The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
May 16, 2009
Perfectly Persistent
There's no such thing as the perfect lesson, the perfect
day in school,or the
perfect teacher. For teachers and students
alike, the goal is not
perfection but persistence in the pursuit
of understanding things.
Carol Ann Tomlinson and Jay McTighe
Clare Landrigan shared this quote with me a few days ago, as
we
viewed videos of demonstration lessons featuring Clare and her
teaching partner Tammy Mulligan. We were trying to figure out
what
Clare and Tammy could say to get at the heart of what learning with
colleagues is all about. "It's my new favorite
quote," Clare
explained. "It captures what we're trying to do in
demonstrations
- not exhibit any kind of perfection in how we teach or children
learn, but to build persistence with colleagues in trying to
improve practice and understand learners."
It's also an apt quote for judging the quality of the year you're
finishing in your classroom or school. You weren't perfect -
that's a given. But were you persistent? Did you
push yourself
and your students when the learning was really hard, and the
obstacles daunting?
This week we've posted some resources for closure activities that
celebrate those moments of persistence and patience, as well
as
the third installment in our series on summer reading suggestions
from some of your favorite literacy experts. Enjoy!
Brenda Power
Editor, Choice Literacy
Free for All
We continue our new month-long series with suggestions from some of
your favorite literacy educators for fun summer reading. This
week, we feature picks from Karen Szymusiak, Jim Burke, Ruth
Shagoury, Kylene Beers, and Katie Wood Ray:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/893.cfm
From the Choice Literacy Archives, two quick closure activities
with templates to help you finish out the last study groups and
meetings with colleagues on a high note:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/342.cfm
Looking for some new audio for learning this summer? The
Education
Podcast Network has hundreds of podcasts available for free
download, helpfully organized by topics and grade levels:
http://www.epnweb.org/index.php?openpod=4#7
Keith Schoch's Teaching with Picture Books blog has posted two
wonderful entries on baseball-themed children's books. If
you've
got a baseball fanatic or two in your classroom, you'll enjoy the
links to history, science, statistics, and biography. The
boy-centered post is at this link:
http://tinyurl.com/o76va2
The post for "girls with dirt on their knees" is here. I had no
idea there were this many terrific picture books on girls playing
the game:
http://tinyurl.com/o6xoec
The Choice Literacy Summer Workshops are filling rapidly, with some
individual sessions already sold out. Openings remain for our 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. You can read
individual descriptions and download registration forms at this link:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/department22.cfm
CAFE Workshops Update: Tacoma, Washington; Portland, Oregon;
and
Columbus, Ohio locations are now sold old. Limited seating
remains
at the San Antonio and Portland, Maine locations. Registration
forms and details are available here:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/600.cfm
For Members
Only
Franki Sibberson's latest post in her Beyond Gadgets:
Technology
for Literacy Teachers series deals with something most of us do
every week, if not every day - search the web. This
month, Franki
looks at connections between using search engines and building
nonfiction reading skills through lessons and discussions with
students:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/896.cfm
There are so many wonderful options for study group topics and
texts to read with colleagues. Jennifer Allen shares her
choices
and schedule for 2009-2010, finding a "less is more" approach is
the best strategy for busy teachers:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/895.cfm
This week's video from the Choice Literacy Archives continues our
series of room tours to help you think about cleaning up and
re-organizing classrooms for next year. The Sisters (Gail
Boushey
and Joan Moser) share ingenious strategies for storage and displays
from a 5th grade classroom. Part I of the video will be
presented
this week, and the conclusion of the tour will be shared next week.
There are terrific ideas in this tour for making use of old
suitcases, step ladders, and storage crates in attics:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/756.cfm
Our new Choice Literacy Cluster on Author Studies and Visits might
help you think through plans for author studies next year, as well
as make the most of visits by local authors. Contributors
include
Jennifer Jones, Gayle Brand, Katie DiCesare, and Franki SIbberson:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/894.cfm
That's all for this week!
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Jennifer Allen