After An Educator's Journey
Out of the classroom & into the universe
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Once upon a time, I taught 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders. Now I’m retired and working on new ventures.
Tag: Literacy instruction
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As a writer and, as a teacher, I value collaboration with peers. I know that my writing is made more clear, more interesting, and more precise when I rely on a trusted “critical friend” to offer constructive feedback. And so, when the Commonwealth’s writing standards included peer revising as well as adult conferring, the inclusion of critical friends in…
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I am an avid reader of the Choice Literacy website. I love reading what the leaders in literacy have to say and particularly value those who not only share their pedagogy and thinking, but also work in classrooms with real students. Franki Sibberson is one of those contributors on Choice Literacy; her writings always make me…
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We all need a good laugh – or even just a smile – every so often. Just to remind us of the joy that can be teaching. In the midst of this silly season – this season when there is some hefty assessment going on – I had one of those moments as I corrected a sizable…
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When you need to just shut the classroom door and do what you know is right even when it seems to fly in the face of dictates or policy – through research, through professional experience – we call that “going rogue”. Recently, I heard someone higher on the food chain that I, say that “we…
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I’ve heard all manner of reasons for why this year is exceptionally difficult. I’m a believer in the Daily Five. It makes sense, it’s based on research – brain research AND literacy research. I saw my students grow. But I feel that it is time to give it up. The message I’ve been getting is…
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I used to look with envy at those spiffy Readers’ Notebooks available through a nationally known publisher. In fact I envied them so much, I figured out how to customize a similar notebook for my students to use. And while they seemed to work pretty well, I’ve come to realize that maybe the beautifully GBC-bound…
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A while ago, our Literacy Coach began talking to us about revisiting notebooks as a means to developing writers and authors. I’m possibly the last person in education to discover Aimee Buckner and Notebook Know-How, but I am so glad I have made that connection. Not being a writer myself or at least not a…
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I marvel at the quickness with which second language learners pick up on the structure of English. Most of my kids give new constructs a try without too much fear of seeming like they don’t know what they’re doing. As an aside — and as an Italian/French language” studier”, I wish I could be more…
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One of my New Year’s Resolutions – the list is really long! – is to try not to be such a control freak about what we do in the classroom. I’m letting go of the idea that I need to be at school before 6:30 am (our school begins at 8:30) and that I can’t…
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Well, not just the vocabulary, but for my urban kids, that surely is a major factor. This week, our writing focus – visualizing a text – was driven by a poem written by Carmen Lagos Signes: Pumpkins in the cornfields, Gold among the brown, Leaves of rust and scarlet, Trembling slowly down; Birds that travel…
After An Educator's Journey 