The Fall issue of the Teacher Professional Development Sourcebook from Teacher Magazine and Education Week includes content and comments from quite a few TLN Forum members.

Most prominent is Nancy Flanagan, who authors the article “Collaboration and Insight: Teacher Learning in Action,” describing a project that connects teachers in a rural NC school district with National Board Certified peers — using a virtual professional network. Flanagan shares some lessons she’s learned serving as an online moderator of teacher learning communities:

One of the pitfalls for facilitators in the online professional development age is the tendency to revert to direct instruction—to tell, to explain, to be the sage on the virtual stage. As we built learning modules for the ‘Return on Investment’ initiative, we learned to design open-ended prompts and flexible, safe opportunities to try ideas and ask for help.

The theme for this new edition of the PD Sourcebook is described by editor Anthony Rebora this way: “Can digital technology help break the decades-long hold of generic ‘sit-‘n-git’ professional development?” In an interview with Rebora, Harvard’s Chris Dede offers his answer: “Only if people use the tools well.”

In other stories, we see examples of teachers who are "using the tools well," building their own personal learning networks independent of any official professional development requirements. Writer Elizabeth Rich reports on the rise of teacher-instigated social networks — using the NING-based The English Companion (started by teacher-author Jim Burke) as one prime example. Rich includes quotes from TLN member and PLC consultant Anne Jolly at several points in the story.

Another article explores Twitter’s potential to support student and teacher learning and includes comments from TLN members Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Bill Ferriter, both popular edu-bloggers who write frequently about Web 2.0. Ferriter and Nussbaum-Beach cite Twitter as their favorite learning tool because it allows them to access a trusted network of colleagues more or less instantly when they need ideas, advice or resource suggestions.

Finally, the Sourcebook’s Blog Watch feature highlights TLN-sponsored bloggers Renee Moore and Ariel Sacks — Moore for a post at TeachMoore about the difficulty of disentangling individual teacher contributions to a student’s growth; and Sacks for a contribution to the Public School Insights blog a few months ago, where she shared ideas about increasing teacher retention in hard to staff schools by rewarding valuable teacher leadership.

In a recent Teacher Magazine essay, Maryland NBCT Ken Bernstein shares his Advice for New High School Teachers — underscoring the importance of developing an atmosphere of trust with students.

“High school students are often very much in search of identity,” he writes. “That includes how they relate to other people. They need points of reference. They need situations they can trust, particularly as they are challenged to grow, emotionally as well as intellectually.”

Although traditional teacher-education programs rely on veteran
educators to invite student- or “practice-” teachers into their
classrooms, many skilled professionals can be heard expressing some
reluctance about sharing instructional responsibilities with green
recruits. They may be concerned about their ability to mentor an
inexperienced colleague effectively, or simply hesitant to relinquish
control of instruction in an atmosphere of high-stakes accountability.

In another recent TLN contribution to Teacher, we've pulled together the highlights of a chat in our daily discussion group about The Art of Working with Student-Teachers. We think you'll agree its both revealing and thought-provoking.

Finally, in an article that continues to be the "most viewed" on the Teacher website, Oakland CA science coach Anthony Cody makes a strong case that teachers should not wait until classroom behavior is locked down tight before "allowing" students to engage in experiments, projects and other forms of hands-on learning.

"I have noticed that student behavior is often at its best the
first few weeks of school," says Cody, a long-time inner-city middle grades teacher. "Students are a bit nervous—watching to see
how we will react when things go sideways. We can take advantage of
this window of opportunity to showcase the way we really want them to
learn. This is our golden opportunity to share our highest expectations
with them, and invite them to rise to meet the challenge."

With its September issue focused on 21st century
learning, ASCD’s Educational Leadership has reaffirmed its status as the
nation’s premiere professional magazine for educators and others interested in
issues of teaching and learning.

The issue is chockful of articles presenting a variety of
viewpoints about the “21st Century Skills” debate and its
implications for both students and teachers. The EL editors, as usual, also
provide more practitioner-oriented pieces, like Marilee Sprenger’s “Focusing on
the Digital Brain” and Susan Graseck’s “Teaching with Controversy.” Then
there’s “21st Century Scholars,” “The Students Have the Answers” and
“Why Educators Should Care about Teaching with Games.” And many more.

This fall, ASCD is also offering a digital version of the
magazine to members — it's a flip-thru interactive package with the graphics intact,
complemented by active hyperlinks. Alone, it’s worth the price of admission,
which can be as little as $29 a year for web-only membership.

