I have been thrilled with my connections within the blogosphere this year but particularly this week. It seems that whenever I have a thought or question, someone is there with me, not necessarily with answers but with shared experience, suggestions and personal insights. It is certainly the connections which bring me back to my feedreader [...]
Entries from January 2008
January 28, 2008
Literature Circles for Non-fiction
I had a wonderful day planning today. I love planning. I thought I’d do a little surfing to see what is available online to assist with my planning. I have been an online thinker and an avid feed reader but I haven’t used many online educational planning resources. I’ve never yet [...]
January 27, 2008
“Not just boring stories”: Reconsidering the gender gap for boys
Donna Lester Taylor writes in the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy Jan 2005 about the current gap seen between the achievement of boys and that of girls in the area of literacy. The brief synopsis of the current trends asks some of the key questions about how literacy is defined and whether or not [...]
January 27, 2008
“If they don’t read much, how they ever gonna get good?”
Pat Cunningham quotes Allington to name her article on struggling readers. The main suggestions in this particular article from the International Reading Association 2005, are for teachers to – read aloud and read aloud all kinds of materials as encouragement for student reading, make sure magazines (news and popular) are available for choice reading in [...]
January 27, 2008
New Post – New Direction
I have been sent on a new research agenda by my classroom experiences and my school division’s professional development initiatives. When I started my Master’s work around three years ago, one of my interests was boys and literacy. I didn’t get to do the research in that direction because the interest I had [...]
January 18, 2008
Boys and school
My parents came for dinner and brought with them an article in McLean’s in which a psychologist was interviewed about boys and schools. The article was affirming and challenging for me. It talked about the great differences between the learning styles of boys and those of girls. These differences are not surprising but still form [...]
January 15, 2008
Thinking out loud
I have taken quite the break over here at What Counts. It’s been a season of transitions and the changes haven’t always been easy. Taking the theory of my coursework and apply it into the classroom, it’s my first year teaching all over again. Not entirely but it has strong similarities. I’ve been walking the [...]
