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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