A Different Kind of Pen Pal

I was so honored to chair “Integrating Blogs, Podcasting, and Digital Videos into Fourth and Fifth Grade Language Arts Classes” at NCTE this year.  I learned a tremendous amount about the right way to integrate technology into classrooms from these California educators (i.e., Carl Withaus, Gail Desler, Aparna Sinha, Manuel Senna, and Lesley McKillop).  What [...]

A Thanksgiving Wish for You!

 

Special thanks to Bonnie Kaplan for this photo.

Make a Smilebox greeting

Mentoring Primary Writers

The past eight days have been exceedingly busy, while also being exceedingly great.  First, Ruth was here and we spent a lot of time planning out the final third of our book.  Then, I traveled to Philadelphia for the NCTE Annual Convention.  On Monday, I was in a new school working with a dynamic group [...]

Chasing Dreams: Part II

I had envisioned being able to share with you some of the dreams on my freshmen’s lists.  However, Monday we had a lock down drill smack in the middle of block two, altering our plans.  Then yesterday we had a fog delay, shrinking class minutes by half. It reminds me how we are constantly determining importance [...]

Join us for today’s SOLSC!

Poetry Party

Sylvia Vardell chaired “Poetry Party! Celebrating 2009 NCTE Poetry Award Recipient Lee Bennett Hopkins,” which Ruth blogged a little bit about on Friday.  This was by far the most fun I’ve ever had at an NCTE Session since it was complete with food, party favors, and distinguished children’s poets who all read original poetry [...]

Chasing Big Dreams: Part I

I rolled into my driveway around 8:30 last night.  Andy had given our kids late naps so they could stay up and see me.  This may not have been our best parenting move.  They were excited, but also tired.  Emotions swirled.  By 9:45 Andy and I were snuggled on the couch and there were no [...]

Independence in the Primary Classroom Through Talk, Text, and Motivation

Katie Wood Ray, Matt Glover, and Isoke Titilayo Nia hosted a session entitled “Independence in the Primary Writing Workshop,” which Ruth and I attended yesterday morning.  Ray, Glover, and Nia provided information about the ways to increase young children’s independence within the context of a Writing Workshop.  Here are my notes from the session, which [...]

Creating Comics from a Real Life Experience

We were fortunate to cross paths into Kevin Hodgson when we were walking through the Convention Center at NCTE this afternoon.  He was leading a Tech on-the-Go Presentation about creating digital comics with students.  When Kevin asked for a volunteer to make a comic, we stepped up to the plate, creating a comic about our [...]

Tatum: Using the Pen to Rescue to Power

“Let our testimony be our pen.” – Anonymous African American Male from Chicago
I found myself rushing to get my lunch from the Reading Terminal Market so I could eat it while listening to Alfred W. Tatum yesterday afternoon.  My sandwich landed up sitting in the bag for an hour and 15 minutes since I was [...]

Swirling Thoughts from NCTE

Today was a good day, but what day at NCTE isn’t?  Since we just finished our last session and have dinner plans in a few minutes, you’re getting a list of swirling thoughts.  Expect more blog posts about NCTE  in the future.

Choice matters.  Today I’ve been inspired to stand up and defend student choice in [...]

Change & Personal Narratives

“There is nothing permanent except change.” – Heraclitus
As a child, I didn’t know much about change.  I moved from Brooklyn to New Jersey when I was a baby.  I switched schools in the fall of sixth grade, thereby dividing the first thirteen years of my schooling between two educational institutions.  I lived under the same [...]

A Few Random Bits of Life

Right now I’m sitting in Stacey’s kitchen, thinking how good it is to be in the same house as my friend.

I already know I have a great class.  (We’ll see if I still feel this way after I get the sub notes for the three days I’m absent.)

Yesterday we spent a good portion of the class period in [...]

Slicin’

Please link your Slice of Life Story to this post by leaving a comment.

Today.

Today is the first day of the new trimester.  This means two things:

I get to teach my own class starting today — English 9A with 26 students.
I barely slept last night and woke up early today.  This is typical behavior prior to the “first day of school.”  Starting a new trimester is like the first [...]

Writing About Thanks

 
 

There’s just a little over a week to go before Thanksgiving. Do you know what you’re most thankful for? Want to ruminate about the things you’re most thankful for through writing? If so, take a cue from Molly Irwin’s Blog, where she writes about the idea of recording the things for which [...]

Integrating Blogs, Podcasting, and Digital Videos

NCTE’s Annual Convention in Philadelphia in next week.  I’m delighted to be chairing a session for some educators from California entitled “Integrating Blogs, Podcasting, and Digital Videos into 4th and 5th Grade Language Arts Classes.” Here’s the description of the session from the Convention Program:
The presenters will discuss (1) how blogs were integrated into the [...]

Ah, to be 13 again. Well, not really.

I’ve had 13, a collection of short stories edited by James Howe, sitting in my bookshelf for the past few years.  I bought it based on the recommendation of a staff developer at the TCRWP who shared Rachel Vail’s “Thirteen and a Half” at a Calendar Day I attended.  Since the book is geared towards [...]

November 11th

Formal and Informal Writing with Conventions

I use conventions in my writer’s notebook and in e-mails. I tend to write with proper conventions when I’m IM-ing since I know it makes my message easier for my reader to decode when we’re writing back and forth rapidly. I write with conventions when I jot notes to my husband. I consistently write with [...]

SOLSC

Peer Conferring: Questions

I’m intrigued by peer conferring.  There’s just something about two writers coming together to talk about their work that’s interesting to me.  I love the nuances of peer conferring — learning what works well and what doesn’t.  I like to study really strong collaborations to find the little-known-secrets to a specific grade level of writers.  [...]

Owning Your Story.

I was talking with a friend and colleague of mine, Deb Gaby.  She was commenting about how often in life when we begin to think differently, this new awareness crops up in many different aspects of our life.  Interestingly enough, Deb and I are both thinking deeply about  collecting the stories which define our lives.
She [...]

Making Characters Talk

Dialogue. It’s something we wish students would use purposefully inside of a piece of writing. Too often, when our students do write with dialogue, it sounds like this:

“Hi,” I said.

“Hi,” my sister said.

“What do you want to do today?” I said.

“I don’t know,” she said.

“Let’s go to the park,” I said.

“Okay,” she said.

“Okay,” [...]

Speaking to Me.

These words are speaking to my soul tonight.  I’m planning to use them in a workshop I’m leading tomorrow.
Students such as these walk into your classrooms in every size, shape, and color.  You can’t know their histories because their only control is control of their secrets.  You are asked to create a safe enough place [...]