The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
August 29, 2009
What Will You Learn This Year?
If we resist our
passions, it is more through their weakness than from our strength.
Francois de
la Rochefoucauld
When I was working with young teachers, I had a trick for discovering
which ones really didn't enjoy reading. I'd ask what book
they were looking forward to reading in their free time. I'd
always have a student or two who replied that they didn't have much
time to read for fun, but hoped one day to read more of the classics
from authors like Shakespeare or Tolstoy. Maybe it was a
response they thought I wanted to hear and in a way, it was.
It made me realize they'd probably never developed the habit of reading
for pleasure, or the confidence in their choices (no matter how trashy
or low-brow). I then had a goal of helping them discover
their literary tastes and find at least one book (any book at all) that
they would truly love.
What are you most looking forward to learning about this year in your
classroom? Do you reject the first idea that pops in your
head, and settle for something else? It can be hard for
teachers to embrace their passions as readers, writers, and
learners. Too often we dismiss the thing we really
want to study or think about, because we studied it last
year. And the year before. And it's not one of the
mandates from the district office. And it doesn't seem deep
enough, or trendy enough, or sophisticated in any way.
The truth is it can take years, sometimes a lifetime, to puzzle through
even one aspect of learning to read and write. Following that
passion can energize your teaching and elevate your mood the whole year
long.
So what do you want to learn about this year? And what do you
really want to read next? I hope you give yourself
permission to embrace those passions this fall and throughout the
school year.
This week, we've got ideas for overcoming learning slumps.
Plus more as always - enjoy!
Brenda Power
Editor, Choice Literacy
Free for All
The Draw a Reader test from Suzy Kaback is a fun way to get to know the
readers of any age that also provides insight into their background
knowledge and personal reading histories. This article from
the Choice Literacy Archives is an adaptation of an activity popular
among science education researchers:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/574.cfm
Tales of a 4th Grade Slump by Kristina Robertson is an
excellent summary of the practical steps teachers can take to tackle
the slump. It's a quick read that would work well for a staff
or grade-level team discussion:
http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/13284
Jim Trealease shares terrific advice on how to read a book you don't
want to read in this nine-minute video for reluctant readers of any
age. This link also includes a summary of the video for
dial-up users:
http://tinyurl.com/nf667z
TVOParents has a podcast available from the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation with an expert panel of researchers and teachers discussing
the 4th grade slump. They share advice for teachers and
parents. The discussion is guided by questions from
parents, and might be a useful resource to share in family newsletters:
http://www.podnova.com/channel/385876/episode/75/
Our Simply Beautiful back-to-school classroom design DVD sale runs
through September 30th. The series is hosted by "The Sisters"
(Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) and features 4 DVDs, 31 classrooms, and
nearly 5 hours of footage from schools throughout the
country. Save 33% off the list price during the sale:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/products/item27.cfm
For Members Only
We have two new features posted from Clare Landrigan that complement
each other. In Overcoming Slumps, Clare finds she
is struggling as a writer and runner. Getting out of both
ruts helps her develop three simple principles for working with
students in slumps:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/963.cfm
In this week's video of a small group of intermediate students setting
goals for improving their reading logs, Clare bases the instruction on
her own experiences as a runner and writer:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/962.cfm
Late summer and early fall is a terrific time to get outdoors with
students and make connections between science, reading, and
writing. Andrea Smith begins a new series on science writing
with her 4th grade students. In this first installment, she
explains how she launches a unit on science writing with logs, writing
samples from scientists, and mentor texts:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/964.cfm
Finally, if you're looking for additional science mentor texts to
supplement or replace textbook reading, Karen Terlecky shares
Great Books for Studying the Ecosystem in our new booklist:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/965.cfm
That's all for this week!
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Jennifer Allen
