The CAFE Book - overview and chapter 1

Yesterday I received my copy of The CAFE Book. I was so excited, and I started reading right away at every free moment that I had. Yesterday and today have been cloudy and rainy, so they were perfect days to stay inside and read. I ended up finishing it this morning. I have so much to say about the book that I decided to post all this week on different sections of the book so that I don't have one huge post.

When I first saw glimpses of the book on Stenhouse's site, I mentioned how I loved that the introduction made me feel like I could easily be sitting on the beach with "The Sisters" having a literacy conversation with them. In their book "The Sisters" express feeling this way about other educators who provided the same sense of books as conversations, "It felt like those teachers were sitting with us over a cup of tea, telling us the stories of their teaching with humor, grit, and eloquence. Our teaching heroes were now real people to us, willing to share their successes as well as their struggles in a style that let us know we were all in this together, part of an incredible community of teachers who were learners, too" (p. 128).

Aside from feeling like I was part of the conversation, I really appreciate that the sisters invite readers to make the ideas in the books their own and share their experiences with others. For example, they say, "We've talked about and written the story of how CAFE came to life in our classrooms. Now, through the power of the Web, we can't wait to read and see the story of how it comes to life in yours" (p. 128). They are always mentioning that the actual implementation is always evolving for them and they welcome interactions with other teachers who try out their ideas and make them work for their own rooms based on their students and schedules (p. 12).

I could closely relate to so much of what "The Sisters" said, and I can see myself in them as they describe their earlier years of the process it takes to go from theory and best practices to actually feeling like they are coming to life in the classroom. While I was able to skip some of their process since I came into education at a different time than they did and never taught during the time when whole class instruction was the norm, I still see myself feeling the sense of having a feeling of disconnect between my actual classroom and what I want it to look like. I constantly reflect and try to make changes to move closer toward my vision, but it is a long process, and it was refreshing to see them validate this feeling and realizing that I am not the only one who was not able to instantly have everything work like magic.

The CAFE menu provides a framework for teachers and students to have a common language about effective reading. Students become familiar with what Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding vocabulary mean as well as strategies to make sure they are using them effectively to improve their reading. They explain, "What it does is provide a structure for conferring, a language for talking about reading development, and a system for tracking growth and fostering student independence" (p. 5). Each day this week I will reflect on additional chapters of the book.