Here are some great ideas on writing for the new school year. Courtesy of Choice Literacy.

July 26, 2014 - Issue #392 If you are having trouble reading this newsletter, click here for a Web-based version. Beautiful Questions    always the more beautiful answer, who asks a more beautiful question . . .                                                             e. e. cummings I picked the theme of "renewal" for a series of writing retreats this year. What I quickly discovered is that it wasn't easy to find readings connected to the topic. As I searched with the usual tools in the usual places, most of what came up was religious -- which makes sense, because people who are soul weary are often looking for spiritual renewal. But I didn't think starting out our revision and response sessions with "Let us pray" would go over well at these secular writing retreats. The books that weren't religious often focused on time management or had gimmicky leadership tips.  I was close to giving up when I stumbled on A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas by Warren Berger. The book includes the sobering finding of researchers that children are taught to squelch their natural tendency to ask profound and creative questions at an early age (and schools are a big part of that). A More Beautiful Question looks at case studies from many fields of visionaries who broke through with ideas that upended the status quo by asking better questions. These questions are sometimes jolting, sometimes elegant, but always at their heart renewing, because they push the questioner to look harder and deeper at an issue vexing everyone in their field. As I read the book, I realized stress is nothing more than the questions we pester ourselves with continually. These "stress" questions may vary, but just contemplating the answers is a dull scrape to the spirit we give ourselves again and again: How can I quit this job I hate and still pay the mortgage? How much worse is my mom's Alzheimer's going to get? What can I do to get the kids' test scores up? You're going to ask yourself questions all day long - it's what humans do. So why not make them beautiful? If you're looking for renewal, stress reduction, balance, or a peaceful heart this summer (whatever you want to call it), maybe it begins with a bold, specific, and joyful question. A more beautiful question is one you can ask yourself about work every day that makes you want to jump out of bed and start thinking. What's the most joyful thing that will happen in my class this morning? How will my students take charge of their learning today? Who supports my learning and growth most in the school, and how can I reciprocate and support them more? I'm working on my big beautiful question for the school year right now. What might yours be? This week we look at student writers. Plus more as always -- enjoy! Brenda Power Founder, Choice Literacy Free for All [For sneak peeks at our upcoming features, quotes and extra links,  follow Choice Literacy on Twitter: @ChoiceLiteracy or Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ChoiceLiteracy or Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/choiceliteracy/]   Here are two articles from the archives to help make your writing workshops stronger than ever. Ruth Shagoury finds even five- and six-year-olds can develop independent conferring skills in Mix It Up: Helping Young Writers Learn to Confer with Peers and Teachers: http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=61 We all experience slumps. Clare Landrigan has one in her fitness routine and uses the learning from it to develop principles for helping student writers overcome slumps: http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=526 Are you looking for some fun mentor texts for discussions with young learners about the writing process? The LitforKids blog has compiled an annotated list of Picture Books for Young Writers: http://litforkids.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/picture-books-for-writers/ Ralph Fletcher shares his writing habits in this three-minute video. This is a good conversation starter for a professional development workshop on routines: http://asuonline.wistia.com/medias/8edcvoppew Have you visited Lead Literacy yet? It's our subscription membership site designed specifically for the needs of literacy coaches. You can view sample content at this link: http://www.leadliteracy.com/it-list/4

As you begin the school year, here are some ideas about the lay out in your rooms. Courtesy of Choice Literacy.

