Help I have a serious problem!

I am a hoarder of information! I love learning and collecting information. My primary passion is word work and if I could be a full time wordsmith I think I might be in heaven. I am constantly hearing phrases and I want to remember them. I see phrases and I want to lift them.  I read phrases and I want to highlight them.  My problem is I have ideas in way too many places.  I have tried so many ideas: binders, notebooks, my phone, my iPad, Evernote, sticky notes and combination of all of these or just a few together.  I have a compulsion with paper copies. I LOVE being able to reread articles, write on them and highlight. I like to know that I JUST have them to reread them.  Choice Literacy is like a piece of heaven every Saturday morning -what an amazing wealth of information.  I have my favorites bookmarked on that site and I still feel the need to print. 

Then add twitter to my list......oh my that is like pushing me over the edge.  I must have 100 tweets that I have forwarded to myself and I am pretty sure I have not looked back at them again.  I "favorite" 1000 tweets and totally am overwhelmed with that list too.

Saturday I attended Dublin Literacy Conference and was immersed with two of my favorite things:  hugs and information.  I saw several friends who wanted to give me a hug, check on Marcus and let me know they were praying for our family.  As far as information, I was on overload.  I actually had my phone, iPad and WNB out on my lap.  Why do I confuse myself?  I came home ready to reread my notes and then life got in the way and finally tonight I had that chance to lift some ideas.  I am seriously getting to the point that I can't remember everything, so I start my new thinking for nonfiction and research. Visualize me with 4 professional books,  two 3 ring notebooks, my writer's notebook, my iPad open to notes, and my laptop to favorite bookmark websites.  Believe me I am not drowning, just basking in amazing resources that I am thrilled to have at my fingertips.

Guest Blog: Coming Full Circle

One of the best parts of being part of the blogging and twitter community are the conversations that I have had after doing a presentation in addition to the friendships that I have made.  My colleague, Melanie, teaches 5th grade in my district and has her own blog: Organized Inspirations. After our conversation at the Dublin Lit Conference, I asked her if she would be interested in writing a guest post.  Luckily for me she took me up on my offer.  Thanks Melanie for sharing your thinking! 

I had the privilege of attending the Dublin Literacy Conference a couple of months ago. I was excited to attend due to the many great authors presenting this year. As I sat in each session, I took many notes, feeling energized and grateful to be able to hear such great presenters talk of subjects about which they (and I) am so passionate: Reading and Writing.

As I sat in the Keynote session audience at the start of the day, presented by Donalyn Miller (the wonderful author of The Book Whisperer), I thought about myself as a reading teacher. I became quiet and pensive during her talk. I found myself reflecting, planning, and evaluating my teaching life. Some questions surfaced:

*What am I doing on a daily basis to help kids love to read?

*What behaviors do I need to change in order to guide students to increase their desire to read and write for a variety of purposes?

*What messages do I send every day to my students in talking about books, sharing about life experiences, and coaching them in their own reading and writing lives? Do I even do that enough?

My priority and vision for reading and writing workshop became a bit more clear that day. I will continue to function in much the same way. I will continue to apply workshop elements within daily lessons. But the power to support children in loving to read and write even more lies in a simple principle:  Make every day about promoting the love of literature, and in honoring and supporting growth in as many ways as possible.

Being able to honor reading meaningfully in many different ways is imperative for kids. We cannot forget this critical piece to the Reading workshop. Allowing kids to have lots of chances to be thoughtful about reading and about books is so key toward helping them gain momentum in learning about themselves as readers.

When we nurture this quality in our students, we are effectively putting the responsibility of "meaning making" back on the child, using the strategies and skills we have taught them along the way.

Some days, we don't know the true impact of our work with students. But on days when my kids:

exclaim when it's time to read,

groan when it's time to stop,

beg for more reading time,

share their love of books,

become excited to recommend titles,

and embrace being a total "book nerd,"

Then I know that even in the midst of all of the changes in education today, kids are still getting the right message. On these days, I can hardly contain my joy.

Dublin Literature Conference

It's so much fun to spend Saturday learning and talking about literacy.  To start the day rocking out with Pete the Cat "I love my white shoes" and then listening to Donalyn Miller's Keynote was amazing. I took so many notes that when I printed them off this morning from my iPad and started highlighting the key ideas-everything was highlighted.  We call that HH in my classroom, and the students know that is not a good thing because not everything can be important but it was!!  Here are a few big ideas that I am reflecting on this morning.
*reading teacher = a teacher who reads and a reader who teaches
*we need to challenge our students more as readers
*reading is the inhale and writing is the exhale
*consider students' seating placement based on their genres that they read

My first session was listening to Ruth Ayres who blogs at Two Writing Teachers. I appreciated her opening and discussing how we need to anchor our teaching to our strong beliefs.  "Every student has a story" and the importance of teaching the writer not the writing. Such a powerful message in this time of testing.  Also the importance of celebrating writing throughout the entire process and not just the end product.  Also through following tweets (#dublit12), I like the analogy of the importance of a class meeting area similar to a coach calling his players to a huddle. 


Mr. Mark and I presented in the second session about the idea of digital toolbox and how it is important for the teacher to learn the new tools and allow students choice in choosing their tool. I talked about how I integrate Wonderopolis throughout all content areas and how powerful wonder homework can be by leaving a strong comment. Finally discussing the idea of flip classroom and how to extend the school day with wikis and downloading videos so the students are ready to come in the next day to discuss the video. 


