Ok, here is my confession. I’ve spent 3 days getting moved into our summer home, and 2 more days doing ANYTHING but blogging. This isn’t because I am burnt out and don’t want to think about the TCRWP Institute. It also has nothing to do with just wanting to be on vacation. My problem is simple… my notes from the conference are a disaster! It is going to take me weeks to weed through and interrupret them. Isn’t that just… sad?
Of course, this makes me think of the teachers I work with and the kids I teach. Learning how to organize information in the “information age” is essential.
Clearly, I need a tune up on this skill myself. Thinking back to the conference, there was so much going on, from Keynotes, to large and small group sessions, to conversations with my colleagues from ACS to deep-thinking discussions with my professional-twin Sarah (from Shanghai). I started off each morning typing; then ran out of battery and moved into the notebook we were given. I tried to store information in my head, I wrote notes on napkins at lunch and even on the back of the final certificate we were given to show completion of the institute.
Not knowing where to start or how exatly to being, I’m just going to dive in and make sense of it all.
Pared down, thoughtful posts full of useful information are sure to follow.
During my early years as a teacher in the US, I spent weeks over the summer going through my classroom, organizing and setting up. Now however, as we plan to get on the plane the evening school is out and not return until the day before we are to report for work, I am trying to do all of that “set up” now. That said, I do think I’m getting better at keeping the clutter to a minimum.
Yesterday, I went through all of the files I’ve had sitting in the cabinet for the past 2 years. Some are mine, but most were here when I arrived. I decided that I would conduct a massive “purge” of materials I haven’t used in 2 years. Guess what? That cabinet full of files? Now, 3 of the 4 drawers are empty!
At the end of the week I will put up a short video clip showing my literacy room. It is amazing how far things have come in such a short span of time at this school!
I follow the WNY Education Associates blog. A few days ago, there were some interesting posts about kids (MS/HS age) who are abandoning Facebook because they are overwhelmed by the stress and pressure to “friend” people. As the mother of a 9-year old, this isn’t something I’ve dealt with before, but I did pass the information on to my husband who is our MS Counselor. Following the Facebook post, Angela at WNY Ed Associates wrote a post asking if we as teachers should “foster in our kids and in ourselves the ability to assess and effectively respond to the stress created by some of these realities….” Below is a list of bullets she has started brainstorming which would do just that. I must say it has gotten me thinking. If you have something to add, be sure to head over to WNY Education Associates and leave a comment.
Aren’t Wordle’s cool?
What is it about words, together in a space, but at different angles, sizes and colors that makes is seem more like ART than a list of words?
I love Wordle as a tool to use with kids. Simple, easy technology. Great for memories (or the cover of a Memoir- Kimmy), class name lists, group lists, favorite things about school lists… it just goes on and on!
This evening, with the help of a glass of red wine, I made a list of all the things I said/did this school year. I knew it was a bunch, but going back through old calendars made me feel like my exhaustion is warrented.
Below is my 2009-2010 Reflective Wordle. As a celebration, teachers are going to start with mine and add in words of their own to create grade level “LOOK AT WHAT WE DID IN 2009-2010″ Wordles tomorrow at our ERD meeting.
I enjoy writing this blog, but there are times when LIFE just takes over and everything else crawls in the back seat. That has been the case for me these past months. However, I’m back and ready to jump start my blogging life with a marathon of sorts. In 5 weeks school is out and we jump on the plane for the crazy (and very, very long) trip back to the US. That gives me 5 weeks to make up for the 3 months I’ve missed.
My friend and colleague Tanya Shehan who is working at the American School of Doha just emailed me this interesting information about teaching reading. I wasn’t familiar with literacy theorist, Louise Rosenblatt’s book Literature As Exploration, but I just might need to buy it.
The information Tanya provided, reminds me how important and sensible it is to be striving for a balanced approach when teaching reading.
Two modes of reading Parallel frames of mind, which any reader brings to bear during every act of reading in order to create meaning Efferent – (from the Latin word effere meaning ‘to carry away’) Reading in order to acquire information so we’re focusing our attention on facts and ideas, on what we’ll learn and carry away.
Aesthetic – a reader fuses affective and cognitive elements together, reading for the pleasures and rewards of living vicariously inside someone else’s literary world.
*A concern is that twentieth-century teachers are asking students not to ‘live through’ and love literature but to find facts (strategy data: main ideas, supporting details, causes and effects, plot events, settings, character motivations.) A comprehension-strategy approach asks students to take an efferent stance every time they read, regardless of the text or their purpose in reading it. There is a place for reading with an efferent frame of mind, to consider comprehension in the content-area disciplines in order to further one’s understanding.
