professional reading

as a professional it's important that i keep abreast of new research, new books, and new data in the field of education in order to continue my growth as a life-long learner and improve as a teacher. that's why i do professional reading. my principal provides a good deal of these resources to our staff, and we have a bi-weekly "think tank" session where we discuss the selection(s) and round-table our ideas on how to implement and/or supplement what we glean from the readings in our classrooms. i also encounter articles and books in my own reading, or my COTSEN mentor will share an article or book that she thinks might be beneficial and/or interesting to me. most of the time i can find something useful or utilitarian in these readings, but sometimes i just can't get past the style of writing.

i know it sounds petty, but style and voice are important to me. and there's a balance that must be struck: on the one hand, it can't be too dry, too didactic; but on the other, i don't want my metacognitive voice to be saying, "alright, enough presuppositions, get to the f'n point!" many of the articles that i read last year for my masters degree fell into the former camp--way too formal and completely coma-inducing. but recently i've encountered the latter--too many, "i know what you're thinking: this can't work in my classroom, but give it a shot"-styled pieces. does that make sense? basically, while i'm reading it, i'm yelling, "cut to the chase already!" lucy calkins' writing particularly grates on me in this way. (there. i said it, and i feel better. she's got amazing ideas on reading and writing, but she works my last nerve!)

the funny thing is, when i expressed my disdain for calkins' style of writing at our COTSEN inquiry meeting, my mentor just rolled her eyes and looked away! maybe she was still smarting from my critique of her first pick, what great teachers do differently, by todd whitaker. not only was the "no-duh" factor staggeringly high in that book, his analogies were painfully trite.

the good news is, our principal has just given us an AMAZING article on reading aloud that has energized me with some good ideas that i want to try out immediately. more on that as it develops...