Poetry Friday Is Here! (Please scroll down to submit your poem using Mr. Linky.)

Billy Collins’ Poetry continues to inspire me. The following Collins Poem, “Earthling” was published in The Apple That Astonished Paris. It resonated with me yesterday since I spent a great deal of time working with one of my colleagues to further plan out our Solar System Unit. It’s definitely a teaching tool [...]

Personal Essay Rubric

Using the rubric I created for the personal narrative unit of study as a skeleton, I created a personal essay rubric a few days ago. I tweaked it with Kate yesterday afternoon and this is what I came up with for my kids. Again, there’s a row so that each student [...]

21st Century Literacies (NCTE’s Nov. 2007 Council Chronicle)

If you blog, then you know that websites are no longer the sole way to get information out into the world. We’re living in a Web 2.0 World. Today we have blogs, wikis, podcasts, and many other tools that allow us to not only communicate, but to collaborate with others around the globe. [...]

Creating Folders for “Patches of Thought”

During my first year of teaching I attended a Calendar Day hosted by the TCRWP where I got the idea for creating portable folders for my students to use in Writing Workshop to assist them with collecting “patches of thought” for each of their subordinate ideas during the personal essay unit of study. Though [...]

WNW: Noticing Our Surroundings OR Other “Stuff”

Welcome to Writer’s Notebook Wednesday! Today you can share your response to Stacey’s charge, or you can share something else. It doesn’t really matter what you share . . . the important thing is that you do, indeed, share. Looking forward to reading your words.
Ruth’s entry here.
Stacey’s entry here.
Your entry . [...]

ruth’s wn entry: merry & bright.

So I’ve been noticing stuff in my everyday world and wondering what to develop for WNW.  It occurred to me on Monday night that I should write about the Christmas lights that have filled my home.  So I’ve been doing a lot of writing in the air in preparation for today’s entry.  I pushed my [...]

play with words + help end world hunger.

Click on the picture below to play a vocabulary game.  For each word you get  correct, United Nations will donate 10 grains of rice to help end world hunger.

Take Note of What Surrounds You

My students have been doing a lot of noticing in Writing Workshop since we began our Personal Essay Unit of Study last week. Hence, I created this Motivational Poster (of sorts) online. I hope it inspires you to notice what surrounds you this week and to write about it.

Here’s a potential charge for [...]

Customized Spelling Lists

I’ve been grading my students’ personal narratives this morning using the rubric I created last month. That being said, I decided not to just grade their personal narratives, but also to use them as a way to create lists of misspelled words so that I can differentiate their weekly spelling lists. [...]

Gifts from the Heart

On November 14th I received funding, through DonorsChoose, for the “Writing Gift Center” I blogged about in October. I was delighted that someone who didn’t know me or my students was inspired by this proposal to donate the funds so that my students could have the supplies they needed to jazz-up their writing and [...]

ruth’s wn entry: thanksgiving thoughts.

Edited:  I posted & then read Stacey’s entry from today.  Strange that we both wrote poems.  Stranger still that we have a similar line.  Strange in a cool way, though.  So thankful for friendship.   
So I’m waiting for some paint to dry on a canvas and I’m thinking about all the things I’m grateful for in my life.  And this thinking [...]

Thanksgiving: A List Poem

On this day, I am thankful for so many things. I figured I’d create a list poem, with my ideas clustered in stanzas, of what I am thankful for. (I decided not to use ending punctuation for this poem.)
Freedom
Being an American
The right to practice my own religion
Driving where I want, when [...]

WNW: Mapping Your Teaching Heart & Writing About One Item in Your Heart

Please use Mr. Linky and/or post a comment with your entry.

Thanks for participating today!
Ruth’s entry can be found by clicking here. Stacey’s entry can be found by clicking here.

ruth’s wn entry: teaching heart map

I teach because of relationships.  I teach to impact others in positive ways.  I was surprised, looking over my map because of what’s not there.  No units, no grammar, no standards.  Nothing of what fills a typical plan book.
Instead, this seems to be a start to make visible what is often invisible.  It’s about relationships [...]

Stacey’s WN Entry: The Sadako Project… A Reflection

Coming together, as a class, to do something worthwhile…
I wanted all of my students to see what teamwork was about. I wanted them to do something as a group to see the amazing results. But was it art for art sake? (Don Graves told me it wasn’t when I shared my original entry with him [...]

A Twist on Heart Maps

Georgia Heard came up with the idea first.
Penny Kittle adapted it.
I’m bringing it from NCTE to you.
Create a Map of your TEACHING Heart. Record the places you’ve worked, the people who’ve inspired you, special moments, memorable students, etc. Here’s the one I created on Sunday (and colored last night):

A charge for this week’s [...]

Our thinking is evolving

I noticed that Ruth posted her raw thinking earlier today. Let’s just say that there’s a lot of meta-cognition happening for both of us now that the NCTE Conference is over. I think the Session that got both of us thinking the most was the one with Peter H. Johnston, Katie Wood Ray, [...]

upon returning from ncte.

I made an entry in my writer’s notebook called:  Some thoughts WHIRLING in my mind.  Here’s a list of 20 pieces of thinking whirling around my mind.  This is my effort to begin capturing and processing my raw thinking.

Our thinking must continue to grow, change, evolve.
We should not be using the exact same materials and ideas [...]

It’s not everyday you get Don Graves’ feedback on your writing!

I learned so much at the final session I attended at NCTE today. The session, “Writing from your Teaching Life,” was led by Don Graves, Penny Kittle, Meg Petersen, and Karen Hartman. What a treat to have all of these great writers and teachers in the same room!
First, we made a map of [...]

More from NCTE

Ruth and I joined up this morning for two workshops: “Where has all the Real Choice Gone? Revisiting an Essential Element in Writing Instruction” and also for “Where Social Justice and School Meet.” We’re going to chat this evening over coffee and cupcakes to talk about the issues that were presented in those [...]

straight from ncte.

So I’m in the 21st Century Learning Center . . . and what am I doing?  BLOGGING!
The opening session was Amy Tan & her story was lovely.  Her main point:  Invisible Strength.  And I was inspired by her story.
Then I went to a session with Kylene Beers, Bob Probst & Sara Kajdar.  It was all [...]

New Professional Notebook

I felt like a kid earlier this morning as I broke out the stickers and began decorating my new notebook. Even though it’s for professional use, I think it’s truly okay to jazz it up a little bit. Decorating my notebook gets me excited about using it… I guess it’s the same way [...]

TGIPF — I Am…

I found some “I Am…” Poems that my two of my students wrote during my second year of teaching (within our Poetry Unit of Study) on my computer this morning when I was searching for what to post today. They’re both beautiful poems. I’ve taken out their names, but their first names begin [...]

ruth’s wn entry: breakfast.

Breakfast
Oatmeal & banana
Cherrios or shredded wheat
Milk
Orange juice
Hot tea
Gotta get a good start,
Mom would say to me.
But now I’m a
grown up
and
I
choose
chocolate.
(Not often & sitting here right now it doesn’t even seem appealing to me.  Nevertheless, it’s I love to write day & my WNW post has to be up!)