This week my five-year-old nephew Max was demonstrating his latest karate moves to me - double roundhouse kicks. I complimented him, and then mentioned it was great he had his older brother Michael to play karate with anytime he wanted. Max looked a bit insulted, and replied, "Aunt Brenda, we don't PLAY karate. We DO karate."

Max knows the difference between playing and doing - though he loves karate more than anything, he knows the "doing" of karate has involved over two years of lessons. It's much more formal and systematic than the 30 foot long blue worm they were constructing in the basement from plastic for fun, or the club they were setting up for their new treehouse this week.

As I thought about what Max said, I realized how little time there is for adults in schools to play with new ideas and possibilities for their classrooms. Almost everything is "doing" - putting in place new systems, and programs, with targets and measures.

Have you made any time this year for professional play? To finally bring in that digital camera and play with snapping shots of students or colleagues at work, with no agenda for what you'll do with the photos other than enjoy them? Is there something you've always wanted to try, whether it's Poetry Friday or a regular nature walk with kids, that is open-ended enough to qualify as play? As artist Lucia Capocchione writes, "Play keeps us vital and alive. It gives us an enthusiasm for life that is irreplaceable. Without it, life just doesn't taste good." Amidst all the professional doing we're all so good at, I hope you make time for a little professional play - learning something or trying something with no goal or agenda other than having fun in the process.

This week, we've got an interview with Debbie Miller about her new book, plus more as always. Enjoy!

Brenda Power

Editor, Choice Literacy

www.choiceliteracy.com

Free for All

Debbie Miller's new book, Teaching with Intention, lands in stores this week. In this interview, she talks about how the book is different from Reading with Meaning, as well as the importance of slowing down early in the year and staying true to what we believe:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/672.cfm

Stenhouse Publishers has posted the entire text of Teaching with Intention online for preview - it's a wonderful way to check out the book before purchasing:

http://tinyurl.com/5b33ss

Bookwink is a terrific web resource with video previews of children's books and young adult literature. It's great for kids who are visual learners and need a little more background information for understanding books (as well as teachers who need some quick information on new titles):

http://bookwink.com/wink_about_us.html

Looking for an energizing literacy leadership break this fall? Registration for our Fall Workshops on October 18-20 in Rockland, Maine is now open. We hold these events at the beautiful Samoset Resort, right on the ocean. Featured presenters include Jennifer Allen (Literacy Coaching), Aimee Buckner (Mentor Texts), The Sisters (Daily 5 and CAFE Assessment), Franki Sibberson (Struggling Readers), and Karen Szymusiak (Literacy Principal). All events are small, with limited enrollments to allow participants plenty of time to question and chat with the presenters:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/department22.cfm

For Members Only

"The Sisters" (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) share some of their principles for conferring with students, including having a clear focus on individual goals:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/673.cfm

This week's video is from Karen Szymusiak - it's Part II of her assessment conference with Ana. In this week's installment, Karen shares her insights with Ana's teacher and they talk about next steps:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/675.cfm

Finally, from the Choice Literacy Archives, Barbara Coleman finds classroom tours build community and collaboration among colleagues. She shares how to include a room tour partner activity as part of a faculty meeting early in the year:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/402.cfm

That's all for this week!

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