elyse, and then debriefs with her sister Gail Boushey:
 
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1268.cfm
 
 
 
That's all for this week!
 
 
 
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