Mark Twain Nominee #2

Hide & Seek by Katy Grant was a scary and bittersweet novel. Chase lives in the White Mountains of Arizona with his mom, step-dad, and two sisters. Nothing exciting ever happens at the cabins his family own, so Chase can't wait to do a geocache by himself using a new GPS unit. When he finds the cache he gets a surprise mystery that leads him on a trip that he will never forget. Ms. Grant uses the popularity of geocaching and the unpleasant fact of child kidnapping to create a suspensful story that keeps the reader turning pages all the way to the end.

score: 5 out of 5 books

Mark Twain Nominee #1

Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer, written by John Grisham, was a fast-paced and detailed novel that had plenty of action and suspense. The main character, Theo or Teddy, as his mom calls him,  is well-known in his neighborhood and middle school for knowing his way around the local courthouse as well as most of the legal proceedings going on within their walls. Theo dreams of being a great judge, being able to take all the facts from the prosecutor and defense attorneys and making a wise and unbiased decision.  However, when a very important murder trial begins in his town, Theo unwillingly becomes a big part of the final verdict. This is the first book in a series.

score: 5 out of 5 books

Rough Week=Lots of Reading

This past week my husband's stepmom, Ruth, (we called her Nona which is Italian for grandma) passed away. While her death was not unexpected--she had a rare disease called amylidosis, which she was diagnosed with last summer--it nonetheless was a sad time. Coincindently, it was also the last full week of dance lessons for my daughter and the recital was held over the weekend. That all being said, it was a L-O-N-G and very emotional week for my family. When not attending to familial matters or dance rehearsal, I was lying in the sun with my nose in a book.
Among the multitude of normal summer to-do lists I create at the beginning of each summer, this year I committed to reading the "Twilight" series (a little behind the times, I know, but better late than never) as well as the 12 books that are Mark Twain Award Nominees (http://www.maslonline.org/?page=marktwain_readers). Since I will be teaching 5th grade this year, I thought it would be great to create a blog for my students that would allow them to 'talk' about the books on the list, as well as any other books they have read. Using technology to foster a communication about literature is something I have wanted to do for a long time, and with older students, now is my chance.

As I feel it is important to be able to connect with students personally when encouraging them to do something that may not be their first choice ("You mean I have to read a book, a whole book, with no pictures and lots of pages!! AND you want me to talk/write about it?!?"), I have completed 3 of the 12 (2 in one day!!) and afterwards I will blog about each. It is my hope that reading my blog (really just my reading response) will inspire students to keep reading the quality literature on the list and maybe find authors, genres, subjects, characters, and/or themes that will leave them wanting more!

Magic House = Constructivist Learning

The Magic House came to my school, much to the delight of both my students & I! As I was trying to find a hands on, engaging way to learn about simple machines to my kiddos, the Magic House came to my rescue! I presented a mini lesson about the six simple machines, reviewed the expectations of behavior while participating in the activities, and then POOF! The kids were off and learning!! When they had participated in all the centers, a follow-up group discussion helped the students to reflect upon their learning. Each student wrote about their experiences, and then (to satisfy my requirement for an assessment) I gave a short quiz where the kids were allowed to use their science book & each other to complete the 'assessment'. So, in one day I was able to present, explore, reflect, and assess a major component of my science curriculum! Gee, if only this could happen on a regular basis!!

Welcome back (to me)!

