ASCD 2014–Highlights, Frights, and Sound Bites

Highlights

• Spending three and a half days being learners together with Joan, Gail, and Allison at the ASCD conference was a definite highlight.  Having time to excitedly share what we'd heard, what pushed our thinking, and what we'd taken to heart was a true gift.  Usually coworkers and collaborators, we relished being colearners together.  

• Twitter has become a powerful source of professional development in my life.  I have learned from and befriended amazing educators in my Twitter universe.  Getting to meet two of them in person was a definite highlight.  Though it was our first face-to-face encounter, it felt as comfortable as if we'd been hanging out for years.   

• Cab rides.  Enough said. 

• Being woken up as a 4.4-magnitude earthquake shook my bed.   

• Sitting all day. The importance of giving our students brain and body breaks and chairs that fit their bodies was impressed upon me in full force.

In a session titled "Reading as a 21st Century Skill: Understanding Text Complexity and the Practices That Produce Strong Readers," Jeanne Tribuzzi, a director of English Language Arts, ESL, and Second Language in New York, said this:

• Our instruction must include increased practice time, stamina, and independence.  (Wow. I almost stood up and did a little Daily 5 cheer right there.)

Other starred notes in my journal from her session include these:

• What we do in school has to be drenched with meaning or kids won't learn it.  

• Common Core reading brings with it a shift from prereading to rereading.  

• Eighty-five percent of a student's independent reading should be books they can read with 99 percent accuracy at a rate of 90–100 percent comprehension.  Fifteen percent can be spent with instructional-level text.  She emphasized that zero independent time should be spent in challenging/frustration-level text.  

• Teaching is a performance art that must be practiced on one's feet.  It is hard work.  But hard work can be joyful work.  

• All principals and teachers must be knowledgeable literacy leaders if sustainable change is going to happen.  

• Culture is key. We must create school cultures of high trust, collaboration, and enjoyment.  

• If we can engage their hearts and minds, we can teach kids anything they need to know.  

• If our expectations are low, we are holding kids back. 

• Failure is a normal and expected part of all success.  Try, try again, and try some more.  

• We must provide our students with unconditional positive regard.  

• Students will work harder and challenge us less if we value them as "human beings" rather than "human doings."

• Access where kids are and give them the education they need.  They will not reach their academic potential if we don't.  

• If it is important, talk to children as though it is.  Help them feel the importance.  

• Exercise promotes learning because it brings more oxygen and blood to the brain.  We must provide opportunities for movement.