Here’s the September Table of Contents. As always, a
generous handful of articles are made available to the general public
(something you won’t find at the sites of most other major education magazines) while
others can only be accessed online by members.

This month’s public articles include:

What Would Socrates Say?

Peter W.
Cookson Jr.

Do we need to craft a new model of education for the 21st century?
It's a question worthy of Socrates.

The 21st Century Skills Movement

Paige Johnson

The chair of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills spells
out goals.

21st Century Skills: The Challenges Ahead

Andrew J.
Rotherham and Daniel Willingham

Why the 21st century skills movement could falter and key
considerations that might strengthen it.

Why Creativity Now? A Conversation with Sir Ken
Robinson

Amy M. Azzam

Creativity is a crucial skill, Sir Ken tells us.

21st Century Scholars

Terrence Clark

A district extends its school day, and the students applaud.

The Art and
Science of Teaching / Six Steps to Better Vocabulary Instruction

Robert J.
Marzano

Advice from the
best practices guru.

Digitally Speaking / Taking the Digital Plunge

Bill Ferriter

New column by award-winning middle grades teacher

What Research Says About. . . / Encouraging Girls to
Pursue Math and Science

Tracy A. Huebner

Use high-mastery teaching strategies.

These free articles are not included in the print issue
but available on the Web:

Navigating the Cs of Change

J. Gregory
McVerry, Lisa Zawilinski and W. Ian O'Byrne

Do your digital natives need instruction in reading online?
Here's how to help. Includes a video of sample
lessons.

How to Learn in the 21st Century

Rita Haugh
Oates

Research tools have changed, necessitating new research
skills.

Managing Messy Learning

Suzie Boss

To deliver on the promise of project-based learning,
educators need project management strategies.

Leading for Global Competency

Fernando M.
Reimers

How can we prepare the next generation for international
understanding?

___________

ALSO: keep an eye on the ASCD Inservice blog during the month.
Sometimes they feature an article and provide free access via the blog.)

Thanks, ASCD, for balancing membership needs and the
organization’s public service mission and giving us all some thoughtful
material to contemplate as the new school year begins.

We recently posted a collection of Teacher Magazine articles by TLN members — all aimed at helping novice teachers get off to a good start this school year.

We didn’t include this excellent essay by David B. Cohen, a high school English teacher in Palo Alto, CA, because his advice on how to “Establish Your Professional Identity” struck us as a little advanced for teachers who are still struggling to wrestle their first classrooms into shape.

But maybe we were wrong about that. And it’s certain that David’s article will be valuable to any teacher who is taking up residence in a new school. It’s all about getting off on the right foot.

“(A)lthough the students and the classroom are your top priorities,” he writes, “it’s never too early to think carefully about how early experiences in your career can help you establish a professional identity—about how you can collaborate with others and engage in the profession.”

It's smart advice we haven't seen anywhere else on the Web.

It was barely two years ago that Teacher Magazine invited sixth grade Texas teacher Donalyn Miller to offer advice to colleagues about "creating readers" for TM’s  Ask the Mentor feature. Back then, the editors described Miller as “a self-proclaimed book whisperer (who) says she has yet to meet a child she couldn’t turn into a reader.”

Miller’s three-part mentoring series proved wildly popular and led to an offer from Teacher to become a regular blogger at the TM site. Her blog, irresistably titled “The Book Whisperer,” overflowed with ideas about how to ignite the flame of reading in the hearts and minds of the most reluctant kids. Which led to another offer from TM’s parent organization, Editorial Projects in Education Inc. (which also publishes Education Week), for Miller to author EPE’s first practice-oriented book, to be published as part of a new partnership with Jossey-Bass.

This Teacherella story came to its picture book ending in the spring of 2009 with publication of The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child. The book has sold more than 13,000 copies in six months and will have a third printing in September. Miller will return to her classroom this fall and once again share the joys of reading with a new passel of Texas tweens.

Donalyn has been a member of the Teacher Leaders Network since 2008. After a busy summer of book signings and presentations, she answered several questions we put to her via email.

* * * * * * *

Here's a question we know will be of interest to other teachers with an urge to write. How do you balance authorship and teaching ? Will there be a point, do you think, when you will have to choose between one or the other?

Honestly, I don’t think I am balancing my various roles as author, blogger, teacher, mother, wife, and friend that well at times. I was not prepared for the success of The Book Whisperer and the overwhelming number of e-mails, comments, and requests for interviews and presentations I have received.

