This year is my first year as a literacy coach, and I must say, I am enjoying the change. The job is challenging; and I’m enjoying solving different kinds of problems than I did when I was in the classroom. Luckily, my coaching position includes teaching a reading intervention group three times a week, so I get to have that all-important kid contact. It keeps my foot in the teaching stream while allowing me the majority of my time to [...]
The group of 27 second graders were learning to think about subtraction in different ways. Some were experimenting with counting up; others were trying to get the answer by counting down. With partners or small groups they were actively engaged. I saw pairs at the white board making tally marks while another pair counted on a number line. Still another set counted down on the 100 chart. Others thought to use the yardstick or multiple rulers hitched together. However [...]
November is in full swing now, and with it the annual ramp up to the holidays. From the commercials on TV and the already-present holiday decor in retailers, one would think Christmas and Hanukkah are just days away. Luckily, for those of us who participate in holiday gift-giving, we still have more than a month to get our acts together. But think of this…. what if, instead of braving throngs of folks wielding giant paper shopping bags, you settled in [...]
For the past few years, I have felt as if I am ready to really tackle the task of writing about SOMETHING. Mostly, I think about articles for professional journals discussing my learning as a teacher of middle school language arts, though sometimes I think I have a young adult novel lurking around in my brain. I’ve undergone a transformation in the way I approach reading and writing instruction in my seventh grade classroom, and I’ve paid more attention to [...]
As we sit in our classrooms and begin to delve into the CCSS, do you ever wonder how they appear to someone like P. David Pearson? Although he called it, “The best game in town.” He set out to explain a perception of his to the educators gathered for the Fall Reading Leadership Institute at National-Louis University in Skokie. While examining something as big as the CCSS, I appreciate when the examiner begins with the history that [...]
For the past several years, the Illinois Writing Project has recognized the National Day on Writing with an event geared toward increasing teacher excitement about teaching writing. Each October, right around the 20th, we gather together to talk about the great things that are happening in our classrooms and share ideas to keep the writing flowing. Over the years, we’ve had amazing guest speakers such as Barry Lane, Debbie Chocolate, and this year’s keynote speaker, Donna Ogle. In addition, IWP [...]
Newton’s First Law of Motion says that “an object not subject to any net external force moves at a constant velocity. Thus an object will continue moving at its current velocity until some force causes its speed or direction to change.” In other words, an object in motion stays in motion until some outside force causes it to change. Or, in my case, an object at rest stays at rest. What’s at rest? My desire, and to some degree, ability to come up [...]
The end of a school year, the end of a vacation, the end of a course are always filled with a variety of emotions. We feel happy to wrap up the challenges and sad to leave behind all the successes while we look forward to a time to relax and wind down and enjoy life with family and friends. Then we reflect. After completing the 30 writing workshop yesterday, I hurry to my car with bags of books and other [...]
On Sunday evening, I had the pleasure of attending a concert at the minor-league ballpark in Geneva, Illinois. On the lineup were a The Congregation, Andrew Bird, and Wilco. I’ve seen Wilco three or four times, but never in a venue as large, or as packed, as the Fifth Third Ballpark. As I sat in the stands and enjoyed the music, I thought about all of the musical talent being displayed before me. Jeff Tweedy, the face and lead singer/guitarist [...]