August 9, 2014 - Issue #394 If you are having trouble reading this newsletter, click here for a Web-based version.   Home   I would really rather feel bad in Maine than feel good anywhere else.                                                                    E.B. White   Last January I visited Keri Archer's kindergarten classroom in the teeth of flu season. Almost half the children were absent, and Keri and the weary remainder were all coughing and sniffling. It was one of those days when as a class visitor I would casually wander over to the sink and do a whole-body spritz with the hand sanitizer every five minutes. And yet, I looked around at the bright hand-painted tables, the cozy pillows, the charmingly mismatched but oh-so-carefully selected chairs that seemed to whisper "come and sit a spell." I realized Keri had created one of those places where you'd rather be there feeling a mite poorly than almost anywhere else feeling well. The classroom felt like home, no small feat for any teacher trying to navigate draconian fire codes, lice-resistant seating, and the requirements to post sterile standards prominently. What are you planning for your classroom this fall to make it feel more like home for your students? Favorite family photographs they bring in for you to frame and scatter among the shelves? Self-portrait craft projects or sketches of favorite fiction characters from years past? What will give a sense of welcome, warm as a hearth, when children return to school? This week we look at classroom design. Plus more as always -- enjoy!     Brenda Power Founder, Choice Literacy     Free for All   [For sneak peeks at our upcoming features, quotes and extra links,  follow Choice Literacy on Twitter: @ChoiceLiteracy or Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ChoiceLiteracy or Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/choiceliteracy/]     Here are two features from the archives to help you make classroom design changes to support literacy.   Ann Marie Corgill writes about the beginning point for classroom design in Starting with Why:   http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1637     Katie Doherty finds out a lot about her middle school students as readers when she spends the first week letting them define and design her classroom library:   http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=442     Katherine Sokolowski does a video blog post on how design possibilities opened up in her classroom once she got rid of her teacher desk:   http://goo.gl/kYwCZI     The Choice Literacy Pinterest board Take a Seat highlights creative classroom seating options from our contributors:   http://www.pinterest.com/choiceliteracy/take-a-seat/     We've posted our fall online course roster, with offerings from Jennifer Allen, Katie DiCesare, Franki Sibberson, Clare Landrigan, and Tammy Mulligan. Topics include assessment, the Common Core and writing, technology, literacy coaching basics, and coaching writing workshops. Choice Literacy members receive a $50 discount off the $295 fee for each course. For detailed descriptions and to download a color brochure, click on this link:   http://www.choiceliteracy.com/workshops.php   Have you visited Lead Literacy yet? It's our subscription membership site designed specifically for the needs of literacy coaches. You can view sample content at this link:   http://www.leadliteracy.com/it-list/4

Instructional coaches are a great resource. Here is an article that addresses some of the positive impact they can have. Courtesy of ASCD Smart Brief.

I

Instructional coaches as wellsprings of innovation
"Instructional coaches, who work closely with classroom teachers to improve their practice, are an important source of school leadership, but teachers often don't know how to capitalize on this relatively new position in education," writes educator Daniel Grejda. In his recent ASCD Express article, Grejda explains how instructional coaches can act as ambassadors for positive change. Read on.

Here is another great collection of articles, etc. from Choice Literacy. They include professional reading for organizing reading workshops. Enjoy!

July 5, 2014 - Issue #389 If you are having trouble reading this newsletter, click here for a Web-based version. Cucumber in a Tomato Cage  A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them                                                           Liberty Hyde Bailey                                                               I have two 4'x8' raised beds in my garden for all of my herbs and vegetables. Tomatoes and basil are non-negotiables, as are chives and parsley and rosemary. This year, on a whim, I bought a cucumber plant for the first time. It was so cute, and the possibility of fresh cucumbers from my own garden made me drool in anticipation. I didn't think through the space issues, though. Cucumbers vine, and I don't have horizontal space in my tiny garden, only vertical space. So I'm growing a cucumber in a tomato cage, and it's mostly working according to my plan: a large part of the plant is growing the way I want it to grow (up). But I have had to come to terms with the stems that cannot be convinced to stay in the cage and are instead sneaking between the flat leaf and curly parsley and heading across the bed to hang out with the basil. This cucumber in its tomato cage has me thinking about all of the supports our students need to grow successfully. We can plan for behavioral supports - a calm, quiet voice, refusal to engage in power plays, alternative spaces to work alone. We can plan for academic supports - alternative texts, small-group instruction, extra time, and multiple attempts. We can plan for social supports - careful composition of work groups, time spent with the guidance counselor, informal lunch bunches Yet invariably, some of our students will need supports that do not come from our toolbox of tried-and-true strategies. For some of our students, we will need to invent the right support for one particular child and for the conditions at hand. It's this "cucumber in a tomato cage" mentality that I need in my classroom as I support my students in a variety of ways. Most will grow predictably, and will respond to the supports I provide from my toolbox of reliable strategies. But I need to be ready to improvise now and then, creatively supporting a child for the most success possible while relaxing my expectations about the direction of each child's growth. This week we feature books for launching reading workshops. Plus more as always -- enjoy! Mary Lee Hahn Contributor, Choice Literacy Mary Lee Hahn has been teaching 4th or 5th graders for more than 20 years. She is the author of Reconsidering Read-Aloud (Stenhouse Publishers). Mary Lee and her colleague in the Dublin City Schools, Franki Sibberson, blog about their reading and teaching lives at A Year of Reading. Free for All [For sneak peeks at our upcoming features, quotes and extra links,  follow Choice Literacy on Twitter: @ChoiceLiteracy or Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ChoiceLiteracy or Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/choiceliteracy/]   Here are two booklists from the archives to help you think through how to launch your reading workshops. What are the best books for the visual learners in your classroom? Carol Wilcox draws on her experience as a mom to two boys who do not love her "world of words" in coming up with suggestions: http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=321 Jan Miller Burkins highlights books for launching the school year with intention, confidence, and community in mind: http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1032 Cathy Mere has terrific advice for launching primary reading workshops at her Refine and Reflect blog: http://bit.ly/TJlDW9 Will you be working with students on the autism spectrum next year? Aaron Lanou explains how you can adapt morning meetings to suit their needs: http://bit.ly/1mzFBcs Join us in July for a live workshop or online course. We have two online offerings, Text Complexity in Grades 3-5 with Franki Sibberson (July 9-20), and Literacy Coach Jumpstart with Jennifer Allen (July 19-30). Our live event is Coaching the Common Core in Wrentham, Massachusetts July 16-17. For more details on costs and registration, click on this link: http://www.choiceliteracy.com/workshops.php

