Learning on the Edge

The Future of Reading: Teaching a variety of students how to think

2012-01-28T11:00:00.001-05:00

I find myself drawn into the sci-fi dystopian novel genre. I can't seem to escape from it. So I guess I'll just let it hook me for a while. After reading Across the Universe by Beth Revis, I was excited to find several other novels on her website written in the same spirit of her writing. My most recent guilty pleasure, Legend by Marie Lu.

As a reader, I love to hold a book. The smell of the pages intoxicates me. Just visiting a bookstore to experience the waft of newsprint at the door gets me fired up about reading. So, I have been very careful about balancing the amount of books I read on my ipad with purchasing the real deal.

I don't consider myself a naturally gifted learner. I got B's and C's in school. I was jealous of my friends who graduated summa cum laude. Lately, my teacher-student self has been sneaking into my unconscious as I try to help my students do more written reflection about their reading in an attempt to train their brain to do this more as they read. I try to serve those students who think differently than the traditional school kid. So what I am doing sounds simple enough - engage students in talking and writing about their reading to help them think more deeply about reading. But, I was never taught to do this as a reader. It wasn't until graduate school when I discovered Mosaic of Thought by Ellin Oliver Keene, did I learn how to think about reading in an authentic, meaningful way. This book taught me how to engage with text.

As a teacher of thinkers, I am curious about how the potential of the latest reading apps (Google Books, Kindle, Nook, and iBooks) might support or build barriers for future readers. I know there is a fine balance between just getting lost in a book, getting "into the reading zone," (Nancy Atwell) and analyzing a text by engaging in writing and drawing as we read. Literary adults might already engage in these deep reading behaviors I didn't get in school. But teachers, who need to model deep thinking for students explicitly in a variety of learning styles, might need to know how young readers can engage while they read to build the layers of comprehension. This is the only way educators will reach lots of different kinds of learners. Yes, we need to continue to teach deep thinking to equip students through good old fashioned reading of text. But how we equip them is going to look a little different than it has looked in the schools of the 19th and 20th century.

I'm starting to read through the eyes of a writer. As a social creature I naturally want to share my reading experience with others: my own children, my teaching colleagues, my students. As I started reading Legend on my ipad in iBooks I began highlighting characters' names, words that told the setting, then clues that inferred personalities of the character. I started doing this as a teacher, wanting to engage with text in the same way I asked my students to engage - to see what it felt like. Did I hate it? Was it unnatural? Then my reason for highlighting names and the setting was motivated by sharing the book with my daughters. Next, I started making notes in the margin with the stickies provided in iBooks. I used the evidence from the text to support my thinking. (Ironically, this is exactly what I am teaching my second graders right now.) My purpose for reading shifted again from reading to share with my girls to noticing how a writer embedded character traits into the writing; wondering if these traits would be useful to me later in the book when a character might do or say something that would align with that trait. This thinking motivated me to use it as a writing technique in my own writing. These writing elements jumped off the page after teaching a character-focused unit from Lucy Calkin's Reading Workshop. As I teach reading and writing, I am learning to be a better reader and writer. Go figure.

What implications does all this have for educators, text and the onset of digital tools? Engaging in the journey as educators demands we participate in the same process of thinking we are trying to teach to our children. Maybe other teacher friends of mine knew this secret and I didn't. Maybe this is why I feel so different from administrators and educators in conversations that don't quite dig deep enough. Still, aren't I lucky to be this engaged - to feel this passionate about teaching and learning about reading and writing, to feel as though I am continuing on the learning journey with technology as a tool and not feeling left behind? What a wonder!

Time to think. . . What's working and what isn't?

2012-01-27T18:55:00.000-05:00

Why is it every time I am given time to reflect and regroup I freak out? I'm so used to reflecting and regrouping on the run in the midst of chaos, I don't really know how to embrace the idea of quiet without making my own noise in my head. I have to fight so hard against the daily flow. It becomes my reality I cannot escape, if even to have a complete thought. This reality overwhelms and paralyzes me forcing me to work for an outcome, a product of the reflection. Its ridiculous really, and completely counterintuitive to the sole purpose of reflecting.

So how do I clean this thinking up a bit? Well, sorting out is always a good simple activity for the brain. So why not just write down things I am doing and sort them into piles, what's working and what isn't? It seems like a simple enough exercise.

The Next Page-Turner to Rival Hunger Games

2012-01-25T08:00:00.002-05:00

Beth Revis has done it! The new books in the Across the Universe Series has captured my attention in the same spirit of The Hunger Games. It's a science fiction dystopian story of struggle for Elder and Amy. These characters work their way through the common frustrations of adolescence at the same time solving the life and death threats on the ship Godspeed headed for a new planet.

The writing in the first of the trilogy Across the Universe pulls the reader into a fast paced, stay-up-all-night wonder of a novel. Themes echo Lois Lowry's The Giver. The alternating narrator format will appease both genders. The setting of a space ship in the future will entertain and delight fans of Star Wars and Star Trek. A Million Suns, the second book in the series is out now in hard cover. If you can't stand waiting for the next book, I highly recommend waiting until next January of 2013. Make plans now to clear your schedule for three solid days of reading bliss!

Taking the Good with the Bad

2012-01-23T19:10:00.002-05:00

I'm worried about where the nation is headed in the standardized evaluation of teachers. According to results of my students' grades on their first writing test, I am ineffective as a writing teacher. My students were supposed to score a 4, 5, or 6 for them to be considered proficient. This is the rubric used by my school district to help teachers and students prepare for the prompt on the writing MEAP in third grade. But if they have to reach this 4, 5, or 6 goal in third grade, how can we expect them to get in in second grade? Thank goodness I get to choose the data I use as part of my teacher evaluation. Because I think it is obvious there is still some work to be done with the writing. In the future I believe the "powers that be" will choose the data for my teacher evaluation rating.

The reason this frustrates me is because there is so much information I have about my students as writers but, this is the data that goes on record. This is the data that gets reported to the state. This is the only data in writing we are using to share with the public when we grade student writing on the MEAP.

As I was reading my student's writing there were so many amazing insights I gathered, clearly reflecting the daily amount of time they are spending writing. The quality of their individual voices in their writing was rich and varied. Usually, I hear their personalities clearly in their conversation. But, even more surprising this time, was the amount of voice more deeply expressed in their writing than anything I had heard them say aloud! This baffles me.

For the first time this Fall I worked hard to teach the idea of theme or lesson taught in each story map. This means the usual characters, setting, problem and solution were part of the story map. But, in addition (encouraged by the Common Core State Standards) students tried to reflect about a bigger idea presented by the author: the theme or lesson within the story. This is a very hard concept to teach. But to get a seven or eight year old to understand it, this can be even more of a daunting task. So when my students wrote their own stories for the writing test prompt concluding with a theme or lesson, I was blown away! Some of my students actually ended their story with. . . "From this experience, I learned not to fight with others." Or, another student wrote, " I learned the best way not to keep opening up my scab was to cut your nails." It was the ultimate example of the reading writing connection. Students used the idea of theme at their end of their writing prompts. Instead of the traditional, boring opening statement of the topic sentence, the stories evolved and drew me in as a reader. Then, at the end, by stating the answer to the prompt at the end of the piece I was left with a clear answer to the question . . . Share a time you learned something new Even though the results of the student grades would give me an "ineffective teacher" rating, I guess I need to hang my hat on the idea that several of my student writers are synthesizing the information they learn during reader's workshop and applying it in their writing.

Challenge: in and out of the classroom

2012-01-14T10:56:00.000-05:00

The rich opportunities of learning in public education don't seem to be visible at present. A child's potential has become a distant theory from the past while the goals of the present serve the needs of fitting learning targets in 180 days of a "learning year." We limit children with our rules and systems, getting caught up in the daily minutia of skills easily managed by programs. Think outside the box has become a light, heavily used idea we don't have time to do. Our society is not encouraged to participate in thinking. The media and social culture suck all our time from relationships and experiences. The result is a collective submissive group of victims unable to get outside of their boxes and continue to grow and learn and live.

School is the gift for our youth. Adults push kids' brains to grow. School gives them a time and place to learn how to think. As adults, no longer "doing school" we become disconnected to the idea of daily reflection. Or our reflection about our job is hyper focused, often controlled by someone else superior to us who can think better than we can. Because we have graduated we seem to think we are done.

Good teachers know we are never done. Scientists don't even know the capacity of our brains. Recent findings even published in mass media so mainstream as Newsweek provide a list for adults to help grow the brain. Begley, S. (2012, January 9 & 16). Buff Your Brain: Want to Be Smarter in Work, Love, and Life? Scientific Advances Offer Proven Ways to Enhance Your Gray Matter. Newsweek, 25(8). The only activity I can't even stomach is number 14: "Play violent video games." I tend to believe engaging in acts of violence breeds acts of violence. But, I'm just a second grade teacher, so what do I know?

My challenge in the classroom: to create a learning community of thinkers. The tools I choose should vary, according to student learning modes (Howard Gardner's work in Multiple Intelligence) and of course the learning targets provided by my district and state to create measurable benchmarks.

Its so easy to be self focused, to get sucked into our singular wants of life. However, the reality of each of our minuscule perspectives traps us into thinking through a singular lens, limiting our perspective. The challenge is to push through our lazy tunnel of vision, to welcome the possibilities of thought beyond our comfortable daily experiences and share them with others. This is my responsibility as a leader of learners. All teachers have this privilege. Our western culture and I would argue the majority of world culture do not make political or systemic decisions to reflect this value. Herein lies the problem.

I will not succumb to the average standards held by the mainstream public. I refuse to dumb down education for my students so they can fit into an economic model of success. I will continue to push in my daily life to grow my brain (above and beyond the suggestions in Newsweek, I hope) in order to open the possibilities of the world, present and future, for my learners. This is my challenge. I will own it.

Fighting Against Dumbing it Down in Education

2012-01-04T11:26:00.001-05:00

Thank you Kate Di Camillio, for the beautiful text in A Tale of Despereaux. Several years ago, before the movie came out, I fell in love with this story. I read it to my second graders with a little hesitation. The artistry of the novel does not sound like that of a child's book. If read slowly, with an explanation of significance of light and dark, good and evil, heroes and villains early on in the book, there just might be enough support for my students; the background they need to attain some of their own understanding. There's so much research out there that insists we as educators don't dumb things down. Contrary to that there is additional focus on being explicit in our instruction. As with everything, balance is important. This is a time I need to make sure and not over-teach so as not to kill the story. I hope the children will be as engaged as I am by the writing of Kate DiCamillo.

Gropple

2012-01-02T15:23:00.002-05:00

At first you could see it gathering in bunches in between the green blades of grass. Filling up the spaces a million spheres covering the ground. Sometimes it was thick and clinging together. But, suddenly it would change to a ball resembling laundry detergent. Gropple, I believe it is called - stacking up in separate little styrofoam pieces on top of the windshield wipers on my windshield of my car as I drove home. Later, I check to see if the sky is still working. Still there is a tap-dancing on my slant of the roof outside the window, the white is brushed across the black shingles. It pours down quickly growing mini mountains erasing all the green.

Learning Beyond the School Day: January Opportunities for Second Graders

2012-01-01T11:22:00.002-05:00

For the last three years I have used Moodle to help students embrace the idea of learning beyond the school day. There have been many challenges to overcome: three district computers in my classroom, 28 students, one hour of instructional time devoted to Response to Intervention (RTI) groups, and working with seven and eight year olds. January is a good time to start using this more because most of my students have developed a sense of independence. I wonder if using some of the ideas within the flipped classroom model might help with management to promote more instructional technology assisted instruction. Even though Moodle is an awkward instructional management program, it's what my district has in place. Since I have taken some time to develop a website this year, using the website in conjunction with Moodle and practice strategies employed in the flipped classroom, I might have a structure to develop into an instructional system.

New music recommendations from my kids; who knew?

2011-12-31T10:57:00.006-05:00

One of the best ramifications of having children is learning from them. What could be more exciting than teaching young people and then finding yourself on the other side? While many other people in their 30s (I can say that for nine more months) might be intimidated by the pace of technological development and the youth in their insatiable appetite for moving forward, I am reveling in it! My latest gift from my children this season, (wait for it) Two Door Cinema Club. One album in 2010 was released, and it's hit after hit, after hit! The best of techno, harmony in vocals, live brass, and creative electric guitar surge through the entire album. Every song wakes me up with optimistic pounding making me want to get up and dance. Thanks Jill and Maura. Turn it up!

Writing through a Cup of Coffee: A New Year's resolution of sorts

2011-12-30T10:32:00.004-05:00

Taking the time to write daily is the hardest part of writing. I think it's like eating your vegetables and exercising. You just have to do it. So I have to decide is writing one of those things I want to add to my list of all the things I just have to do? I think the answer is yes. Practice seems to hold true to all things we want to do well. How many different things can one practice and still lead a creative, authentic life? How do I fit one more thing in? I wonder if I could attach my daily writing to a daily habit I already have to associate the two. The daily cup of coffee? Usually, I check the news during my daily cup of coffee. So, can I just switch from the news to writing? Can it be that simple?

Here I go. . .

Book Club Excitement Motivates Homework Reading

2011-12-10T11:00:00.004-05:00

Part of the challenge of being an educator is constantly pulling out new ideas to keep students motivated about learning. This week I hit the jackpot with an idea to meet the needs of all learners, get parents involved, and manage a simple concept. It's one of those ideas I'm sure tons of teachers are already doing. It is so basic, I can't believe I haven't thought of it before . . . drum roll please . . . Book Club Homework! The tricky part of this idea is ensuring students are still reading at their own levels in addition to the participation in the book club. Because if I'm going to allow students to pick their own book based on interest and popularity, chances are many of the students who pick will need support from parents. What's so amazing about it though is the choices reflect an extension of the content study going on in the classroom. It brings a deep, rich level of discussion during the lesson when several of the book club choices support the social studies curriculum.

So this week, students picked these books to read for book club:

Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder

Where The Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein

Fairy Books, Daisy Meadows

Frog and Toad Together, Arnold Lobel

Magic Treehouse: Dinosaurs Before Dark, Mary Pope Osborne

The Little Red Hen

Bear's Bargain, Frank Asch

Country Mouse City Mouse, Aesop

I provided time for the kids to meet together and chat a little bit about their reading. Even though they are still learning how to talk to each other, just giving them enough time to sit down and have one focus questions was enough for the first week. They took some time to plan what they would read for the next meeting.

