Teacher leader Geralyn Wilson describes the origins of the McCosh Breakfast Club: "We wanted the teachers to get interested in research. . . .and we wanted to do it in a way that was not burdensome. So we decided that if we fed them breakfast and made it relaxed, calm and friendly atmosphere where [we] could casually discuss what the latest research was saying . . . [we would all] be more apt to read."
Begun during the 1994-95 school year as one of the Language Arts Team's first CLC initiatives, the Breakfast Club continues to meet regularly as an important forum for professional discussion in the primary grades.
"Topics have come pretty much organically from the teachers... As the year goes on what gets read and what gets talked about is something that follows teachers' interests rather than a predetermined schedule of articles to be read," explains university partner Toni Potenza.
Teachers read articles and take turns leading the discussions. Over the last three years topics have included various aspects of phonics instruction, student resilience research, direct instruction, the benefits of reading aloud, Ebonics, and the work of Deborah Meier.
