After An Educator's Journey

Out of the classroom & into the universe

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about

Once upon a time, I taught 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders. Now I’m retired and working on new ventures.
I taught second, third and fourth graders. Teaching was my passion and joy for 30 years. And it didn’t hurt that they called me “mom” sometimes.

Tag: Writing workshop

  • You convinced me!

    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…

  • Music To The Rescue

    In a past life I was a musician and a music teacher.  While I lacked the talent and drive to become a professional musician, music has always been something I’ve enjoyed. In our classroom, when students need to complete a transition from one activity to the other – for example, universal breakfast clean up to…

  • A (Non)-Writer Discovers Notebooks

    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…

  • Teacher as Learner

    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

    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…

  • Teaching Report Writing

    Too often, I find the curriculum focus in writing is disconnected and segmented from the rest of the curriculum. Perhaps that is a hazard of attempting to cram in so many genres of writing – all urgently needed – into one school year. Is it any wonder that, from time to time, a genre of…

  • The Office – Mini style

    Maybe it’s been around for a while and I’m just catching up on my reading, but I just learned about a new “tool” for students. Lucky for my budget it won’t cost anything more than some manila file folders, tape, and time. The new tool is called the Mini-office. I was intrigued by the term…