[WtC Wednesday] Personal Heroage

Pardon the day-late-ness of this post.  Here is what I managed to write in flu-ridden state yesterday: “In my searc for adequate definits of the erm “hero, I have found…. little that I likes.”  Ermmm… yeah.  So I am trying again. I was looking for good definitions of the term hero. I didn’t find any…

[Mentor Text Monday] Maniac Magee

Briefly, I define mentor texts as a piece of a writing used as a model.  There is more to it, but let’s start there.  Eventually, I’ll post a page with more of a definition or guide. I’m not sure exactly how Mentor Text Mondays will go, but you can bet on your teaching patootie, that…

[Student Work] Late

From a student journal today.  We’ve been writing 15 minutes a day all year.   This makes my heart smile. Late start. Barely made it. Happy I’m not late. The guy in the taco shop took forever, Singing his songs and drinking coffee. Irritated already So please Leave me alone Stomachache Foot cramps Head ache.                                                          …

[Friday Free Day] What if…

A boss I really liked posed a question similar to this to me one day… What if… we stopped teaching specific content for one week, one quarter, one year, and instead focused on the kids where they are at each moment.  Zero in on their learning edge and provide space, time, and resources for them…

[Friday Free Day] Reminders

Here’s a thought for a Friday.* How many reminder or warning bells are in your daily life? And, how many MORE reminders or warning bells are in your life than were, say, 10 years ago?  Here is typical morning in my world, with warning bells and reminders marked with a star. At 5:30 my clock…

[Teaching Writing] Found Faces

Many surprising things happened today.  I woke up early, but not too early (!!!). I actually GOT up (!!!).  I took Stella the Dog for a walk after I got up (!!!).  And, I saw and took photos of fun things on my walk, AND I’ve already turned them into a writing prompt for today (!!!). Oh, and I…

[Friday Free Day] Stacks

I just loves me some stacks of books. It’s one of the surest signs that I am, indeed, an English teacher at heart. I got to work at the butt-crack of dawn this morning, and was greeted with these lovely stacks. Clockwise… The books I’m using as mentor texts at my presentation tomorrow morning.  …

[Mentor Texts] Leading up to Memoirs

Today we started to write memoirs. While I’m glad to share the steps leading up to these very-first-inkling drafts, I’d rather just show y’all what they came up with. Here is the mentor text we used.  It’s from Knots in My Yo-yo String by Jerry Spinelli.  We are using his memoirs as our mentor text…