Special Topic / Letters to Angel

Dear Angel,

I bet you think that because I am your principal I don't have to go to class to learn new things. Well, you are mistaken. I have been sitting at a cramped table for two hours, trying to learn about reading instruction, but I am not doing a good job of listening because I feel overwhelmed. To at least look like I am taking notes, I thought I would write you a letter, even though I won't give it to you because you can't read yet.

Your teacher brought you to my office yesterday. I hope the photograph my secretary took of us this morning turns out well. I intend to put it on my desk so I can see your happy face all the time. I am looking forward to being your reading teacher, although I skipped three meetings to be here, my superintendent is irritated with me, and it is hard to concentrate. But I'm here and I'm trying to figure out what a sight word is . . . .”

So began the first of many letters scribbled in my daily journal to Angel—a 1st grader at Squaw Peak School in Phoenix, Arizona, where I served as principal. She had been evaluated by our reading specialist, Barbara Folb, as one of the school's struggling readers. Barb selected her to be my reading student because she thought we would work well together. The purpose of my scribbles was to give myself time to shift from a problem-solving administrator to a teacher being trained in an intensive literacy instruction program.

Collaborative Literacy Intervention Project