That’s right, I am incorporating all three of these things in one classroom. I’ve been a fan of the Daily Five and Literacy CAFE for a couple of years. Last year, I started to use the structure of the Daily Five in mathematics. I did this for a couple of reasons – first and foremost [...]
Archive for the ‘The Craft of Teaching’ Category
Daily Five Math, Common Core and Investigations
Posted in Math Education, The Craft of Teaching, tagged Common Core, Common Core Mathematics, core implementation, curriculum areas, Grade 3 Mathematics, Investigations in Number Data and Space, Lowell Public Schools Mathematics, Math Daily Five, water level on February 24, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Nobody Got Up Early in The Morning and Could Draw Perfectly…”
Posted in classroom management, The Craft of Teaching, tagged Christopher Myers, hard work, Wings on February 21, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Christopher Myers is an author that I’ve grown to admire. One of his stories, “Wings”, is included in the basal readers we’re provided with. For me, this is one of the best pieces of children’s literature ever: the illustrations, the premise, the themes…. sometimes I think this text belongs in the hands of the adults [...]
Writers’ Notebooks Revisited
Posted in The Craft of Teaching, tagged Aimee Buckner, elementary writing workshop, Notebook Know How, tools for young writers, writers' notebooks on February 5, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Struggling with teaching writing is nothing new for me. I myself struggle with writing – the process, the ideas, the whole of it I’m afraid. And here’s an admission (omission?) of guilt: I have never kept a writers’ notebook. Our district is committed to implementing Units of Study by Lucy Calkins – whose ideas I [...]
A Common Thread
Posted in The Craft of Teaching, tagged Daily Cafe, David Lee Finkle, Gail Boushey, Joan Moser, Mr. Fits, teaching mandate, The Sisters on January 21, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
If you don’t subscribe to the weekly Tip of the Week newsletter from the Sisters – Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, you are missing out on something really special. This week’s front page essay was written by Joan and it really struck a chord with me. Teachers in current education practice are often stuck between [...]
Divide and conquer?
Posted in The Craft of Teaching, tagged collaboration, educators, experienced teachers, new teachers, tenure on January 17, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
When I hear people pit new teachers against experienced ones it makes me crazy. I cringe every time I hear that catch-all “burnt out” attached to experienced practitioners. Yes, I’m sure you can find teachers who are marking time until they can get to the retirement board, but that’s the exception, not the rule. And [...]
Teacher as Learner
Posted in The Craft of Teaching, tagged coaching, critical friends, literacy, peer conferences, peer-led conferences, Writing workshop on January 14, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
I have long gotten past being the “sage on the stage”. If educational gurus hadn’t already convinced me that students learn best from peers and self-exploration – constructing the meaning of something themselves from experience – anecdotal evidence from the classroom would have. This week I arranged with our school’s Literacy specialist/coach, Pat Sweeney, to [...]
The Places We Write
Posted in classroom management, The Craft of Teaching, tagged Grade 3 writing, Lucy Calkins Firsthand, organizing writing materials, writers' notebooks, Writing workshop on January 7, 2012 | 1 Comment »
When we returned to school this week, I knew I would need to revisit some of our routines. The first week in January always seems like a good time to do such things. One thing I knew I wanted to clarify was where to put writing. In my third grade classroom, there seem to be [...]
Assumptions that aren’t always bad
Posted in The Craft of Teaching, tagged Angela Maiers, assumptions, high expectations for all, Responsive Classroom, teaching, You Matter on January 1, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
I subscribe to Responsive Classroom’s newsletters and blogs. They usually help to ground me, help me to see and understand my students better. This week’s entry was about Questioning Assumptions. And as a teacher, I know there are too many times when I’ve jumped to a conclusion about a student’s behavior or motivation. And then been [...]
Vacation is a time to…. THINK!
Posted in The Craft of Teaching, tagged reflection in teaching, teaching plans, vacation week on December 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
This is a *short* vacation week as school holiday weeks go. I know that thought doesn’t elicit much sympathy from the dreaded private sector Usually I spend a lot of time being my compulsive self and trying to do all the school work I think I need to do while I have some time away [...]
Revisiting Critical Friends
Posted in The Craft of Teaching, tagged critical friends, narrative writing, peer partners, ten steps to independence, writing partners on December 6, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
This year I have a group of students who, most of the time, try to work together. So far they don’t seem to get on each others nerves very often. Mykids range from highly independent, self-motivated students to those with pervasive developmental challenges. Some days we exhaust each other. I made a decision to revisit [...]
