Yup, I get it. I’ve been kind of a lazy blogger lately. It’s so easy to post to twitter and just move on. I’m working on getting my act together again. I still love the mission of this site: Literacy Everywhere…Saving the World Through Literacy!
I’m still learning every day, still in love with being a teacher, still trying to save the world through literacy!
Stay tuned for more postings!
Two Worlds Collide!Today, my books and bling life and literacy teacher life get to collide again. I love when this happens!
I love reading. Even more that that, I love people who love reading!
So, when I had the chance to write a post for the awesome Nerdy Book Club, I was all in! These are my people! I feel so at home with the Nerdy Book Club. Though I try to visit a variety of blogs, this is the one I never miss!
Check it out here: http://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/my-kids-hate-reading/
I hope you join all the Nerdy Book Club awesomeness! It really is great to be Nerdy!
I simply cannot wait to have days & days to read this summer, but I know many of my students don’t feel the same way.
I can’t (as much as I try, wish, pray, & dream) make anyone love reading or use magic to zap my non-readers into Reading Rock Stars!
What I can do, and really love to do, is share awesome book titles with students and parents. Maybe one (or two, or three, or more) of those books will click with a kid, or inspire them, or lead them to other books. Hey, a girl can dream, right?
I am not a fan of summer reading assignments for my students. I have tried a million different things (well, maybe not a million, but quite a few) to get kids to read over the summer. Assignments that force reading just don’t work for my students. It’s hard enough to get some of my kids to read during the year, so I sure don’t have any pull over the summer! Most of my kids don’t think about school at all during the summer. Summer assignments get ignored, forgotten, and unfinished. Then they start off a new school year already behind. It is huge DISLIKE all around! So, it doesn’t happen in my classes. I always suggest books, have lists available for students and parents, and hope that they read. If your kids (and parents) participate in summer assignments, YAY YOU! Do what you know works for your students!
The Teacher Report: 20 Summer Reading Picks
Georgia Children’s Book Award Nominees for 2012-2013 (great list of awesome reads!)
I’ve been reading so much about Flipped Classrooms and cannot wait to try it out! I believe it will help increase student engagement and motivation, allow me to differentiate more effectively, and allow me to go full force with the Common Core!
Here’s the shortlist of what I’ve been reading (mainly from http://www.flippedclassroom.com/)
The Flipped Class Manifesto by Brian E. Bennett, Dan Spencer, Jon Bergmann, Troy Cockrum,
Ramsey Musallam, Aaron Sams, Karl Fisch, Jerry Overmyer,
How the Flipped Classroom is Radically Transforming Learning by Jon Bergmann, Aaron Sams
The Flipped Class: Shedding light on the confusion, critique and hype by Aaron Sams
Are you Ready to Flip? by Dan Spencer, Deb Wolf, and Aaron Sams
“The Flipped Class: Myths vs. Reality” by Jon Bergmann, Jerry Overmyer and Brett Wilie
“The Flipped Class: What Does a Good One Look Like?” by Brian Bennett, Jason Kern, April Gudenrath and Philip McIntosh
Private School Math Teacher Flips Learning by Stacey Roshan
The Flipped Class: Show Me the Data! by Stacey Roshan
Teachers “Doing the Flip” to Help Students Become Learners
This infographic from http://www.knewton.com/flipped-classroom/ is AWESOME!!
Created by Knewton and Column Five Media
Now I’m trying to figure out just what technology to include in the grant. I know that I want the following:
I’d love to hear your feedback on both technology & your experiences!
Check out this awesome contest open to ages 14-19 which closes on April 30, 2012.
You must be aged 14 to 19 to participate.
Earlier this year I reported on Lady Gaga’s campaign against bullying, and learned that experts and the federal Department of Education increasingly see bullying as a huge education problem. So I’d like to consult the experts — American teens — by holding an essay contest about bullying.
Please help spread the word by encouraging young people to apply by writing an essay of up to 500 words about bullying or how to address it. Teachers are welcome to make this a class assignment. It can be cathartic to share these experiences, but also embarrassing, so think this through carefully. And remember, too, that this is for a newspaper and must be the truth – no exaggerations whatsoever! If you’re talking about someone else, you can use just a first name or initial, to protect their privacy.
So, teens, help us understand the problem by sharing your experiences and insights. In all seriousness, we have a major national problem with bullying, and we need your help to understand it and figure out how to make headway against it. That’s where I’m hoping your essays can help.
I’m holding the contest in partnership with The New York Times Learning Network and with Teen Ink magazine. Send in essays of up to 500 words by the end of April. Teen Ink, which has lots of experience publishing teen writing in print and online, will select finalists for me, and then I’ll choose the winners. There’s no real prize, except immortal glory: I’ll publish excerpts from the best essays in my column or blog. Some winners will also be published in Teen Ink and on The New York Times Learning Network.
— Nicholas Kristof, op-ed columnist, The New York Times
nytimes.com/kristof
Submissions must be received by April 30, 2012 and cannot exceed 500 words. One submission per person. Nicholas Kristof has sole discretion to select which submissions, if any, will be posted.
As I strive to be positive about the Common Core, I realize that I must also be realistic.
I will always do what is best for students, so articles about the Common Core fall into the “Must Read” category for me!
Making the shift from only reading for enjoyment to academic reading has to happen, but I would never want to dampen a child’s love of reading for pleasure! Joanne Yatvin shares the same concerns in her EdWeek post. The idea that anything outside of the Common Core should be completely eliminated just doesn’t sit right with me. There are also specific guidelines/approaches for teaching that don’t appear to include all of the research and best practices. That worries me, too.
Another huge concern of mine-spending (already drastically limited) funds on shiny new “Common Core Approved” packaged literature-is also addressed by Yatvin. I have never found an entire program that met the needs of all of my students or one that matched my teaching style. That is, after all, the main reason why I can justify being a master hoarder. There isn’t one awesome think, book, lesson, technology, or gimmick that is going to fit everyone! And I thought we were moving away from that!
Read the article here: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/02/29/22yatvin.h31.html?tkn=VZOFXZVsu%2Fopuos8f9DGuC7vsAOc2NxXSJ00&cmp=clp-edweek
I’d love to hear what you think!
literacyeverywhere 