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May 23, 2009
Lone Wolves
A couple months ago a literacy coach sent me a question, "What do
you do about a teacher who refuses to collaborate with her peers?"
Frustrated, she went on to catalog all the things the teacher won't
do - follow the grade-level curriculum, participate in team
meetings, use the required assessment instruments. . .
A lone wolf. Every staff has at least one, and in an age when
it's
essential that we work together around shared beliefs and
practices, allowing a colleague to go off continually on her own
can have maddening consequences for everyone else.
There aren't any easy answers for dealing with lone wolves, so I
did what I always do in these situations - I asked some of my
friends for advice. They provided many perspectives as
teachers,
administrators, and literacy coaches. Reading their
responses, I
realized something startling - I've been a lone wolf a time or two
in my life, when I've found a need to separate from the herd I was
running with to preserve the quality of my work, or even my sanity
as a mandate I couldn't agree with was passed down from on high.
When you read about the behaviors of actual lone wolves in the
wild, the portrait is complicated. Some are older animals who
are
driven from the pack for a variety of reasons, but many are young
(typically one to two years old), seeking out new territories. Lone
wolves may eventually rejoin their original pack or find an opening
in a new one, and they can play an important role in stimulating
and diversifying the wolf population. And yet. . .
We all know that co-worker who will insist on saying the sky is
green just because we've all agreed it's blue, whose ego is rooted
in always setting themselves a bit above and away from the group,
who doesn't believe any of the rules of timelines and curricula and
assessments should apply to them. How can we celebrate some
diversity in teaching plans and differences in social styles, yet
still have solid shared standards and civility? Those colleagues
who "don't quite fit" may have an important role to play in
stimulating new ways of looking at old problems. Or they might
just be undermining in their own quiet way every reform being
attempted in the building.
This week we've posted advice on ways to deal with those lone
wolf
colleagues, as well as the final installment in our month-long
series on summer reading suggestions from some of your favorite
literacy experts. Plus more as always - enjoy!
Brenda Power
Editor, Choice Literacy
Free for All
Every staff has a "lone wolf," or that other favorite phrase - a
teacher who "isn't a team player." A new Literacy Coach
Confidential takes on the challenge of figuring out how to work
with them:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/899.cfm
We continue our month-long series of suggestions from some of your
favorite literacy educators for fun summer reading. This
week, we
feature picks from Kevin Hodgson, Karen Terlecky, Louise
Borden,
Mary Lee Hahn, and Katie DiCesare:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/900.cfm
The delightful video "Give a Squirrel a Helping Hand" has gone
viral in a big way, because it has such great lessons for mentoring
in any profession. A mama and baby squirrel are trying to
scale a
wall, and the baby is struggling. This is a terrific video
for use
in staff or mentor meetings for talking through what kinds of
scaffolds are most helpful for young learners. Students would
enjoy it too:
Kim Cofino's Always Learning blog (which is always terrific)
features some intriguing ideas this week for rethinking the uses
and design of school libraries. There are fun photos included
that
could spark lively discussions among teachers about what the
library is for:
http://mscofino.edublogs.org/2009/05/17/something-different/
Literacy Coach Jumpstart is our one-day summer workshop for
literacy coaches with sessions in Oregon and Maine. The
fast-paced
session with Jennifer Allen includes tips on mentoring new
teachers, designing study groups, focusing classroom observations,
and leading whole staff literacy initiatives. All participants
receive a copy of the Layered Coaching DVD for review and use in
workshops back home:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/383.cfm
For Members Only
One of the simple pleasures teachers have at the end of the year is
sorting through books on shelves and in baskets, thinking through
moments when students were enjoying the library. This week we
have
two features that may give you ideas for how to reorganize your
library space for next year.
Katie DiCesare remembers books that were fought over among the boys
in her first-grade classroom, and this leads to creating a new basket
for the fall on cars and trucks. She shares a booklist of fun
titles in the basket:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/901.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 Part II of their 5th grade classroom tour,
concentrating on the library "den" and cozy book displays:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/759.cfm
Franki Sibberson sets out to help some 5th graders prepare for
summer reading, and in the process discovers new ways technology
can expand and enrich how students preview books:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/898.cfm
Finally, from the Choice Literacy Archives, if mid-May always finds
you short on time and rushing from one activity to the next, you'll
enjoy our Resource Round-Up of Tips for Saving Time:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/613.cfm
That's all for this week!
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