Blessed to Teach and Read

Watch the video for The Wonderment  and you will likely fall in love with it as quickly as I did!  I hope we can use it at school this year.  Very cool!  It is a social platform for kids, but of course, warns that you need a parent or teacher to help you sign-up, if you are under the age of 13.  It's all about doing good, learning about others, and contributing to and connecting with the world in positive ways. I was excited to learn more about Listen Edition , which uses public radio broadcasts to teach.  (I've always thought about using an excerpt from " Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me! " to help students learn to write with greater detail, as they have a segment in which they read three different stories, where two are completely false and one is true.  The guest has to guess which is the truthful story.  The false stories are so filled with details, statistics, and quotes, that they seem as plausible as the true story.  I've yet to find three stories tha

I'm only 9 months behind the times.  While sifting through my newest e-mails on my second day of summer vacation, I clicked on one from The Daily  GOOD  titled, 'The History and Future of Everything', because it caught my eye. (I found and purchased a subscription to GOOD waaaay back when it first started.  First place I saw infographics, and man, they've produced some great ones!  My subscription fee went to Room to Read .  Check out GOOD, if you don't currently subscribe!) Anyway, through that e-mail I found an article " Skype in the Classroom and the Extraordinary Lesson " by Shana Pearlman .  That link led me to " Classrooms in US and Mexico Bond Over Books " by Andrew Schmidt , which in turn led me to " Introducing Mystery Skype:  A Global Game That Makes Learning Fun !" also by Andrew Schmidt.  Lots of good reads.  I did find it interesting that the teacher in the Mystery Skype article works at The School at Columbia Un

I don't typically make a New Year's resolution, but seeing as I have yet again lapsed in posting, when so many other teachers I follow are so good about keeping their blog posts current, I am making an end-of-the-school-year resolution to update my blog at least once every two weeks.  This should help me to read professional articles I've bookmarked in a more timely fashion. On a completely different note, I am shifting teaching gears a bit next year, as I will serve as part of a team in the media center!  I am SUPER excited about this new position.  Some are now calling a media specialist a teacher librarian, but whatever the name, I am SO happy that it is me!  Our school is very fortunate in having an Instructional Technology Specialist and a Paraprofessional in the media center too.  We will work together as a team to teach and support students next year, obviously integrating technology into our lessons. My position is a specials, or a fixed schedule of 7, 40-minute l

I am the PAGE representative for my elementary school.   PAGE is The Professional Association of Georgia Educators .  For those in other states, it is not a union.  It is access to legislative news, legal representation, should the need arise, and professional development. I receive their legislative updates as soon as our General Assembly legislation session starts.  Bill 717, written by Representative Holt from District 112 of Social Circle, GA, proposed that parental involvement be tracked and given a grade, A to F.  It also proposed that each child's parental involvement grade be used as a factor in our newest teacher evaluation system.  The new system is less than equitable, as it makes it next to impossible to earn "exemplary".  We have been told to expect "proficient" or "needs development".  It puts undue pressure on students to move in lock-step with their peers as opposed to just making progress on an individual basis.  Additionally, it

First, let me say that now that it is February, I have stumbled upon my new year's resolution.  Better late than never, as they say!  I am resolving to improve my blog and also write in it weekly instead of every other month, or every 9 months! Found a link via #TLChat on Twitter tonight to " Seven Features of Highly Successful Picture Books " by Abby Connors.  Her bio states that she is a music and arts teacher of over 20 years.  I loved that even though the article is geared toward librarians or teachers, that I can use it to help my students write fiction stories that are not too complex.  Often, students try to write fiction that is as complex as the stories on their 4th, 5th, or 6th grade reading levels.  They get overwhelmed and bogged down in overly complicated dialogue and too many subplots.  Plus, they simply don't have the timeframe to flesh out and publish a full-length novel. At the bottom of the article was a link to another of Abby Connors' artic