Morning meetings are often used to create communities. Here are some ideas that assist with building community. Enjoy!

June 21, 2014 - Issue #388 If you are having trouble reading this newsletter, click here for a Web-based version.   Spider Web      The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine! Feels at each thread, and lives along the line.                                                        Alexander Pope                                                                 There is a giant spider web along my front walk. It is framed by two bushes, and the pink clematis serves as a backdrop. In the morning it catches drops of dew and sunbeams, sending sparkles to greet any passerby. Everyone pauses when they see it. Not only because of its size (however big you are thinking, think bigger), but also because of its intricate design. It is a masterpiece. I've seen a number of webs in my lifetime, yet few have stuck with me like this particular web. I'm reminded of our classrooms. Each August, we weave together a group of lives into one massive web. We become intricately connected. How can we set our "webs" apart, making them masterpieces? I think we can learn from the spider. She weaves each strand together, linking them at different points. We can do this with our students, connecting them to one another based on shared interests as well as common experiences. Each strand is linked at more than one point, adding strength to the web. When we spend time connecting students to one another, we link the community in an intricate way. In addition, the spider takes time to weave her web. It isn't a process that can be rushed. It takes time to build a masterpiece. By learning lessons from the spider, we can create classroom communities that sparkle even more beautifully than the web along my walk. This week we look at how to build community early in the school year. Plus more as always -- enjoy!     Ruth Ayres Contributor, Choice Literacy   Ruth Ayres is a full-time writing coach for Wawasee School District in northern Indiana. She blogs at Ruth Ayres Writes.     Free for All   [For sneak peeks at our upcoming features, quotes and extra links,  follow Choice Literacy on Twitter: @ChoiceLiteracy or Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ChoiceLiteracy or Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/choiceliteracy/]     Here are two resources from the archives to help you think through building community when students return to classrooms later this summer.   Katie Doherty explains how she uses a favorite book to bring students together early in the year in Seedfolks: Connecting Community and Literature:   http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=802     Sharing one text across an entire school is a powerful way to launch the year. Katherine Sokolowski describes the process in One Book, One School: Building Community with Shared Text:   http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1320     Responsive Classroom has suggestions for Keeping Morning Meeting Greetings Fresh and Fun:   http://bit.ly/1i3zFh5       Will you join us in July for a workshop? We have two online offerings, Text Complexity in Grades 3-5 (July 5-19) with Franki Sibberson, and Literacy Coach Jumpstart (July 18-30) with Jennifer Allen. Our live event is Coaching the Common Core in Wrentham, Massachusetts July 16-17. For more details on costs and to download a registration form, click on this link:   http://www.choiceliteracy.com/workshops.php

Here is a great post on vocabulary and writing. Vocabulary is always a challenge for teachers - how do we teach it in a meaningful way so students truly learn the words. Enjoy. Courtesy of Writing Lesson of the Month Network, Corbett & Dena Harrison