It was brilliant! This, in addition to reading from their book boxes with very controlled levels, and the common text we share for mentor text or district program materials seems like the magic ingredients to keep the kids moving forward at a rigorous pace. I'm eager to shape and mold this over time into a very student-led aspect of my entire learning program.

I think the next step for next week is going to be developing some guiding questions for their discussions. . .

I would love to hear any thoughts from teachers about management recommendations.

Finding the Quiet

2011-11-06T14:52:00.000-05:00

Photo by Jean-Michel Baud

Since last week's post I have had several conversations with people about finding the quiet. I love it that the responses to my blog last week contained several different perceptions of what the quiet can mean. This week, I will continue to delve more into the idea of creating quiet in order to unleash creativity and enhance opportunities for deep learning.

First, I'll start by walking the walk. Someone asked me mid week if I had made any progress toward finding quiet in my life ,"How's it going, finding the quiet, I mean?" When I thought about it, there had been a few opportunities. I spent some time working with music in the background. Music has always had a huge place in my life. The more I read about the multiple intelligences, I realize it is not just something I appreciate. Music is a need that helps me not just to "survive but to thrive." (words taken from Brian Keepers.) If this is true for me, how many other sensory experiences could I be integrating into the classroom to create quiet for my students? Using the right music in the classroom is so critical. My colleague, Amy Sale, spoke of the amazing amount of focus her children have been experiencing since she has used more quiet background music. It would seem to be counter intuitive to add more noise to encourage quiet. But, I think this week, I am going to use auditory stimulations more in my teaching to see if there is some deeper learning.

I'm not quite sure what that deeper learning is going to look like. I think it might manifest itself in a variety of ways

time students are focused on a task
enthusiasm for learning
mood of individuals and the overall mood of the group
different forms of expression in learning (not just paper pencil) singing, dancing, drawing in addition to writing and speaking

Instead of creating more confusion in the classroom (I was considering learning rotations) I think I am going to tweak the routines I already have set in place. Hopefully, this will help stretch our learning environment. . .

I would love to hear some responses from you about how music helps or hinders your learning. Is there a specific instrument or genre of music that increases your creativity or improves your mood?

Spinning My Wheels: Running in Place

2011-10-29T18:29:00.000-04:00

I need a destination. Lately, my teaching conversations have been deep. The work in my classroom reflects best practice (in workshop anyway). So why do I feel like I have all the right pieces but an overall feeling of disjointedness? When I read my favorite blogs, I realize how much I long to be writing more. I wonder if the meaning I am looking for in my classroom is directly connected to the depth of questioning I do through writing? The beginning of the school year is such a juggling act. Here is a list of where my energies have been during the months of September and October:

trying to help my girls adjust to their new routines (lots of emotional support in the evenings)
building my own routines in the classroom
building relationships with staff
being present for my spiritual community at church
building relationships with parents of my students

Here are some of the important parts of my own personal life I feel I have had to put on the back burner:

writing
reading
learning about new ideas
sharing new ideas with others
running
listening to music
finding new music

I know I am at the point in my life where wisdom comes from observing life patterns that evolve over time. Instead of being emotionally resentful of this time of year, I long for objective perspective. I wish I could remove the emotional component and just realize all the positive changes to come as a result of putting all this necessary energy into the bank. I wish I were in touch with more teachers, second grade teachers, fifth grade teachers, educators who share my vision and can reassure me a time of ease is coming.

The current political climate in education is also pushing against the positive energy we teachers are trying to keep central. It just adds more noise to our already noisy day, noise we are challenged to quiet.

With the start of November I need to quiet the noise. A change of the season brings a time of new beginnings. Underneath the negative current created within our culture, ultimately due to our world economic state, there is hope; the creativity of the human spirit to overcome. As educators we are called to lead this movement. We have the tools, the access to the possibility of positive change in front of our very noses every day. Instead of trying to control our students to fit into our molds of what we think is best for education, we should be working to unleash their potentials in quiet, creative, supportive environments. This may only be possible when we take the time out for our own personal quiet.

Reading Workshop 2011

2011-09-14T20:08:00.001-04:00

My friend and colleague Amy Croel Perrien is teaching a graduate class at Grand Valley. I promised her I would start writing about Teaching Reading Workshop on my blog. It gives me a reason to write. So here it goes. A little background - I have been teaching for 16 years in first and second grade classrooms. Marie Clay, Margaret Mooney,Regie Routman, Dick Allington, Debbie Miller and Lucy Calkins have all been my teaching reading mentors for the last 20 years. (I am such a teaching geek, I was reading their work in college.) So the reading workshop approach is something that has been in my lexicon for a while. Have I been teaching it that long? Heck no! Not well anyway. I started my teaching career teaching using basal readers during instructional time in combination with some children's literature. In the early days I didn't have much of a library or even multiple copies of text. So that was a big obstacle. I made an effort to get a library collection in my room with at least 30 new titles each month. But, I still needed those basal readers just to have some text for those kiddos to read from. For a long time, I used my read aloud time for comprehension minilessons. While my basal was used for both comprehension and phonics. Fluency at that time was called reading with expression, and vocabulary was usually unique to each story, but the same for all children. It was still very "one size fits all." Going from teaching second grade to teaching first grade was really what forced me to look more closely at the possibility of children needing many different levels of text. Sharon Taberski's book On Solid Ground helped me see what a classroom might look like with many readers reading many different books. She also introduced me to a management system that allowed me to meet with each individual reader. This was the beginning of reading workshop for me. Over the next 5 to 6 years I worked to develop more reading in small groups and meeting with individuals over the whole class, all-together, all-the-time method. Most of my whole group instruction in reading was within a content area like social studies or science because the non-fiction text structure was used more in the content areas. Then I started integrating some social studies and science into my reading block and I went back to the whole class to ensure kids weren't missing content. Then I did both content instruction and reading workshop separately. Now, I was teaching reading all day long with different presentation structures. Reader's Workshop melded into a combination of SSR (sustained silent reading) and reading minilessons with word study (spelling, phonics, phonemic awareness, grammar) in it's own time slot. Then came the Daily Five by the Sisters, Joan Moser and Gail Boushey. Following that came The Daily Cafe. Finally, I came back to Lucy again with Writer's Workshop written as a curriculum with much more explicit instruction for management and strategy talk. All of these parts of my reading teaching journey have helped me to keep an open mind as a life long learner. There is always more to learn. . .

Europe and July 35th

2011-08-06T09:13:00.006-04:00

Since I want to keep this blog focused on education, I will be posting about my trip at my write to learn blog. All are welcome. But, my intention is to keep my professional life here.

As a teacher, August is the month of anticipation. I feel myself refreshed after my summer. Over the next few days I will be getting out the paper and sketching my classroom layout. There are going to be about 29 children in my classroom this year. So, I'm getting rid of the teacher's desk to make room for another group. In order to keep a positive attitude my teacher friends and I don't start talking about August. We just extend July. Today is July 37th for all you teachers out there not ready to go back.

As I get ready I will create posts about sharing my August journey, getting psyched for another great year!

Come visit my writing blog if you are interested. Click on the hypertext link

Learninglines

My 100th Post! No Man's Land

2011-07-19T11:00:00.003-04:00

My brain constantly tries to put ideas in meaningful categories . . . "This is a school thought. Now, I'm thinking about religion. This idea is about my personal writing. Thinking about the teaching of writing is happening right now." Over the last several years, writing a blog has been a way to organize many of my thoughts about teaching and learning. Recently, I started a new blog for writing about topics unrelated to teaching. It sounds like I have so many things to write about!

But, for the last several months I really have been experiencing writer's block. One of the Slice of Life Posts, "The Art of Doing Nothing" by Deb Day (also her 100th post, ironically) explores the beautiful art of embracing our free time.

As teachers, we keep our days so jam packed with learning, we are led to believe actively producing "stuff" means you are learning. But, what do I call the time in between when we are just struggling to stay afloat? We cannot piece out where we are headed, where we are going. This is the place I live right now. I live in this no man's land.

When I was in college I became accustomed to this sensation. Each school year I tried many new things, moved back and forth between school and home - I use to call this time of the year purgatory. I hated the feeling, but easily recognized it. Wisely, I knew the time would move me forward toward a new routine that would comfort me soon enough. It has been a while since I have had this feeling of flailing around without direction. Next week I have the opportunity to go to Europe with my fourteen year old daughter. It is going to be an amazing experience for both of us. I find myself so excited and nervous, I find it hard to concentrate on what I should be doing to get ready.

This is such a real part of life - struggle. It feels uncomfortable. I feel out of control. I find myself short tempered with my family. A wise person once said to me, during the tough times we feel dissonance, we just have to learn how to be in it. Now that I listen to myself telling my youngest over the last few days "You have to be patient." I just need to listen to my own words.

Do I Own My Own Patriotism?

2011-07-05T11:07:00.007-04:00

Isn't it a wonder when many ideas all come together in several parts of your life? On this fourth of July, I have had the opportunity to do some deep thinking about freedom. I'm not talking about your sappy, John Philip Sousa, red-white-and-blue-polka-dot-baby waving an American flag reflecting. The processing of my individual beliefs has taken years of experiences, instruction, observing, and reflecting. I truly think as I was reading my most recent read, Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson, I had the unique opportunity of forming a definite opinion about what freedoms I believe are the "unalienable rights" referred to in our country's constitution. What a lovely gift on the fourth!

Teaching (SWITCH) Learning

2011-06-21T11:24:00.013-04:00

© Copyright Bonelli and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

I feel like I have two separate lives, the life of a teacher and the life of a learner. During the school year most of my time is spent in the trenches as a teacher. Then in the summer, I am able to reflect on my teaching life and engage in more time spent learning. Making this transition isn't easy. In fact, many would say it is painful. We serve and support learners throughout the school year, dedicating all our time an energy to them until the last period on the comment in the report card is written. Then, we fall off the cliff. We mourn the loss of our learners - the every day interaction with them and their work. Slowly, we recover from our loss and embrace the possibility of uninterrupted time in the summer to embrace our own learning. Unfortunately much of the general public doesn't understand this critical part of an educator's job. Even I struggle with the amount of time during the summer that students need to continue to maintain all their learning they made during the school year. There has to be a compromise.

As a culture, we Americans must learn to value the time necessary for both students and educators to learn. Ideally, teachers should have time built into the school year to reflect and learn along with her students. But, truthfully, the amount of reflection and focus required can only take place with the absence of classroom responsibilities. In the half hour it took me to check on the blogs that I follow, my brain became so overwhelmed with the learning possibilities, I literally shut down and became unable to process. Is this how my students feel?

Yesterday a good friend of mine ran to the bookstore after hours of interviews. What did she want to read? She couldn't wait to get her hands on the ideas from book titles that came up during the day in conversations she was having with other educators. This is how teachers spend their free time in the summer. . . LEARNING! The tricky part of summer learning for teachers without an online professional learning network is they are learning in a vacuum. Of course relating their own teaching to new concepts as they read is valuable. But making text to self connections is only the beginning of deep understanding. Teachers must be encouraged to go a step further and engage in social networks as they learn. Instead of note taking for the next school year, teachers should be engaging with other educators who share the same questions. This means teachers are called to admit they don't know everything (this can be hard for teachers to swallow.)

I'm used to facilitating the learning of others from September to the beginning of June. My challenge during the next eight weeks will be to facilitate my own learning in a meaningful, authentic, and quiet environment. I just hope there are other teacher/learners willing to take the risk to engage in the learning with me.

Long time, No Write

2011-04-25T22:39:00.003-04:00

It has been a painfully long time since I have written in either of my blogs. The amount of dedication my classroom and students have taken this year has been mind-boggling. I know it is all worth it. My students continue to make reading progress (although quite slowly).

So what have I learned? I have learned that when given seemingly insurmountable barriers, I can climb them. If others stand in the way of progress with my students, I can walk around them. If I allow the joy from others to seep under my skin it will eventually reach my heart, healing the ache from hurt.

There is much yet to be written and plenty of time to write.

Snow Day Surprise

2011-02-02T13:27:00.001-05:00

RING! The phone in my kitchen made me jump. A big smile spread across my face when I saw Mrs. deForest's name on the caller ID. I knew what she was going to say before I picked up the phone.
"Hello?" I cheerfully answered.
"Hello, school is cancelled for tomorrow, Mrs. Parker," Mrs de happily announced.
"YES!" I celebrated. "I will call Mrs. Sale." Then I slammed down the phone and danced around the kitchen singing, "We don't have scho- ol. We don't have scho-ol!" My girls all screamed in delight!

The next morning Mr. Parker was so nice to let me sleep in. He got up early to take Poppy out (she went to the bathroom on the porch because there was too much snow!) He watched a Kansas basketball game while I snuggled under the covers until 7:45.

I got up and peeked through my blinds into my backyard shaking my head in disbelief. For the next two hours I sipped my warm coffee with happy wiggling toes while watching the news cover the Blizzard of 2011.

After getting sick of the TV, I decided to go up to my office and see what other people were posting on Facebook. I wondered if I should try and add a forum on Moodle for my students. So, I logged in and started clicking around still trying to figure out what I was doing. SUDDENLY, I looked in the corner of the screen and noticed something that was absolutely shocking. There was a message! Haley's name was in the corner next to a little icon of an envelope.

"No, way!" I shouted aloud to the empty room. One of my kiddos was online waiting for me to set up the forum so she could write her fable! I was stunned. I was overwhelmed. I was thrilled!

Immediately, I logged onto the school server and sent an email out to all the families in my class to let them know to use Moodle for learning today!

After I did this, I came back to the Moodle site and saw Ansley was on, too! No way! I thought. This is so crazy. Quickly I figured out how to post more forums for the kids. Now, I'm just going to spend the rest of the day wiggling my toes in my pajamas. I get to listen to John Mayer, watch the snow fall and teach from my cozy little office as I watch the flakes fly! Being a teacher in the year 2011 does have it's perks.

Just When I Think I Know What I am Supposed to Be Doing

2011-01-17T19:13:00.003-05:00

More information is not always better, sometimes its just more.

