Joan Miller's Page

So,I miss my innovation! I miss my technology! I miss my creativity! I miss my

time teaching 21st century learning skills! Let me explain, I love innovation.

I became a teacher because I love to learn. Granted, I like kids too but really

I love adding to my knowledge base and I wanted to be able to pass this love

on. I love knowing that I teach innovation and ways of…

We live in a time of high-stakes testing.  I am not one to debate the validity of these tests or the appropriateness of them.  I am an idealist in how I approach my day to day life in the classroom but I remain a realist.  I understand that I must prepare my students for them and I must begin to look towards what data they provide to help me plan for instruction.

So, I began the year surrounded by data.  As I continued to dig deeper, it became clear that my state identified…

So, today I begin my blogging life.  To be clear, I'm not new to blogging.  I've been reading blogs for years, searching them for answers or info- Even, assigning them to students about literature.  I have loved, laughed and learned from all of these over the years but I continued to resist creating my very own blog about my experiences and reflections as a middle school language arts teacher.

I've resisted for so many years for a few reasons.   First- I told myself I wasn't…