Today I was reading Elizabeth Berg's new collection of short stories, The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted and Other Small Acts of Liberation In the lead story, the main character gets upset when two trim women show up to her morning Weight Watchers meeting, so she goes on an all-day eating adventure. At one point, as she is ranting about food and points and deprivation, she declares:

If you're one of those people who doesn't [ever deprive yourself], stop right here, you are not invited to the rest of this story.

I gasped and laughed at these words. You just don't do this in fiction. Characters shouldn't suddenly start talking to readers, and they certainly aren't allowed to uninvite all the skinny ones from finishing the rest of the story. Berg broke one of the most important rules in fiction writing, and when she did I went from being charmed by this character to falling in love with her.

I was thinking of rules earlier this week when a close friend phoned. She is thinking of starting her own business, and asked for some advice. A career change will be a good move for her, and it was one of those conversations where I wanted to say something to let her know I thought she was making a wise and wonderful decision, even though I know little about the business she is launching. I found myself telling her about something I did when I started Choice Literacy - I dipped into savings that I promised myself years ago I would never touch. It was the biggest personal financial rule I'd ever broken, and in retrospect it made all the difference for success the first year. "I'm not suggesting you do the same thing," I told her. "It might be a terrible mistake for you. But there's probably a big rule you're carrying around inside you, a sacred one, that you'll likely need to break if you want to rewrite your life by launching this business."

When you think about it, most of our time is spent either following the rules or trying to do a better job following the rules (whatever they are at that moment, in that particular situation). And our families and communities depend upon us living this way. We curse the idiot cruising down the breakdown lane on the hottest day of the summer while the rest of us are stopped and steaming in construction traffic. We stew about the jerk who shows up to the staff meeting a half hour late, and then spends the rest of it answering email on his laptop. We lost patience long ago with the princess three classroom doors down who can't be bothered to turn in her assessment data on the day it's due in the fall like the rest of us.

There's no civility, graciousness, or enjoyment of daily routines without some principles to guide us. We search for the right words and the right lessons to give at the right time so students will learn more. And out there somewhere is the perfect protocol - the right structure delivered with just the right tone so our grade-level team discussions can flourish.

Amidst all those collective rules, we've got our own personal codes. Some are so important they can't be scrawled on scraps of paper we tuck away in our minds...there are ones we've chiseled in stone, carrying the weight of them everywhere, just to remind ourselves of how much they represent who we are and what we believe.

And yet...breaking the right rule at the right time in the right way makes all the difference in overcoming a personal or professional logjam. When a rule is broken that needs to be broken, we dazzle ourselves, amazed at how much more is possible without that arbitrary edict that has been blocking us.

If you're stuck on a project or in a professional situation, there is likely a rule you need to break. The more stuck you are, the more likely it's a stone tablet, not a paper, rule. I can't begin to guess what the rule is for you, because we've all carved out different codes to get us through our days. I'm guessing it wouldn't be a rule that would cause your spouse to leave you or the IRS to audit you or your principal to fire you on the spot. Beyond that, it could be almost anything. And if you're a literacy leader, some days your biggest responsibility will be giving a colleague permission to break a rule. Not just any rule, but the one rule for that person, in that situation, that can make all the difference in solving the problem vexing them.

This week we've got a new booklist of children's literature for teaching phonics, plus more as always. Enjoy!

Brenda Power

Editor, Choice Literacy

www.choiceliteracy.com

Free for All

Shari Frost finds herself appalled at some of the "books" children are reading in the name of phonics instruction, so she sets out to create a booklist of high quality children's literature that do more than just help children sound out words. You can access a booklist of her top picks for phonics instruction here:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/651.cfm

If you're a fan of history and children's literature, treat yourself to "The Lion and the Mouse," the recent engrossing New Yorker essay about the epic battle between E.B. White and Anne Carroll Moore over the publication of Stuart Little that set the course for children's literature for decades:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/21/080721fa_fact_lepore/

From the Mailbag: A few subscribers wrote in after reading recent articles we posted on coaching cycles, wanting to know a bit more about the nuts and bolts of how these cycles work. Diane Sweeney, author of Learning Along the Way and former director of Denver's Public Education and Business Coalition, has numerous helpful resources at her "Spark Innovate" website which explain in detail how these cycles work. You can access the resources at this link:

http://www.sparkinnovate.com/resources.html

Aimee Buckner's new DVD, Mentor Texts, is now available for purchase. The DVD includes 90 minutes of footage from reading and writing workshops, demonstrating how mentor texts can anchor learning everything from writing techniques to reading strategies. Members receive a $30 discount for online purchases. You can view sample footage and a detailed description of the DVD at this link:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/products/item19.cfm

For Members Only

We've got another of Franki Sibberson's popular booklists - this one is on fairytales, and there are a range of reading levels and styles to support readers of different ability levels:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/642.cfm

This week's video from Karen Terlecky's 5th grade classroom features a whole-class lesson on ferreting out the main idea (or ideas) in nonfiction texts. Next week, we'll have a follow-up video showing how Karen reinforces the whole-class teaching in targeted small-group instruction:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/652.cfm

Erin Ocon finds it's hard to let go of her planning and perfectionism as she rewrites her goals for the summer. In "Lessons from My Summer Vacation," she discovers the process of changing her summer plans makes her rethink her classroom goals:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/645.cfm

That's all for this week!