What Cannot Be Measured

2011-01-11T19:41:00.005-05:00

Today I listened to one of my students read to me. For a moment, I forgot I was taking a running record and just let myself listen to the words fall flawlessly out of her mouth. She was fluently reading words in sentences. She was enjoying it. She was understanding it. I know she's reading because she has been reading just the right books for just the right amount every day. I let myself just reap the benefits of her labor. I froze the moment in my head. This was a student who was not only struggling at the beginning of the year but, missing pieces of memory and sounds in her writing. In the past, I might say what I am witnessing is a miracle. Which in a way it is. Yet, instead of just chalking it up to being a magical, untouchable process, I feel like I had a part in the puzzle. For months she and I have been talking, reading and writing. She has not struggled with attendance this year as she did last year. I am able to help give her her inhaler when she needs it. If she needs a breathing treatment, I call her mom and dad and ask if they can come and give it to her at school so she can stay. If she needs to stay in for recess with a friend, we do that.

So how can I document this for her teacher next year? I can't. And what about summer? As I sat there marveling with her progress I was imagining how I could help her over the summer. Could I skype with her? Could I send letters with lists of books I want her to read? How far do I need to go to make sure she is not losing all this work we have built over the last four months? Do I send her books in the mail?

For now, I guess we just need to sit and revel in our joy. Then we let the joy carry us as far as the path takes us together. Maybe the path will end in June? Maybe not? You never know.

Data, Data, Data

2011-01-10T19:07:00.002-05:00

How much data do we really need to inform our teaching? What data is good? What data is bad? Every day I use my students' performances to inform my teaching for the next day. However, it is getting to the point that I can't keep up with correcting papers because there are so many other data driven high stakes tests to give that interrupt my instruction. There is no such thing as uninterrupted instruction. Tomorrow, I am to give my students the second benchmark DIBELS of the year. I am ridiculously worried about their lack of performance to meet what DIBELS has stated is where they should be at this time of the year. In addition, I feel like I have to do running records on all the kids who will potentially score low on the DIBELS just to prove they are making progress. Even though I have not been with my students for the last two weeks, because they were on vacation.

Truthfully, my students look like they have been making progress in their reading as I meet with them and listen to them read and talk about their reading each day. We are getting to the point where we are testing when we could be using the time for more instruction.

Please, parents, start voting against all of this testing. It is taking away your child's opportunities to learn.

My Evolving Story

2010-12-28T13:24:00.009-05:00

Two Writing Teachers provide a reason to write each week with their "Slice of Life" writing prompt. It's a great opportunity to reflect about how my path, my story is evolving. Choices. Life is constantly about making choices. Sometimes there are so many, I choose not to choose. In teaching the whole day seems to flow based on the thousands of choices spinning in front of me. At home the pace could not be more different. It takes me a week just to get used to the slow pace of things. I definitely need to continue and work on adapting my schedule so it doesn't interfere with having a life outside of school. Writing, reading, spending time with friends can be choices I decide to make priorities in my schedule, if I would only choose to do it. I guess this could be a New Year's Resolution as well as a story.

Professional Development of the Future in Education

2010-12-20T18:17:00.003-05:00

What if there were an actual position for a teacher to teach other teachers about best practice of integrating technology into the classroom? The grassroots way will be the only way for teachers to embrace and integrate new teaching ideas. They will listen to other teachers who do not serve the agenda of the state or the district. Teachers will listen to other teachers who know what is going on in the classroom. Teachers are the only people who understand how and why to make it all work. It means making the best choices for the students in your room at the time. Only teachers can make these decisions based on their observations.

Right now, a dear friend and collegue of mine is working with a group of other educators in the Detroit area. I'm sure they are on the right track. This group is collectively developing a plan to help teachers learn more. The only thing they need now is time. The general public doesn't seem to understand that many teachers are using all their free time in the summer and on weekends to stay ahead of the curve in the most up to date strategies and learning practices. The ideas this group of teachers presents will help teachers in their district to learn more efficiently. I hope their district recognizes the amazing innovative and forward thinking educators they have on staff. I also hope other districts will look to these teacher leaders for examples of how to move educators forward to meet the needs of the changing student.

If you are interested about learning more see their blog at 21st Century Collaborative

Brilliance in the Classroom: An Amazing Day After So Much Hard Work

2010-12-12T09:39:00.003-05:00

So, I have been working my tail off for this group I have. About seven to ten of them need my expertise desperately. It has been a true test this year to see if my instruction is truly making a difference. Last Tuesday, I attended the workshop at my local intermediate school district. I can't believe I spent $179 dollars of my own money to attend the monthly Lucy Calkins Reading Workshop. I was hoping to stay grounded in my foundational beliefs as my own pressures within my school district continue to confound me. That is just what happened. I was able to remember from a teacher's perspective what is important to continue losing sleep over and those things that are not.

The time I spent with my students this week was priceless. We were able to have such great deep conversations about reading and writing. I felt like I had one really special day filled with many affirming small moments with students and teaching friends.

One of my students was able to make huge cognitive leaps in reading and math. It brought tears to my eyes hearing her say, "Mr. Parker, guess what I noticed? Adding 3 + 6 can help you add 30 + 60. This child needs to use math blocks to count by tens. By the end of the day. She had been able to move away from using the blocks and transfer her new knowledge without using the tens and the ones blocks.

The same student actually stopped in the middle of her reading to say, "oh, I get it! I know why the story has two birthday cakes now. Her baby brother was born on her birthday. So each of them gets a birthday cake!" It was an amazing moment to watch her stop on her own and reflect about her reading after predicting and working through the story.

Sharing learning with other teachers is one of my favorite parts of being a teacher. At the reading workshop I attended one handout from the facilitator really made an impression on me. So I photocopied it to share with some other teachers in the future. That same day as the brain breakthrough with my student, a staff member actually asked me for information I had on the handout. It was so random, that he would ask if I had seen or made something given to me just a day before our conversation. The piece of paper was literally sitting on the corner of my table ready to hand to him. Could the timing have been more perfect?

Now, I will use this wonderful day to fill up my tank for a while. I'll take these blessings with me into my last week before break. I hope to uncover more small moments like these this next week.

Google Docs

2010-11-27T11:09:00.001-05:00

I am ready to jump in and work with my netbooks to use Google Docs and webquests with my students. Now, I just have to work on the scheduling logistics.

Writing a Book - Need Advice about the first chapter

2010-10-18T21:14:00.002-04:00

I am writing a book for the 9-13 age group. I have been trying to revise it. But I need more audience feedback. Since I know a few teachers who teach lower elementary read this sometimes. I thought I would ask you to read the first chapter and let me know what you think. I was inspired by The Penderwicks. But, I truly do have three girls whose personality is very entrenched in these three characters. My Story

This link is my other blog. Please leave your thoughts, ideas and questions. If you have young daughters in this age group, I would appreciate if you share it with them and give me some of their thoughts.

Empty

2010-10-16T08:30:00.001-04:00

Consumed. That's how I feel about teaching right now. So much so that I don't allow myself time to "have a life." I can't even find another topic to write about because the only experiences I have on a daily basis are in the context of education.

I thought reading others' blogs would help me find my voice, my topic of the week. Instead it has illuminated my feelings about teaching and education at this point in history. Instead of tuning into the debate about schools and teachers and achievement during the last month, I have chosen to become consumed with the people who are my students. For better or for worse, I have ignored the public debate about the current state of education, hoping that my daily work would make it all go away. A few years back I started blogging to escape the confines of my building and district to connect with other educators. Now, I wonder if I need to change my blogroll. Because the bitterness and hurt of the public disapproval of the state of education is so far reaching its reaching epidemic proportions. The struggle between becoming consumed by this bitterness and aware of it to direct my daily decisions about how I participate in public discourse, has crept into my consciousness.

I need a way out. I need to escape. Next week, when my students come into our room on Monday they need a leader with a vision, not a defeated, frustrated, burned out victim of the system. Let's hope that the next 24-48 hours can bring renewal, new questions, time with others who inspire me and push me forward, through the murky, dense noise of negativity.

The Discovery

2010-10-09T10:21:00.001-04:00

His world is constant interruption.

There are only random pieces of conversations,

ideas, understanding.

His energy pulls him away from the task,

taking him to fast moving cars and knights in battle.

It hurts to know now how much he struggles.

The end of the playful all-accepting childhood nears.

In the classroom,

robbed of steering his own thought,

a woman tries to reach him.

She fights the neurons traveling various paths in his brain,

Working tirelessly

weaving the curriculum into powerful images

that might take a ride on his speedy, sporadic highway

hidden behind those chocolate brown eyes.

One connection after another builds a series in his neural net.

She creates a lesson with the intent to teach them how to wonder

in a world that hands them all image after image,

stripping them from the intellectual tools we call

an imagination.

She hopes.

A mysterious box appears on a table

in the back of the classroom.

The children begin to ask questions.

The artifacts in the box have peeked his interest.

He wonders.

What is in that box?

Clues are slowly revealed by the woman.

The knights disappear.

An image of an old fashioned ink pen

surfaces among the other images flooding into his visual web.

He has just enough time to get the shape of it down in a drawing

as the other students guess the contents of the box,

looking onto each other's papers,

feeling like someone near to them must know the answer

they don't.

He jumps from his seat

unable to control his excitement.

He must share his discovery with her.

The woman bends down

eager to hear his idea.

On the paper he has drawn an old pen and a jar.

Chills travel up her arms

flush through her chest

down her legs and

she smiles.

He knows.

His focus is entirely centered on the box.

He sits like stone,

waiting for her to unlatch the top and reveal its contents.

Her arm disappears into the deep space,

lifting yet another box, long, with black smudges.

She delivers it into the center of his table.

Eyes big, he waits.

The children are released, hungry for the treat

they have all had to wait for while everyone else got served.

As he slides of the top of the box, a cloth stained with black ink

meets his chocolate brown eyes.

The long black sticks are stacked on top

of one another with pointy metal tips blackened from ink.

He knows.

He has guessed.

He has wondered

and he has won.

Or so he thinks.

But what he doesn't know is that

she

has won, too.

Art Prize Surprise

2010-10-01T20:46:00.001-04:00

At the last minute one of my colleagues and my principal were able to help our team take our students to Art Prize in Grand Rapids for an urban tour. Since our focus centers so heavily on community in our social studies curriculum, this was the ultimate opportunity for my students. We could not have requested a better day or experience. In the past, teaching in the classroom day in, day out with only static resources has been challenging. Students are not motivated by reading about others' experiences is just not the same as engaging in a learning activity first hand. These days it becomes even more challenging to get funding for trips. All the stars were aligned last week for our trip downtown Grand Rapids.

Eight parents from each of our classes were able to commit to an all day event. In small groups we discovered art, walked around it, touched it, played in it. It was glorious! My students were so eager and engaged, I had not one worry. Discovering the pedestrian bridges over the water and winding passageways between the buildings in the radiant sunshine brought the urban environment underneath our feet instead of just a photo in a text book. My camera was clicking constantly to bring our experience back to the classroom to look more in depth at a later time.

So many smiling faces welcomed us on the streets delighting in the art and the day. The national coverage of this event along with the emphasis on celebrating creativity and individual perspective is such a breath of fresh air. The positive effects of this community centered event has been contagious and healing. I have to wonder, in cases like these, how much of our technology has helped the positive bounty the tipping point. Art Prize has an app for the iphone. Even though I am currently using a Droid X, the ability for me to research different pieces during our walk using just the website browser on my phone created an entirely new experience for me. I am so grateful my students and I were able to begin the year with such a powerful, meaningful learning experience.

I was able to use the images I took to create a slide presentation for the children. We used it once in the context of a writing lesson. My young writers are trying to capture one small moment from their Art Prize experience. I modeled a short story about my impressions that day centering around the Grand River. Some of my students chose to focus on the idea of walking all day. (There were no complaints, by the way.) Other students explored their favorite art piece or a location that was particularly interesting to them. The GRAM was open to all students for free. Many of the children chose to write about some of the pieces they were able to see there. I hope to use the photos and their stories to create a video about communities to use with other classes. It is also possible we could share this idea with other students in classrooms of teacher friends of mine. So, I'm trying to think about how I can integrate their writing into the narration of the slide show. If any teachers are reading this who have experience with Microsoft Movie Maker or Voicethread I would love any tips you might have for my project.

Next week we will begin to explore some of the unique characteristics of our own suburban community. I look forward to comparing our urban experience to a suburban one when we take a walking tour through our small down town area. With the possibilities the International Baccalaureate program provides for our school and our school district, I have hope for the future of public education.

15 minutes a day of Writing

2010-08-03T16:45:00.001-04:00

I am going to concentrate most of my personal writing at learninglines.wordpress.com Please join me there!

The Italian Waiter: An NYC short story

2010-07-05T10:47:00.003-04:00

Mark called the restaurant to make reservations. But he didn’t know I was going to take so long time to get ready for dinner. So he became confused and distracted when he told the restaurant 6:00 and I furiously shook my head in disapproval. There was no way I was going to be able to dry my hair and hike to a restaurant six blocks away in a half hour! What was he thinking? The time it took for me to interrupt him and take his attention away from the phone call was evidently too annoying for the person on the other end of the line at the restaurant. Mark balked as the line went dead. The person on the other end must have been too busy to listen to the husband and wife haggling.

“He hung up before I could give my name!” Mark scoffed.
“Well, call back.” I insisted.
“No, you do it. I will not talk to someone as you are telling me what to say in the background. Do it yourself.” He handed the phone to me. It took a moment to be offended and then I acquiesced deciding that I would ultimately be the better person to call anyway.

At 6:30 we breezed out the cold, air-conditioned lobby of the hotel to the busy hot bustle and closeness of the street. Locals coming home from work brushed past with cell phones glued to their tired ears and designer sunglasses blocking their eyes. Oblivious to the silent rules of commuters on foot, we admired the architecture and unknowingly stepped in urine from pets that had yet to be washed from the street by the doormen. We were smiley and proud. In only a few days we thought we had successfully mastered the art of going out to eat in New York City. Not only were we determined to eat well, but also to find the little “best kept secrets” of the neighborhood.

