This week as I was skimming through the new postings, looking for a theme for this lead article, I noticed a topic that came up in two different articles. Farts. What are the chances, especially in a newsletter for literacy leaders?

Maybe the topic popped up because we are coming out of Halloween week, and that weird sugar/chainsaw vibe it evokes. More likely it's due to the surge of new interest in boys' literacy. If you let students, especially boys, choose any topic that engages them at the moment, you're bound to face a bit of blood, guts, & gas in your writing workshops.

I hesitate to bring up topics like boys' literacy in the newsletter, because whatever I write is sure to offend someone. There are many researchers and teachers who believe we are at a crisis point with boys and literacy achievement. On the other side of the fence you have people who agree with Nancie Atwell, who writes in her new book The Reading Zone:

I read the essays, articles, and books about the boy crisis, and I shake my head. Who are these boys? I cannot recognize a single one of the guys I teach in the stereotypes. And I teach guys.

Nancie Atwell, The Reading Zone p. 95 (Scholastic, 2007)

What's your opinion about boys' literacy and school support for it? Crisis? Much ado about not much? No matter what I believe, what I write is sure to offend someone reading these words. My best hope is to come up with something that doesn't offend everyone. Yet the more I think about it, the more sense it makes for the newsletter and some of the postings on the site to stir things up a bit.

Parker Palmer, the author of The Courage to Teach, writes about the importance of "third things" for learners in any community - writing, ideas, or art that comes from outside ourselves and our colleagues to spark new ways of looking at old problems. Whether it's a poem, a short essay, or a painting, an outside perspective is often the perfect way in to discussions of topics that we may disagree about vehemently.

I hope this week's postings that mention the unmentionable can be useful "third things" for you and your colleagues as you grapple with the issue of boys and literacy, as well as the pop culture sludge (male and female varieties) that is always oozing under the school's doors and into our classrooms.

We aren't going to agree completely in our communities about how to balance good taste and choice in literacy workshops - but a spirited, friendly chat among colleagues can help all of us work through tough issues together. Enjoy!

Brenda Power

Editor, Choice Literacy

www.choiceliteracy.com

Free for All

From the Choice Literacy Archives, "Up Gross and Personal: Dealing with Dicey Topics in Writing Workshops" provides examples from classrooms at different grade levels of what a range of teachers accept and won't accept as topics in writing workshops. It's a good article to use as a springboard for a discussion of school and community norms:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/173.cfm

Guys Read is the website founded by Jon Scieszka, acclaimed author and former elementary teacher. The site has terrific resources for educators, parents, and students, and is easy to navigate. This link takes you to guys' picks of favorite books at different grade levels:

http://www.guysread.com/picks_guys_young.html

The issue of choice in writing workshops only gets trickier as you move up through the grades. The Annenberg Foundation's video professional development programs are always worth a look, but their middle school writing cycle authored by Linda Rief is especially strong. Annenberg has the best deal on the web for professional development - you can download or watch the videos for free with satellite feeds, and the print resources are also complimentary and available on-demand:

http://www.learner.org/channel/workshops/middlewriting/

The new Choice Literacy Video Sampler has over an hour of excerpts from this year's DVDs - everything from a room tour with the Sisters, to a classroom coaching session with Jennifer Allen, to the launch of a revision unit with Franki Sibberson. Priced at only $59 for members, $79 for nonmembers:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/products/item16.cfm

For Members Only

"To Fart or Not to Fart?" was the question at the first meeting of Jennifer Allen's boys' literacy study group for teachers, and what followed was a rollicking discussion of writing, taste, and books that hook boys. Jen will focus her writing on organizing and coordinating study groups all year long at Choice Literacy, sharing recommended resources, agendas, and snapshots from a range of study group offerings:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/476.cfm

We've posted Part II of The Sister's design photo essay on tight spaces. This week's tips cover walls and creative storage:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/477.cfm

Jennifer Jones finds she is still learning on the job as a literacy coach, especially when it comes to building relationships through collaborative teaching. In "How I Flunked Literacy Leadership 101," she shares a breakdown in communication with a colleague, and how she is working to rebuild the relationship:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/478.cfm

That's all for this week!