One of the true tests of

leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an

emergency.               

Arnold

Glasgow

Last Friday I had a two-day break from our summer conferences, so early

morning found me at home doing laundry, packing, and introducing myself

again to my neglected husband.  I logged into the Choice

Literacy website, and noticed our credit card processor (Authorize.net)

was down.

I didn't think much of it - we use Authorize.net because it is one of

the largest and most reputable processors on the web.  I

thought it must be some sort of temporary glitch. I figured there was

no need to phone in and alert them, since thousands of the 250,000

merchants they serve had probably already called or emailed.

After another hour, I checked again - still no service.  At that

point, I went to their website for an update.  The website was

down.  Googled for a number to call, and discovered a flurry

of posts on different blogs and news sites about the problem. 

Apparently an electrical fire at their Seattle facility had knocked out

their credit card processing, email, website, all phones, and even

(ominously) their back-up servers.  Those of you in the

Northwest may have heard a bit about it, since the fire also disrupted

two television stations and Internet service providers housed in the

same complex.

No service, no email, no phone, no website, burned and flooded offices,

a holiday weekend, and 250,000 merchants across the country and world

frantic for updates about when service would be restored. 

What to do?  Authorize.net set up a Twitter account, and had

service reps fielding questions and posting updates every minute or

two, throughout the six-hour service outtage.  The questions

and responses would be of no interest to anyone who didn't have an

account with them, with lingo and acronyms only a web merchant could

understand.  But the updates reassured everyone that the

credit card processing service would be back up by noon Pacific

Standard Time (and it was), with website access to follow somewhat

later.

I never worried much about the outtage - we're a pretty small outfit

and it didn't affect access to our actual website.  I would

hope teachers who visit our site were turning off their computers and

enjoying the long 4th of July holiday with their families

anyway.  But I still marveled at the way this enormous

business with a huge, "this could bankrupt us" problem managed to

harness technology to communicate with its customers.  I

suspect some of those service reps were working from cellphones at

home, since this might have been their only way to connect to the web

and customers.

Let me say upfront this isn't a paean to the glories of

Twitter.  For those of you crawling out from under a two-foot

stack of end-of-year report cards and assessments who have never heard

of Twitter, it's a web-based social networking tool that only allows

you to post messages of 140 characters or less that update others on

your life anytime you like.  You "follow" people to receive

their updates, and they choose to follow you to receive

yours.  You never know if someone you follow is going to post

a link to the best education website you've ever seen, or let you know

what their dog ate for breakfast.

I'm trying to twitter (like I'm trying to exercise), which is to say

I'm not doing a good job of it.  I don't post enough, I'm

overwhelmed every time I go to Twitter and see all those unread

messages, mostly from people I don't know well.  Every time

someone signs up to "follow" me, I want to email back and say, "Please

don't.  My updates are boring and pathetic and sloppy and

rare."  But I never do, because I'm assuming that would be bad

Twitter etiquette.  (Plus I figure they will discover this

truth on their own soon enough.)

And yet. . .last week as I checked in to Twitter every 20 minutes or so

for my latest Authorize.net update, I saw the power of this technology

for school leaders, even if you never use a Twitter account as part of

your social networking.  Its value in an emergency isn't about

following Ashton and Demi, or even finding some useful curriculum

websites or provocative articles about teaching and learning to share

with colleagues.

At some point in the next five, ten, fifteen years, your school

community may face a sudden natural disaster - a fire, flood, blizzard,

or flu pandemic will strand students and staff, and leave school

leaders without access to the school website, phones, and other normal

channels of communication.  The problem with these disasters

is that everyone in your area usually faces them at the same

time.  Even if there is radio or television communication,

those avenues are swamped with updating everyone on everything at the

same time.  Let's not even think about the unnatural disasters

that can cut off a school from communication channels, and leave

parents desperate for updates about their children.  

Maybe every school needs an emergency Twitter account - it costs

nothing, takes all of two minutes to set up, and hopefully you will

never have to use it.  But if you do, all you need is a

cellphone with even the most primitive web connection, and you can post

updates to families and staff.  

 I hope your planning this time of year is mostly the fun

stuff, and has nothing to do with emergency preparedness. 

This is a great time of year for thinking through the authors and books

you will feature all year long in classrooms.  We've posted

some resources to help you do that planning, plus more as always.  Enjoy!

Brenda Power

Editor, Choice Literacy

Free for All

If you are knee-deep in planning for author studies and visits this

year, you might enjoy two resources from the Choice Literacy Archives -

Gayle Brand created an eGuide for planning author studies, taking

teachers through the process of charting individual studies and plans

for the entire year:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/218.cfm

In "Inspiration from Author Visits, " Jennifer Jones reflects on the

power of a local author visit in her school, and also provides some

quick tips and weblinks for planning a visit:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/596.cfm

Summer is a great time for catching up on children's literature, as

well as classic kidlit you may have missed over the years. 

Picturing Books has developed an interactive timeline of children's

literature, with milestones from the last century to current

times.  Lots of other great links at this site, too, including

author birthdays for when you chart out your year of author studies:

http://imaginarylands.org/timeline.html

Are you mentoring a new teacher in the fall, or leading a new teachers

group?  Here is a tremendous resource to share with them - 100

helpful sites for new teachers:

http://tinyurl.com/m753lx

The International Children's Book Library is a remarkable teaching

resource, with scores of texts and teaching ideas ready to download or

view with students on your smartboard or LCD:

http://en.childrenslibrary.org/index.shtml

Thanks to all who joined us for our summer workshops this

year!  It was wonderful to meet so many of you face to

face.  Upcoming events in Tacoma, Washington and San Antonio

are completely sold out, but we still have plenty of space in our

Rockland, Maine workshops in October. These are our last workshops in

2009, and include CAFE with the Sisters, Assessment with Clare

Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan, Delight in Words with Franki Sibberson,

and Literacy Coach Jumpstart with Jennifer Allen.  If you have

never been to the Samoset Resort on the ocean, you are in for a treat.

You can download the two-page PDF brochure describing the workshops at

this link:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/samoset09.pdf

  style="font-weight: bold;">

For Members Only

 Many literacy leaders are embracing, questioning, or

struggling with a shift to a Response to Intervention (RTI)

model.  Jennifer Allen highlights some of her district's

questions about RTI, as well as the shared understanding staff has

achieved about what RTI

is. . .and is not:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/923.cfm

Students need to understand perspective (or point of view) if they want

to comprehend what motivates a character.  In her new

booklist, Franki Sibberson highlights some terrific children's

literature for helping students grasp the concept of perspective:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/922.cfm

This week's video is from a 6th grade classroom, and focuses on a word

sorting lesson.  If you're wondering when and why word sorts

might be appropriate for older students, watching board-certified

teacher Pam Pogson instruct her students might be helpful in

understanding how these activities build literacy.  The

six-minute video shows how important the teacher's role is in guiding

and structuring word sorts so that students make plenty of connections

between the activity and their own reading and writing:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/563.cfm

Are teachers ever really on vacation?  In "Restless Wanderer"

Shelly Archer ponders moments on a holiay that aren't much fun, and

can't help but connect them to teaching struggles:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/924.cfm

That's all for this week!

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