A little family-owned Italian restaurant at the corner of 79th and Lexington looked to fit our requirements. The door was open. A breeze of air conditioning flowed onto the street inviting us inside. The waiters and host lingered in the front, speaking loudly in Italian – a good sign. As soon as we crossed the threshold, the cool air hit us like a jet engine. The staff scurried away. It was damn near impossible not to laugh as I came face to face with the 1970 Sonny Bono-look-alike who would escort us to a table.

In the hallway-like restaurant, my eyes were still adjusting from the brightness on the street. Olive oil and wine filled the air. I was looking forward to another Cabernet like the night before at that hip vegan restaurant. What was the name of it? Helen Estates? Yes, that was it. Hopefully a Cabernet or a Chianti would be on the menu “by the glass”.

The tables were so closely positioned together; it was hard imagine all the bodies fitting with a waiter buzzing around. One party of six had been recently seated. Their thick New York accents musically filled the small space.

In the center of the back room was the perfect table for two. The skylights illuminated the crisp white linens, the natural light from above raking in onto the shelves lined with wine bottles. A charming little orchid placed in the center of the table made a lovely centerpiece. I tried to memorize the scene. I was convinced it was going to be another perfect dinner.

No wine list accompanied the menu. When the waiter showed up at the table looking straight ahead, I tried to smile and make eye contact before asking my question. “Do you have a wine list?”
“What would you like?” he sighed.
“Do you have a wine list?” I repeated.
“What you like?” He said again in an almost irritated voice.
Then Mark spoke up, “Do you have a Chianti?”
“Yes,” the waiter quickly replied with no further detail.
Mark continued slowly, “We would each like a glass of Chianti”
“You buy glass or bottle?” the waiter pushed.
“Uh,” Mark hesitated looking across the table at me, “we would prefer a glass . . .” but he was cut off by the waiter.
“We have Nuova Cappelletta, Gabiano and Pinot Noir.” The waiter then looked straight ahead at the wall, his hands locked behind his back as if in military position.

The more I looked at Mark the more goofy the whole situation became. We were paying a lot of money to sit here and listen to this stranger yell at us in Italian code. Almost as if it was our job to figure out what he was saying. Suddenly, I felt like I was in a Saturday Night Live skit. There was not way I could make eye contact with Mark. I would explode with laughter and further insult the waiter. And of course the waiter’s absolute disgust with us, an obviously inexperienced Midwestern couple, could not have been more entertaining to me. The waiter made no effort to explain the three wines he had listed. We were still completely confused. While we tried to stay cool, there was no way to tell if one of the first two wines he had mentioned was a Chianti. All we understood was the Pinot Noir part. It took several tense moments of biting the inside of my lip to squelch the building giggling before I realized what the waiter was really trying to tell us. The restaurant had Chianti, but did not offer it by the glass. Mark had not yet made this connection and he asked again if one of the wines the waiter had mentioned was a Chianti.

This time the waiter, raising his voice so that others around the area would be able to hear, stated in a slow articulate English with Italian accent “WE, HAVE, Nuova Capp-ellett-a, (pause) Gab-i-ano (pause) and (very fast) Pinot Noir .” BANG! The waiter had lifted the small artificial orchid from the center of the table and loudly pounded it once onto table to make his point very clear. We jumped, immediately started by his temper. Both of us were so completely taken aback by this behavior we had to fake coughing to cover up the laughter.

“We’ll take the Pino Noir.” Mark finally managed to squeak out. Just to survive we hung our heads low, our shoulders and backs shaking with giggles as the fuming waiter disappeared.

Mark and I were delighted with the unusual service. Now, it was like a show. I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next. I anxiously watched Mark’s facial expressions for signs of the waiter. I faced the back wall. So the only way I knew the waiter was nearby was when Mark’s eyebrows raised and his head tilted to the side with his lips suddenly disappearing into his mouth the hide his amusement.

I listened to the waiter talk to other tables anticipating he would take on the same rude manner. But, he didn’t! Other tables asked questions. Other tables didn’t get the pounding. Other tables didn’t have the yelling. What the?

Finally the waiter came to the table to present the wine and announce the specials for the day. I was dying with anticipation for anything quirky at this point. From the looks of his body language, it was very clear the waiter was frustrated and uninterested. Instead of looking at us, he continued to look at his other tables around the room and at the wall as he methodically and slowly announced the specials, accentuating all the Italian words,

“Toonieeght, we havea a fresh salad weeth meexed greens, peeled carrots, abalasamic weeth vinegretta. Next, for an appeteezer, we havea a wild mushrooms and fontenella, fon-te-ne-la cheese.”

I learned my lesson. I had no intention to ask any more questions that might irritate him. I hastily ordered the gnocchi and Mark ordered something like a vegetable pasta.

But then, the waiter threw in more choices, “You want salad?” looking away while we made our decision.
“No thank you,”I replied.
“You?” the waiter pointed at Mark but looked across the room where no one was.
“I’ll have the mixed greens” he answered. Then the waiter started bullying us by using Italian words we didn’t understand.
“Mesto?” the waiter asked.
We had no idea what mesto meant. So Mark repeated his order, “The mixed greens?”
“Mesto?” The waited replied more loudly.
“Uh,” Mark hesitated looking to me who hid my eyes low. I finally understood the waiter wanted Mark to speak using the Italian word for mixed. “Mesto!” Mark repeated in his attempt at an Italian accent.

Again, the waiter lifted the small vase with the acrylic fake water and the orchid. We fixed our eyes, big and round anticipating what we knew would inevitably happen next. BANG! The waiter pounded the table with the décor. I jumped again, biting the insides of my cheek to keep from losing it. The waiter wrote our order on a pad of paper and snapped the back of his hand with a loud CLAP on it. It was like every time we did what he wanted he had to include some kind of auditory exclamation point.

We spent the next few minutes reliving the pounding on the table. I diagnosed him with OCD and explained the pounding as a tick. Then we carefully analyzed him as he served other customers. He did do this flicking thing with his notepad pretty regularly. After taking another person’s order he would hit the pad with the back of his hand or the pen.

When he returned with Mark’s salad I stiffened. He asked him for black pepper on the salad. Mark shook his head “yes.”

Then, as an afterthought, he went to put the pepper on the table and the BANG came again. This time I tried not to move any part of my body. I just froze mid sip on my wine and closed my eyes to avoid seeing Mark’s reaction and prevent the Pinot Noir (not the Chianti) from exploding all over the table. At that point I decided there was no way I was going to make it to dessert and coffee. Getting through the meal was the goal.

After the meal, on the street, Mark and I tried to make our way to a Jewish bakery for dessert without falling off the sidewalk in hysterics. To the rest of New York we must have looked like we had about a bottle of Chianti.

Wanted: A generation who can solve problems, not just see them

2010-06-06T08:53:00.001-04:00

The economy is failing; education is failing, even our elected officials are slowly becoming weeded out because they can’t solve any problems. Working together should be the answer. So why aren’t we doing it? Where are the creative think tanks developing solutions to our world’s problems? Without the aide of Facebook, Twitter or Skype, hundreds of years ago, our nation’s leaders were able to build a country sitting in a room and working together. What is stopping us from taking advantage of our public institutions, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and universities to harness the power of solving our world’s problems in these already funded, structured groups? We have the means to communicate. Our own president makes himself accessible on Twitter. So why aren’t the masses making an effort to help BP come up with a viable solution for the oil leak in the Gulf? Children are not spending enough time in their classrooms solving problems.
As a teacher, I am constantly wracking my brain to create authentic educational situations in my classroom to excite and motivate learners. It certainly seems in our international interest to hone these skills. Yet, how can the youngest generation help those in communities recovering from natural disasters like those in Indonesia, Haiti and again our Gulf Coast if they don’t face the problems in their own cities? Shouldn’t we be preparing our children to work with others in an effort to solve problems with our global neighbors, not simply to compete for the jobs they might take?

Developing a problem solving approach within education should be driving our decision making for educational reform on the international, national, state and local levels. School administrators could band together, spending more of their time listening to teachers and parents as they engage in meaningful learning projects. Keeping teachers accountable for student’s learning should happen at the planning level in the context of a conversation. Instead, our nation is leaning towards the common practice of browbeating teachers through statistical analysis of standardized test results. Even attaching merit pay to teachers based on the numbers of an all-knowing and all-powerful test.

Solving real problems (appropriate to the age and developmental level of the student) demands students engage in much higher standards. They are planning, testing, analyzing and evaluating the data from a project with real ramifications not only resulting in a grade on the report card, but also improving their communities. Classrooms could plan contributions to local shelters from school gardens. But instead of applying the knowledge from their units of study in life science, children are graded based on their understanding of plants on bubble sheets with A, B and C choices.
In contrast to a standardized test in science, a positive experience with any community learning project might generate more questions from students, more research, and more interest in specific areas of community need. A project might even motivate students to extend their learning beyond the school day or even the school year.

Teachers must be able to have time and support to create meaningful learning projects at school. This means districts look more carefully at the amount of learning time taken to use standardized measures of skills in isolation. Yes, we need to help our children by exposing them to tests. But, we need to carefully weigh the amount of precious time we take to give them and analyze them. Time spent writing, reading; investigating and evaluating learning projects should be a district priority.
We need to work with what we have right now. Our school year will remain at 180 days until our nation creates a solution for operating costs. Schools will move forward if teachers and administrators stop blaming each other and start using the very problem solving model we expect the students to master.

Change will come. Dollars will be scarce. Unforeseen problems will arise. Isn’t it time we start making an educational long-term investment that makes sense? If students are taught how to work together for common goals that benefit our communities, they will develop into responsible citizens who use their free time to make creative helpful solutions to help our world. But, they need practice and teachers need some room and time to create these learning experiences with other teachers and administration. Wouldn’t it be exciting if a team of budding scientists from a high school in Boise, Idaho sent BP a post on Facebook with a solution to fix the oil leak in the Gulf?

TMI

2010-04-25T10:41:00.002-04:00

I really hit my TMI (Too Much Information) threshold this week. After a friend of mine died of colon cancer, everything work related became a little less important. Yet, I continued to attend meetings and try to process more information than was physically possible. My hope for the upcoming weeks is to relish my joy of teaching, appreciate the special people I work with and cut through all the noise that distracts me from what I am called to do in the classroom. I'm just going to take it one day at a time.

Learning for Me, Not Just Them

2010-04-16T19:44:00.003-04:00

I thought one blog wasn't enough pressure to write. So, now I have another one. I felt like I needed a blog that was not so connected to teaching, but more connected to learning for me. Its time I helped myself move forward as a learner outside of the classroom. So, if you are interested in reading yet, another blog, go to learninglines.wordpress.com for short stories, book reviews and general commentary. I will still try and keep my teaching life here at Learning on the Edge. I hope for it to turn into more of a parenting resource in the future.

Do Less, More

2010-04-16T19:31:00.004-04:00

Here it is, April, post-spring-break-week. And what a humdinger it was. I don't think I have ever felt so unprepared in my life. I spent hours before break getting everything all lined up. Plans were on the desk, copies were made, most of report cards were done. So then how come it felt like this entire week hit me like a Mack truck? Whew.

Moving on. I feel like it is time to get back to setting goals for daily life. Do less, more has got to be my new mantra if I am going to continue getting all the bang for my buck out of each day. Of course I already feel like I have it set in the classroom. When I am present with my students, it's all good. But, why is it that being present with my students creates walls of work I never have time to do? Here's my goal for next week. As soon as I can get this pile (did I tell you how huge it is?) off of my desk I am going to spend some serious time making sure I am not giving more for them to do, for me to look at. Just this week alone in reading I felt like putting the extra effort into the motivation and stamina pep talks I gave the kids helped about six kids move into chapter books for the first time. They were literally, begging me to take books home at the end of the day. Lesson learned.

2010-03-06T14:35:00.004-05:00

a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16178.Dairy_Queen" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"> Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

There is a plethora of books written for the girlie-girl. Not many authors have tackled the untraditional female as a young adult. Murdock weaves common teen struggles through a tapestry set in the heartland. How can dairy farming serve as a successful backdrop for a heroine? Murdock uses the life lessons of farming and hard work as a backbone for the main character, D.J. This bright, athletic, developing woman builds her sense of self through family, friends and hard work. This delightful character begins her young adult journey in Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. View all my reviews >>

Thankful

2009-12-25T09:56:00.002-05:00

So many gifts were not wrapped underneath my tree this year. Insights were my biggest and most valuable treasures of 2009. Reflecting about my daily decisions in my personal life, my home, my classroom, has brought so much richness. This is a surprise present I didn't know I got in the year 2009. It is actually shocking that it surfaces on Christmas morning. The weather outside is horrible, my present location, so ordinary. Yet, this epiphany seems life changing some how. I thought the passion of much of my career in education would sustain itself through several decades. After just 15 years within education, it seems to early to be ready to move on. I don't really intend to leave the classroom. I just plan to shift my personal learning focus from an outward perspective to a more inward journey.

Longing to Write, Longing to connect with Teachers Who Write, Too.

2009-11-22T19:01:00.006-05:00

Even though there are a million other things I should be doing, all I want to do is write. I'm hoping to spend a lot of this week working on my story. Now, that I have set up my new office in my house, there is no excuse. The door can easily be closed.

I was thrilled to read my friend Chris' blog! He couldn't stop teaching all the way from Philadelphia. His comments throughout the blog were so inspiring. I loved it that he capitalized on the opportunity of going to a conference to blog to his students about his learning. He always amazes me with the way he makes teaching more authentic all the time. I just wish he were still teaching in my building. Oh well, hopefully the staff at Woodside is starting to reap some of the benefits of having him on staff.

Maybe between the two of us, Chris and I can help the teachers in West Michigan to see how unbelievably cool it is to be a writer and a teacher.

This image in my ideal classroom. It's the classroom of Joan Moser, co-author of The Cafe Book.

Cafe Hooray!

2009-11-01T11:12:00.002-05:00

I just can't get enough of the sisters this fall. Gail Boushey and Joan Moser at www.the2sisters.com/the_daily_5.htm have really started me off on the right foot this year with my second graders. I love absolutely everything about them, from their no nonsense philosophy to their ability to bring the importance of aesthetic to the classroom. It has been such a pleasure to work so directly on reading and writing this first quarter and not feel like I am wasting student's time with filler skill work that doesn't have any context. With all the assessing that dominated my student's time this fall, thank goodness not one extra minute of our instructional time was spent on unimportant paperwork!

