Search results matching tags 'classroom management' and 'literacy'

Deep in the Forest.

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 21:36:33 GMT

The creative juices are flowing in my classroom. Turbo charged. It’s something to behold. This morning, we started by working in three small groups. With an adult to guide each group (and my wonderful Ed Tech Ms. C. to guide me), each group worked to make physical body sculptures of things from the Goldilocks and [...]

Questions.

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 11:38:18 GMT

Oh how I love a good email from a reader. This one really hit home for me as I’m writing and editing the story of my first year in kindergarten and remember these feelings well. Let me start with the email and then my reply will follow. I’m writing to get your opinion and experience [...]

Teaching in the Digital Age Blog Party!

Anonymous — Thu, 31 May 2012 19:45:33 GMT

This summer (well, starting next week) I’ll be participating in another wonderful book study blog party. This year’s book looks very interesting and thought provoking. We’ll be reading and discussing Teaching in the Digital Age by Brian Puerling. As someone who tries to integrate technology into my classroom whenever possible, my interest is definitely piqued. [...]

Disappointed.

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:31:23 GMT

One of the things I love about teaching is that anything can be a teachable moment… opportunities arise all the time and sometimes the unplanned ones are the more powerful. Today, after Will read the Morning Message – he asked for a challenge. This has become a ritual for many kids. They ask us to [...]

Tunnel Tag.

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 12:31:35 GMT

Two days of rain. Two days of inside recess. One of those days with no special. I’m convinced Mother Nature is a cruel, evil, spiteful lady… Of course, with no recess and no place to take the class, by the end of the day Friday, things were looking grim. To be clear, in our class [...]

Real.

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 23:41:32 GMT

Time to get real people. Kindergarten is hard. If I didn’t think I would get laughed off the island, I would like propose that kindergarten teachers should get an extra stipend for hazard pay. I know, I know, we choose to teach kindergarten. And while I do love it more than anything (really, I do, [...]

Breathe.

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:19:20 GMT

Day three and things are getting better… slowly. I seriously forget how challenging the first few days (weeks, months?) can be. So many of my new friends have no pre-school or daycare experience and they truly have landed on a new planet. Everyday brings improvements and weekends bring an opportunity to catch up on sleep! [...]

Fall Preview.

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:39:01 GMT

Well, all of the major networks are rolling out their Fall lineups, trying to get folks excited about the new and returning shows (for my personal taste, a little less reality and little more comedy), so I figure, why not me as well. I’ve got a few surprises up my sleeve and I love giving [...]

Portal.

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 12:09:00 GMT

Ah the internet (or World Wide Web as the local newsman calls it...). I'm never surprised at the amazing networking opportunities it provides. I get tweets and emails weekly from teachers, students, and parents. Usually they are kind comments and questions. Occasionally, I'm asked to read and review a book (who doesn't love a free book?) - a few weeks ago I got a most unusual email.

Rachael Stefanussen, an Industrial Design student, emailed and asked if I would take a few minutes to look over her senior capstone project. Being the busy person I am (yes, the kids leave at three, but we all know how that goes), I agreed, but it took me a few weeks to give it the attention it deserved. When I finally sat down to view her project, I was blown away.

Rachael's video was entertaining, professional, and, most importantly, thought provoking. She has envisioned a Portal that would connect teachers across communities to collaborate on classroom management, lesson planning, and all aspects of teacher mentoring. After viewing the video twice, I emailed Rachael with my thoughts and ideas. What about crossing all boundaries and making this international? What about integrating Facebook and twitter and using the already built networks many teachers have created?

Part of what excited me about Rachael's video is the simple idea that someone is thinking outside the box and trying to push the teaching experience even further into the future. I love progressive pondering and Rachael has really impressed me with her ideas.

Rachael was very gracious and we had a nice email dialogue back and forth. I asked her if she minded me sharing her wonderful proposal with others... she agreed on one condition - she'd love feedback from others too. So here it is. Please take a few minutes to watch and leave a comment for Rachael.

Details.

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 18:15:00 GMT

Today, we our amazing third grade reading buddies had a special treat for us… they brought some of the personal narrative stories to share with us. As luck would have it, we’ve been working on trying to add more detail to our own stories to make them more interesting (not an easy task in kindergarten) and having our older buddies share their own writing with us turned out to be an unexpected perfect way to model the importance of details to a story.

As the children read with their buddies, I could see a few kindergarten eyeballs pop… these third graders were brilliant writers. They clearly knew what they were doing and maybe my sprouts could learn a thing or two from them.

When they left and we shared some of the stories they’d heard, the details all bubbled to the surface.

“My buddy wrote about a visit to a haunted house… there were skeletons, mummies, zombies, and a trail of bloody footprints!” One sprout shared.

“My buddy went to a fair and went on a rollercoaster, ate lots of food, played games, and had a really fun time,” another offered.

All these details are what make good writing, great writing. As much as we try to model with mentor texts and our own writing, nothing Mrs. D. or I could use is as powerful as the writing of a third grade buddy.