Memoir Monday

Hey!  Hey!  Link your post via Mr. Linky below.  Then pleasepleaseplease leave a comment with your link to this post.  When we “move” Mr. Linky to the next Memoir Monday, then all of the links “disappear” from the previous MM. 
Happy Writing!
 
 
PS  — Sorry (Kevin & others) that this post is up a little late!

Stacey’s MM: Sometimes You Have to Let Your Hair Down

I’ve come to believe that sometimes we (i.e., teachers) need to be silly. That could mean jumping into a fountain or jumping into a photograph with a student that you weren’t exactly supposed to be in.

I remember eating nachos and salsa alongside my students during the second of three mini courses. One of [...]

My New Spiral Spine Notebook

My New WN: All About the S-es

Originally uploaded by teachergal

I’m departing, temporarily, from using Miquelrius spiral-spine notebooks. I found a Paperchase Notebook I wanted to try because it has a partial velvety cover and decorative pages. It was a bit whimsical and kind of perfect for summer. Further, I took a cue [...]

moments.

If you pay attention at every moment, you forma new relationship to time.  In some magical way, by slowing down, you become more efficient, productive, and energetic, focusing without distraction directly on the task in front of you.  Not only do you become immersed in the moment, you become the moment.
– Michael Ray
 
I read this quote [...]

M.M. Inspiration: Sometimes you have to let your hair down!

Has there ever been a moment in time when you’ve let your hair down in front of others? For me, it was at the 105th Street (Central Park) Fountain with several of my former students in April 2005. The fountain (in the photo; photo taken in 2007) was empty and several of my [...]

Bday

And now a poem since I poems are always a nice part of a birthday greeting (in my opinion, at least):
Warm Wishes
A soft slate-blue sky
swallows floating
across fluffy clouds
and the breeze
gently
glides among trees
odours fragrant
of boungainvillae
all these and more
remind
me of the
special day
marking your BIRTHDAY

Poetry Friday: Sleeping Late

I thought I’d try my hand at another couplet this morning. Here goes:
A long night’s rest
I thought I would get up this morning by eight
but my alarm clock read 11:01 meaning I slept late.
This week, Poetry Friday is being hosted at Biblio File.

Photo Fridays

I now participate in two challenges every Friday: Poetry Friday and Photo Fridays. If you would like to learn more about Photo Fridays, which is a new challenge hosted by Bonnie (on Flickr), then click here. (I’m putting my Photo Fridays posts over at my other blog.)

My Book List Page Is FINALLY Complete!

I decided to transfer my old, messy, and incomplete book list that I kept on my Wiki to a GooglePages Website. I think I managed to record every single book I read aloud to my students this year by breaking out my read alouds into four categories:

Reading Workshop Demonstration Texts [...]

Student Stories #3.

It’s Thursday, so that means STUDENT STORIES! Write your story & then link it via Mr. Linky. Also, please leave a comment on this post with your link so that when we move Mr. Linky to next week, there will remain a record of your STUDENT STORY.

Stacey’s Student Story

Click here to view this photo/story/layout in a larger size.

All-Write Summer Institute: Day Two.

What a whirlwind!  And coming home to three young children didn’t slow life down any!  True to form, I’m going to write another list of good stuff from day two.

Storyboards ROCK — for all grade levels.  Penny spent time discussing her use of storyboards.  Basically it is pictures + few words.  At the younger grades, [...]

Six Words: Day in a Sentence Challenge

Kevin challenged his blog readers to boil-down their day into one sentence. Since I’m heading into school today to box-up my stuff so that the cleaning crew has an easier time moving my furniture when they wax it later this summer, my sentiment is very simple:

Packing up is hard to do.
To learn more about [...]

Great Resources at NWP.org

I was perusing the National Writing Project’s Website and came across several pages, all under the heading of “Encourage Writing” which you might find as useful as I did with regard to helping you to plan back-to-school newsletters. The NWP even lists a few activities that family members can do together. So, if [...]

Link your SOLS here!

Welcome to the final edition of the Slice of Life Story Challenge for the month of June. Please link your Slice of Life Story here by clicking on the link below.

A Round-up of Interesting Education Articles

Some news stories I’ve perused and wanted to share. My brief comments are in italics.
2 School Entrepreneurs Lead the Way on Change
By SAM DILLON
Published: June 19, 2008
Wendy Kopp and Richard Barth are a power couple in the world of education, emblematic of a new class of young social entrepreneurs seeking to reshape the United [...]

Looking for more information about our three weekly challenges?

We’ve changed our Slice of Life Challenge Page to a generic Challenge Page, where you can find more information about the following:
Memoir Mondays (Every Monday — just like the name says!)
Slice of Life Story Challenge (Every Tuesday)
Student Stories (Every Thursday)
We hope that streamlining this page will encourage new participants so that they don’t have to [...]

Stacey’s SOLSC: Six Months

I heard a knock upon our door. I didn’t get up. Then, the keys turned in the lock. It was Marc. I didn’t get up because I was scanning something with chipboard, therefore holding down the lid so that it would scan as seamlessly as possible. He came over and [...]

Ruth’s SOLSC: A Walk Through Campus.

I loved (and I mean lovedlovedloved) walking through IU’s campus.  It was the most gorgeous, meaningful, life changing walk I’ve ever taken.
I remember the first time, feeling so small, wondering if I would make it back to my dorm.
I remember paying close attention to each turn and landmark, memorizing the route to class to class [...]

Reading [Student Writing] Like an Artist.

This was the title of Katherine Bomer’s keynote speech which she gave at 9 am this morning. Katherine was inspiring and uplifting and simply amazing.
Anyone who has read this blog for any amount of time knows that Stacey and I are both believers in the power of art. About two years ago I [...]

All-Write Summer Institute 2008: Day One

Today I’ve been able to soak up thinking and ideas and general good stuff from:
Penny Kittle.
Lester Laminack.
Katherine Bomer.
My, oh my! To say my brain is swirling would be an understatement. How do I even begin to capture my learning and thinking and growing? I think I’ll begin a list of stuff that [...]

It’s that time again! Memoir Mondays Challenge: It’s Here!

Don’t need inspiration? Already wrote your post? Link it here by clicking on the Image Linky.

Need some inspiration? Go ahead and look at the charge I posted yesterday.

Ruth’s Memoir Monday: High School Graduation

I spent the week leading up to my high school graduation begging my mom for a new outfit.  You don’t need a new outfit, it’ll be covered by your gown, she told me over and over and over.  At seventeen, I didn’t appreciate her practicality.  Little did I know that thirteen years later I would [...]

MEMOIR MONDAYS: Graduating on the Big Stage

Hunter College Graduation at Radio City Music Hall – June 2004

Originally uploaded by teachergal

High School Graduation: Princeton, NJ [The (grassy) Mall on Campus]
College Graduation: Washington, DC [The Smith Center]

First Grad School Graduation: New York, NY [Radio City Music Hall]
Second Grad School Graduation: New York, NY [Riverside Church & Columbia Quad]

My first master’s degree was [...]

Wordle (Word Cloud Generator)

Kevin just informed me about Wordle. I tried it out with some of our most used categories and created this image:

Try it out… you can paste any words into the application window and turn it into a graphic like the one I created above or on Crafty Creations. (I’m going to try created [...]