I feel like it was my best start in my 15 years of teaching. Now, I ache to adequately record what I've done so I don't forget! I am desperately making notes in my lesson plans about the read alouds I chose and the writing samples I use to model real reading and writing for kids.

So much of my summer and early fall are full of anxiety to make just the perfect recipe for the school year during those first few weeks (months) of school. Jackpot! The Sisters!

Their website, Cafe Book and DVD of helpful templates for recording student progress have knocked me on my behind. I'm so excited, I can't stand it!

Naturally, I'm dying to share my discovery. And slowly but surely I'm beginning to have conversations with other teachers about the power of their approach to literacy in the classroom.

Thank you Joan and Gail for your insight and simple, straight forward management of authentic and individualized learning for the elementary student. You have truly captured the magic ingredients to empower readers and writers to engage deeply in learning.

Using Real Writing Contexts to Teach

2009-10-24T14:17:00.002-04:00

Recently, I have been challenging myself to make the learning contexts I create for my students as authentic as possible. For example, I was modeling how to revise writing when there are too many uses of the word "and" to use more transitional words. Here is the writing I wrote for my second graders:

Even though the weather today is nice, fall weather is coming soon. Since I run outside each day, the cold weather makes it harder to run. So, here’s my idea. My daughter is going to be in the swim team. The aquatic center is where they practice. Well, I have to pick her up anyway. Why don’t I just kill two birds with one stone and run at the aquatic center before I pick her up? That’s it! Then, I can stay running and take care of picking up my kid. Whew!

Just getting my writing juices flowing for this silly lesson got me excited. It seems like such an epiphany to think of providing for my students the contexts they need to learn new skills. I think I need to use more well written children's literature to find these examples. I just haven't had my radar pointed in this specific direction while reading children's lit.

So I ordered Lois Lowry's new Crow Call, Tum Tum and Nutmeg by Emily Bearns and Sharon Creech's newest. I am hoping to look more carefully at my favorite titles for examples of little skills I have to teach.

Assessing and Assessing and more Assessing

2009-09-30T18:24:00.002-04:00

Wow!

I don't think I have given more assessments in the first four weeks of teaching in my whole career! I barely have had a chance to get to know these cuties. But instead of teaching reading, I feel like I have been managing children with books for the last four weeks. I squeeze a reading lesson in, the children sit and "read" and I try to get as many running records in as I can in the time they are engaged. Too much time is being spent assessing and not enough time has been spent modeling for students, providing time for practice, developing thinking as they are reflecting on their learning. And I am a fortunate person who has a class full of well-behaved children. (I can't tell if they are really reading, or just being very polite.)

I'm not even a first year teacher. Managing all of these assessments along with fulfilling leadership roles within the district gives me barely enough time to think about what I am really teaching and learning with my students on a daily basis. Something's gotta give.

So, I'm somewhat hopeful that the next few weeks are going to be more realistic. I think my next post is going to be about the successes of the first few weeks now that I have gotten the load off my back.

There's always something cleansing about venting. Now, I think I have moved from feeling like someone with whiplash to someone in recovery.

Teaching and Momming

2009-09-20T08:11:00.002-04:00

Day and night, teaching and parenting are consuming my life right now. The back-to-school-transition this year at home and school was quite the roller coaster. We are two weeks into the school year. Yet, it seems as though those two weeks had about six months of emotions and activities packed in. I must make an effort to stand back, get the big picture and adjust my speed. My new students are amazing, my family, wonderful. But, I feel like I have whiplash from the first two weeks of school.

Teacher as learner

2009-08-16T19:10:00.001-04:00

Again and again I come back to the idea of learning as such a critical part of teaching. I'm pleased as pie to have a teaching friend join me in the blogosphere. Welcome Anne! I look forward to learning a lot together.

Summer Opportunities

2009-06-16T11:01:00.007-04:00

We have so few opportunities as educators to talk during the school day. All of us, so focused on our students and our families, neglect to meet our own personal needs of intellectual growth. The idea of professional learning communities, may seem like just another education trend. I think in our wold of multitasking we sadly need an official decree to validate how critical it is to hold meaningful, teaching and learning related conversations with other educators.

In a world of facebook, email, twitter and skype, teachers have the opportunity to take the summer and talk to each other as they learn about social technologies that will directly effect the classroom and the way people communicate in our changing world. This is a win/win situation. It just takes a few teachers to reach out to other teachers just like we reach out to our students, in a non-threatening exciting new way.

So this summer, I hope to develop a more personal relationship with other teachers through reading and writing in hopes that it can lead to direct and explicit teaching about reading and writing in our classrooms. I think that teachers need more time to develop their own understanding of themselves as readers and writers in order for change to happen in their classrooms.

My hope is that others will see this blog as a possible forum to discuss and reveal their own journeys as readers, writers, teachers and learners. Even if you are not an educator, many of you may be parents. This role serves a valuable perspective about reading, writing, teaching and learning.

Please post your thoughts!

Contributions

2009-04-08T09:39:00.022-04:00

Yesterday I read a quote posted on Will Richardson's site taken from Gary Hamel about the value of writing in the blogosphere. He said,

Contribution counts for more than credentials. When you post a video to YouTube, no one asks you if you went to film school. When you write a blog, no one cares whether you have a journalism degree. Position, title, and academic degrees—none of the usual status differentiators carry much weight online. On the Web, what counts is not your resume, but what you can contribute.

What luxury and power we have now - immediate access to the general public. Still the desire to compete for an audience on the printed page exists. We are still finding value in the newspaper despite recent public discussion regarding it's inevitable demise. Even as we mourn the loss of an organized representation of our democratic voice in paper form, there is hope. Will the big newspaper names continue to dominate in electronic media forms maintaining a prominent place in public opinion? After viewing the commentary this last sunday morning by Josh Landis and Mitch Butler on CBS, it sounds as though history is continuing to repeat itself. According to Landis and Butler, during the time of Benjamin Franklin, there were reporters called "pamphleteers", circulating papers similar to blogs. These beginning newspapers even contained their own pages in the back devoted to individual commentary similar to the posting we do in the context of a blog, Watch CBS Videos Online.

It will be fascinating to see how our our information sources evolve and emerge. What will be the next "New York Times"? Will it be the Times? The Post? The Tribune? Or will there be a news organization rising to the top of our Bookmark list without the credentials of the New York Times but just as valid a voice?

Even though Will Richardson has established himself as a reputable voice in the blogoshere, his commentary stems from a well-respected newspaper. Gary Hamel may say it does not matter what the credentials are of the voice. Yet, in this instance the vehicle of the Wall Street Journal still holds the prowess of verbal power today.

Writing More Than One Piece at a Time

2008-12-27T20:53:00.002-05:00

This is my first experience with writing something over time I really care about. It's interesting that I care about it so much, I don't always feel inspired to add to it, but I know I need to write daily. So, I started something else. Then the second piece became my "just for fun" piece and I didn't feel so stressed that it was not perfect. It was amazing how writing the second one was still an outlet for creativity, yet not one that I cared for more than getting ideas down in words. I wonder what implications this thinking has for the way I teach writing in the classroom. I suppose I feel like kids need some guided writing opportunities and free writing opportunities going on at all times. They should be challenged to write in a way modeled for them, whether it be a specific type of writing or genre. But, also, they need to know their own personal voice, whatever this may be, is valued in the classroom just as their own choice for reading is valued. I also know now what it feels like to need to stop in the middle of an unfinished piece and dabble in something else for a while. Humf? Who knew?

The Writing Process Breakththrough

2008-12-19T09:43:00.004-05:00

My staff has been having a continuing conversation about writing since the beginning of this school year. It has been such a wonderful, deep-growing conversation. It has become organic. There has been so much I have learned from the teaching of my colleagues Now, each of our staff meetings has an element of teaching in it because we get so fired up watching each other teach.

Lately, we have been talking a lot about the complexities presented when trying to teach children about revising their writing. As adults, most of us have access to a computer. Word processing is so seamless in this environment. But, with a lined-paper-notebook-and-pencil environment, there isn't as much flexibility. After our most recent meeting, the staff came up with some concrete ideas to help children create more structure for revision. This last week I really concentrated my modeling energy on the benefits of skipping lines and using an asterisk like a footnote to a section added in later pages. Then after students wrote, I very quickly scanned their writing and drew an asterisk in a place I where I thought there could be more description. I went to a new page and wrote the title of the story at the top with the asterisk. Then after they told me what they were going to add they went back to writing it. Finally, they came back to me again and I reread the whole piece including the new details through to the end. I made overheads of two samples to show the kids. This was my next lesson - showing them how other children changed their writing.

I need to constantly remind myself about "The gradual release model" Regie Routman talks about in all of her books suggesting students move from dependent to guided to practice to independent with new learning. I also need to remember, as a second grade teacher, my children may only be able to reasonably perform in the dependent and guided categories while they are with me. As older elementary students they may be able to practice and work independently. This is why it is so critical we connect as teachers across grade levels to communicate about the explicit lessons we are offering students so the next teachers in the link can continue the work.

Here I am on a snow day. The ultimate teacher geek! Who does this - reflecting about teaching on the first day of Christmas vacation? I must be totally certifiable!

The New Professional Development: The Network

2008-11-29T09:29:00.003-05:00

In December of 2006 I wanted to quit teaching. I was so frustrated with the walls that kept defining my classroom while my mind soared beyond. Blogging has changed that forever. Now, it is becoming an integral part of how I survive knowing there are others in the network who think the way I do. Even though I still long to connect within my building with others on this level, knowing there is a presence of minds to support my thinking and continued learning puts me at ease. I’m still adjusting to the type of new professional relationship that develops in this space. It continues to be far more than any static, prepackaged, one-size-fits-all PD. Now, I hope someone in central office can get a taste. Soon.

This was in response to a posts on weblogged.

Keeping Track of my Learning as I Learn to Teach about Learning

2008-11-27T10:36:00.004-05:00

What a struggle all this information is in my head. How can I organize my thoughts? According to my colleague, I am a digital immigrant and not a digital native like my students will be and my own children are. I feel like I am constantly translating my linear thinking into a new framework, flowchart, web-like reality. I want to promote change in my school and my district at the same time pushing myself to go further in my own learning and the way I teach in the classroom. I think there are many people who think that because we teach lower elementary there are not going to be significant changes to the way we teach. I can imagine the teachers in early childhood thinking that web 2.0 possibilities could not possibly effect classroom instruction, assessment or their own learning for that matter. It does feel like jumping off a cliff into the unknown in many ways. So how can we stay grounded to our research based best practices and expand them into this new way of thinking, working, living?

I like the way Dean Groom has organized his thinking about teaching and learning on his blog. It is giving me a model. First, looking at his blog has given me a structure for how to record my thinking. I want to reflect in a purposeful and authentic way for future use for myself and possibly other educators. I want to record the authentic projects I create for my classroom. Dean Groom has created a visual file cabinet of his ideas. Why can't I start this way?

Literacy for the 2.0 Generation

2008-11-26T08:36:00.006-05:00

The reasons we read. The reasons we write. Setting a purpose for literacy will continue to drive the way I chose to present, communicate and learn in the classroom. But what are the purposes that my students will engage in these literacy tasks? How soon will they need to require these skills? How can I prepare them to engage in meaningful reading and writing contexts that have yet to be invented? These are some of the issues we need to grapple with as we present, communicate and learn in the classroom with our students. My vigilance, in pursuit of new ways to present, communicate and learn with more interactive text, will lay the foundational framework for my student's ability to read and write in a web 2.0 world.

So where do I begin? I have an ever-changing understanding of developmentally appropriate literacy development in early childhood. With a middle schooler in the house now, I also see the future literacy possibilities in young adults. My concern: I don't want to compromise the quality of literacy instruction I provide in the classroom by filling up their little minds with more complexities than their brains can handle. I want to remain explicit in my literacy instruction.

So what will a secod grade classroom look like with these possible elements? I guess I have to jump in and see. . .

Stay Tuned

Darkness

2008-11-03T17:58:00.002-05:00

It was unseasonably warm today in west Michigan. Its now dark - at 6:00. Sigh. November, December, January, February, March. Five months of darkness at 6:00. Why does it seem that each year daylight savings surprises me? When, I'm out, driving my children here and there, the fall colors seem to be bolder than usual. Am I looking more closely, or is it just an amazing fall? Now, I can't see my tree from my living room writing spot. Faintly, the sound of a lawn mower hums in the black. The light was just starting to get interesting. How can I pay attention in the darkness?

Renewal and Procrastination

2008-11-02T09:13:00.005-05:00

What a simple incredible discovery I made this week. (Thanks, in part, must go to my dear friend, Kate Allen) Taking the time to write every day has been very powerful. I wrote three out of the five school days this week from 4:00-5:00. The profound daily attitude change was rewarding, to say the least. I started thinking about writing at about noon each day. My only obstacle appears to be Facebook and email. Now, that I have created a space in my day for writing, I feel like I need a little warm up. It's so tempting to check in with others, respond and browse during this writing time. When I finally get around to the hard work of putting new ideas down, I have conveniently taken about half of the hour chatting with others or commenting on their status. Taking it a day at a time, as I do with running and eating seems to be the best way for me to make my goal. And even though the reality of 15 report cards yet to be completed still looms in front of me in today's agenda, the richness of developing a writing life in addition to my reading life continues to make room in my mind.

A Trail

2008-10-28T17:43:00.003-04:00

Today my class and I walked on Pine Creek Trail. I asked them to focus on adjectives when they were looking around. If I would have had a notebook, there would have been a list. The focus was using our senses to describe our walk on the trail. Here's what I remember.

Escape from Room 126

Crunching stones move on the path from
The line of sliding wet sneakers of skaters in mud.
Stelth- like, the black muskrat sneaks perpendicularly toward
His ball-nest, centered among the cattails, sitting empty across the rushing stream.
Gushing water invites us around the corner to view
Little bodies bending over the bridge edge to watch ice tea-slicked rocks.
Between twin brooks
An army of reeds hides pockets of deer beds.
Frothy meringue gathers on one side of the fallen turtle bridges.
Hypnotic ice pellets wedge in strands of dark black braids until
A cargo train's whistle interrupts my natural utopia.
Emerging from the wild,
The wet pavement sounds from passing cars.
The trail begs me to stay.

