Anyway, last night’s class was a “Willie Wonka” moment. Those of you who might remember the version with Gene Wilder might remember what I’m talking about. He’s taking the kids and their parents around the factory and says, “so much time; so little to do — no reverse that.”  Well that’s the way I felt last night.

As an instructor, one of my biggest challenges is that there is so much I want to share within a limited amount of time. I have to remind myself that I’ve spent ten years directly and intensely studying this literacy stuff, and that I’m continuing to learn and develop understandings. That’s one of the reasons why I love teaching this class. I learn every time.

Last night though felt disconnected and without closure. There is so much we didn’t get to. I’m not sure how useful the activities (House, Poultry, Di Tri Berresse) were. Let me know.

Part of the problem is that the material in Kucer is pretty much just informational. In my mind there’s not a whole lot to discuss about it. It’s more a matter of pulling out what the reading processes are from his text. I thought the activity of mapping it onto the 4 reader roles would do that. We will be returning to that, because we didn’t have enough time to really do it well and more importantly to talk about it.

I felt at the end as if I was flying at a crazy speed.

We didn’t do reader’s workshop, and we also didn’t get enough time to workshop the annotations. That said, however, I’m pleased with what I’ve read so far. The annotations are showing an understanding of the texts and connections are being made. Most of my comments will be along the craft of writing. I love helping students move toward developing a strong professional voice.

I also read the comments to last week’s class. They were very helpful. I’m thrilled that so many people took the time to comment. One of the dominant themes was the power of being able to collaborate, yet some people wanted some more direct instruction. It’s always a tough line to walk. I’ll continue working on the balance.

There’s a lot to do for next week too. And we cut it down a lot! We’ve got to solidify our understandings of the literacy processes, what it has to do with student learning and where students struggle, and then take a look at specific processes through a historical lens.

So little to do, so much time — no reverse that.