The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
April 4, 2009
Why We Love Lists
Jen Allen often talks about her love of lists when we do workshops
together. How fanatical is she about her detailed lists? If Jen
accomplishes something worthwhile she forgot to include on her
daily to-do list, she'll add the item and immediately cross it off.
Everyone in the room chuckles and nods, because we've all done the
same thing.
When my friend Ruth is having trouble sleeping, she'll get up in
the middle of the night and make a list of things she needs to get
done the next day. I've tried this, and it's much better than
counting sheep for emptying the mind and getting some rest.
There's just something about being able to fit tasks on a page, and
then tick them off one by one, that makes anyone feel more
productive and on top of their work.
We're list-crazy in education - 7 Habits, 6 Traits, Daily 5, 4
Blocks - we can rattle off all the elements of our favorites,
quickly sizing up our classrooms and lives against the numbers.
One of the reasons the list "Unlucky Arithmetic: Thirteen Ways to
Produce a Nonreader" by Dean Schneider and Robin Smith has become
a classic among many educators is because it tweaks our passion for
lists. Published by the Horn Book, it's a tongue-in-cheek catalog
of all the things parents and teachers can do to ensure children
never develop a love of reading.
This week, S. Rebecca Leigh pays tribute to the original unlucky
arithmetic with lists for producing "non-writers" and
"non-artists." These short pieces would be provocative reads for a
study group or staff meeting.
We've also got some spring cleaning video to help you clear out the
clutter that's accumulated over the year, plus more as always -
enjoy!
Brenda Power
Editor, Choice Literacy
Free for All
"Unlucky Arithmetic" by S. Rebecca Leigh is a fun way to size up
the messages we send students about reading, writing, and drawing,
and how these may influence lifelong literacy habits:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/863.cfm
The original "Unlucky Arithmetic" list of 13 strategies for
producing nonreaders is available at this link:
http://www.hbook.com/pdf/articles/13ways.pdf
Many teachers get a yen this time of year to clear out some of the
clutter in their classrooms. From the Choice Literacy Archives,
"The Sisters" (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) help second-year
teacher Carrie tackle the heaps of materials that have accumulated
above her storage closet in this time-lapse video:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/867.cfm
If the number of administrative meetings scheduled at your school
is out of control, maybe it's time for some tough love. Seth Godin
in his business blog has a list of nine unorthodox strategies for
reducing time spent in meetings and making them more productive:
http://tinyurl.com/dmbdde
We've posted our full slate of Choice Literacy Workshop summer and
fall events, including new offerings on middle school reading
instruction,word work, nonfiction in the intermediate grades, and
dealing with assessment data. These new topics are in addition to
our popular offerings from last year on CAFE assessment, struggling
readers, literacy coaching, and the literacy principal in action:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/department22.cfm
Workshops Update: The CAFE in the Classroom Workshop is now SOLD
OUT at the Portland, Oregon and Columbus, Ohio locations. Space
remains at the San Antonio, Texas; Portland, Maine; and Tacoma,
Washington sites. You can access registration forms for the open
locations at this link:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/600.cfm
For Members Only
Community service projects are becoming more popular in schools,
and the need has never been greater. Franki Sibberson thinks
through how teachers can help students take more responsibility for
and ownership of service projects. One way is to use children's
literature to spark discussions about helping others, and this
article includes a booklist of read-alouds with a service focus:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/865.cfm
If you have a goal of fostering more thoughtful discussions among
colleagues, you might want to try Karen Szymusiak's Literacy Chats
format. The monthly meetings among teachers, specialists and
administrators encourage informal discussions of curriculum all day
long. The guidelines include a video example of a grades 3-5
literacy chat:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/866.cfm
We've posted a new Choice Literacy Cluster on Learning from Our
Reading Lives, with contributions from Rina Moog, Ellin Keene,
Kathy Collins, and Franki Sibberson:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/864.cfm
Finally, if you missed the announcement last week, we've started a
new Clusters Department so members can browse all of them in one
spot. The department link is available below, as well as in
righthand margin of the homepage:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/department71.cfm
That's all for this week!
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