Planning, Plotting, Thinking

My division has this very cool professional development going on in which we choose a topic within a set agenda to research ourselves based on our own burning question.  I think my question began as “Who are boys in the 21st Century and how do we meet their needs as literacy learners?”  Grand intentions.
I’ve done [...]

Inspiring Reading

Inspiring, Motivating, Engaging…I am looking at what the research says about getting children hooked on reading. I read three short pieces, two articles and one book chapter. Each of them saying remarkably, or perhaps not, similar things. So what gives, what makes a child want to read?
1) a literate environment – [...]

Gender disadvantage?

I think it is pretty safe to say in the majority of my classrooms, girls have behaved more responsibly than boys have. They have completed more work and read more books. I have assumed these attributes would make them successful learners and participants in further learning experiences and have wondered how to [...]

Passion Quilt

In clown mode…
Originally uploaded by carf
Scott McLeod passed along this meme and I thought I’d participate. It was started out at Around the Corner.
I chose this photo from Creative Commons in Flickr. I believe learning should be fun, create the opportunity to wonder and allow for self expression. I thought [...]

100 Miles

Since I finished my Master’s work, I have had the chance to read for fun!  What a novelty!  I love a good read and it seems that I’m not that discerning as to quality.  I like a page turner such as One for the Money and a Giller winner such as Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures.  [...]

Being Excellent

Striving for excellence is a personal pastime. Doug highlighted the International Reading Association’s position statement on excellent reading teachers today. I was challenged to look at my own teaching and compare it to the list they give as critical for excellent reading teaching.
Looking at the criteria, I reflect on my strengths and weaknesses. [...]