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.

Category: classroom management

  • 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…

  • Adventures in Technology

    It was a chance discussion that brought it on. My sister, a newly minted teacher from Oregon, pointed me to a blog written by one of her instructional technology professors, Barry Jahn. It was the post on an $80 SmartBoard that caught my interest. Working in cash-strapped urban school districts generally means technology is way…

  • I Am Not A Nudge….. Really

    When you have pretty strong convictions about something, they are not always understood or shared by others. For me, one of my thoughts is that creating an environment of order and welcome is of high importance to my students’ frames of mind. With many of my students coming from existences that are not always orderly,…

  • Using Daily Five Math to Support Common Core

    This summer was partially spent in aligning Common Core Mathematics curriculum (Massachusetts-style) with the district’s universally available materials and laying out a scope and sequence that makes sense vertically and horizontally. As anyone who has looked at the Common Core in depth can attest, it’s an on-going process full of starts and stops. A particular…

  • Let’s Toss All the Balls in the Air

    Last week, we created our last I-Chart; the one for Listen to Reading. So now we have all the components of the Daily Five in place. It’s an exciting yet frightening time .It has not always been smooth sailing. I find I have to keep pinching myself as a reminder that one of the most…

  • Whew – 4 down one to go

    We are still laying down the routines and expectation for the Daily Five. Here’s how my morning goes: Get up (usually before the alarm), start coffee, sit down with my laptop, check email (and Facebook, okay I admit I’m addicted) and then watch one of the Sister’s videos on the Daily Cafe website. Most of…

  • Stamina

    I’ve been working – really working – at the conferencing table for the last several session of D5 choice. Up until this point, I have been “fake working” — monitoring students without their knowledge — so as to regroup if and when stamina for an activity is broken. We are nearly pros with Read to…

  • D5 One Day at a Time

    We have been in session with our students for 3 days now. At one point yesterday afternoon I came to the realization that these third graders are funny and likeable and want to learn. Being somewhat superstitious I’m a little nervous about saying that out loud so early, but there you go. We started our…

  • What Matters

    It is terribly difficult to keep one’s focus on the things that are important – the “prime directive” for those of us who grew up on Star Trek – no matter what your profession. For me, the prime directive is to encourage children to be curious, to encourage them to take learning risks, to encourage…

  • The Grand Plan

    I broke down today and started to work on a room arrangement.  I am planning on 24 kids – already have 23 on the roster – and have a contingency for a 25th. Here are some “before” shots from last June: Step one was to move shovemy desk out of the way. I have a…