The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy April 23, 2011 The True Test


Home About Contact Us FAQs Tell a Friend Search Buy DVDs Workshops Site Licenses Members Only

The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
April 23, 2011
The True Test

Laughter is an instant vacation.

Milton Berle

Donald Graves always said he could measure the quality of any learning environment by the quality of the laughter. Hearty, loud belly laughs at professional development workshops meant there would be openness to learning new things, and plenty of amazing learning already happening in classrooms. Light twitters or no laughter at all - big problems for launching any new initiatives, or building a professional community. I quietly assessed every school I worked in with Don's laugh test. The colleagues I've chosen to collaborate with over years are the ones that make me laugh so hard tears occasionally stream down my cheeks.

Take just a moment to turn away from those reams of assessment data on kids, and think about the quality of the laughter in your classroom, and among the teachers in your school. Do you find ways to laugh hard and often together, despite all that is frustrating and discouraging? If not, what needs to change?

This week we've got a series of features to get you thinking about lifting the quality of your professional development meetings in different ways. Plus more as always - enjoy!

Brenda Power
Editor, Choice Literacy

Free for All

Suzy Kaback finds the Anticipation Guide is the "little black dress" of study group and staff development leaders, taking any literacy leader seamlessly from the classroom to PLCs and faculty meetings:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/368.cfm

From the Choice Literacy Archives, the Two-Column Notes eGuide has 18 different options for notes in professional development settings. These templates are helpful to use in staff meetings and study groups while watching videos, or to focus observations during classroom visits:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/189.cfm

In a new podcast, Cris Tovani chats about the challenges and joys of a workshop model for teaching reading in high schools:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/1486.cfm

"What's Not Wrong?" Here's a wonderful activity to lift the mood in any classroom with students, or when you just need a good icebreaker when meeting with colleagues:

http://whatsnotwrong.wordpress.com/2011/01/25/whats-not-wrong/

From the All Things Preteens blog, some practical reflection on what makes a really strong PLC tick. The "Hopes and Fears" activity is something you might want to try whenever you are launching a new learning community:

http://allthingspreteen.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-makes-plc-tick.html

Our Wrentham, Massachusetts Workshops (just outside Boston) will be offered on July 19 - 21 this summer, and feature Jennifer Allen, "The Sisters" (Joan Moser and Gail Boushey), Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan, Franki Sibberson, and Heather Rader presenting on assessment, literacy coaching, reading instruction, word study, and minilesson design. Detailed descriptions and registration forms are available at this link:

http://bit.ly/gQloT1

For Members Only

We've posted a new cluster on lifting teacher morale in these challenging times, with contributions from Shari Frost, Clare Landrigan, Tammy Mulligan, Heather Rader and Melanie Quinn:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1492.cfm

Spring is a fun time to try the genre of literary nonfiction. In Frogs as Learning Ambassadors, Andrea Smith uses high quality news magazines, play frogs, and her own writing as a mentor text for students to introduce the genre. This week's video is the first in a two-part series:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1497.cfm

It's almost the end of National Poetry Month, but good poems are enjoyed by students any time of year. Franki Sibberson shares some of her favorite new poetry collections in an annotated booklist:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1493.cfm

Two teachers are disappointed in student assessment results, but they have very different approaches to tackling the problem. In Coaching for the Test, Heather Rader shares her role as a mentor in assisting her colleagues:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1494.cfm

This week we've posted a bonus video. Melissa Kolb explains why centers are a key component of her preschool curriculum, with video examples of children at work in them:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1496.cfm

That's all for this week!