5
I've just spent the last three days at the Rutherford County Literacy Academy in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. On Monday, Carmen Agra Deedy regaled the group of K-12 public school teachers with both personal stories and traditional folk tales. On Tuesday, Dr. Keith Polette shared literacy strategies with wit and cleverness. I can't think of a more enjoyable and intelligent way to spend a portion of my summer holiday. We began the academy in the usual way~those good old tried and true ice-breakers . Now, if you're not familiar with ice-breakers then you have never attended a teacher in-service. After getting to know a few of the other teachers attending the Literacy Academy (other than the other teachers from my own school), we settled in groups to participate in some cooperative learning strategies. The first activity involved matching Newberry titles to their first lines. The next activity was called "Dinner Plate" where the group members had to first list all...