Years ago I forced myself to visit a financial planner, because I knew financial planning wasn't my strength. I saw the visit as similar to going to the dentist for a root canal - not a service I could perform myself, and certainly something I didn't look forward to. I told Mike the first time we met, "I'm not really sure why I'm here, because I love to work so I can't ever imagine retiring." His reply: "Financial planning isn't really about retiring. It's about making your dreams come true."

Within five minutes of our first talk, I realized there was one dream financial planning could help my family achieve - getting a house on the water someday. Two years later, we bought our little dream house on the lake, where we live to this day. (Okay, it's lucky that the dream vision included a leaky roof, no garage, and no storage space...but we still marvel at our good fortune!)

Those first few minutes with the financial planner changed the way I view my work with teachers. When I first meet with any teachers, I now try to find a way to ask, "So how can I help make your dreams come true in your classroom?" Those may not be the exact words I use, but the impulse is always the same - to bring educators back to their hopes and dreams, and build a partnership from there.

Instead of seeing literacy leadership as helping children meet state standards or raising the quality of reading instruction in schools or coaching to raise achievement scores, what would happen if we defined our job as helping others make their professional dreams come true? None of us became teachers because we thought it could make us rich. We teach because we started with inspiring visions of kids, books, and learning in classrooms, and saw ourselves in the thick of it.

Ask a teacher to explain her dream vision of working with children, or his ultimate goal in teaching reading and writing, and you've got a starting point for a truly fulfilling relationship with that teacher. In the end, everything else (from standards to quality teaching) can flow from that initial inspiration. If some colleagues view a visit from you with as much eagerness as a trip to the dentist or a fun-filled afternoon balancing the checkbook, then maybe "How can I help make your dreams come true in your classroom?" might be a way to begin to change the terms of your relationship.

Speaking of finances, we've got a unit on economics built around children's books. Plus a middle school library makeover, and more as always. Enjoy!

Brenda Power

Editor, Choice Literacy

www.choiceliteracy.com

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"Teaching Economics Through Children's Literature" by Mandy Robek includes a brief description of how to use mentor texts to teach economic concepts, as well as a booklist and sample activities:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/571.cfm

Rutgers University hosts an excellent website for linking literacy and economics education, EconKids. Resources available include a new children's book of the month, "Top 5" lists of books linked to concepts, and examples of how to integrate literacy and content standards:

http://tinyurl.com/363gp2
If you're a literacy coach in the process of defining your job or responsibilities, Jennifer Allen's Layered Coaching DVD workshop kit has tools that can help you. The kit includes 95 minutes of video footage from classroom observations, debriefs, study groups, and curriculum mapping. The CD workshop guide includes 54 full-color pages of templates, guiding questions, and supplemental readings. You can preview footage from the DVD at this link:

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

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Franki Sibberson reflects on her nonfiction writing unit, and realizes she emphasizes research skills at the expense of the craft of nonfiction writing. She explains how she revamps the unit to help students focus more on writer's craft in nonfiction texts, including some new mentor texts and different ways of using writer's notebooks:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/570.cfm

One of the skills students need as they craft nonfiction narratives is the ability to construct paragraphs with strong supporting details. Aimee Buckner leads a short small-group lesson on crafting paragraphs, using a nonfiction mentor text as a model, in this six-minute video:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/564.cfm

We're expanding our offerings at Choice Literacy for middle school teachers throughout this spring and summer. This week we begin a new two-part video series with The Sisters as they tackle the redesign of a middle school library. The first portion of the video features a discussion with the principal and librarian of their dreams for the library. In the second section of the video, Joan and Gail work with middle school students to create a "cozy area" for reading and browsing:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/572.cfm

More from our popular teaching metaphors series - Ruth Shagoury considers her struggles with "beginner's mind" in yoga and mountain biking, and what they can both teach her about students who are struggling with any new learning:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/568.cfm

That's all for this week!