The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
June 27, 2009
In the Beginning
Editor's Note:
The newsletter is on its annual two-week summer hiatus while our tiny
staff races around the country for our June and July
workshops. While we are on break, I thought you might enjoy a
peek at the very first issue of The Big Fresh, from August
2006. There were 88 subscribers when we launched (amazing how
many people will sign up for a nonexistent publication!). At
the time, 88 seemed like a huge and scary number of strangers I might
disappoint. My hands were actually shaking when I clicked on
the "send" button. I was sure I was doing something wrong -
and I was! None of the links were formatted correctly.
The links are fixed now, and I have to confess my hands still shake a
little each week when I send the newsletter out to our subscribers, now
30,000 strong. But after three years, I realize subscribers
aren't strangers - after hearing from so many of you over the years, I
now know most of you are friends I just haven't had the pleasure of
meeting yet. I don't think the advice about "moodling" in this issue is
dated - if anything, we need summer moodling now more than ever in our
instant response and wired world. Thanks for putting up with the
glitches along the way.
Brenda Power
Summer Idleness
Are you a quote collector? I'm always on the hunt for those "just
right" words from others that capture what I am struggling to put into
words.
For example, one of the things I love about summer is the chance to
reflect on what I've learned from the previous school year and think
through what I might want to do differently once fall arrives. But the
reflections I enjoy the most don't involve any sort of careful,
systematic analysis, and they rarely feel like work at all. It's easy
to feel guilty about the pull toward do-nothingness mind wandering so
common in summer.
That's why I was delighted to discover some quotes from Brenda Ueland
(b. 1891--d. 1985), a prolific writer and activist. Her thoughts on
leisure and inspiration are just right for justifying a slower pace:
I learned ... that inspiration does not come like a bolt, nor is it
kinetic, energetic striving, but it comes into us slowly and quietly
and all the time, though we must regularly and every day give it a
little chance to start flowing, prime it with a little solitude and
idleness ...
Ueland invents a new term for this special type of idleness:
So you see, imagination needs moodling--long, inefficient, happy
idling, dawdling and puttering ...
She even has a snarky rejoinder for those who are always using their
time efficiently:
These people who are always briskly doing something and as
busy as waltzing mice, they have little, sharp, staccato ideas, such
as: "I see where I can make an annual cut of $3.47 in my meat budget."
But they have no slow, big ideas ...
So if you're planning on a relaxed, indulgent summer, take heart. You
aren't being lazy--you'll probably soon be immersed in all sorts of
important moodling. And you can't moodle well if you aren't willing to
trade in your staccato heels for a pair of flip-flops this time of
year. Here's to the slow, big ideas that come from the long, lazy
summer days.
Brenda Power
Editor, Choice Literacy
Free for All
There's still time to launch your writer's notebook, if that item is at
the top of your "To Do" list this summer. Notebook Faker
Extraordinaire Aimee Bucker writes about how she managed after years of
false starts to build the writer's notebook habit one summer not long
ago:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/98.cfm
Ellin Keene always gets to the heart of what matters most in teaching
reading - our own reading habits, awareness, and ability to express
that understanding to students. An excerpt from her audio
interview is here:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/126.cfm
For Members Only
Looking for more help before you break in your own writer's notebook or
teaching journal? This short article is packed with tips and
an annotated bibliography of the best books of advice from writers
about starting a journal:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/134.cfm
Franki Sibberson begins planning her first mini-lessons for
reader's workshop, and finds her own reading life this summer provides
all the fodder she needs for launching conversations with students:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/138.cfm
Jennifer Allen realizes how much we miss if we wait till the start of
the school year to begin mentoring colleagues. When she helps
new teacher Jess deal with nightmares about the first day of school,
she discovers some big themes they will be mulling together all year
long:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/131.cfm
What endures from your own history as a literacy learner?
Seems like summer is the time when some of that history bubbles
up. Shirley McPhillips remembers a day decades ago when her
junior high teacher tapped some true passion to revamp the English
curriculum:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/85.cfm
Doug Fleming's list of ten principles for making mentoring partnerships
work is an excellent tool for sparking discussions at orientation
meetings:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/133.cfm
Have you ever experienced the strange phenomenon of colleagues who show
up for book study groups and gab away, even though they haven't read
the text? You may be a victim of "bullcrit" - the willingness
of some people to critique movies they haven't seen, music they haven't
heard, and books they haven't read. If you are dreading the
thought of having to confront a colleague about professional reading, a
new Literacy Coach Confidential has advice on how to deal with those
bullcritters:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/135.cfm
If you are a quote fanatic, you'll enjoy this eGuide of perfect quotes
for reflection in study groups, meetings with mentors, and literacy
coaching:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/119.cfm
Happy Moodling!
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Jennifer Allen
