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.
Category: The Craft of Teaching
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Sometimes, though not that often lately, we have fun. Lots of schools mark Dr. Seuss’ birthday with Read Across America celebrations. Even though it was low key, we did too! Our special visitor and guest reader was my husband, Adrien. We dug up a book that loosely connects to his career as a photographer, Snowflake Bentley. Bentley…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
After An Educator's Journey 