This is a great problem to have, of course. I am grateful that summer arrived so that I could focus on the book, and the response to it, without the daily demands of my classroom. As an advocate for powerful changes in reading instruction, I have a responsibility to support those teachers who grapple with their own teaching situations as they try to incorporate more free choice reading, discard ineffective practices, and reflect on their own reading lives. Right now, I want to answer every e-mail, conduct every interview, and accept every speaking engagement.

I believe in what I am doing and the importance of it for children. My family and friends are incredibly supportive: my friend Carol and her husband Neil designed my upcoming website. Elizabeth Rich, my editor at teachermagazine.org, shamelessly promotes the book and sends me articles to read, and my husband Don reads blog feeds during his lunch hour.

I can’t keep up this level of effort forever, but I can commit to it today. I recognize what an incredible opportunity this is. How many of us really get a voice? A national forum to share our ideas about teaching? An opportunity to engage in dialogue with colleagues in the hopes of sparking real change?

As a highly visible "book champion" and blogger, do you feel some responsibility to speak out about national trends, policies, or controversies in the area of reading and books? And how might other teachers who share your professional passions use their voices?

As I have said many times, I am not a reading policy expert. I write about what interests me and affects me and teachers like me. My audience is largely composed of other teachers, and while I see the need to use my experiences outside the confines of my classroom to inform others about larger educational issues, I always keep the needs and interests of my fellow teachers in front of me when choosing topics for the blog. Sometimes I explore federal policies like funding for Reading Is Fundamental or consider how the use of stimulus money might affect teachers and children. Sometimes I write about the books I have read.

When it comes to teachers using their voices, I think about the other teacher/bloggers I regularly read like Heather Wolpert-Gawron from tweenteacher and Sarah Mulhern at The Reading Zone. We all write about the issues that impact our classrooms—great and small. I would encourage other teachers who are interested in blogging or writing to do the same.

Write about what you know—working with children, reading wonderful books, the inner workings of your school and district, and your own reflections about teaching. Join local, state and national teaching organizations, attend conferences, go back to graduate school—keep your brain fed and connect with colleagues outside of your school.

What's next for you, both in education and in book-authoring? What ideas are swirling in your head that you want to organize into chapters? How do you use your blog to develop and test ideas for books? How important is having your own classroom in this regard?

I do not have any plans to leave the classroom. My passion and my heart live in that little room, surrounded by my books and the children who I love. Outside of my family, my students are my first and only choice. All else fades into the background once school begins.

This is as it should be. I think that my credibility with other teachers lies in the fact that I am a classroom teacher, not a consultant or a college professor who may not have worked with children in years, although educational professionals of every stripe add meaningful perspectives. My role is as a classroom teacher. Without the constant interaction with children and my own responses and reflections about my teaching, my contribution is not as valuable.

I suppose my publisher would like it if I already had plans for another book, but I am enjoying the here and the now. I want to savor the experience of writing The Book Whisperer and how teachers are responding to it. As an avid reader, I am often disappointed by sequels, hastily written to capitalize on the success of a first book. It took me years of teaching, learning and reflecting to decide what I needed to say.

The opportunity to write a national blog gave me a platform, but my opinions were already there inside me. I did use the responses of readers from my original “Creating Readers” column to formulate topics for the book, but I don’t test book ideas via the blog. If anything, when I write a post, readers’ responses influence my thinking. I am not sure how the blog will lead my future writing efforts. Just like I do in my classroom, I prefer to let the magic unfold, and see where it takes me.

My next book will spring from my interactions with the children in my classroom, like all of my writing does. Some things I’m thinking about:

I am extremely interested in the needs of gifted readers and how these needs often go unmet in classrooms where instruction is pitched toward developing readers. I think many children who love reading when they are small slowly lose this passion as they advance through school. I keep revisiting these children in my mind and wondering what I can say about them.

I have spent some time this summer talking to parents about how to motivate their children to read more at home. Many of the ideas that I promote in classrooms: time to read, role modeling, access to books, and choices in reading material, translate to reading habits at home.

While presenting staff development sessions, many teachers ask me for my schedule, my reader’s notebook sheets, and my lesson plans. I am not really enthusiastic about writing a book about these components because one of the messages I try to relay in The Book Whisperer is that we all have to move past this search for the perfect lesson plan or the perfect schedule and design our classrooms around our core beliefs about teaching reading. I might change my mind if I can figure out how to write an interactive text, where teachers reflect on their own needs and design their own schedules, notebooks, and lessons. Still thinking about it . . .

In the immediate future, The Book Whisperer will appear as the featured book for Jim Burke’s English Companion Ning group in October. I am live-blogging at the NCTE Convention in November, and I will spend 180 glorious days reading and writing with my students this school year.