March 2013 Blog Posts (45)

I had a very difficult time getting people to participate in my wiki discussion, but I understand that most of that is my own fault in not getting it up and running quickly enough.  Then I tried to get a discussion going with some colleagues on a project we are currently doing at our school, but that didn't work so well either.  So, according to the wiki rubric #2 I think we would receive a 0 out of 3 for online engagement with the project and a o out of 4 for reflection and evaluation. …

As many of us have seen, the predominant literature in many educational publications recently has been about the Common Core, and most specifically, around ELA and non- fiction texts.  As I prepare to enter my 20^th year in education, I am astounded by the groups which continue to promote the “pendulum effect” for our teachers.  Those would be the extremists that cry, “All reading in the Common Core era must be non-fiction, no more fictional texts”. 

I wonder if some of us…

Book Recommendations

Please choose 2 books that you have recently read to recommend to your fellow classmates.

Include the Title of the Book, Author, Call #, number of pages, AR Level, AR Points and your name.

You should also copy and paste a picture of the book.

Write a Summary of the book and why your are recommending it.

Discuss illustrations which represent a significant scene or idea from the book reading.

Point out interesting or important…

Giving students choices promote feelings of control, purpose, and competence and are more motivating than choices that do not. The students are interested in learning the knowledge and skills that are being offered. Student have power, freedom, and fun. Choices allow students to develop and find success in the real world, as they have practice how to make intelligent decisions.  Students need teachers to value them as individuals who are capable this will make them more likely to complete…

Kathryn Lewter and I worked together on this project.  She teaches 4th grade and I teach 1st.  It worked well for both classes.  You can view it at my Wikispace at:  Challenge 10 -go to Projects and then Pages for directions or  challenge%2010.docx.