                                                              My fellow teachers/writers,

What a nutty end of the school year here!  I learned that I will be switching school sites this upcoming Fall, and saying good-bye is always hard--both to my current students and my current team of teachers.  Physically packing up and moving is always hard too, and I realize that I am a quite behind in posting my monthly lessons here at the ning, but that will all be rectified as soon as I have safely and completely moved my materials from the old site to my new one. Over the summer, I will be posting numerous lessons that I hope will inspire you to consider trying something new during your next school year.  My best school years in the past have always been those years when I returned in the Fall determined to try new things and to do them well.  I have been collecting/developing/revising some great new lesson ideas this past spring, and I am excited to share them with you slowly throughout the summer.  Look out for my occasional e-mails that will catch me up so we can get the promised "first of the month" lessons back on track.  Thanks again for your patience during this transition for me.

THE BEST WORK I DID THIS PAST SCHOOL YEAR?  Without a doubt, without any hesitation, I will say my continued work in developing writing skills while teaching my students to simply stop and appreciate vocabulary words they don't recognize in their reading has been the new teaching skill I continue to do my best work with.  Last year, Dena and I published the first eight of ten lessons that promoted Common Core-friendly writing skills through vocabulary-based exercises.  Early this year, we finalized all ten writing lessons, and my students' Vocabulary Final Projects just proved to me how significant this work has been to developing them further as skilled writers.  I am sharing with you some images from their final exam projects which, I believe, showcase what powerful writing/thinking skills they have developed over this past year with me.  If you're interested in seeing some powerful student writing, please visit the next paragraph!

Today, I posted a pretty detailed explanation of my "Vocabulary Final Exam Project" here at the ning at this blog post: http://writinglesson.ning.com/profiles/blogs/my-vocabulary-warriors-show-off-their-skills-please-enjoy-these-s  Please note there are photos below the post that showcase some of my students' best "overall vocabulary collections."  Right in the middle of the lengthy post (sorry if it's wordy!), there is a download link to a 15-slide PowerPoint (or a PDF file, if you don't have PowerPoint) that showcases my "top writers" (as nominated by their classroom peers) who used the ten unique vocabulary-inspired writing activities I have been requiring of my students the whole year.  I am really proud of the differentiated nature these ten writing activities attempt to appeal to, and I can confidently say that I will never teach vocabulary words in the future without first integrating several (if not all) of these ten writing activities we have been designing.  

If for no other reason than to celebrate some smart kids' thinking that uses hard vocabulary words, I hope you will visit the blog post in the last paragraph and celebrate my students' writing along with me.  It's pretty impressive; it truly is.

Teachers, look forward to some fresh and interesting, Common Core-friendly ideas involving writing assignments over the summer from me through this blog to you.  If you have the summer off though, make sure you take plenty of extra time to simply be away from school and its rigid expectations.  We all need to deflate a bit over the summer....so deflate!  Deflate!

Have a great June!

--Corbett & Dena Harrison (http://corbettharrison.com)

Visit Writing Lesson of the Month Network at: http://writinglesson.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

As school comes to a close, here is a great list of summer reading for teachers. Enjoy! Courtesy of ASCD SmartBrief!

Please add us to your address book to ensure future delivery!                    View Mobile / Web Version Here                

Create your own summer reading list for professional development! With the traditional school year ending, ASCD wants to help educators improve their practice during the summer. We've created a Summer Reading List for Educators with 10 suggested books that will help you Improve teaching and learning. Stay on top of the common core. Get organized and energized for the next school year. Take a cue from your summer assignments to students and create your own summer reading list—for professional development! Browse our suggested summer reading for educators.

Featured Title Learning in the Fast Lane: 8 Ways to Put ALL Students on the Road to Academic Success   Veteran classroom teacher and education consultant Suzy Pepper Rollins identifies eight high-impact, overarching practices to foster academic achievement, including increasing students' vocabulary, building students' motivation, and addressing gaps within the context of new learning.   >> Learn more. >> Read a preview.     Summer Sale We've slashed prices on more than 200 books and DVDs in the ASCD Online Store. Browse our summer sale now and find resources you need on topics including Assessment Brain and Learning Classroom Instruction Curriculum Mapping Leadership Problem-Based Learning Understanding by Design® Browse all sale books and DVDs now!