The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
August 22, 2009
Capturing a Moment
People underestimate
their capacity for change. There is never a right time to do a
difficult thing. A leader's job is to help people have vision of their
potential.
John
Porter
When I was working with young teachers new to the profession, one of
the first things I did in late August was to have them complete a
simple survey that I saved for them to view again at the end of the
year. They answered questions and prompts like these:
1. What is
your all-time favorite book?
2. What is
your favorite professional book or author?
3.
What are your teaching strengths?
4. What do you
want to learn more about this year?
5. How will
you know you've grown as a teacher this year?
I varied the questions from year to year, but made sure to have no more
than half a dozen, easily answered in five minutes or less.
We put all the responses together and sealed them in our own little
version of a time capsule. We then opened them in late May
when our time together was at an end. Revisiting the
responses after nine months brought many surprises - usually
far more change and growth than anyone expected.
It's a funny thing - a lot of our efforts as adults, both personally
and professionally, are attempts to stay "in the moment."
There are so many distractions, with cellphones and email and that
ruckus 20 feet away pulling our concentration from the colleague or
student in front of us. Yet it's hard, if not
impossible, to get out of the moment and back to where we've been if we
don't have a record of it.
There are many different versions of this time capsule survey activity
for students on the web, but I'm disappointed when I read the sample
questions. Is it really that critical to have a child note
their favorite color at the start of the year? I've yet to
see a good example of a literacy time capsule survey for kids, with
questions about favorite books, series, and habits as
readers. Those responses would be great fun to crack open
again at the end of the year. If you have a good one you use
with students, I would love to share sample questions with the
newsletter readers - please send them along!
After we'd finished the survey at the start of the year and we'd tucked
them away, I'd close the meeting with a letter-writing
activity. I'd pull out lovely stationary, envelopes, and
stamps, and ask everyone to write a brief letter to a teacher (still
living) who had inspired them. There would be letters to
parents, university professors, or first-grade teachers who hadn't been
contacted in 15 years - with the writers all sharing why and how that
teacher had affected them. Then we'd talk about inspiration,
and what it takes to be a teacher who endures in a child's
memory. Everyone would leave with stamped letters in hand, a
firm anchor from the past as they headed into classrooms.
Educators' eyes are always on the future. I hope you have
time in the rush of the start of the year to take a moment to document
where you are now, where you've come from, and who helped you get here
as a teacher. It's a soul-deep pleasure that takes very
little time.
This week, we've got advice from our contributors on assessment
conflicts between teachers and administrators. Plus more as
always - enjoy!
Brenda Power
Editor, Choice Literacy
Free for All
A curriculum coordinator loves DIBELS; a first-grade teacher
doesn't. Our new Literacy Coach Confidential provides a range
of wise suggestions from our contributors on dealing with disagreements
over assessment. This article is useful for teachers and
literacy leaders who are working together with assessment data early in
the year, no matter what evaluative system your school or district has
in place:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/958.cfm
If you're looking for some provocative quotes on change, you
might enjoy the Change Quote Collection from the Choice Literacy
Archives:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/515.cfm
Here is a very useful blog you may want to bookmark.
Anneographies by Anne Bustard presents favorite children's book
biographies organized by birthday. You can check out the
archives to figure out upcoming famous folks you might want to
highlight on their birthdates in your classroom with read-alouds and
biography book shares:
http://annebustard.blogspot.com/
If you're working with English language learners, you will enjoy Stella
Villalba's ideas for creating inviting literacy environments at her
blog My World - Mi Mundo:
http://learnlovegrow.blogspot.com/
The final Choice Literacy Workshops in 2009 will take place in
Rockland, Maine October 17-18 at the beautiful Samoset Resort. Topics
include CAFE Assessment 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 this venue on the rocky Maine coast, 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
For Members
Only
One of the ways you can work toward agreement with colleagues over
assessment data is through using "triangulation" - basing findings on
multiple data points. Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan
share ways to use triangulation when working in teacher teams over
student data:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/960.cfm
What's the secret in helping students set thoughtful goals for
indepedent reading? Franki Sibberson says it is hearing the
goals of their peers during class discussions. This week's
video is an example of one of these whole-class goal sharing sessions:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/770.cfm
Many second-grade readers are in transition - they can decode almost
any text and are eager to read chapter books. Yet many don't
have the stamina for reading even very short chapter books on their
own. In Accurate But Not Quite Fluent, Katie DiCesare
presents a booklist of her top picks of new fiction and nonfiction
books that might engage and challenge her second-grade students:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/959.cfm
Finally, what are the lessons from video games we can bring to the
classroom for rethinking the structure of our days?
Mary Lee Hahn brings the learning her novice gaming experience into her
planning for the classroom this fall:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/945.cfm
That's all for this week!
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Jennifer Allen