More Than This . . . There's Nothing More Than This

2008-10-27T16:55:00.003-04:00

All day I thought about writing. So here I sit. The music is on. The tea aroma slowly swirls the cinnamon underneath my nose. Where do I begin?

Looking more closely at time . . .

This was my gift. Unlike an average day, I beat the kids home from school in time to welcome them off the bus. Hands full from my day, I tip-toed through the damp fall lawn to the edge of the property where the street met the yard. I spied Jillian's head through the bus windows as she turned to descend the black rubber coated stairs. After exiting, she stepped aside in order to make room for the other happy faces anxious to meet their waiting mothers. Her neck craned upward looking back into the bus for her responsibility. Eventually, her hand reached out for another little hand. From behind the hand a purple -coated first grader emerged gleefully grabbing her big sister. Glancing up at the bus driver in tandem the two girls darted across the road and melted into my arms.

Time

2008-10-26T10:26:00.006-04:00

How many thoughts are missed when I do not make the choice to take the time and see the gifts surrounding me? How much time do I have in a day to take away from my teaching to give back to myself? I know I am a dedicated educator. All of my reflective skills have been honed through the practice of teaching. But, now, I think it is time to let those reflective skills venture outside of the classroom and into my daily life. Through writing, I can explore ideas further than an image, a moment, a comment made by another. Taking the time to explore is what will take more time. I have managed to bring reading into my daily life. In the last six months, running has become a priority. My next goal will be taking the time to write. Like other struggles in my life I can talk and talk and talk about something. "Actions speak louder than words" I wish I could put this on a sticky note that hangs from my forehead to remind me every day. I suspect the inner road trip will provide more joy, renewal, release and wisdom than I can even comprehend.

Hope

2008-08-29T20:45:00.003-04:00

I'm hopeful about the school year. I'm hopeful about the election this fall. I'm hopeful about running every day. Hope.

Over the last few years, the nature of education has been bleak: too many standardized teaching methods, not enough focus on the child, lack of respect for the professional in the classroom and an overall lack of focus for our citizens of the future. I can feel change coming. Change. That's right. In one word you know where I stand. And although I do not like to separate myself from others by choosing sides, it's time to get passionate about the choices we make. This week, in my school district I felt the passion creeping back into the hearts of the teachers I work with, growing steadily with each new day of empowerment. We spent time together teaching each other, laughing with each other, inspiring each other with our authentic ideas.

I want to thank my principal, for always believing in us, through the last five years of struggle. My new superintendent is making a difference slowly, thoughtfully, purposefully. Lastly, I want to thank my staff, an incredible group of people who have persevered through some hard times only to become stronger, more creative and more energized by our common experiences together this week.

It's going to be a great school year.

Conversations

2008-08-05T19:28:00.003-04:00

Don't you love it when you have a very meaningful, uninterrupted conversation with a person you really care about? Well, it happened to me today. It is as if a special gift was given to me. It was just a conversation. When we are young we take advantage of all the time we have to spend on our conversations. Then, in our busy adult worlds, we get so consumed with our lists of things to do. Shouldn't good daily conversations be on the top of our list?

Thanks Kate, for the great conversation!

Writing

2008-07-16T08:09:00.002-04:00

I want to be a writer. Don't think I'm referring to the kind of writer who is publishing books and sitting all day in agony waiting for one line to jump onto the page. I want to write the way I read - every day. On a daily basis I long to read. There are about three books right now sitting on my coffee table waiting for me to devour them. It's easy to be a reader. There are so many opportunities to read. The opportunities to write are endless. This makes is a bit more complicated to pick something to write about, to have a reason to write. I enjoy blogging about school. Teaching and learning is something I am doing as my job. It's easy to write about what you have done. But, what other reasons are there for me to write? How can I keep all my writing organized. I do love to write on the computer. Should I be keeping a virtual notebook? I do have Microsoft OneNote and Agilix GoBinder. These two programs offer excellent ways to organize my ideas. Each summer I seem to flock to them to write up ideas for teaching. So far I can think of a few different categories I could create to contribute to on a daily basis.

1. Journal about each of my children

2. Summer Stories

3. Teaching Stories

4. Teaching Ideas (possible posts for my blog)

5. Reading Reflections

6. Lists of books I want to read

7. Lists of writing ideas

8.Lists of people who are resources to me for different reasons

Daily Writing

2008-06-23T09:17:00.002-04:00

While I easily encourage my own children and students to write on a daily basis, I seem to hold a double standard for myself. Yesterday, I was reading Daniel Pink's blog. You can find his link on my blog roll. He reminded me how critical it is to read and write daily. It's easy for me to read every day. I can't put down the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyers. It is more challenging for me to sit and write than it is to sit and read. There's something so intimidating about the blank page. Daniel Pink (just like many, many others) encourages people to write daily. So here I am.

I'm happy to report my children are writing daily on email. It's such a meaningful context. At the cottage, they are away from many of their neighborhood and school buddies. Most of them are able to have access to a parent or personal email. I am already imagining them using tokbox. I just read about it yesterday. It's a free video person to person interface. I immediately signed up, neglecting to take into consideration that I lacked a camera on my laptop. Oops! This was a little oversight. So, until camera's are more prevalent on computers and the computers of friends we know I guess we will have to keep using our writing skills to email and chat.

Rhyming Text

2008-06-07T11:19:00.004-04:00

I am hoping to spend some time this summer including more children's books on this site as a way of recommending to others and also to catalog more of my favorites. I have such a wide range of interests. I hope some of you with kids can find some good picks. Feel free to post some of your favorites in the reply and I will make this accessible to you too. I am going to try to do some book reviews when I feel the need. But, mostly I want to give people some title ideas to pick up at the library and the bookstore.

I can not believe the amount of research that supports reading rhyming text to very young children. Those children who listen to nursery rhymes have a much greater likelihood of becoming successful readers. Let them memorize that text. Even though they are memorizing it, they are still learning how to read. Don't worry if they are not able to decode words in isolation. Even though memorizing high frequency words is important in first and second grade, don't think it will make your child a more successful reader with the drill and kill. Just listening to their favorite rhymes in a sing song rhythmic way will help them develop an ear for rich language. Let the teachers do the teaching. You, as a parent get to have the pleasure of enjoying reading to your child. And remember, don't stop reading to your child when he learns to read. I still read to my 11 year old every night!

Lemons are Not Red (Pattern Picture Book with cut outs)
Llama, Llama, red pajama
Llama, Llama, Mad at Mama
Here's A Little Poem: A First Book of Poetry Collected by Jane Yolen Illustrated by Polly Dunbar

Try some of these out and let me know what you think. I would love it if you could post some of your children's comments too!

Morning Moodle Madness

2008-05-07T05:33:00.003-04:00

Its much too early in the morning to be thinking this much. I have so many ideas for keeping my students learning in the summer. I worry the parents won't use it. I worry the children will not find it interesting enough. This is my challenge. As an educator I will constantly be competing with electronic games. How can I make sure my students are interested enough to log on and want to communicate with each other.

After several of my boys shared their Star Wars stories they had written during writing workshop, I thought, "Writing Club!" Could they post stories to each other on Moodle? Would they respond to each other's writing? How could I respond to their writing without killing their interest in the natural learning that takes place? Could they add to each other's stories? Is this crazy to think I can make this whole thing work?

I think I need to stop talking and worrying and just dive in.

Summer Gap

2008-04-11T09:33:00.004-04:00

I've been tossing around an idea in my head. I'm wondering if students would engage on Moodle through the summer and maintain or improve their reading and writing. Since I spend my summer at my cottage, I am not able to tutor those few kids who need to continue having reading and writing experiences in the summer in order to be successful in the next grade level. I don't feel like I am quite done with them yet. What if I had their parents commit them to taking an online class with me during the summer? Would they be excited about being a member of a book club? Could they read and respond to hypertext links if the subjects I chose were interesting to them? Could I put them in groups according to interests and ability. Would this take too much time and support from the parents to entice them to do it through the summer?

Then I looked at the readwriteweb page from the International Reading Association and they are thinking the same thing I am. There are some cool activities to do there. I wonder if there are many other places now that are using this kind of technology to reach kids? Of course I think it would be more optimal for children who are a little older than my second graders. But, if I bring along the parents and help them get the hang of it, who's to say it wouldn't work?

I have already talked to my principal and he thinks it's a great idea. He immediately got in touch with my head of technology. Since I am learning this as I go, I feel like I need a tech support group. There is another teacher in my building and several in my district with established Moodle sites. I'm eager to check them out to see how they are using them to support literacy development especially for the younger set.

I don't want a week to go by when these students are not reading and writing. I want to send them the message early that a vacation doesn't necessarily mean - no reading and writing. I'm hoping to set up a hub for these children to use as a springboard for their learning. Just as I coach children in the classroom and motivate them through my reading and writing, I hope to motivate online. I do feel as though I have a very unique set of parents willing to do anything they need to do to keep their children energized about learning. This opportunity to start with a group and create something that might last could be an opportunity for something great!

Change

2008-03-30T20:38:00.003-04:00

It's time for spring. Living in Michigan allows me to see four very distinct seasons each year. Even after 35 times, spring fills me with new hope of change.

I feel like I am coming to a point of change in my career in education. Either I can continue to talk about doing something new, or I can jump into the abyss, risking my comfort for a new experience.

As I walk around my school I can feel the energy from other staff members. They too are ready. For 13 years I have taught in the same school district. We have been through a tough five years. I was at my wit's end in December of 2006, frustrated by the lack of updated technology, limited by the standardization of learning, worried that I was doomed to a career of punching in and out. Then I discovered how to interact with educators around the world through blogs and wikis. I saw outside of the walls of my classroom, my school district, my town, my state. I made connections with others whom shared my personal and professional philosophies of learning. And then an even more amazing thing happened. I was given several gifts - a new superintendent and the return of my favorite principal. The technology was updated, the attitudes of my leaders changed, I was valued.

Only one year later I feel such a difference. The five years of struggle in my district happened so slowly and painfully. Yet, just after one year, there is such a different attitude! I feel as though what I have to say matters to others. There is an empowerment I have gained during the last 12 months since I started this blog. At the same time, I feel empowered in my school district
too. I am hopeful that during the next few years I will have the opportunity to work with others in new and exciting ways. I can't wait to share my classroom experiences with other adults whom will share my passion. I'm so excited. I'm ready to jump!

The Home Stretch

2008-03-23T15:57:00.002-04:00

I feel like I have to really enjoy this last quarter with my students. It has been such an amazing group this year. There is still so much we can do together. Plus, I just came up with a fabulous idea for summer learning opportunities for students who want to keep going through the summer. We will see if I get a lot of interested parents. I hope to do a Moodle class through the summer with my students. It could be the start of something BIG. I can't help but plan for the end of the schoolyear though. I really need to see an end in sight to focus on the structure of my teaching and their learning. It helps to look at parts of your life in little bite-sized sections.

The Art of Teaching With Grace

2008-02-09T09:32:00.000-05:00

What a strange couple of weeks it has been. So much has been going on at school and home. It has been very powerful to learn from the amazing outpouring of positive energy resulting from the recent diagnosis of my art teacher's eye cancer. She will be going into surgery tomorrow. My thoughts and prayers are with her and her surrounding loved ones.

It has been amazing to see how she has taken this awful experience and continue to teach. She has used Facebook, her adult and student blog and You Tube to share this personal experience with others who care about her. It has been an incredible opportunity to use the latest technology in such a meaningful way to communicate with others.

I am awed by her strength and energy as she teaches us all with grace and beauty.

Gearing Up for Slowing down

2007-12-30T12:15:00.000-05:00

I'm getting ready to head back into the crazy, wonderful amazing world of my classroom. Sitting here in my pajamas makes me long for the life of a writer. I can probably work at school this afternoon in my sweats. So at least I can hold on to these quiet moments a while longer. Here my daughter and I are enjoying a moment at school. I was lucky enough to have some planning time while her kindergarten class was decorating gingerbread houses. This is one of the benefits of working at your kid's school.

I'm excited about doing more planning using my OneNote. I seem to do this every year, change my lesson planning format half-way through the year. It's a wonder why I get frustrated when I try to locate plans from previous years. There are many little details I do like about using OneNote though. I was experimenting during the last week before break. I loved the ability to make notes in the margins about students whom I wanted to meet with. There never seems to be enough space in those lesson plan books for all the thinking that I need to record. I still like the week at a glance option of the regular planner. But, all the details I am able to write in the OneNote are very valuable while I teach. I find I can easily make daily changes that help me refocus my instruction when the children are presenting the need. This afternoon I am going to make it a goal to map out my teaching to the end of January and then fill the details in on OneNote.

I will greatly miss the ability to make banana bread just because I can. My New Year's resolution will continue to be finding balance in my life. Juggling family, work, health and hobbies will be a daily, weekly, monthly struggle.

Poetry Friday

2007-11-09T07:16:00.000-05:00

Late

Written By: Sarah Parker

(Dedicated to Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Sale's students at today's coffee shop meeting)

Little sad face
Framed by a window
Still here after visiting all the stops
Grey, drizzly, sleet-filled skies
Fill his brown and lonely eyes
Big wheels whine for him
Empty green seats
Still warm from miniature bodies
Headed for home

Red circle lights flash on top
Telling other cars to stop
One car breathes exhaust with smokey puffs
A wet woman waits

Tiny sneakers joyfully leap
Over puddles inches deep
Across her worried face a smile spreads
Safe

The Teaching-Learning Circle

2007-10-28T09:05:00.000-04:00

Its the end of the first quarter. I feel like I had the time to get ready for the first quarter during the last periods of quiet of the summer. Now, I am challenged to reflect in the chaos of October - the Halloween season. So, here I am looking forward to the second quarter.

What have I learned about my students?
What have I done well in my teaching?
What kind of experiences do they need now?
Do I set goals in each area?
How much time do I have to do this anyway?

The Halloween costumes have been made (pieced together really, don't get any grand ideas.) So, I do have some time today. The challenge now is to use the time and not get all caught up in the anxiety of Sunday.

