My Someday List

Nancie Atwell has students dedicate a page in their journal to "Someday Books."  These are books that students learn about and find intriguing enough to want to read when they get a chance.  I have so many someday books on my list, starting with the literature in our own curriculum:

Sorry, Wrong Number
Chain of Fire
I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced
The Birchbark House
Of Beetles and Angels
Count of Monte Crisco
Before We Were Free
The Kitchen God's Wife
Zlata's Diary
Tasting the Sky
Code Talker
Elijah of Buxton
Cracker
Esperanza Rising
Sunrise over Falluja
Mockingbird

Plus, on a recommendation from Nancie Atwell, I'm going to read:

Purple Heart

Because I want to finish the series:

Reached

On then, for my own pleasure:

The Fault in Our Stars
Beautiful Ruins

Let's see how I do...

So what....

are your summer goals? This summer, I'm focusing on improving my own technology proficiency.  It started yesterday with familiarizing myself to Gmail - it only took me the entire morning to figure out how to login to my new Lindbergh account, and then I determined how to merge my Google Calendar from my personal account into my work one.  I was quite proud!  And, I'm determined to master all of these Google Docs, including Google +.

But today, is all about making my blog better so that I can enrich your interaction with it.  Hopefully, by the time we return for school, I will be using the Blog to enrich your conversations about teaching and learning and using it for "Flipped Faculty Meetings."  Let's see if I reach this goal by the end of the summer.

But for now, here's what I've learned:

1)  How to embed videos into the Blog.  Let's face it; I'm in summer mode so it's much more fun to post a video from my windy summer travels in Ireland than it is to post something about school :)  However, beware, because now I know how to do it and that means your classrooms will be appearing here soon!



2)  Adding Gadgets!!!!  Now you can search the blog for ideas and you can sign up to follow the blog.  By following the blog, you'll be emailed any new posts - this keeps you from having to look for new posts on your own.  And oh oh! I've also learned how to use my labels better so that you can easily find topics of interest.

I hope you have fun with these blog updates - and consider, how can students blog in your classroom?

Say "I Do" to Integrated Learning

Merging learning between content areas is a little like marriage. In a marriage, two different personalities learn to live together, blending their individual priorities into one cohesive lifestyle. In education, we have to do the same. So often we have competing priorities: MAP Word of the Day, Literacy Across the Curriculum, Character Education, Differentiation, Authenticity, Engagement, BYOD...it's just so much...

But, like in marriage, we can merge these priorities, building stronger learning opportunities for kids. So, here it is, all merged into one great lesson.

Students in this social studies class are "justifying" their main idea, merging their MAP Word of the Day and CCSS Literacy. Additionally, you can differentiate the learning depending on the level of student need: some students can be given 3 main idea options and be required to "justify" their choice within their small discussion group while others can design the main idea in their own words.