The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
October 18, 2008
Charting Learning
Sometimes the best innovations are the simplest, and discovered by
accident. It started with a chart paper stand, carelessly left in
the teachers' work room after a study group meeting the previous
afternoon. Everyone had been brainstorming alternatives to weekly
spelling tests, and the leader had noted them on the chart for
reference the following week.
A teacher newly back from maternity leave, unable to attend the
optional study group meetings, spied the list the next morning when
she was grabbing a cup of coffee, and added a suggestion of her
own. Within a few hours, there were three more notes from others
with additional questions and ideas.
This was a school with a tight-knit staff, but not everyone could
attend the optional study group meetings. Besides the teacher with
the newborn, there were two others with serious constraints on
their time - one teacher was spending every moment outside the
school with her mom in hospice, and another was in the midst of
chemotherapy treatments. All had participated in the study group
in the past, and planned to return when circumstances changed.
Their group leader had struggled with finding ways to keep them
updated. From then on, the chart stand left in the work room after
study group meetings was no accident.
Each week the chart included one page of tips or ideas from the
group focused on a literacy topic, with extra post-its, a pen on a
string, and a note encouraging anyone to add more as they thought
of new ideas. Even teachers who attended the meeting liked having
a chance to revise or extend their suggestions, as well as to
reread the ideas and mull them over during the week.
Even required meetings usually have staff members who have missed
them because of illness, scheduling conflicts, and all the usual
stresses of life in the sandwich generation caring for children and
aging parents. One of the greatest challenges literacy leaders face
is keeping everyone in the community informed, especially those
facing extra constraints on their time.
Any collective list from a meeting can be shared in this simple way
to build community, but it helps if the topic is high interest with
a literacy focus, and lends itself to succinct ideas. At this
time of year, what about a brainstormed list of one favorite read
aloud each teacher has used this year? Or suggestions of ways to
organize notes and assessments from reading and writing workshops
for parent conferences?
It's mid-October, so almost any school is in various stages of
preparing for parent conferences, report cards, and testing. We've
got resources for all these needs, plus more as always. Enjoy!
Brenda Power
Editor, Choice Literacy
Free for All
In Warm-Ups for Wandering Minds, Jennifer Jones shares some quick
reading activities for helping students focus before diving in to
standardized tests:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/480.cfm
The trouble with writing report card comments is that there never
seems to be as much time as you'd like for drafting them. From the
Choice Literacy Archives, some advice on writing better report card
comments:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/186.cfm
Do you include students in your conferences with parents?
Responsive Classrooms has a short article on the web about the
benefits of three-way conferences, including practical tips for
preparing and structuring these conferences to get the most out of
them:
http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/newsletter/17_2nl_4.html
The Wild Rose Reader has some terrific Halloween picture book
read-aloud suggestions:
http://tinyurl.com/6as9xw
The Literacy Principal in Action is our new professional
development video featuring Karen Szymusiak. While Karen shares
her work as a principal, any literacy leader can learn from the
formats she uses for hosting grade-level team discussions of
challenging students, literacy chats across the school, and
mixed-aged student groups. There is a $30 discount for members,
and you can preview footage from the video at this link:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/products/item18.cfm
For Members Only
Recently there has been less interest in retelling of classic tales
by children's book authors - it may be the retelling craze has
waned a bit because of the focus in many classrooms on leveled
books. Franki Sibberson's new booklist highlights some of the best
new twists on favorite children's stories. There are lots of new
fun titles worth a browse:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/713.cfm
Aimee Buckner demonstrates how to teach rereading strategies during
class read-alouds in the second part of her two-part video series.
The featured text is Goblins in the Castle, a terrific read-aloud
for this time of year:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/719.cfm
Get the most of your one-on-one coaching conferences with these
suggestions from Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/717.cfm
The new Choice Literacy Cluster is on Reaching Struggling Readers.
It features contributions from Jennifer Allen, Andrea Smith, Karen
Terlecky, and Franki Sibberson:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/718.cfm
That's all for this week!
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About
Jennifer Allen
