Philadelphia Reading Council Connection Fall 2013

Follow-up to Fall Program We would like to take this opportunity to thank those of you who attended our fall program on September 21st, with State Representative Mary Jo Daley and PRC member Lisa Hantman. We had a dynamic morning, during which many ideas were shared. Lisa presented highlights of her experiences with the Need in Deed program, as well as other cross-curricular, social action projects that have brought the Core Standards to life in her third grade classroom. Here are links to videos of Lisa and her students in action, which she kindly shared: http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local//education/36417-lessons-fromteachers-becoming-experts-on-foodhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcihiZ5ULqA During Mary Jos session, we had a spirited and often intense conversation about the myriad issues that the Philadelphia School District is facing, as well as the Districts relationship with the state government. Mary Jo was interested in hearing our members concerns, and those present seemed to appreciate the opportunity to express their views. Here is a summary of the comments that were expressed: *Testing scores used to penalize teachers; tests often not developmentally appropriate, harmful to special education students who must take grade-level exams with minimal accommodations *Core Standards little or no professional development has been provided although implementation is tied to evaluation; there are no reading specialists to provide on-site coaching for teachers or support to students *Budget issues charter schools take a large piece of the pie; teachers receive an insufficient $100 for supplies * Inconsistencies frequent changes in administration; teachers unclear about expectations; some are concerned about lawsuits *Advocacy need to have voices heard; advocate for educators and students across socioeconomic, racial, geographical, language, and learning spectrum Clearly, we raised many questions and issues. As a follow-up to that discussion, we would like to set up a breakfast meeting with State Representative Jim Roebuck (West Philadelphia), who is the chair of the Education Committee to address some of the concerns raised in more detail. This is in the works, so stay tuned for more information.

Winter Online Book Club After considering several professional books, we have decided on Falling in Love with Close Reading, by Christopher Lehman (Pathways to Common Core co-author) and Kate Roberts. The rationale for this choice is that it ties in well with our ongoing investigation of the Core Standards, it is informative and well-written, and it has applications to all grade levels (dont be put off by the publishers recommendation for grades 5-12). You can read an excerpt at Heinemann.com.
"Love brings us in close, leads us to study the details of a thing, and asks us to return again and again. These are the motivations and ideas that built this book." Chris Lehman and Kate Roberts

Our face-to-face organizational meeting will be held on Saturday morning, December 14th, from 10:00-11:30 at the Wynnefield Library (5325 Overbrook Ave, a block from City Ave., right near St. Joes). If you think you would like to participate in this friendly and conversational book club, which will take place during January and February, we encourage you to attend this meeting, but you can certainly join in even if you cannot attend in December. Well email the logistics and schedule. If we have a large enough number of people interested, we will look into ordering a bundle of books from the publisher to get a reduced rate, so please let Carol Shiffrin know if you are interested in that option. (crshiffrin@verizon.net). Spring Event Our spring event will be held on Saturday morning, May 3rd, so please save the date. The program is called The Three Rs of Spring Cleaning: Refresh/ Renew/Reflect. As the title suggests, we are planning a much-needed morning of collegial de-stressing. Were planning to start with a whole-group activity and then offer a menu of choices. We hope to see many of you that day, back at St. Joes. If you would like to help with the planning for that event, please let us know. Your suggestions and assistance are welcome! *Wear comfortable clothing *One of our activities will be making collages, so save interesting odds & ends - calendar pictures, yarn, ribbon, fabric, etc. Other News Several of us attended the KSRA annual conference at Penn State on a beautiful weekend in October. There were many excellent speakers. Here is a link to the conference wiki, which contains highlights of several of the presentations: http://ksraconference2013.wikispaces.com/. Its well worth

browsing, if you can find a few spare minutes. Two standouts, among many, were Janet Allen and Doug Fisher, and they graciously uploaded their presentation slides and other resources. The Philadelphia Reading Council is now on Twitter, thanks to our newest board member, Rita Sorrentino (technology liaison). If you are on Twitter, find us here: @PhilaReadCoun. If you are not on Twitter, you might want to consider jumping in, as its a great way to connect with other educators and share ideas and resources. If you would like to be a PRC tweeter, please let me know and Ill send you the password to log into the account. Speaking of new board members, we invite each of you to consider more active involvement in our council, whether in an ongoing, or once-in-a-while capacity. Please let us know if you have an interest that you would like to pursue through a mini-leadership role, or if you would like to attend our next board meeting to get a feel for how you might like to expand your participation. FYI -- if youre getting ready to join or renew your membership, KSRA dues are going up from $30 to $35 in January, so if youre close to renewal, you might want to take care of it now. Reminder you must join KSRA first and then choose Philadelphia as your free local council. Contact Nancy Gilhool for more info if needed (gilhoolfam@verizon.net). Question for the group: last weekend I had the opportunity to attend a brunch at the Pearl Buck House, which is a historical site in Perkasie, Bucks County. Lynne Dorfman, in addition to writing, teaching, and presenting, is a docent there and has invited our council for a brunch and tour. The grounds and buildings are beautiful, and Pear Bucks legacy of literature and work on behalf of children around the world is inspirational. The location is out of our usual area, so we would like to have your feedback as to whether this is something you would be interested in (possibly during the summer). Last but not least, we are in the process of setting up a website and will send you the link very soon. This will give us the opportunity to have a discussion board, so it will be easier to share ideas. We will also be linked to KSRAs list of local councils, at ksrapa.org. In the meantime, we are always interested in hearing from you. We hope to see many of you in December, and to connect online during January and February. Janice Ewing, editor JaniceEwing@gmail.com