Month: March 2017

My son, Liam, is home this weekend. He’s a Junior at Ohio State University. We’re thankful he actually made it to college. Not because he was incapable; he did well in school, graduating a year early and entering college as a sophomore. No, we were unsure if he would go to college because early in […]

I am working on more fully developing my reading program. In the spirit of Yaris and Burkin, authors of “Who’s Doing the Work: How to Say Less So Readers Can Do More“, there are four main components to our program: Read Aloud Shared Reading Guided Reading Independent Reading A deep belief of mine is that […]

What if I had a story to tell? A story set in motion long ago. Most of the characters and settings have changed; the plot has ebbed and flowed over time; but the theme…the theme is the same…always the same. Author’s note: It is late. I am tired. And lacking the kind of pizazz needed […]

Every day, Monday through Friday, I am given a specified number of minutes to be with my students. I’ve counted them…over and over again…185. 185 minutes a day, Monday through Friday. Those moments? Those moments are a gift to me. Each. Little. One. I guard those minutes vigilantly, knowing they can quickly be snatched up when […]

  Reflection. John Dewey said, “We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience.” Think about that for a moment. If that’s true, what are the implications for our learning spaces? How much time do we devote to reflection? At a time where there are not enough hours in the day to do […]

Back in 2009, I started something that has forever changed my life…Twitter. It didn’t take hold right away but rather with fits and starts…in fact, I was an on again, off again lurker for the first few months and it took time for me to truly understand the immense possibilities this tool could bring to […]

After the report cards are done comes the best part. Planning. I love to plan for my students; it’s the best gift I can give them. It fills me up unlike almost anything I’ve ever done in my life. I think it was 6 or 7 years ago that I came upon the following words […]

It’s 10:43 p.m. on a Saturday night. That’s late for me. I’m a “hey-look-it’s-8:30-p.m.-and-I’m-tired” type of girl. But I did say I’d blog for 31 days straight…so here goes. A slice of today? It was yummy. Let’s see… I… caught up on some much needed sleep (Oh, how I adore sleep) went on errands with […]

My slice? Grades. High Grades. Low Grades. Missing Grades. Grades. Grades. Grades. I’m all for providing learners with feedback. It happens everyday, all day long in our classroom. And yes…parents need information about their children. Still… Today, the end of a trimester and the usual mad dash to make sure everything is turned in, calm […]

As I grow into my age, I find myself looking for moments of stillness…quiet…solitude. So it seems natural, then, that one of my favorite “slice of life” moments is the time we spend reading each day. We refer to it as “iRead” and it’s magical. We’ve had independent reading time all year but recently, we […]