Search results matching tags 'new news' and 'being a better teacher'

Stolen time…

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:54:57 GMT

As it turns out, I can only do ten things well, not eleven. Guess I don’t go to eleven. Oh well.

Anyway – I haven’t been posting on this blog frequently for two simple reasons: first, haven’t wanted to use any of the time in my contractual day with personal technological communications and missives, and second, by the time I get home I want to goof-off. You know, be a responsible wife, mom, writer, and part-time gamer. Sure there are loads of clean laundry in there, too, but have been suspicious about certain odors.

But the thing is, I started this blog as part of my integrated technology instruction for 2st Century Learners. There’s a mouthful. My intent was to use my technological prowess to provide my students a platform for their voices, too, and for the most part, have succeeded. Took a mini-break last year, more like break-down, but am trying to reconnect to these restless digital natives in new and innovative ways.

And it’s not easy.

And I’m even questioning its necessity.

So, a fabulous librarian offered to come to my school and talk to our students, in our classrooms, about new books, and what is being offered at the library.

You should know this: she shared with me that Neil Gaiman hugged her once. He. Hugged. Her. Among a group of well-heeled Gaiman Groupies, she was fresh from working in her garden, a little grimy, and he hugged HER. I immediately jumped up and hugged her, of course!! Forget you, Kevin Bacon. Two degrees of hugging Neil Gaiman works for me. When I shared this with my students, they ran up and hugged ME! It was hilarious! So, Neil, if you felt a little happier yesterday, there was adolescent worship coming your way in the universe.

You’re welcome.

Her personal blog is: http://www.infocreature.blogspot.com/

I think between the two of us, we got a few new converts to reading. I conspired with my students that over the break (which officially begins tomorrow…thank you loving heaven above, because I am wiped out….), if they needed to “escape” for a bit and were sick of playing Call of Duty, they should go to the library. I gave them four creative project choices from How to Be An Explorer of the World by Keri Smith.

My “everyone can be creative” belief may be greatly challenged by the results of my open-ended experiment. What the heck — it is extra credit, after all. There is no standard for “creativity.” Pity–but perhaps not having it tested on a national assessment is the best thing that ever happened to creativity.

Well, before the New Year, where am I now? Where are my young charges? Four months until the state tests of reading and writing for 7th grade, our school needs to meet AYP or something, and none of us know what, will happen. I have been placed in the care and feeding of 7th grade students because so much is riding on their scores, and I am feeling equally unbalanced in my wavering “YES I CAN DO THIS!” and “OH NO!!!!”

But I hugged Neil Gaiman.

Kind of.

Rites of passage.

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 17:03:15 GMT

About a week or so ago, I was at a district meeting. One of the huge perks of these meetings is sometimes the group will get to go eat lunch like grownups. Nothing in styrofoam. No plastic cutlery. Real plates, filled water glasses, napkins, and hot food. There’s a Thai place we frequent: service is fast, [...]

Star wishes: Time to look up

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:01:40 GMT

My pale, late-spring skin is being burned by the fluorescent lighting. My brain kicked in at 3AM in spite of the fact I went to sleep at 10:45PM – a new early for me. Early morning staff meeting to review the proctoring procedures for the state test: one funny brave teacher presented her group’s poster [...]

Monitor: Idiot proof.

Anonymous — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:21:31 GMT

This stream in my Reading Rockets’ feed caught my attention today: Sound It Out Along with her background as a researcher, writer, and teacher, Joanne Meier is a mom. Join Joanne every week as she shares her experiences raising her own young readers, and guides parents and teachers on the best practices in reading. Monitoring self-monitoring January 27, 2011 I [...]

In conclusion….

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 01:21:37 GMT

One buggaboo that boggles me is how to really explain to budding authors why it’s not stylistically adroit by ending any piece of writing with a statement such as “this is my story about and I hope you liked it” or “this is my paragraph assignment for today.” Yes, I do this, yes, I teach many lessons, [...]

Pass/Fail

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 17:03:26 GMT

I am one of thousands of teachers who tried to reach for the brass ring of National Board certification this year. I had told myself repeatedly that if I didn’t pass my first time through, I was still in good company. I have heard between 50-70% of teacher do not pass their first time through. [...]

Game on.

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 15:15:38 GMT

Great conversation the other day: student in my “struggling” reading comprehension group reminded me once again that many kids aren’t necessarily “bad” readers, but not motivatedto read. We had a few moments just to talk about what we were reading, a topic at hand, a bird-walk, so to speak, and he and I discussed a [...]

Mrs. Love’s terrible, no good, very bad day.

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 18:05:30 GMT

Ah, human failings. Why are the Japanese trying to invent/perfect a robot teacher? Perhaps to avoid teacher days like the one I had last Friday. Changes in schedule, random bells, anxious students, pep assembly, discipline, and longer class times with no “bio” break for anyone, and falling apart, crackling, splitting headache… I don’t really give a toot about [...]

Little Red Hen gets her feathers ruffled.

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 14:17:38 GMT

I’m not sure I really want the answer to this question, but: How do you balance sharing your creativity with maintaining some personal intellectual property/boundaries? This is not limited to teachers, either. All of us share, or don’t. The more spongy we are, the more we share without thought to our own resiliency or resentment [...]

Land of the Lost: Allusions, Annotating, and Anagnorisis

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:53:13 GMT

Metacognition is the mind-map that is the survival tool in reading comprehension. Anagnorisis is the moment in the story where the character, usually the protagonist, says, “Uh-oh.” According to Merriam-Webster, it is: Main Entry: an·ag·no·ri·sis Pronunciation: \ˌa-ˌnag-ˈnȯr-ə-səs\ Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural an·ag·no·ri·ses \-ˌsēz\ Etymology: Greek anagnōrisis, from anagnōrizein to recognize, from ana- + gnōrizein to make known; akin to [...]