I sat in this week on a wonderful team meeting of fourth grade teachers, two literacy coaches, and their principal in a school near Seattle, Washington. The meeting was focused, linking assessments to instructional plans for struggling students. Yet it wasn't so focused that the conversation couldn't turn in unexpected ways. We'll be posting video excerpts from the conversation soon. As I listened in, I thought about what remarkable skills it takes to lead a meeting well.

Famed literacy researcher Shirley Brice Heath has said there are only three traits that mark the most literate people in any society - they read well, they write well, and they converse about books and writing in special ways. So much of what literacy leaders do in schools involves helping colleagues and students elevate their conversations about literacy, to find those "special ways" in to understanding words on the page. This is work that takes enormous patience, especially in our sped-up, frantic "just give it to me now" world.

What I found inspiring in the team meeting I observed was the careful balance the literacy coaches found. It was clear the discussion took place within boundaries of collaboration routines and time limits, yet the spirit in the room was one of openness - a willingness to let the conversation meander a bit into interesting, uncharted territory.

I know the meetings that frustrate me the most are the ones where there is no discovery of new questions or ideas together - the unspoken goal is to rubber stamp plans created much farther up the foodchain. The conversation never veers off the map. The leader may be asking for input, but the reality is the group is being herded as quickly and smoothly as possible to accept decisions already made by others. As Physicist K.C. Coles writes:

"Discovering" something you already know is like discovering the eggs the bunny hid on Easter morning. Nature, unfortunately, isn't so cooperative and may hide treasures in the most peculiar places. She may even decide to hide toothbrushes instead of eggs, perhaps in a fifth (or tenth) dimension.

K.C. Coles in First You Build a Cloud

There is the challenge - our time is limited in meetings and for professional conversations. We need to get things done, which is why there is such interest right now in meeting protocols that zip us along. But there also has to be time to dig deeper and wander a bit to discover those literacy treasures, whatever they may be in your community.

This week we've got some structures that may help you find that balance in your own meetings - from critical questions that can help you assess the quality of your collaboration, to a notetaking template that might help you infuse more talk about curriculum in staff meetings. Plus more as always. Enjoy!

Brenda Power

Editor, Choice Literacy

www.choiceliteracy.com

Free for All

From the National Staff Development Council, authors Jon Saphier, Matt King, and John D'Auria explain how three strands of strong school leadership - academic focus, shared values and beliefs, and productive professional relationships - play out in successful team meetings. This seven-page article (PDF format) summarizes the research, and gives examples of what to look for in team settings to assess whether or not the collaboration is going well:

http://www.nsdc.org/members/jsd/saphier272.pdf

Looking for an inspiring or provocative quote on discussions to launch your next staff meeting? We've posted a new Quote Collection on discussions at this link:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/448.cfm

I Finally Drank the Koolaid! is award-winning teacher Bill Ferriter's funny account of resisting most professional development offerings in his district - until he saw the power of the teaming model. This might be a good article for a staff meeting that includes introducing or assessing the quality of the team meetings in your school:

http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radical/2007/09/i-fin ally-drank.html

If you're looking for examples of thoughtful conversations in classrooms to use in professional development settings, Franki Sibberson's DVD Workshop Kit "Writers in Transition" contains many lessons and writing assignments linking conversation and writer's craft. The kit includes 90 minutes of video and 40 pages of workshop suggestions and student work samples:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/products/item12.cfm

For Members Only

As a team leader in 6th grade, Katie Doherty found herself unsure of how to lead her colleagues into discussions with more of a curricular focus across subject areas. In this article, she shares a meeting template she has used successfully throughout the first month of school to foster more collaboration across subject areas, without offending her colleagues on the team:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/449.cfm

From Compliments to Craft is a video example of a writing share session in a 5th grade classroom. When Lesley Fowler's students moved from complimenting classmates in whole class discussions, to writing notes with specific comments on post-its, the conversations in the classroom were elevated in two ways. Students made many more connections between their writing and issues of craft discussed in minilessons, and writers left with specific feedback for improving their writing. The two-part video includes an example of a nonfiction share, and a debrief about the writing between Lesley, coach Jennifer Allen, and a team of teachers who observed:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/447.cfm

From the Choice Literacy Archives, "Mix It Up" by Ruth Shagoury shows how even the youngest learners can be taken step-by-step through the process of learning to confer with their peers:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/108.cfm

That's all for this week!