Education, Stading Style

One thing I want to explore this year is The Daily 5.  My baseline of understanding of it was that a lot of teachers on Twitter and Pinterest do something called The Daily 5, and there was something to do with a cafe and of course it has a hashtag #d5chat.

That was last semester.  I’m a little further along in my understanding, though not by much.  I bought the book but haven’t looked at it yet.  I know there are five components (ok, that is a ‘duh’ observation) and it supports literacy instruction.    But I’m intrigued and in an instructional place where I can incorporate the ideas into the elementary reading/language group I will work with this year.  I am looking forward to learning more about The Daily 5 through social media and classroom implementation.

The Daily 5

• Read to self
• Work on writing
• Word Work
• Listen to reading
• Read to Someone

Anyone else excited to be back at school?  Anyone else overwhelmed yet?

I switched classrooms this summer and am finishing up the environment part of the work; there is still much to do in planning and all the paperwork that comes with my job…already!  I will keep SMART goals for paperwork this school year, and I will post my progress.  A cool ticker would be nice, like how much money to raise for a building but something to do with percentages of goals met.

You know, people say teaching is all about the kids.  It is largely about the kids, yes.  It is also about the families and the federal requirements of teaching.  How to balance, then, the smiles of the kids each day with the papers that come along with them.

That might be the first thing:  daily paperwork.  I might also imagine all of those little pieces of papers smiling at me, too, and the closer to completion for whatever it is, the bigger the smile gets.  It will have to be something because no matter how dynamic the kids are, poor paperwork is poor teaching.

This year isn’t about how it has always been done, it is about how do we (I) do this teaching thing better.  Stick around to see how that goes…also stick around to see how the classroom goes, too.  I want my students to be learners this year, and I will be blogging about that journey, too.

Hello, Summer.

What have I been up to, you ask?  Well, my major goal this summer is to reorganize the kid spaces in our house…the bedroom and ‘playroom’ which really is a landing at the top of the stairs that has no clear purpose.  It has toys in it now.  I did sell one bunk bed and buy another so the kid’s bedroom is now two twins, a crib and clothes.  It also has a new paint job.

My other big goal is to reorganize the other no-clear-purpose room in our house…right now it has all the toys I’m giving away from the upstairs redo.  It also has computers, files, books, a full-sized keyboard that no one knows how to play (yet).  I think this room’s future is as a study because we need a study these days.  My kids need a place to be online (as do I) and a place to read and practice that keyboard.

So that is what I’ve been doing this summer so far.  I’ve only finished one book:  The Stand by Stephen King.  At 1000 pages, it should count as more than one book.

So sure, there’s my summer.  I go back to work in 30 days.   I am hoping for more of these times, too, as I tame my house.

On the streets of Palmer, Alaska

I like summer.  I hope y’all are having a good one, too.

Yesterday I spent my day at a different site–one that you first drive literally to the end of the road, hike down switchbacks,  walk a mile on the beach and finally get to the school.  My less-than-physically-fit self feels it today.  I can only imagine what shape I would be in if I had had to hike back UP the switchbacks….it is about a 1000 foot change in elevation.  (Thank you, Mr. White, for the ride!)

What awaits at the end of that journey is a school full of beautiful students (no, really…you should see the dresses they wear) who seem happy to be in school and engaged in their learning activities.  What you also find is a staff who loves the students and literally goes the extra mile to be there for their students.

Thank you, Selo Staff, for hosting me…and thank you too for being there for the students.  I’ve seen your numbers;  you are doing good things!  Way to go!

Student walked into class this past Friday and asked, “It is Friday.  Who are we Skyping with today?”

#FarAwayFriday is the brain-child of @TechAng, a teacher in Eastern Canada.  Her class Skypes with a different person each Friday who reads to the class.  We had the priveledge of being that class on March 23rd.  Our students read their own works to the class, and then answered questions about life in Alaska.  @TechAng reported back that the concept of living in a ‘village’ was an eye-opener for her urban students.  That, and our proxiemity to volcanoes.  Plus the many feet of snow out the window…in March.

Our ‘aha’ was that we can communicate beyond our school’s walls in an immediate and engaging manner.  One of the skills for 21st Century Learning is Global Awareness.  #FarAwayFridays is one way to get there.  We’ve only done one, but we are certainly interested in doing more.

Our warm-up activity in Middle School Language Arts is usually a video or discussion about some aspect of the world that we don’t get a lot of in our little Alaskan town.  Often it is CNN Student News (we’re priming the pump for U.S. History next year) and last week it was videos for our writing assignment.  This week has been more random, though.

Wednesday was my turn to deliver the opener, and I searched YouTube for video clips about technology in the classroom.  You would think there would be a lot, right?  Not ones I wanted to use.  Strange, but then while scanning my Twitter feed I thought, why not this?  I know Twitter can be useful for learning, why not see what happens if I ask for retweets?

What happened was over 15 retweets (mostly by educators) and plenty of ‘favorited’ posts as well as messages and mentions from all over the world.  It was far more successful than I expected!  The students were a little disappointed that LeBron James (@KingJames) didn’t reply, but honestly, he’s too famous.  I sent mentions to those ultra-famous people to make the point that you can…but you are going to get more from your peers than your idols.

I doubt the district is going to lift the student-blocks on Twitter anytime soon, but my students have an awareness now, and we want that kind of thinking, that iPods and iPhones and whatever else they like to use can be good tools to use in class, too, when used appropriately.

Thanks to everyone who helped out!

Another Elementary entry…
100 Word Challenge:  Week #24 You have five words that MUST be included in your writing so you can use 105 words only! The words are:  Carefully   Fifty   Spider   White   Pushed

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One day there was a white spider named Spike. He was feisty and mean. The spider pushed his friend named Rose and he said, “move over old lady.’’ She did not like when he is mean so she carefully pushed him over a well. He said ’’why did you do that!!!’’  She said back because your mean and you pushed me. Then Spike found fifty dollars suddenly in the well. Rose thought of something and she said’’ I will help you up only if you give me the fifty dollars.’’ Spike said back WHAT! ok so he give her the fifty dollars she said’’ thanks Bye.’’

by Justina

A couple of my Elementary students wanted to try this…they had fun!
100 Word Challenge:  Week #24 You have five words that MUST be included in your writing so you can use 105 words only! The words are:  Carefully   Fifty   Spider   White   Pushed

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One day I went  to see  my fat ugly spider . My mom gave me $50  yay !!!!!!!!!!!. I know so cool right. I carefully walked inside the school. Miss. Ely cot me I said good morning Miss. Ely she smiled and gave me a spacing I cried mommy help me then she gave me 999 spacing waaah. I said I hate you miss. Ugly. Then she started crying  like a little baby. I started teasing her one day then she cried mommy really loud that the hole school herd she pushed me and threw Wight snow in my face. Then  I started to cry.

by Isabelle

This is the first week for my Creative Writing students to particpate in the 100 Word Challenge at 100wc.net.  There is a version of the challenge for adults, too, and so I will post 100 words myself.  Check out their work on our Creative Writing Blog!

What did we do yesterday?  We posted to feb29th.net as part of a world-wide blogging event.  Over 20,000 people visited the site, mostly school children and mostly from Great Britain.  At least 20 of my students posted with a variety of posts about life, school, basketball and lists of 29.

Most had fun.  Some did it because I ‘made’ them do it.  Most followed our iSafe rules about posting personal information on the internet.

Posting for a global audience thrilled me, and I hope it started the kids thinking, right…there is more to our world than what I see outside the classroom windows.

I posted four times….in the thousands of posts, here’s the one I can find.

What global writing project will we participate in in 2016?