So here I go:

What have I learned about my students?
They love to learn. My first six weeks have trained them in routines that help us to practice good literacy habits. I picked up the book about the essential five parts of literacy instruction last week. Sorry I can't think of the title at this point. Thinking back on the first six weeks of school I do feel like every day the children were engaged in important literacy. The majority of them have learned to be somewhat self-directed. I have tried to get some time to talk with each of them every day. After taking two weeks just to do running records, I am finally meeting with them to talk about their reading during their self selected time. They are starting to show me some of their preferences so I can make more recommendations. This week I have to look for books on cars, stories from "way back when" etc. I still need to have more baskets of books in organized categories for them. My library books are getting stale and I can tell they are ready to rotate through a new batch of books on display. They are incredible writers. I try to do a "coffee shop" sharing every Friday. They love this! It totally motivates them to write for each other.

What Have I Done Well in My Teaching?
I think I have worked hard on helping them to love using language in meaningful ways. They are singing, writing, reading, speaking without fear or intimidation. Now comes the time I sneak in with my observations to try and give them pointers through my modeling and personal conversations. Then we will see through more observations. The circle continues.

What kind of experiences do they need now?
I think they need more modeling in writing. They have great reading experiences. Now, I think I could model more writing in each subject area. Maybe I have them write about reading heavily for the next quarter. Then the third and fourth quarters will be heavier in writing in science, social studies and math in addition to the areas they are already writing in.

How Much Time Do I have to Do This Anyway?
I am giving myself this week to do report cards, plan for the next quarter and teach at the same time. I figure, if I have all my stuff together for report cards, I can spend my creative energy in planning. The more routine I keep things during the week of Halloween, the better.

I just hope I am not setting my standards too high - a reoccurring theme for me. Here's to some balance and hopefully a good week.

Time for Reflection

2007-10-16T10:36:00.001-04:00

I live in extremes. In the summer, I have time for reflection, questions, exploration, discussions with others and observation. During the school year, I have the privilege of spending my days reading, writing and thinking with six, seven and eight year olds. They present so many opportunities for teaching. Their art, writing, interests in reading and questions about science, math and the world help me to plan for their work. Every year when I go back to school I ache to bring my summer thinking and being with me. But the general business of the school day seems to suck all the life out of me. I want to take more time to think about my day. I need to bring these summer and school year worlds together. I want time to talk with the other educators I work with. How can I slow down? Is it as simple as making the choice to take time and reflect. Do I practice it more until it becomes habit?

Writing, reading, talking and listening seem to be the best ways for me to reflect. I hope my students are getting enough time to engage in these activities to actualize their learning. As a learner, I am feeling overwhelmed with tasks that are taking away too much of my energy that should be focused on reflecting and planning. I need to find a way to stop expending the majority of my energy on managing and move toward a more reflective way of living.

Parent Meeting

2007-09-18T08:55:00.000-04:00

Well, tonight is my parent meeting. Even though I tried not to create a PowerPoint, I just could not resist. I hope it keeps me focused and helps things to move fast. I'm excited and overwhelmed by my parent participation. I hope that Moodle will be a great way to share all the cool learning activities we are doing. I have a training in a week or so. And my district is also recommending another extensive training provided by the ISD. This is such great news! I'm excited about the learning opportunities! I feel like my district is totally on the right track considering where they were just a year ago.

The Balance of Teaching and Learning

2007-09-09T08:30:00.000-04:00

How am I going to continue carving out time to reenergize myself as a learner during the busy schedule of the schoolyear? Yesterday I looked at some new online offerings. These webinars (as they called it) looked great. I could register and listen to a stream for free. But it is scheduled during the school day. So, this won't help me. It looked like there were once a month podcasts. The topics were perfect for me. I guess I am getting so accustomed to the time shifters phenomenon. I like being able to record something and access it when I am available. I am hoping this will be more of an option for teachers in the near future.

Here We Go!

2007-09-06T22:23:00.001-04:00

Well the first week is about under my belt and I'm exhausted, but happy. There is so much I have to be thankful for. First, I am thankful my three girls, my husband and I have made the transition "Back to School". My husband got this shot on the way to the bus stop on the first day. You can see the backs of my three girls and my next door neighbor. Suzy, the youngest, is in kindergarten. I think she is getting used to it. My other two are thrilled with their teachers and their classmates. These comforts instill great ease in my heart.

As a teacher, I am overwhelmed with all of the silly details and loving looking eye-to-eye with these new personalities. "I love you as my teacher" were the words out of one of my little mouths today. It tells me I am doing everything right to make their learning environment warm and homey. I am going to have to take some time this weekend to record all of the things I did this week that I want to remember to do every year.

It has been a slow start with the heat. Today I only had to bump two things from the schedule into tomorrow. The children have been patient and polite. We started brainstorming positive behaviors we all want in our room. "Be kind, be truthful and respect other's space" were some of the suggestions. I can tell with this group, it's going to be a joy to come in each day.

My students already love Gooney Bird Greene and writing to each other without talking in their dialogue journals. It is a challenge to give them daily feedback in their work. I already feel behind.

I have so many parents using email, I am going to try to send my newsletter by email for the first time tomorrow. There are about four students who will need to bring home a paper copy. (I get to save some trees!)

I sent some technology goals to my principal and my technology director. I'm looking forward to using Moodle for students and parents. I think it will be a huge motivator for children and adults to collaborate and learn together.

There are so many wonderful possibilities. Thank you for those of you who are posting comments. I appreciate having the feedback. And for all of you teachers out there - here we go!

Did I forget something?

2007-08-22T12:32:00.000-04:00

My hope is that all I do during the next few weeks prepares the environment for real life learning. It's easy to get caught up in the assembly line this work becomes when there are so many little details to attend to. With each system I put into place, I am trying to see their faces. All of the labeling and organizing prepares for growing minds. The quiet will only be here for a short while before the halls and rooms fill with giggles and smiles. This sacred space of learning needs life. Our Open House is not until the day before Labor Day Weekend. Then the children will come. Only then will I feel like the room is full of everything it needs.

Poetry Tuesday? (Written last Friday)

2007-08-13T20:08:00.001-04:00

This Stone Wall

Five layers deep

Awakened from sleep

Fragile cracks

For so long

In this secret garden

Transplanted from England into

this obscure spot

tucked ‘neath the alley and pine

waiting for ivy to spill in its cracks

fungus and mossy with lime

Will children adorn you with lace of Queen Anne

My hope is that fairies be found

Inbetween and beneath

All the creatures will creep

Until blossoms jump forth all around.

Developmentally Appropriate Blogging for Young Children

2007-08-09T08:24:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, my good friend Anne and I were talking about this great idea of having a public space for each child somewhere in the classroom. I'm thinking it would be like having one's own personal bulletin board. I saw this idea in Classroom Spaces That Work, another great book from the Responsive Classroom authored by Marlynn K. Clayton. So, Anne and I were looking at this and talking about how each kid could choose his own piece of work to display based on some set of standards we establish together. Then, the idea of having a caption underneath the work, written by the child could explain the piece. But, this is the kicker. Children take post it notes and comment on the work too! And there you have it. The beginning of blogging! Anne and I were laughing so hard and hitting each other with excitement people on the beach began to stare. Another friend of mine, Theresa, a brilliant middle school teacher, started describing what it could look like in Anne's first grade class. I suggested a child start with her name and decorate around the name with pictures of activities and books and items that would describe her. Theresa, chimed in with a possible comment from a six year old that might be written next to the display "I like soccer too! " We were hysterical! Picture this, people around us in bathing suits are lathering up their kids in sunscreen and here we are, total teacher geeks, with our books in our laps, highlighting and underlining and drawing in the margins! This is professional development at its best.

Marriage Meme

2007-08-05T11:05:00.000-04:00

This is the second time I have been tagged. I feel so Web 2.0. Even though I like to do most of my posts about school, I think it is important to have a well-balanced life. Maybe, if I say that enough it will become my reality.

Mark and I were married June 30, 1995. This is our 12th year of marriage and we have been told we have a wonderful relationship. Since I am currently waiting for him to return from a weekend away, this is the perfect time for me to be doing this.

1. We are best friends. When we met on his 21st birthday at school, we couldn't stop talking. Talking in the car on trips are the best because the kids are strapped in! When our kids were little, I can remember going for drives just to talk. It helped if everyone fell asleep too!

2. We give each other room to grow together and separately. Mark is a triathlete and a photographer. After our girls got past the baby stage, it was time to rediscover who we were apart from being parents. I encourage him to spend time on his passions. Even though, I sometimes complain about the Sunday morning rides. He is a talented athlete and creative eccentric. I never know what's coming out of the guy's mouth. This is one of the reasons I married him. He makes me think. Right now he is returning from his first half iron man. He has been working toward this goal for a year. I just started running, and although I have no desire to do a triathalon, I imagine all the hours he works to keep myself going.

3. We work things out. Both of us take the time to share our frustrations and concerns. Even if he doesn't know what I am talking about because I'm so emotional.

4. We compromise.

5. We show our kids we love each other. We model a loving, reciprocal relationship.

6. We challenge each other when we are "out of line." We keep each other in check.

7. We try to make time for fun together. We need to do this more. Our first ten years were full of three kids, four houses, a home business, a master's degree and three jobs. I can't wait to travel more together, visit museums, go to concerts and performances, make new friends together!

Poetry Friday

2007-08-03T22:40:00.000-04:00

August Light

The sunlight rains on my magazine
Dripping, sliding, moving shadows
And I rock

Overhead the flag snaps and rolls
the birds song goes on for several verses
before it changes its tune
And I rock

Sweet grass tickles my nose
Then the hose water splashes over the garden.
And I rock

Cold liquid condenses on the outside
of the glass
that rests
on the edge
of the rail
And I rock

God Bless this August light

My First Meme

2007-07-30T14:00:00.000-04:00

I am not sure if I chose the most efficient way to do this. But thanks to Sarah Amick, I'm learning about memes. So here I go. I just cut and pasted this from her blog and changed the answer part. If anyone else knows an easier way to do this, please enlighten me.

1. I am a good teacher because I try to use children's interests to guide my planning. Making my classroom authentic (also mentioned by another blogger) is of extreme importance to me.

2. If I weren't a teacher I would want to be doing something involving reading and writing. This could range from working at a university to working in publishing, bookstores or libraries.

3. My teaching style is very organic. I try not to pin myself down to any specific programs. Of course I use programs as resources to help provide excellent models of reading and writing for children. But, it's interesting to see how much teaching is connected to one's own learning. Since I understood the connectedness between reading and writing I can no longer totally separate them as two distinct disciplines. I am beginning to feel that way about teaching and learning. I am a teacher - constantly learning about learning and teaching.

4. My classroom is open, happy, busy, collaborative, relaxing and hopefully fun!

5. My lesson plans, are constantly changing as I teach and observe. I begin with a plan for the year, the month, the week, the day etc. But I end up tweaking. There are so many moments, that I cannot anticipate, that demand I take notice and mold into "teachable moments"

6. One of my teaching goals: I am challenging myself to continue helping children learn to read for three reasons. According to Dorothy Strickland, strategic readers need to know the purpose behind their reading. Are they reading for pleasure, to complete a task or to get information. Using technology and the world around us will become less overwhelming if we stick to our general purpose for the task at hand. I hope to put readers in control of their reading and writing to get where they want to go, and where I ask them to go. I want children to love reading the print in the classroom, and understand that reading and writing are vehicles for their future, just like talking.

7. The toughest part of teaching is that education is not a top priority in our American culture. I do see very positive world views in education stemming from web 2.0. However, children cannot vote, parents often do not understand how the classroom is different than when they were in school, teachers do not want to change, administrators do not have a positive coaching role and school districts do not have the funding equitably distributed across all school areas.

8. The thing I love most about teaching is I can never stop learning about how to become a better teacher.

9. A common misconception about teaching is that all teachers are alike.

10. The most important thing I have learned since starting my career is how little I know. The more I learn, the more I feel like there is so little I know.

The Seedling

2007-07-27T15:22:00.000-04:00

This excerpt from Paul Lawrence Dunbar's The Seedling is dedicated to Herbert Martin, a teacher who embodies the essence of poetry.

The Seedling:

"Little folks, be like the seedling,
Always do the best you can;
Every child must share life's labor
Just as well as every man.

And the sun and showers will help you
Through the lonesome, struggling hours,
Till you raise to light and beauty
Virtue's fair, unfading flowers."

Books You Have To Read if You Teach

2007-07-17T10:20:00.000-04:00

My good friend Anne just lent me her copies of The Morning Meeting Book and the First Six Weeks of School. Then another beach buddy of mine, Julie, told me all of her teachers were asked to read it this summer. Anne teaches in Dearborn, Michigan while Julie teaches at an exclusive private school in the San Diego area. I have had these texts on my list of books I want for the last two years. And I teach in Holland, Michigan. I just love when I connect with other teachers through books. It's more than just connecting on a conversation level. When teachers are able to have conversations with texts they read, there is much more depth to understanding how that professional teaches and learns. So first, I would like to celebrate these wonderful, amazing people I get to spend my summers with. These casual conversations we have on the beach fill me with excitement and energize me for another year of this amazing organic processs we call school. Of course my partner teacher, Amy, was right on board when I suggested we get these texts. Within 24 hours she and I were sighing with relief, knowing we had the security of all the important elements of a building a living classroom inside these books.

I do want to take some time to talk a bit about these titles. The Morning Meeting Book was the first text that caught my eye. This text suggests using the beginning of each school day to meet and recognize each other as individuals. Students sit in a circle facing each other to share personal greetings. Some teachers may think this needs to be done as they are coming in. But , I will argue that children need this time to be regulated by an adult so that all children are valued equally and independently. I don't think there needs to be a sharing time every day. But the oral component of the morning meeting includes a lot of basic listening and speaking opportunities that are not occuring at home for a variety of reasons. After doing a simplified version for a year with my second graders, I felt like the rewards of using this format stretched far beyond into other content area times during the day. The Morning Meeting text provides some structure and fun. There are clear expectations layed out, songs to sing together and games to play. Throughout the text are different meeting formats and activities for different grade levels. With all of the present focus in education on eliminating bullying in the forefront of policies and legislation, the morning meeting concept presented by these authors would schedule a daily time for addressing concerns and building self-esteem.

