The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy

March 24, 2007

What's Hot and What's Not

The International Reading Association has published their annual spring list of "What's Hot and What's Not," sort of a spring fashion list of issues in literacy. It's always fun to look at the list, and compare it to previous years, to see what has fallen out of fashion, and what's on the rise. You can access this year's list here (PDF format):

http://www.reading.org/downloads/publications/whatshot07.pdf

The list got me thinking about what's hot on the web for literacy leaders. The Big Fresh is on spring break this week. But before breaking, I went through the last six months of issues and found the top seven web resources beyond the Choice Literacy site our subscribers voted for with their clicks in previous issues.

Some of these sites are a treasure trove of material for leaders; others are just fun in you're in the mood to play. We'll be back next week with new content from the site. Till then, enjoy this encore of your favorites.

Brenda Power

Editor, Choice Literacy

www.choiceliteracy.com

***Top 7 Web Resources***

The Literacy Coaching Clearinghouse, co-sponsored by the International Reading Association and National Council of Teachers of English, has already established itself as a premiere destination for literacy leaders on the web. When we first publicized the site, they were just getting off the ground. They've since added position papers and opened up their discussion boards:

http://www.literacycoachingonline.org/

Looks like everyone likes a makeover - The "Classroom Architect" is a clever web-based tool for teachers from the Advanced Learning Technologies Project at the University of Kansas, with a simple and easy-to-use design. You input thedimensions of your classroom, and then move icons representin sofas, chairs, desks on a grid to create a new floor plan. The software enables you to print out your new design, or store up to five different versions on your computer:

http://classroom.4teachers.org/

The Annenberg Foundation has invested millions in theirfree high-quality professional development resources over the past decade, with videos and comprehensive workshop guides available to coaches and study group leaders. We featured a preview of Katie Wood Ray's new video series at the site, and it's now available for viewing. You can sample videos, workshop guides, and detailed descriptions here:

http://learner.org/resources/series205.html

Rethinking Schools has a wealth of energizing, thoughtful advice for supporting and understanding diversity in schools, including archives of all the previous issues of their journal for teachers:

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/

Looking for that perfect quote to start a workshop? There are many wonderful sources for quotes on the web. One of the oldest and most comprehensive free sources is The Quotations Page, which can be accessed here:

http://www.quotationspage.com/

Quintura 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/

You loved the monthly calendars of web resources for teachers from The Education Oasis, featured just a couple weeks ago. They are packed with good children's and classics author sites:

http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/calendar/march.htm

And one bonus site - Image Chef is too much fun if you want little visuals of post-its, books, or even a bowl of alphabet soup personalized with your school's name or event details. It's an easy, free resource for adding eye-appeal to newsletters and announcements:

http://www.imagechef.com/ic/product.jsp

Speaking of hot stuff, our summer workshops for K-6 literacy coaches and teachers are filling rapidly. We hope to meet you when the weather warms up. Details on locations, topics, and registration forms are available at this link:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/department22.cfm

That's all for this week!