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Brenda Power
Brenda Power is a writer and teacher who serves as the editor of Choice Literacy. She worked for many years as a professor at the University of Maine and an editor at Stenhouse Publishers. Her publications as an author include Living the Questions, The Art of Classroom Inquiry, and The Back-to-School Book. She has worked as a book editor and video producer for many of the authors featured at this site. If you have suggestions for features you would like to see on the website, you can contact her through this form.
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The Books We Can't Live Without in Our Teaching: Resource Round-Up
Brenda Power
I thought about all the young teachers out there, and those of us who aren't so young. How easy it is to have gaps in our reading of professional books. Think of how busy you were in your first year or two of teaching - how much time did you have to devour new professional books? It would be strange for anyone not to have a few lean years in their professional reading - those early years of teaching, raising families, and just figuring out the culture of a school community are packed. . . . more
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Notetaking Series, Part VI: Establishing a Routine
Brenda Power
Once you decide when you're going to keep more notes, you'll need to find ways to preserve that time. This is no small feat for teachers and literacy coaches. We want to capitalize on the teachable moments in our classrooms, which means it's often hard to stick to routines. And unfortunately, others rarely see teachers' time as our own. Administrators cavalierly interrupt class schedules with assemblies featuring a talking mouse droning on about dental hygiene; colleagues stop in for a quick cup of coffee during the time they know your students are in music class; a parent can only come in for a conference during a time outside the designated conference period. . . . more
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Notetaking Series Part V: Getting Out of Notetaking Ruts
Brenda Power
Routines are wonderful -- they help us organize our days, weeks, and months in a way that helps us accomplish goals. Yet routines also can lead to ruts -- certain ways of doing things that inhibit innovation and insight. This is especially true with notetaking. If you've been honing your notetaking skills this year, you've probably developed some habits and routines for ensuring you keep up with your notetaking goals. Here are some strategies for getting out of the ruts that are sure to creep into anyone's notetaking routines. . . . more
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Notetaking Series, Part IV: What Counts and Writing the Unwritable
Brenda Power
Most teachers seem to follow that Midwestern principle of better living in their notetaking--if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. But the most interesting and useful information in your classroom or school may make you blush. Give yourself permission to write the most inconsequential garbage in the world. You're trying to see students in new ways, and that requires really being open to what you're seeing around you. . . . more
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Notetaking Series Part III: "Raw" and "Cooked" Notes
Brenda Power
Sometimes I learn the most when I am uncomfortable, unsure, and attempting new things. As you use new tools to observe and note events in your classroom, you may gain new learning and insights. But your first days and hours of taking notes may cause moments of discomfort and uncertainty. In fact, if your notes are to improve, chances are you have to seek out that discomfort by pushing yourself to reconsider what you write about. . . . more
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Notetaking Series Part II: Honing Your Notetaking Skills, One Strategy at a Time
Ruth Shagoury and Brenda Power
When we were learning how to take notes, becoming skilled at writing down observations seemed an almost mystical undertaking. We read accounts by anthropologists, war stories from their time in the "field," but we found little written about their growth process in developing notetaking skills. We were told we would learn by doing when it came to notetaking, but we often felt lost in that "doing" phase. There were thousands of incidents and details that could be recorded in any classroom. We often had no idea if we were recording the right details in the right way. . . . more
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Notetaking Strategies Part I: "In the Midst" and "After the Fact" Notes
Brenda Power
Regardless of how you will use your notes, there are two times observational notes can be taken: "in the midst" and "after the fact." It's helpful if you think about and test out each way of taking notes as you begin to get into a rhythm and routine of observing. You need to figure out when notetaking makes the most sense, fitting both your goals and the needs of the students and colleagues you work with. . . . more
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How Study Groups Are Like Self-Cleaning Ovens
Jennifer Allen and Brenda Power
One of our favorite inventions ever is the self-cleaning oven. Set a timer, lock the oven door, and a few hours later - voila! You have a clean oven, and can feel virtuous about it, even though it required almost no effort on your part. Study groups can be like self-cleaning ovens - put a few key elements in place, and they can almost run themselves. We used to spend hours looking for the perfect activity or icebreaker for groups, but over time we've found that a standard format with regular components works best for us. . . . more
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Alert the Media: Publicizing Literacy Events at Your School
Brenda Power
Local media love literacy events at schools -- who doesn't enjoy images of happy children reading and writing? But haven't we had enough stories about principals kissing pigs on rooftops? Here are some tips for contacting media to attend your events and bring positive publicity to your literacy programs that are ongoing and innovative, rather than one-time stunts... . . . more
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Time-Saving Tips and Free Web Tools for Designing Literacy Newsletters
Brenda Power
Newsletters are like bulletin boards -- they can trumpet some of the liveliest work of the year for a larger audience...and they can also become the bane of a literacy leader's existence. But like bulletin boards, newsletters are often worth the time and effort it takes to create them. Brief, well-designed newsletters will be read by colleagues, students, and parents -- there are few better vehicles for getting anyone's attention. The good news is that there are many time-savers available to help educators create newsletters in a fraction of the time it took in years past... . . . more
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Gifts for Literacy Geeks
Brenda Power
I love my literacy tools. Here are a few recent favorites that I've received as gifts or discovered myself over the past few years... . . . more
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We Are All Shamu: What Literacy Leaders Can Learn from Exotic Animal Trainers
Brenda Power
I am ambivalent about the word training, no matter the negative history in education. Ballerinas aren't "facilitated" -- they train. Those exquisite leaps come from intense hours of sweat on the barre. Likewise the regimens of endurance athletes -- they don't just prepare, they train, with all the focus and commitment the word implies... . . . more
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Enlisting Students as Observers
Brenda Power
If you are trying to build more observation into your assessment of students, enlisting students as class observers is a wonderful way to gather more notes daily. The activity has benefits far beyond the task of recording student comments, questions, and behaviors. As each student has a stint as an observer, he or she will have the opportunity to reflect upon what their classmates contribute to the community, and how different behaviors support learning in the group. . . . more
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Adjectives to Anecdotes: Writing Better Report Card Comments
Brenda Power and Kelly Chandler-Olcott
If your report card allows you to write only a few sentences about each student, a bit of advance planning helps if you want to be specific and concrete. Try to begin at least two or three weeks before report cards are due. If you put in just a few hours prep time in the weeks before the report comments are written, you will find you save yourself lots of stress the final days before report cards are due. . . . more
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Starting Points: Easy Beginnings for Writing Better Narrative Assessments and Report Card Comments
Brenda Power and Kelly Chandler-Olcott
Teachers despise cheaters. We want students to do their own work, take pride in it, and stand on their personal accomplishments as learners. We expect the same of ourselves as teachers, and that independent and honest streak has led to many innovations in our profession. Yet we've discovered that teachers who write quality assessments of students are living oxymorons--honest cheaters--as they learn how to budget time, resources, and energy in their evaluation scheme... . . . more
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Up Gross and Personal: Dealing with Dicey Topics in Writing Workshops
Brenda Power
Teachers have a high tolerance for the disgusting. We scrub down the mysterious puddle on the rug after a literature discussion, we endure the dead mouse passed around during recess, we accept the constant gnawing on shoelaces, hoping that, somehow, expending that restless energy will help the child concentrate on the lesson and develop a few new reading comprehension skills. But even those of us who aren't prone to squeamishness can dread the bloody, violent, and nasty writing topics that come out like clockwork as soon as the first Halloween decorations appear in storefronts... . . . more
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