A couple days ago I was dropping off some business mail at the post office in my small town. Val, the postal clerk, noted it was a chore my coworker Shelly usually does. She smiled and exclaimed, "Oh that Shelly, she loves her job!" Another postal worker a few feet away looked up from the mountain of packages she was sorting and said, "It's true! She's happy every time she comes in."

Their words made my day, and I still smile when I think of them. Here's the thing - I dislike most of the tasks that fill Shelly's days, which is why I hired her. Everything Shelly does gracefully - from compiling databases to assisting a member with a lost password - is work I don't do well. These are the tasks that are drudgery to me, that I lack the basic skills for, or that are too routine to be interesting any more.

The postal clerks reminded me that every task we avoid might be part of a dream job for someone else. Some of the most important work any literacy leader does is delegating work to others. I used to do a horrible job delegating tasks to others, in part because I felt guilty about passing off chores I didn't enjoy.

I realized I had the wrong outlook. If delegating is about dumping tasks we don't like on others because we have some authority to do so, then sure - it's not something to be proud of. I've come to see delegation differently - half the job of delegating is knowing what tasks need to be passed on, and the other half is finding the person who would learn from the work and enjoy it. We help others love their jobs when we regularly give them responsibilities that are a step up in some way, a new challenge that will lead to professional or personal growth.

Any job, no matter how dreary it appears at first glance, can provide fulfillment to someone. I was reading a study recently where the researchers surveyed people from all walks of life, to see who perceived their work as having the most meaning and value. Right near the top of the survey in job satisfaction was a hospital cleaning crew. Spending your days and nights mopping up the blood, bile, and excrement of others doesn't sound like much of a dream job, does it? Yet when interviewed, the workers talked about how satisfying it was to provide a clean environment and cheerful outlook to the sick and dying. When you look at their work in those terms, it's no wonder they valued their contributions so highly.

One thing I notice when I visit schools is that literacy leaders are rarely alone. There is almost always an apprentice in the mix, whether the literacy leader is shepherding teachers to observations or hosting a meeting. Colleagues are continually being groomed to lead a study group or mentoring program. When you ask the right person to take on a new task, they are often delighted at the opportunity, especially when you are there every step of the way coaching them through it. Any job over time starts getting a little stale. Who doesn't appreciate the chance to try something different that might lead to new learning?

I bet when you catalog all the tasks you're required to do, there are at least a few you might pass along. Is there anyone in your school community (colleague, parent, or student) who is ready for the next step? Delegate well, and you'll be helping others love their jobs. And you might be helping yourself fall in love with your job all over again.

This week we've got a range of new offerings, from a program to promote more civility among students, to ideas for sparking more revision in writer's workshop, to tips on writing report card comments. Enjoy!

Brenda Power

Editor, Choice Literacy

www.choiceliteracy.com

Free for All

Are we moving into report card season already? From the Choice Literacy Archives, some tips on streamlining the process and avoiding cookie-cutter comments about students:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/182.cfm

What do the upcoming cold/flu and literacy conference seasons have in common? They both send administrators scrambling to find substitutes who can ably tackle full days in classrooms with unknown students. Guest Teacher Handbooks are a wonderful way to make the day go more smoothly for substitute teachers. At this time of year, they are also a terrific literacy project for students. The class collaborates on this written document that substitute teachers or classroom volunteers can use to understand the normal class routines. This article from the Responsive Classrooms website gives detailed instruction on how to create one of these handbooks within a class, and then spread the expectation for Guest Handbooks in every classroom throughout the school:

http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/newsletter/17_3NL_2.asp

From Rethinking Schools, the "Use Another Word" program created at a high school in Springfield, Oregon helped students and faculty decrease racist, discriminatory, and foul language, and led to far fewer detentions and fights in the school over time. But the program wasn't initially embraced by a majority of students. Nancy Meltzoff's honest account of the creation of the program, and student leaders' role in ensuring its success, is inspiring:

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/21_03/word213.shtml

Choice Literacy Contributor Jan Miller Burkins is editing a new collection of tools and resources for literacy coaches, and she welcomes your submissions. The collection will be published by the International Reading Association in late 2008. To view a description of the project and the call for submissions, visit this link:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/461.cfm

Registration is open for the Choice Literacy January coaching and assessment workshops in Clearwater, Florida. These will be our only workshop offerings this winter - details are available at this link:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/454.cfm

For Members Only

Principal Karen Szymusiak finds meaty curriculum conversations in her school begin with thoughtful questions. In "The Conversations Inspired by the Questions We Ask," her colleagues are using reflective prompts to examine and refine their reading workshops with students:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/457.cfm

In "Revision: It's in the Bag," Franki Sibberson explains how she designed bags of revision tools for students in her writing workshop, and why they are so popular. The feature includes video of some of the tools as she introduces them to students:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/460.cfm

Teachers in many schools have finished their fall assessments, and now face the daunting task of matching curriculum to the needs revealed in the assessments. Where to begin? Maybe with a curriculum mapping meeting. In this video from the Choice Literacy Archives, Jennifer Allen takes a new teacher group through the process of analyzing individual student assessments, and then planning individual, whole class, and small group instruction. The feature includes sample planning templates:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/178.cfm

That's all for this week!