JENNIFER; What is it Peter posted??? "Good is the enemy of great, great is the
enemy of possible and possible is what we should be shooting for" We have
writer's workshop in my district but not reader's workshop and so the
strategies are all taught in a more traditional model of whole group-small
group lessons with SSR time and conferences built in. I would love to see us go
to this studio model as it would build in more reading time and individual
attention for kids. I wonder if we are caught up in 'good' and need to consider
what is 'possible' when we think about how we structure our literacy time.
RESPONSE: It's funny but probably true how any given "state" can be both
positive and negative, just as can readers workshop, etceteras. If I'm
thinking of naming/change catalyst etceteras, it reminds me of an adage which
seems to fit right into this whole mix. I have no idea who said it and I'm
sure I won't say it as well, but here goes: Change is thrilling and exciting
when we do it, but is terrifying when it is done unto us. Implicit in some of
the discussion so far is that change is good for many of us (even though we
don't always reach far enough toward the "possible"), but sometimes we wonder
how to encourage others to think deeply enough. Maybe a name would do it.
Maybe it's not that big a deal. Maybe this is a deeper issue than it
originally appears and we really need to delve into our own and each other's
thinking.
What's in a name? After all, a rose.... But, from strategy-naming to
structure-naming, we have a cautionary tale to remind us of the importance of
names. How many of us have to have our whole-language tattoos scraped off? :-)
What an unfortunate, but profound, consequence of a name which noone could have
predicted to be so open to misrepresentation. So, even though, I understand
this particular naming, I'm less naive than I once was.
Names. . . . Wish I were a poet. This would be a great concept for a poem.
:-)
Thoughtfully, Bev
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