WOW! I didn't think it has been that long since I last posted.
After another year of teaching, I feel stronger, more prepared. I am hopeful for the next upcoming year, as I take what I have learned and apply it to yet another school & grade!
In the past year, I was hired to teach 2nd grade, was moved to 4th grade two days before school started, hired for another 2nd grade position and moved to 5th grade! The best news of all, however, is that I am back at the school where I did my student teaching & where my best of friends also work. I truly am home...according to my hubby, I am NOT moving again. That's okay with me, especially since I have purged so much stuff. The move from one school to the other took 2 trips with the jeep & truck. Not bad considering that last year's move took the jeep, the truck, AND a large trailer stuffed to the gills!! Not to mention the amount of stuff I left behind!!!!
I read through a bunch of blogs recently, and while their formats were beautiful and inviting, I found the substance to be quite lacking. There were some awesome ideas in a few, but in general, it seems that blogs have become very commercial, not very personal. That being said, I made a decision.
My mother-in-law blogs about anything that piques her mind, and I love to read it, even when I have probably witnessed the inspiration first-hand. Reading her 'take' on the things that make her happy, sad, reflective...it's a glimpse into her very creative mind!
That being said, my decision is to blog for me! Not to be cutesy, not to make money, but to be, as I stated in the title, reflective. Will I earn any followers? Probably not. Will I have any comments? Again, probably not. But that was not & is not the motivation for beginning this blog. So, from hereafter, here is my goal...to blog weekly, being reflective about the classroom, the profession, and the thrills & chills I get when doing what I love--TEACHING!

Counting Down

The last two weeks of summer break are upon me, and as I look back on the long days full of anything but school work, I question if I spent my time wisely. Like most other teachers I had a long list of things I wanted to accomplish that would prepare me for the new school year. Write inspiring lesson plans. Compose interesting units. Create innovative uses for technology in the classroom. These would be in addition to reading the latest 'teacher' books, such as “Returning Civility to the Classroom” and “Discipline in the Responsive Classroom”.
But alas, the only thing I have crossed off my self-imposed to-do list is read. The aforementioned books and much more, such as monthly peer-reviewed publications and several teacher community blogs and websites, have been thoroughly reviewed and committed to my personal favorites. All of this reading has left me wondering: What is it that I need to take into the classroom with me this year to be an effective teacher?
After much thought I have come to the conclusion that among all the gimmicks and gadgetry that is hyped as the next best thing in education that will make my profession completely fool-proof, one thing is missing—passion. The desire to teach is not just about making annual yearly progress, which makes the administration happy. It is about the passion of teaching that comes from the desire to take young minds and fill them with knowledge that will support them on their journey in this world. Sure, learning different strategies to add 2 and 3 digit numbers is important, just as learning about how to use word chunks to help decode an unknown word is valuable. But to inspire a child to WANT to learn to add and read is what teaching is really about.
So, as the break draws to a close I choose to see my to-list as mostly complete. No, I do not have any lesson plans or units ready for the first weeks of school, nor do I have the ‘it’ that will make my teaching headline news. But what I do have is the passion to face another group of children as though they are small sponges, understanding that it is my passion for teaching that will provide them with the knowledge to soak up all they can while in my classroom.

Technology in Early Ed

This past semester was my last as a graduate student and in my Educational Technology class I was introduced VoiceThreads. As I was the only elementary teacher in my class of seven, I was hard-pressed to come up with a viable use of such cool technology. One day while lamenting that my students were not 'getting' the writing process, I thought about how to incorporate what they knew (their school environment) and what they were good at (talking) to create an audio/visual interactive writing experience.
First we toured the school to take pictures (on my cell phone). Once the pictures were transferred to my laptop, uploaded to a new VoiceThread, and then the students chose in what order to place each picture. Next, the writing. For each picture the students described the location in the school and added a small detail about that location. I typed the words (guided writing) and they told me what to add or delete. Then, once all the words were typed, I would read the caption aloud and they would practice saying it together. This was fun because they got to hear themselves: It was amazing to watch and listen to their conversations about how they needed to speak slower and not shout out! Last, I recorded the students 'telling' about their school.
When it was complete the students couldn't wait to show off their accomplishment! They were very proud that they had made something so cool, and the pride of ownership in their learning transferred to their subsequent writing activities.
For more information about VoiceThreads, check out http://www.voicethread.com/.
Check out their finished project at http://voicethread.com/share/1930066/