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Showing posts from September, 2014

Please, let them (us) talk!

I spent Friday at the local intermediate school district, meeting with other teacher-leaders trained in Reading Apprenticeship. I long for these days of quality professional development that isn't scripted, is flexible, and meets my needs. The highlight of the day: getting to talk to other teachers . The power of talk isn't a revolutionary idea. Talk, just like writing, is used for a variety of purposes: to communicate, express, reflect, defend, think, etc. But more often than not, I feel as if academic and collegial conversations are looked down upon in the field. "Talk" and "conversation" have taken on negative connotations to others in a similar way that "test" and "assessment" have with teachers. More often than not, I've found professional development to limit talking. As a result, I imagine that limits the speaking and listening that needs to take place in our classrooms. If we can't trust our teachers to have meaningful

What Parents (and Students) Really Want

I haven't posted in a while because I've been in the process of tidying my classroom, preparing syllabi, and attending Reading Apprenticeship training--and that was before  school started.  It's been an intense few weeks, but I am glad school is back in session. I missed my kids and the work that I get to do every day. The first week of school and open house really reminded me of how important my work--the real work that I get to do--really is. This year's open house was my fastest one yet. An hour and a half flew by as I enjoyed seeing students I've had in the past and met fresh, new faces. I hope it served as testimony to the power of first impressions, as my quick response to every student was as follows: This year, we will read a lot, write a lot, think a lot, discuss a lot, and then repeat. Now that open house and the first week are done, I've noticed that there are some commonalities between student and parent expectations for class. Some parents share