Black Friday

When I was growing up, I remember not liking the term 'Black Friday.' It conjured images of darkness, despair and hopelessness. How could something so ominous follow my favorite holiday? As an adult, I understand the financial basis for the term. Instead of a gloom and doom day, it's actually the day retailers rely on to get them out of the red and into the black. As an adult, I have often done my part, joining the throngs of bargain hunting shoppers who help expand the profit margins of retailers in my area.

This past weekend, we attended the NCTE conference in Philadelphia. We always enjoy the camaraderie and mental stimulation gained at conferences as we mingle with and learn from other educators. We typically can't wait to get back to our own classrooms to apply our new thinking. This year we were struck by the air of doom and gloom permeating the conversations we overheard as we travelled from session to session. We'd catch snippets of lamenting regarding budget cuts, large class sizes, and the negative ramifications of RTI.

The sadness of one particular participant is still haunting me. She was profoundly concerned about her district's decision to embrace a stilted and scripted program as a means to raise achievement in the name of RTI. She knows how ludicrous it is to believe that one single program will be the silver bullet that meets the needs of every student. She was mystified that her district was receiving and relying on the council of someone who was not an educator, and in fact had never been one.

Then I heard Melanie Quinn speak about fighting back. Most of us chose this career because we are passionate about children and enabling them to reach their fullest potential. If we truly want to have an impact on their future, we have to get involved. We have to be knowledgeable, articulate, and start getting our voices out to those in power who are making decisions that have potentially catastrophic results.

When we got home, I decided to reread Richard Allington's book, What Really Matters with RTI. If you haven't read it, and you want to join in the fight, I highly recommend it. Together, we can make our voices heard….and move from the ominous state of education, to one where educators and children can truly get out of the red and into the black.

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Dictionaries of a Different Kind

These two dictionary sites take the idea of finding word meanings, associations and rhyming words to a new level. Writerhymes quickly supplies rhyming words for whatever you want. Visuwords produces word diagrams reminiscent of a neural net.

http://www.thedailycafe.com/public/739.cfm

New This Week For Members

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The CAFE Menu - The New Gateway

We have been working behind the scenes on our website to make accessing CAFE articles, templates and videos easier and faster. This new gateway into anything CAFE now appears on the right side of our home page.

Here is your personal tour of this section on our site...

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Building Stamina

In this first of a two part series, Danielle French from Waterville, Maine reflects with her Kindergarteners on reading stamina. She reminds her students of the one minute of stamina they had during their previous rounds. Danielle comes up with an idea that she thinks will help her students get started right away and build their stamina. Let's listen in.

http://www.thedailycafe.com/members/735.cfm

Daily 5 Color Icons with Borders

By now you know that we love to have choices! That goes for our Daily 5 icons as well. Here are the same icons we've introduced the past two weeks, but in color on a black background. We love how the icons really stand out! You must see these...

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Got Stamina?

Building reading stamina is celebrated in Denmark, Iowa's kindergarten through third grade school wing.

Chari Purchatzke and her teammates came together to celebrate student reading.

This community of learners exhibit their stamina for all to see. Going public encourages a commitment to reading and celebrates the success.

http://www.thedailycafe.com/members/731.cfm

Until next week!