Beverlee - I am currently in a book club with Ellin's book along with one of our district's literacy supervisors, my building principal, one of the first grade teachers, and myself. I have tried to keep our reading in-line with the book chats on this list serve. I share many of the ideas and comments that I find here.
But, I must say, the quote that you mention about rethinking what we do, as teachers, hit me like 'a ton of bricks'. I often find myself patting myself on the back because I 'think' a lesson went very well, or the kids really related and understood...and I'm sure that happens to all of us at some time. However, I never thought to look beyond what I was confident about to break down that whole into parts. What could I have done even better? How could I guarantee that more of my students would 'get it'? Could a colleague observe and reflect with me about ways to improve? This page in To Understand has been post-ited, highlighted, underlined, and starred. My husband often says, "Why don't you just highlight the words that don't matter. You would use less ink." Of course, he doesn't understand that all the words matter! As the Reading Specialist in my building, I am part of a literacy committee that has spent the last year reworking and rethinking our Writing Workshop. I am bringing Ellin's suggestion of colleagues really looking closely at their instruction and rethinking what they feel confident about, and what areas need to work more smoothly. I think this is one of the best professional development models. I just hope many of my colleagues will see the value in this and try it out. Linda -------------- Original message -------------- From: Beverlee Paul <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Or, as Mimi Brodsky Chenfeld would say, "Down with > Smug!"__________________________________________________________________________ > > _____________________________On page 57, "We must do what is hardest of > all--rethink what we believe is already working" really resonated with me. I > am > so fortunate to be in a district that embraces best practices and allows > teachers to implement exactly what Ellin speaks of in this book. But, and > here > is the sad part, teachers are very unwilling to take a critical look at what > they already do. > _________________________________________________________________ > Pack up or back upuse SkyDrive to transfer files or keep extra copies. Learn > how. > http://www.windowslive.com/skydrive/overview.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Refresh_skyd > > rive_packup_042008 > _______________________________________________ > Understand mailing list > [email protected] > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
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