The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
February 14, 2009
Before the Happy Ending
Are you a fan of the Academy Awards? I love movies and a good
competition, which is probably why I become a little obsessed with
the Oscars this time of year. Truth be told, it's not uncommon for
me to sneak out of work a little early on Fridays just before the
big event for matinee viewings of the top contenders.
That's where you would have found me last week, in a quiet
afternoon showing of Slumdog Millionaire. A favorite for the Best
Picture award, my sense of the plot was sketchy from promos and
reviews - a young man from the slums of India competes on a game
show and appears to get the girl in the end (based on the photo on
all the posters). The reviewers all seemed to be signaling a good
time, with phrases like "Entertaining!" "Exhilarating!" and "The
Feel-Good Movie of the Year!" The Boston Globe promised, "You may
even feel like dancing in the aisles yourself!"
The reviews and all those exclamation points swirled in my head as
the story unfolded, and I became more confused and disoriented.
The film is grim, and often relentlessly violent. It became harder
and harder for me to reconcile what I was seeing on the screen with
the reviews I'd read. Exhilarating? Feel Good? Watching a young
boy have his eyes burned and gouged out; seeing a mother clubbed to
death in front of her children...those are images that made me feel
something. Just not good.
Don't get me wrong - Slumdog Millionaire is an extraordinary movie,
and the one I'll be rooting for to win it all. I'm now fascinated
by the city of Mumbai, and have done some background reading on the
remarkable child actors in the film. I realize now my expectations
were off because the reviewers in their praise emphasized the
ending of the film, glossing over the mood and details in the
beginning and middle.
Literacy leaders are expected to "sell" a new curriculum, routine,
or assessment system to colleagues, and we often do so with
enthusiasm. Usually this enthusiasm couldn't be more genuine,
because we've read about the results of the innovation elsewhere,
or seen a terrific presentation at a conference. But those happy
endings rarely acknowledge the hard work of change. How do we
honestly present how tough (sometimes brutally difficult) it will
be to get an innovation in place?
We can't know when we make a curriculum modification what
challenges will emerge, but leaders can remind us we've been down
the road of change before. If you look at the greatest improvement
in curriculum you've accomplished in the past year or decade in
your classroom or school, you probably faced some incredible
hurdles. How did you get enough books when you moved to strategy
instruction? How did you deal with the teachers who didn't want to
try writer's workshop? The most enduring reforms never come
without conflict.
Those movies that make you feel good from start to finish are fun,
but they rarely stick in your mind over time. Literacy leaders
spend a lot of time saying, "Remember, we've been through something
like this before when we tried X. Here's why it was a struggle
then, and how we got over it...." We don't promise happy endings
with every innovation, but we are always gently reminding ourselves
and colleagues that we've been through as bad or worse before on
the road to better teaching, and came out stronger in the end.
This week, we've got lots of features on using picture books, and
not just with young children. Plus more as always - enjoy!
Brenda Power
Editor, Choice Literacy
Free for All
Franki Sibberson thinks through the many skills readers practice
while reading wordless picture books, and then creates a booklist
of favorite wordless picture books for teaching these skills:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/816.cfm
From the Choice Literacy Archives, Shari Frost found literacy
coaches and teachers had many different strategies for teaching
with the wordless book Flotsam with kindergarten through sixth
grade students:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/335.cfm
T.H.E. Journal on technology in education recently posted the Top
10 Web 2.0 Tools for Young Learners:
http://www.thejournal.com/articles/23898_1
Here's a wonderful example of how blogs can be a tool for
thoughtful conversations among educators. Jen Robinson asks the
question, "How can we encourage more reading aloud among families
at home?" She pulls together a wealth of resources on the web to
jumpstart the discussion, and readers from across the web
contribute many terrific suggestions in the comments:
http://tinyurl.com/cllslh
Registration for Choice Literacy Summer Workshops in Portland,
Oregon on June 29th and 30th is now open. Presenters include
Jennifer Allen, Andie Cunningham, Katie Doherty, Ruth Shagoury,
Franki Sibberson, and "The Sisters" (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser).
We've added new workshops this year on teaching reading in middle
schools and word learning:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/825.cfm
For Members Only
[Not yet a paid member? Click to learn more about our members-only content.]
Katie Doherty continues her video series this week on using
picture books to teach inferring to middle schoolers. In Part 2,
partners share their inferences after read aloud as Katie
circulates among the students. If you missed the start of the
series last week, we've included a catch-up link:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/811.cfm
If you teach in the primary grades, Big Books are a wonderful
resource. But if your funds are limited, you may not have as many
on hand as you'd like. Katie DiCesare goes on the hunt for
picture books that can work as shared reading texts, and finds many
that are alternatives to Big Books:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/830.cfm
Finally, we've posted a new Choice Literacy Cluster on Better
Meetings featuring Jennifer Allen, Gail Boushey, Clare Landrigan,
and Tammy Mulligan:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/821.cfm
That's all for this week!
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Jennifer Allen
