On Saturday, I was on a mission. I was bound and determined to trim the shrubs that adorn the front of our house. This is an annual task, one that was skipped last year, and I was committed to making sure that didn’t happen again. I approached the job with little to no plan. I … [Read more…]
100% This post was 100% inspired by the three literacy leaders I affectionately call “The Trifecta,” Stacy Hurst, Lindsay Kemeny, and Donell Pons, hosts of Reading Horizons’ Literacy Talks podcast. In Episode 6 of Season 3, Reading: The Numbers Help Tell the Stories, The Trifecta focuses on the irony of how many numbers are involved … [Read more…]
The African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child,” rings true each and every day. In fact, I would add, it takes a village to accomplish many, many tasks of worth. There are times when a crazy thought crosses my mind: “Maybe I should teach preschool, kindergarten or first grade.” This is a … [Read more…]
The Truth About Reading The truth about reading is that we have been failing to teach kids how to read for years. According to The Truth About Reading website, “Illiteracy and sub-literacy in America (and around the world) is a growing issue. Awareness is important, but so is action.” Action is happening in the state … [Read more…]
Change is all the things: tough, inevitable, great, unnecessary at times, and hard to sustain. Change is both meaningful and worthwhile when it makes something better. Two quotes from George Couros ring loud and true here: Bill and I are in the throes of planning for a house remodel. This remodel was supposed to be … [Read more…]
It takes time. This a phrase uttered in multiple educational arenas when talking about student proficiency. It takes time. I have been reminded of this over and over again in my work as a teacher and as an instructional coach. Most recently, I have been reminded of this with three exceptional learning opportunities: 1) Episode … [Read more…]
In February of 2022, I wrote about staying grounded. Part of that post was dedicated to staying grounded in the classroom. A year later, to the day, I find myself writing about the very same topic. Last week, I was asked to serve as a substitute teacher on four different days: I was able to … [Read more…]
Last week, I indicated that the education world continues to present many challenges: “Our students are not the same students we had before 2020. They are displaying more frequent challenging behaviors. Despite this, we have educators at FMCSD (and everywhere!) who are working incredibly hard to meet the needs of our students.” As I continue … [Read more…]
I wrote about leaning into routines last week. At the risk of sounding contradictory, I’ve been thinking about change a lot this week. George Couros has inspired much of my thinking around change and has been the impetus for my writing past posts about it. You see, change really is inevitable. Whether we decide to … [Read more…]
The past week has been a tough one for sure, as we continue to digest the news of my mom’s cancer diagnosis. As I wrote last week, we don’t know what this journey is going to look like. We were reminded of that very fact on Tuesday when Mom was admitted to the University of … [Read more…]