The First Six Weeks of School contains practical and realistic schedules for beginning of the school year activities. I like the way it includes cooperative building games into the beginning days. After spending the summer months in a day-care environment, camp group or at home with siblings and neighborhood children, kids need time to transition back into the structure of school in a playful way. It makes school more enjoyable for everyone when we are able to laugh and play together, bond as a group and then move into deeper learning experiences. In the book these activities are very carefully scaffolded. Surely, I'm not suggesting to follow everything to the letter. Excellent educators are constantly tweaking their procedures to reach new and better heights. There can never be one right way to do things in an organic classroom.
I'm thrilled to discover all of the texts in this series. Even though there will be time I will need to spend on getting materials ready for the new group, it makes me feel so secure knowing that the meaty part of those critical first weeks is already organized for me.

Poetry Friday

2007-07-13T10:28:00.000-04:00

I don't know how it all got started but I would like to start getting into the habbit of celebrating Poetry Fridays. I just purchased Cracks in the Sidewalk by Crystal Bowman after using many of her poems in my classroom for years. It's such fun to celebrate authors that are locally connected to me. Cystal Bowman lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I live in Holland. I purchased this book on Amazon. It's a used hardcover in excellent condition AND signed by the author! I thought I would take a poem from her for my first poetry post.

I chose this first post in honor of my dog, Poppy. She's a black cocker spaniel puppy (7 months). I tried to take her out for a jog this morning. We only got around the block before she started heading back to my cottage. I am going to try to take her a little further each morning.

The Walk
By Crystal Bowman

Every day at three o'clock
I walk my dog around the block
He chases birds and bumblebees
And barks at butterflies and trees

I feel the wind against my face,
Walking at our rapid pace.
I wave at neighbors passing by
But seldom stop for their reply.

I huff and puff and try to keep up
Walking the block with my frisky pup.
We go so fast we almost zoom.
I'm just not sure who's walking whom.

Sharing Books Can Lead to Deeper Comprehension In All Subjects

2007-07-03T11:18:00.000-04:00

I am so lucky to have so many other readers to connect with during the summer. They might not even know how much they fill up my tank to get me through the school year (when I feel very out of touch with other adults.) In many ways summer allows me to be the student. I am not distracted by the details and complexities of teaching, planning and reflecting. I am able to give my full energy into the learning process of any topic I desire. This summer I have given time every day to my own personal reading and writing. There are so many discoveries I am making on my own.

Yesterday, my summer bookclub met for the first time to discuss Firegirl by Tony Abbot. So many interesting themes were mentioned during the conversation. A few of us are teachers. So, some of the conversation circles around the classrooms of the agegroups we teach. However. I am finding that in well written stories, the message can be just as powerful for the adults.

After listening to each person reflect about the text, I came away with new understandings that I could not have had as well formed had I not shared the reading with a group. The reading, writing and talking I have been participating in during the last two years about comprehension continues to echo. I find that writing and talking about our learning in the context of a group deepens our understanding of text. Debbie Miller, Anne Goudvis et al., Ellin Oliver Keene theorize in their books Reading with Meaning, Strategies That Work and Mosaic of Thought: it is so critical that we continue to push our children to think on this level regularly. Practicing this simple small group reflecting, like that of my book club, is a powerful strategy for people of any age. Is it that easy? No. There needs to be trust, shared experience, positive group dynamics for the learning to take place on a deep level. Which is why we, as teachers, spend so much time on building a trusting, safe community in our classrooms. Unfortunately, this part of teaching takes time.

The time to personalize our learning communities doesn't seem to have a valid place in our academic day. At all levels of education there needs to be this "personal development" time for optimal learning. I am not sure how to communicate this to the state and my school district. When using programs adopted by schools the time to personalize is not figured into the instructional time. This can become problematic when timelines and assessment schedules are scheduled by people outside of the classroom. Teachers are going to need to set similar goals to reach the same outcomes. But with children and cultures and schools that all present unique needs, the teacher should be the one with the power to adapt information to fulfill the needs of her individual students. I continue to struggle with the calendar that seems to have less and less flexility. I am certain my administration feels the same way. With each newly revised subject area and each new program adopted the time becomes the controller of the content.

What I am learning through my experiences as a learner is helping to inform my instruction as a teacher. If I use the book club example to inform my teaching, I should be spending more time using high quality, engaging text in the content areas just as I do during reading insruction. Using the bookclub approach before, during or after scientific investigation or as we are studying specific social studies concepts with guiding and open ended questions would help the students understand in much greater depth. I hope to have the time to use this new understanding of comprehension to better guide my planning for meaninful activities with more exciting text.

What Are You Reading?

2007-06-21T19:18:00.000-04:00

I am considering using my blog to start posting my own book reviews. There are several other elementary bloggers that are doing this. And I am thinking it would be very helpful to know what other educators are reading or plan on reading for the summer.

I have been reading a lot of young adult fiction to keep ahead of my daughter and have titles waiting in the wings when she needs them. Well, the tables are turning. And now she is also recommending to me! What joy this is! Recently I read the City of Ember and the People of Sparks by Duprau. My daughter's fourth grade teacher read it aloud and then gave away the sequel to a student she chose out of a hat. My fourth grader could not have been more thrilled. So we have both really enjoyed talking about the characters and the stories.

The other text I am reading to my kindergartner and third graders is Clementine by Sara Pennypacker. It's a modern-day Ramona! My fourth grader snatched it right out of my hands after I read it aloud. I'm sure she is going to be hooked by this new fantastic series. Yay!

Next week my book group and I are going to read Firegirl by Tony Abbot (author of the Secrets of Droon series).

After that I am planning on reading Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt. This one is a title I have had on hold for a while.

So, to the few people who are reading this blog, I would love to know more about what you are reading.

Reflections and Planning

2007-06-16T11:33:00.000-04:00

Summer. It's the time I get to make choices about how to spend my time. I am planning to continue learning more about technology to help myself and my students. There are so many different directions to go. It's overwhelming. I think keeping track of my ideas in Onenote is going to be helpful. But, I'm wondering if starting with a specific plan of attack would be an additional step to maintain my sanity. So, how do I plan for exploring? What do I do now in the classroom that I love? What kind of literacy experiences do I offer my students on a daily basis that could become more enriching with technology. Do I pick an aspect of my day? Do I start with a subject? Do I start with what I know kids need in second grade? I also need to consider the technology I will have available. Where to go? Where do I start?

Maximizing Reading Time in the Classroom

2007-04-14T08:40:00.000-04:00

This week I finally took back my authority to make the best reading decisions for my students in my classroom. Throughout the year I have felt controlled by my new basal program. According to Dorothy Strickland, we read for three purposes: enjoyment, to complete a task or to get information. If these are the three reasons we read wouldn't it make sense to teach children to read for these purposes? This week, I brought reading for enjoyment back to the forefront in my classroom. Starting each day with reading for enjoyment sets such a positive tone for learning. Each student is reading at his own level. Each student is choosing text that motivates her to read. All week I noticed the children seemed to have more time spent reading. I am also asking the children to do some time of short reflection after reading. I will be looking at these weekly to check for comprehension. Each day I am keeping track of what the kids are reading by having a very quick conversation at the beginning of reading time. We also talk about rereading what they wrote the previous day or reread the end section that they read the previous day to get them back into the text. There are days the children choose to break from a chapter book and read something new. The most exciting new kind of reading taking place this week was on the Owen and Mzee blog from Kenya. After previewing this blog and discovering how the enlarge the text on the internet, six children were able to read about the recent observations scientists have made at this wild life sanctuary in Kenya.

Blogging with Teachers in My Building

2007-02-21T21:49:00.000-05:00

Every day I work with the same people. We smile and exchange pleasantries as we pass in the hallway. On Fridays we clink our coffee cups on our way to pick up the kids in the morning. But how many deep conversations about teaching have I had with these people lately?

Two. There are two recent conversations I have had that have been meaningful. One conversations was about teachers having more opportunities to connect through a blog. The other conversation was related to teaching writing. I am hopeful. I think there are more conversations to be had in a blogging environment.

I hope to have more conversations with the people I work next to every day. I think they are getting ready to take the blogging plunge.

Teachers and Web 2.0 - A New Literacy Context

2007-02-11T16:39:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to think about how to entice more teachers into the world of Web 2.0. I am constantly overwhelmed by new programs, procedures, assessments, software, etc. If teachers are already feeling out of control, maybe school districts can use technology as a tool for them to gain more control. I certainly think the way in which it is handed to the classroom teacher is critical.

Web 2.0 cannot be viewed as just another new thing to implement. It needs to be in an entirely non-threatening, playful environment. I am needing time to play. I am needing time to ask questions and discover for myself what this new literacy is going to mean for me as an individual. I will be able to apply it to my job soon with help from others. I cannot do this well if I am alone. If there are other educators I work with who are able to help me I will do more.

I would be happy to help others if I am given the time.

Reflections About Reflecting

2007-01-23T22:02:00.000-05:00

I was lucky to have some incredible mentors in college who led me to other amazing mentors who write. Regie Routman, Lucky Calkins, Debbie Miller, Ellin Oliver Keene, Richard Allington, Dorothy Strickland, Leslie Morrow and several others all became my mentors through their writing about teaching and learning. Reflecting about these ideas through talking with other educators and writing in graduate classes helped to inform my every day decisions in the classroom. I can't help but think blogging is my new lifeline to the latest research and best practice for my classroom.

I could say I don't have time to blog. Because I don't. I have a family. I have three young children. I want to spend time with my husband. I am learning to knit. I am using a new reading program at school. I have 22 second graders who produce a lot of daily work to evaluate. I am being asked to progress monitor my students, give them end of the year theme tests, administer writing prompts, record data in the computer and take the time to do all of the other things in the classroom that I know make learning experiences authentic and meaningful for children.

But I am noticing the more I write, the less confused I am in the classroom. Making daily decisions is getting easier. Recognizing the changing face of literacy through the use of the computer is helping me to think about ways to help my students in reading and writing.

It has taken me a long time to feel confident as a writer. I know that if it weren't for word processing programs I would not be writing as much. I am getting my students onto the computer as much as I can now. I understand that to learn how to read and write, one must read and write a lot. I don't know how much the average teacher reads and writes outside of the classroom. Teachers who are not writing for themselves will not write for others, especially in a public forum. This medium of blogging can be very intimidating.

If my understanding of a wiki is correct, I think it will be a bridge for individuals to blog independently. Having a wiki about specific topics and ideas for educators in smaller communities like schools - even grade levels, might help to spark more writing.

Jump Right In - Don't waste time!

2007-01-10T22:11:00.000-05:00

I am wondering something. Can children who struggle with writing become better writers on the computer and transfer their new writing skills to a paper pencil format. I understand there is an amount of time young people need to attain keyboarding skills. This lack of keyboard awareness can impede the process of getting ideas onto paper. However, there is so much great support newer word programs can provide in the area of conventions. As a child writes, he or she is given constant reminders about spelling, punctuation and grammar with the help of red lines that show up on the page underneath parts of writing that are not considered standard. Immediately a child can see there is an error that needs to be corrected. This exercise can help a child to experience editing and revision skills that can be more frustrating with paper and pencil.

So, instead of using the computer for mostly publishing written work, I am going to try to take as many opportunities I can for children to compose their ideas on the computer. I am even considering having the computer available for students as they respond to questions they would normally complete on a worksheet. If we were doing a science investigation, for example, why can't one of the groups record their data in a word program together. Or why can't partners work together to compose written ideas. One child could be the scribe the other the composer. If they are collaborating as they construct written ideas won't their writing be twice as good? I'll have to see where this takes me. I can definitely say that during my writer's workshop time students seemed very motivated when given the opportunity to write using the computer.

Writing with a magic pen

2007-01-05T22:28:00.000-05:00

I am wondering if having computers in the hands of every single student could be one step toward building a nation of proficient writers. I do think that instant messaging has its own language. Some people argue that young people are losing the ability to write well when instant messaging involves so many language shortcuts. But, if we can convince our youth that it is just one of many types of writing, I think we could produce the most prolific writers in the world in a shorter amount of time. Our students are being asked to write for a variety of purposes, across content areas, for many different audiences. If their thoughts can be composed so readily with the technology literally at their fingertips, they will be able to develop as writers similar to the way we develop as speakers. If given a good caregiver and rich language interaction, children's speech and language understanding will flourish. If students are given excellent teachers and authentic, meaningful activities in writing with technology they will become talented and competent writers.

Today I was reading an advertisement from a local school about their laptop initiative. I have to say, I was very impressed that they are making it a priority to get that technology to each and every middle school and high school student. Watching specific elementary students who struggle on a daily basis with the actual physical act of writing because of processing delays and dyslexia is very frustrating when I know how much their writing could improve with the aid of technology. When I have only three computers in my classroom, the children are not getting the same opportunities to apply reading and writing skills as often as is necessary in comparison to other children with more computers. I understand the amount of problems and management is quite an undertaking when all students have laptops. But, if our future leaders, programmers and managers of technology are going to have these tools in their hands everyday, they are also going to be savvy about helping to solve the problems as they arise. Isn't this exactly the kind of real world problem solving we want our children to experience. It is a real part of the technology culture to have to learn how to find multiple ways to solve problems. Just giving them the machinery would demand they engage at that very level of problem solving we hope to prepare them for.

The great balancing act

2007-01-03T22:37:00.000-05:00

Today was our first day back at school. It amazes me. How much I do in one day of teaching. I don't know how I am going to keep this blog going. Yet, I am feeling that it is an important step in my professional development and my ability to connect with other educators. Reading other blogs about education has helped me to feel like I am not alone. I hope I can continue to harness this energy about learning and keep it pushing me forward.

Entry into the world of Web 2.0

2006-12-31T17:41:00.000-05:00

This is my attempt to authenticate my thoughts about education. There don't seem to be many bloggers out here representing the early childhood set. So here I am, jumping into the computing abyss. On the eve of the new year I am making a resolution to use my voice as a positive force in education. By writing this blog, I hope to help myself as an educator, writer and learner. If any of these ponderings help others or stimulate any kind of professional dialogue, I will be delighted.