This week I visited a marvelous second grade classroom in Portland, Oregon.  As the teacher told the students it was time to move from their desks to the rug area for read aloud, she said, "Remember to monitor your pace, space, and voice."  In less than 30 seconds, all 32 of these seven- and eight-year-olds had moved quietly, quickly, and efficiently to find spots on the carpet.
 
Pace, space, and voice. I realized in an instant that these three little words work for monitoring transitions at any age.  For the youngsters, it meant not running (or dawdling), finding a place that wasn't scrunched next to a classmate (or hogging a lot of meeting area real estate), and not being too loud in the process (yet making your voice heard if needed).
 
For teachers who are part of a school community, pace means being provided with professional development that doesn't move too fast (but also has a facilitator willing to deal with laggards).   Space means being given room to try new things based on your own interests, or at least the opportunity to find your own way into initiatives that are required of everyone.  And voice - perhaps the trickiest concept of all.  What do you do in your school about the voices that are always the loudest? Are you harnessing technology outside meetings through logs, emails, or anonymous surveys to ensure those who won't speak up in a group still have a chance to be heard?
 
Pace, space, and voice.  Whatever transitions you are in the midst of in your classroom and school, I hope these three words give you a new way to help everyone monitor their progress and place in the community.
 
This week, we've collected some materials to help you think through the pace, space, and voice in your grade-level team meetings and study groups.  Plus more as always - enjoy!
 
Brenda Power
Editor, Choice Literacy
 

Free for All

Are your grade-level team meetings on track this year?  Here are two articles from the  Choice Literacy Archives which can help you improve your work with colleagues.  Katie Doherty finds a meeting template helps her middle school team focus during meetings:
 
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/449.cfm
 
Cindy Hatt has suggestions for getting the most out of book studies with colleagues, with activities and prompts that can help you move from ideas to practice in classrooms:
 
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/796.cfm
 
If your meetings aren't going well and you're just not sure what is wrong, Fast Company's 7 Sins of Deadly Meetings can help you pinpoint changes you might need to make.  While this is an article from a business publication, I love their practical suggestions, like posting meeting goals permanently in conference rooms:
 
http://tinyurl.com/yr7z4q
 
The 5 Great Books Blog is exactly as advertised - posts of five terrific children's books around various themes.  Recent posts include the favorite fall topics of bats and autumn - it's a fine blog to bookmark for quick and timely collections for book baskets or read alouds:
 
 http://5greatbooks.wordpress.com/
 
The Children's and Young Adult Bloggers Literary (CYBILS) Awards for 2009 are now open for nominations.  There is only a two-week window to nominate books in different genres.  If there is a book you loved this year you'd like to see recognized, you can nominate it at this link:
 
http://dadtalk.typepad.com/cybils/
 
A hearty welcome to our newest site license members from Carmel, Indiana; Salem, Massachusetts;  Austin & Houston, Texas; Madison, New Jersey; Edmonton, Alberta (Canada); Boisseuain, Manitoba (Canada); and Fort Collins, Colorado; and our renewing site licensees in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories (Canada); West Chester, Pennsylvania; Darien, Connecticut;  Maple Grove, Minnesota;  Manassas, Virginia; and Haltom City, Texas.  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

Our new Literacy Coach Confidential has advice for teachers grappling with disastrous team meetings:
 
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/991.cfm

Tammy Mulligan and Clare Landrigan share their own top tips for improving team meetings:
 
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/988.cfm
 
This week's video is the second 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.  If you missed the first video in the series we've provided a catch-up link:
 
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/992.cfm
 
Finally, we're launching a new feature this week we think you're going to enjoy - Choice Literacy Digests.  There were many requests from members in our summer survey for more collections of materials at the site, and the new digests are one way we are addressing that need.  Choice Literacy Digests are compiled by guest editors around a theme.  Jennifer Allen's New Teachers Digest will run once a month through late spring, and is designed to help new teacher mentors all year long.  The first digest focuses on Fostering Relationships and Building Learning Communities, and includes over a dozen resources for reading and viewing:
 
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/977.cfm
 
That's all for this week!
 

Share this Article

del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Facebook  StumbleUpon  GoogleBookmark  Technorati  Furl

Related Articles

·  The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy September 26, 2009 Practice, Persistence, and Pearls ·  The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy September 19, 2009 Between Page and Screen ·  The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy September 12, 2009 But What About the Kid Who. . . ·  The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy September 5, 2009 The Problem with Prompts ·  The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy August 29, 2009 What Will You Learn This Year?