Finally my last session, I listened to Donalyn Miller talk about books, and I don't mean "these are some great books" - I mean powerful book commercials that hooked me and blew up my Amazon account as I ordered them all.  Fun Day!!

Confessions on Digital Learning Day

I am trying to be more involved in cross posting with my colleagues on blogging.  I have had such success with 10 for 10 Pictures Books, Poetry Friday, and currently I have committed to One Little Word (OLW) for the year.  These communities have introduced me to many new bloggers and connected me with my friends who already blog.  I was very excited to read  Kevin's post about Digital Learning Day. If truth be known,  every time I read Kevin's post about how he incorporate digital tools into his classroom I am constantly amazed.  I have always enjoyed his comics and also how he uses gaming in his classroom.

I am not going to focus on one tool today - I am going to focus on the concept of a digital tool box.  As Mark and I prepare for the Dublin Literacy Conference Feb. 18, we were discussing our presentation.  For the past two years my class has always created a digital piece on their iPods and  all the students always used the same app.  I did this for several reasons most of all because it is easier to teach one new app and also the students could help each other with problems.  And to be totally honest it was easier for me to learn one new app and help 23 students with only one app. So with my confession out of the box,

Mark and I introduced the students to a digital tool box for their persuasive writing.  The tool box included: Sonic Pic, Story Kit, iMovie, Green screen, and Keynote. The students are so excited to choose their tool and be able to create on their iPod, our new iPad, and some are working on our lap tops.  It was a jump of faith to allow choice in the tools, but I would not trade my decision for anything   I am so proud of their work - check back later for updates or come see us at the Dubln Lit. Conference.

Want to jump with me?

Dublin LIterature Conference 2011

I look forward to the Dublin Literature Conference every year.  This year was another wonderful opportunity for learning as I sat and listened to Kelly Gallagher and his opening keynote speech.  Here are some BIG ideas that I took away from his talk.


   *fill classrooms with a rich literature collection
   *don't let go of independent reading time in our classrooms
   *find the SWEET SPOT of education-not too heavy and not too light
   *importance of building "framework" around the lessons we teach
   *if we teach students to read and write well, then they will do well on state tests


Honestly that last point was exactly what I needed to hear as I am struggling with how to integrate testing into my workshop time.


This year I took the plunge again and presented with Mr. Mark, our TST, and I have to admit it was fun to present again.  Our focus was on Integrating iPods into the classroom. I hope our bigger message was about how important it is to consider using any technology tools in the classroom.  Here is our opening video that Mark created enjoy watching it!

If you are interested in some of the apps that I mentioned during the presentation, here are some of the links for you.  Feel free to leave me a comment if you have any questions. 

Math Apps
Word Study Apps
Reading Apps
Science Apps
evernote and higher level thinking:  Wonderopolis

I ended my day listening to Troy Hick's discuss how to integrate technology into the classroom.  This was a full circle moment for me because of reading his book The Digital Writing Workshop. I took the plunge into technology.  I hung on to every word and have so many new ideas to process that I will be coming back to my notes many times I am sure.  Here is proof that I got to meet him.  Thanks Franki for having your camera!

He was autographing my book!

Thinking Towards 2011

As I begin to reflect on having iPods in my classroom this year, I believe we have made many significant gains. I told my teaching partner, Sarah, I believe the iPods are another tool just like their pencil. I am going to continue to focus on three goals: creativity, collaboration and communication with the iPods.Those 3 C's have really guided my thinking.  As I look ahead to 2011, I am always thinking about how can I continue to focus on the 3 C's as well as allow my students to become more involved with their iPods. Here are some of the BIG ideas for the upcoming year.  


First, I am going to have the students choose their favorite app and write about how they use the app in their learning. Also they will include one fun fact.  I am going to start a monthly feature on the blog in which the top two apps will be reviewed by the students. I am excited to learn about the apps from their perspectives. Also a few students have gone to the App Store and have made suggestions for different apps as well as songs they would like added to their iPods. Right now they are asking me to add some new songs that sing in their Spanish class which I plan on doing during the holidays.


Second I am going to have the students create another digital story but this time using an app called Storyrobe which is free.  This app allows the students to create a mobile digital story that includes images (both internet and photos that the students can take). This will be a new challenge because our iPods don't have a camera, so I am going to have them bring in photos and import them into their iPhoto Library on their iPod.  The students will be able to voice record their story which will be new because we have not recorded on their iPods yet.  Finally they will email their story to me and we will share them with the class as well as post them on our class web page so the parents can view them. 


Next along with a lot of support from Mark, our TST,  I am going to learn about google docs so that I can begin to explore digital learning beyond the classroom. I plan on implementing this through my Life Science unit that I will be starting in February.  The focus is on comparing ecosystems, identify how organisms change and are affected by the change, finally the transfer of energy in food chains and food webs. If you have any additional links, picture books  (thanks Karen @ Literate Lives) or ideas on this topic please leave me a comment.


Lastly Mark and I will be preparing to present at the Dublin Lit Conference on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011 at Dublin Coffman High School. This year professional speakers include Kelly Gallagher, Patrick Allen, Troy Hicks,and Christian Long.  Children's authors include Brian Pinkney, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Wendy Mass and Loren Long.  Here is the link for the brochure.  


My school goes through Dec. 22 then I will be on holiday break through the New Year. I am going to enjoy having my family home for the holidays and take a blogging break until after the New Year. One of the things I am thankful for is the opportunity to be on this journey in the blogging world.  Thanks for reading and coming along with me on this adventure.  Best wishes for a wonderful holiday season and an amazing New Year.  See you in 2011.