As the end of the year dwindles down, I’m witnessing and experiencing the typical May “chaos.” Students are full of renewed, and perhaps irritating, energy. Teachers are lacking renewed energy, and in fact are short on energy, patience, and tolerance. Last May, I wrote about rethinking the end-of year countdown. My reflections in that post … [Read more…]
At the beginning of my Thursday morning run, I was greeted by a fellow early-bird-exerciser. Jackie paused her walk briefly to say, “Hey, I read that article in the paper about you being the ‘Reading Queen.’ What a great article. You know, when I was in 3rd grade, I remember very distinctly a nun, Sister … [Read more…]
Last week, I wrote about my presentation to our school board which centered around my role as our FMCSD district literacy coach, the Science of Reading, the adoption of a high quality literacy curriculum, and how instructional coaching is a critical piece of implementation. Part of what I was speaking to was that I am … [Read more…]
On Monday night of this past week, I had the opportunity to present to the FMCSD School Board. This is a five-minute slot on the board agenda given to our coaching staff each month. In other words, all eight instructional coaches get the chance to present to the board once throughout the year. Monday night … [Read more…]
We (I use this pronoun loosely) have made significant gains as an educational society in shedding light on the power of the Science of Reading/a structured literacy approach. Phenomenal resources like The Reading League, Amplify Science of Reading the Podcast, the International Dyslexia Association, and reporting from journalist Emily Hanford and author Natalie Wexler have … [Read more…]
A Few Disruptions My Sunday routine has been a bit disrupted today. Where I normally spend my Sunday morning in a chair by the woodstove in our porch chipping away at the weekly blog, this morning I was instead enjoying coffee and danishes with my sisters at my kitchen counter (great disruption, I must say!). … [Read more…]
When Sky and her mom walked into my classroom four years ago for Open House night to launch the 2017-2018 school year, I was taken aback when Sky (a brand new 6th grade student whom I was meeting for the first time) looked right at me, stomped her foot, and said, “I hate reading.” The … [Read more…]
Student Teaching Experience I completed my student teaching in San Antonio, Texas in 1996. I had the immense fortune of having Jane Zarate and Margaret Reynolds as my supervising teachers in my first placement in a fifth grade classroom. Jane and Margaret were pioneers – they transformed their traditional separate classrooms into one, joint classroom, … [Read more…]
Two weeks ago, I wrote about Celebrations, Joy, and Delights; one week ago, I wrote about the Letdown. Today, I find myself reflecting on this past week with an equal mixture of both celebrations and letdowns. In other words, hills and valleys. There continues to be much to celebrate in Fort Madison Community School District. … [Read more…]
This past week, I was able to be part of a two-day training presented by Iowa’s very own Four Oaks that centered around Restorative Practices, primarily with the use of circles. The practice of using circles is explained by the International Institute of Restorative Practices (IIRP) as follows: “A circle is a versatile restorative practice … [Read more…]