What does it take to help others reach their full potential as learners and teachers?

What do you need to reach your own potential?

If you're a literacy leader, you need expertise not just in how children learn to read and write, but in how people change. And if that isn't complicated enough, you've also got to make sure you get your own needs met as a learner. Late summer is the time when many of us are looking at our roles and responsibilities with new eyes, if only because we've had a little time off over the past few months to do some reflecting and set goals for the year.

If you're assessing your relationships with colleagues and how you might improve them, you may find this list of questions from Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman about work environments helpful.

Buckingham and Coffman are the authors of the book First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently. I'm not crazy about the word "managers" - it conjures up a vision of row upon row of white cubicles. Yet I find their checklist provides good benchmarks for thinking through what people need to feel valued and thrive in any work environment.

Ask yourself the questions, and then imagine how your colleagues might respond:

• 1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
• 2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
• 3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
• 4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?
• 5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
• 6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
• 7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
• 8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel like my work is important?
• 9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
• 10. Do I have a best friend at work?
• 11. In the last six months, have I talked with someone about my progress?
• 12. At work, have I had the opportunities to learn and grow?

From First, Break All The Rules: What The World's Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman (Simon & Schuster, 1999).

If you're able to answer all these questions in the affirmative, there's no doubt you're working in an amazing school. And if there are concerns about your school environment you haven't been able to name, the questions may give you and your colleagues an entry point for identifying problems and starting to tackle them.

This week we've got a reading comprehension activity for teachers that can lead to some spirited and fun discussions about literacy teaching. Plus more as always. Enjoy!

Brenda Power

Editor, Choice Literacy

www.choiceliteracy.com

Free for All

We've posted workshop guides before for opinion exchanges - they are a lively way to open discussion about any literacy topic among colleagues. Ruth Shagoury shares a new exchange built around reading comprehension quotes that could be a good icebreaker activity for an early fall professional development meeting or workshop. Some of the quotes in the exchange are from books published this year, and others are nearly 200 years old:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/420.cfm

The new quote collection on reading comprehension Ruth developed for the Opinion Exchange can be accessed here:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/421.cfm

Is all the emphasis on fluency in schools harming comprehension instruction? This short, provocative article from Reading Today explains why we need to keep comprehension "in the driver's seat" in our classrooms. It would be a fun text to discuss at an early-year staff meeting or workshop:

http://www.reading.org/publications/reading_today/samples/RTY-0706-f luency.html

Jennifer Allen's DVD/CD Workshop Kit Layered Coaching: Mentoring New Teachers is now in the warehouse and available for purchase. Filmed over a school year, the 95 minute DVD and 54 page CD of resource materials feature ideas on leading study groups, in-class collaborative teaching and coaching, individual and group observations. designing year-long mentoring plans for new teachers, and developing a literacy materials room for colleagues. There is a $30 discount for Choice Literacy members:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/products/item14.cfm

For Members Only

To confer or touch base? Debbie Miller explains the difference, and shares why taking the time to confer is crucial in reader's workshops. If one of your new school year resolutions is to slow down a bit more and be "in the moment" with students and colleagues, this essay may inspire you:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/419.cfm

How can we teach students the difference between gathering and summarizing facts, and plagiarism? Suzy Kaback thinks through the issue as she helps her own daughter with a research report, and ends up creating a research summary template inspired by Margaret Wise Brown's The Important Book. The template can be adapted for use in any student nonfiction research project:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/418.cfm

Jan Miller Burkins continues her series of brief photo essays, Connections, linking images to metaphors for coaching. In this week's contribution, she connects the work of an artist to the work of a coach:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/422.cfm

That's all for this week!