The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
September 26, 2009
Practice, Persistence, and Pearls
This week I was rereading Ken Robinson's provocative book, Out of Our Minds:
Learning to Be Creative. I came across
this passage on page 100:
In the South Pacific many young children are accomplished underwater
divers. They develop the abilities to swim underwater for
long periods so that they can gather pearls, a vital skill for economic
survival both for them and their families. In New York, most
children do not have this ability. There are very few skilled
pearl divers in the Bronx. There isn't the demand.
But it's reasonable to assume that the average New Yorker translated at
an early enough age to the South Pacific would learn the necessary
skills. Living in the Bronx they may have the capacity but
not the need, nor as a result, the ability.
As I read this passage, I thought about how hard it is to be a teacher
talking to parents. What do parents want
to hear? They want to be reassured by us that their children
are developing the necessary skills they need to survive, or even
better, thrive in the world.
But how can we reassure them, when it's impossible to know what that
world will look like and what skills they will need 20 or 30 years from
now? I'm sure my parents have little if any memory of what
they said in their parent-teacher conference with my late great first
grade teacher Connie Lopez 40+ years ago. But it's a safe bet
it wasn't "I hope you're giving her the writing skills she
needs to put out a weekly Internet newsletter, and a few drills on HTML
coding wouldn't hurt either." Because a.
the Internet didn't exist yet and b. I was such a daydreamer it was a
miracle each day that I managed to find my way from the bus into the
classroom. Yet there are a few habits of learning
I'd guess that haven't changed much in the past 40 years, and really
aren't that different for children being taught in the South Pacific or
the Bronx.
First, students learning anything new need lots practice, fueled by
consistent routines. Second, they need persistence - the
patience combined with passion to stick with it. Finally,
they need scaffolds - we become accomplished first with easier tasks,
and then eventually move into what is more difficult. It
doesn't matter if it's pearls or books or whatever is yet to be
invented.
This week, we've posted a new article to get you thinking about ways to
talk with parents about practice, persistence, and literacy in the
midst of this season of open houses and conference nights.
Plus more as always - enjoy!
Brenda Power
Editor, Choice Literacy
Free for All
In What to Say on Parent/Teacher Night, Clare Landrigan and Tammy
Mulligan present some of the anecdotes and research they would share
with parents during open houses and conferences:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/984.cfm
What do parents want to hear from teachers? Education World
has a summary of ideas from an informal survey of families:
http://tinyurl.com/ya562cs
Congratulations to Choice Literacy contributors Franki Sibberson and
Mary Lee Hahn, whose blog "A Year of Reading" was chosen by Scholastic
as one of the Top 20 Blogs for Teachers. The entire list of
winners is here - whoever compiled it clearly has a sense of humor, and
is not afraid to travel a little off the beaten track to find some
teaching gems:
http://tinyurl.com/mvulzl
If you're looking for good podcasts for aspiring writers, you'll enjoy
Roy Peter Clark's 50 Writing Tools Quick List, with most of the
podcasts now available for listening on the web or through iTunes:
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=78&;aid=103943
A hearty welcome to our newest site license members from Uvalde and
Rockwell, Texas; New Cumberland, Pennsylvania;
Westport, Connecticut; East Lansing, Michigan; Lancaster, New York;
Rogers, Arizona; Leesville, Louisiana; Wilmington, Delaware; Dilworth,
Minnesota; and our renewing site licensees in Columbia, Tennessee;
Salem, Oregon; Waukesha, Wisconsin; and Olentangy, Ohio. You
can learn more about our affordable site license program and download a
registration form at this link:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/department63.cfm
For Members Only
A character study unit is a terrific choice early in the school year,
since it taps into students' reading histories and favorites from years
past. Franki Sibberson has suggestions of books and questions for use
in read-alouds:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/985.cfm
Aimee Buckner chats with colleagues about notebooks, and finds herself
rethinking what she puts in her notebook (as well as what she requires
of students) in What Goes in the Writer's Notebook?:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/987.cfm
We know the power of mental images as a strategy for helping readers
comprehend difficult text. Suzy Kaback uses a similar
technique to help novice teachers envision success. Mentoring
from the Real to the Ideal is an activity you might want to try with a
new teacher group:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/978.cfm
Finally, do your students complain that they have nothing to write
about? This week's video is the first in a series from Katie
Doherty's middle school classroom on the Weekend Headlines
activity. Katie uses the activity every Monday to help her
students start their writing week with focused brainstorming,
freewriting, and peer response:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/989.cfm
That's all for this week!
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Jennifer Allen
