Are you a fan of the acknowledgements in books? I love what acknowledgements reveal about any author before I even get into the the meat of their writing.

Do they acknowledge their spouse? Their dog? Are they emotional? Clinical? As I read the laundry list of thanks, I see the author's personal and professional community (and I have to admit my evil twin Not-Nice Brenda is intrigued by who should be on the list...but is mysteriously absent).

My all-time favorite acknowledgement may be the co-authors who thanked their therapist for getting them through the many times they were fighting while drafting their manuscript, or not speaking to each other at all. The topic of their book? How to build effective, nurturing communities. You might think their honesty about fierce arguments during the process would make me question their advice on community building. Instead, it made me respect them more.

Community building is the hardest work we do. It's often been said you only know you're really a part of a community when there's at least one person in it you just can't stand. Only then do you know you've found enough common ground to get to a deeper level of involvement. . .eventually. The path to that place will always be marked by differences in beliefs, styles, and attitudes.

What we're after is true commitment and collaboration, which is probably why you became a literacy leader in the first place. Beneath all the language and history that divides us in any school community, there is a profound, shared vision that we can and must make a difference in students' lives. We wouldn't be here if we didn't believe that, and we're willing to accept the challenge of a few dust-ups (or sessions with therapists) along the way to get there together.

This week's Big Fresh includes some tips on community building and a workshop activity for getting under those bedrock beliefs that can be divisive. Plus more as always. Enjoy!

Brenda Power

Editor, Choice Literacy

www.choiceliteracy.com

***Free for All***

Literacy leaders grapple with "sandwich" generation issues all the time when it comes to colleagues attending meetings and events. New teachers may be dealing with babies and daycare kerfluffles; older teachers might be juggling the needs of infirm parents and spouses. How can these members of the community be included when there are good reasons why they are missing group sessions? From the Choice Literacy archives, here are some quick tips on boosting attendance at optional professional development events. There are also creative suggestions for including colleagues who of necessity are absent often:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/103.cfm

A warning - the next web resource is addictive, but oh so much fun if you're interested in communities and connections. Quintera is a new search engine that "webs" links, so you can see the strongest connections and communities around terms. For example, if you type in your school and state, you can see web links to your community and their relative importance in a much more intriguing way than the normal linear listing of links from typical search engines. You might search the name of a favorite children's book author to find related authors, books, or resources. Try your name, too, and see what communities you wander into:

http://www.quintura.com/

We've launched our Think Spring! DVD Promotion. Big Fresh subscribers receive complimentary one-month, three-month, or annual Choice Literacy Memberships depending upon the number of DVDs purchased. If you're already a Choice Literacy member, you'll receive discounts of $10 - $98 on your order. Offer is good for U.S. customers only through March 23rd, and orders must be online, credit card purchases. Ground shipping anywhere in the U.S. is only one penny for orders of any size. More details at this link:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/270.cfm

***For Members Only***

We've posted Part II of Jan Miller Burkins' series on the language of coaching. In "The Leading Edge," Jan explores the "how" of shifting language so that it is less judgemental in discussions with colleagues. The article includes a print download comparing ineffective and ineffective prompts to launch conversations, and the differences are often subtle. This is another excerpt from Coaching for Balance, which will be published later this year by the International Reading Association:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/267.cfm

"Two or Three Things I Know for Sure" is a terrific short workshop activity for study groups or faculty meetings, and it also can be used in partnership discussions with mentors, literacy coaches, and colleagues. The activity gets everyone to explore their bedrock beliefs about teaching - as well as what it takes to change them:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/269.cfm

"For years we said, 'Yes, of course we do flexible groups!' But the truth was we didn't really know what that meant, and we certainly had no idea of how to manage those groups." With those words, Gail Boushey and Joan Moser ("The Sisters") begin the story of how they moved to groups based on student needs, not reading levels. This brief article includes a five-minute video example of a group from Joan's K-2 multiage classroom. This adorable group of five-year-olds is meeting for the first time to work on accuracy skills (talk about herding kittens!). If you're new to the CAFE series, we've got links to the previous entries included:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/261.cfm

New Site Feature: You can browse the entire contents of Choice Literacy with the Article Index, which lists every feature published at the site by title only. This index is available in the lefthand column of every page. We're also working on a more detailed Annotated Archives with information by title, author, and brief description. The annotated archives should be posted within the next two weeks:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/department21.cfm

That's all for this week. Next week we'll post the winners of our "Why My Literacy Leader is Better Than Chocolate" Contest. Happy Valentine's Day!