Yesterday I enjoyed some of the very best professional development in my career  -- and I didn't even leave the school building!  It began with a short meeting with two art teachers, Cindy Bryan and Bill Eby. As the meeting ended, I asked them about their own art work.  Cindy showed me a picture she demonstrated with… Continue reading Exceptional Professional Development

There are many lenses to look through when assessing student writers.  Here are some of the things I consider: How well students write when given time, choice, support, and unlimited resources, as well as how well they write on-demand. The effectiveness of their personal writing processes. Attempts at sophisticated craft moves, even if they fail.… Continue reading Narrative Assessment

Happy Friday! Today's post is a smattering of places across Cyberspace you may find interesting, fun, inspirational, OR perhaps they won't be your cup of tea. Regardless, have a great weekend! The Whole Child Blog: This blog from ACSD is designed to "raise awareness about the need to ensure each child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and… Continue reading A Few Places in Cyberspace

I think often in life we can do things to get them done or we can do things to make meaningful changes.  Sometimes it's a difficult fight within ourselves.  Right now, in education, this fight is important. As more and more mandates and regulations "come down," it is tempting to simply shell-up and take it.  Close… Continue reading Fighting Apathy.

2010 has been off to a bit of a rocky start for me.  Now don't read that and think things have been bad.  They haven't.  Just rocky.  As in having a rough time finding my footing and feeling sure of the way things are going.  However, I'm pleased to say this weekend has been a… Continue reading These Things Make Me Happy.

Writing Workshop changed my life.  Through Writing Workshop I became a writer.  I learned how to mentor myself after my favorite writers.  I learned to collect the simple everyday moments, relish them, and use them to make sense of my place in the world.  This in itself made Writing Workshop worthwhile to me. Yet that's… Continue reading Purposeful Teaching

How vain is it to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live. -- Henry David Thoreau In my 9th grade class, we are moving into a narrative writing unit this week.  I ran across this Thoreau quote tonight and thought it was a good reminder.  I hope to support my… Continue reading A Good Reminder

One of the things I've become sensitive to is how difficult it is to have so many priorities vying for our time.  We all agree it is our duty to prepare students for success outside of our classroom doors.  On one hand (as is evident from the pressure we feel), one of the things our students must be… Continue reading Making Plans

A few years ago I began thinking of New Year's Resolutions in terms of intentions.  As opposed to resolving to do things, I intend to do things in 2010.  This seems to make New Year's Resolutions more do-able.  (Isn't it funny how language makes an impact on how we view things?)  Will you join me… Continue reading Intentions.

My apologies for a short (and late) post.  My six-year-old came down with a nasty stomach virus on Saturday.  She was back to normal by Sunday afternoon, but then it attacked the remaining four of us on Monday.  The good news is it hit us all at once and we are back to normal in time for… Continue reading Holding On to Good Ideas . . .

Last week as I was trying to keep everything straight, I made a "To Do" list.  I was reminded of an article my mom shared with me about a year ago about a woman who started concentrating on "To Be" lists instead of "To Do" lists.  The gist of the article was about living in… Continue reading A “To Be” List

Anchor charts have been on my mind lately.  I believe they can be a powerful tool in Workshop, yet I think I haven't quite tapped into their power.  Therefore,  I've been considering these questions: How should anchor charts be created? What makes anchor charts most useful to students? Do anchor charts lift the level of… Continue reading Anchor Charts