Steep Learning Curve Ahead

Wow! I started in Castleberry ISD fourteen days ago. I came to the district feeling confident because I used a lot of the same curricular resources and data management programs. I still feel pretty good about that. What I feel inadequate about is where I am technology wise.

I guess I've been hiding in a rock somewhere. I've heard of people using social media and a variety of technology to communicate and learn, but I hadn't explored any of that at all. Well, guess what? I have no choice now. Right away, I joined my colleagues in a Digital Leadership academy. At the end of my first day there, I had Tweeted, blogged, and build a Weebly (webpage) for the first time!

I'm thankful that I have the chance to learn how to do all of this in context so that it is meaningful for my role and my content area. The teachers of the group have been great in modeling a program or strategy, then giving us time to practice immediately with people all around the room who can help.

So, be nice to me while I step out and explore and experiment. And just watch me get better!

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Monitoring without Coaching is a Culture Killer

Picture this... 10:07 am - John Monitor notices smoke in the forest behind his house. 10:10 am - John walks into the forest and sees fire, about 5 feet long and 3 feet wide. He snaps a picture on his phone and goes back inside. 10:20 am - John goes back into the forest and sees the fire, which has gotten a little bit larger and snaps another picture of it. He even tells the fire, "You are getting bigger. You shouldn't do that." Then he goes back inside. 10:45 am - John goes back to the fire and sees that it's about 15 feet by 5 feet. In awe, he uses his phone to take a video and tells the fire once again how big it is and that it really needs to snuff itself out. 11:00 am - The fire is in John's backyard. John records the fire, providing of a narrative of what is happening and why it should stop spreading. Now Consider This ... This scenario reminds me of what happens when campus and district leaders spend so much time monitoring that very lit...

Teaching the Writer vs Teaching the Composition

I have always felt very strongly about teaching students skills that they will actually use in the real world and helping them to develop into a wonderfully well-rounded person. Now that I'm a mom of a two year old, my feelings about that have intensified. In teaching young students, my number one goal is creating a literate, thinking person; one who can read and write for a variety of purposes, including enjoyment. Somehow, in our endeavors to reach certain state and national standards we have lost sight of that. Although we have testing standards we have to reach, that must remain the secondary goal for us as we plan instruction. We must first foster a love for reading and writing and develop deep comprehension and thinking in each. After that is established, we can show our students to how the concepts and strategies we have taught them will translate into a test. We can teach them the "test genre", but only after we have established a solid fou...

Inquiry, Inquiry, Everywhere!

This summer, a group of 3rd - 8th grade teachers joined me to learn about an inquiry approach to Genre Study as outlined by my favorite people.... Fountas and Pinnell!! Using this strategy, students discover the elements of a particular genre instead of the teacher telling them. This makes the learning more meaningful and longer-lasting. Here is a basic rundown of the process teachers take to guide students through the inquiry process in genre study: The teacher collects many different texts within a certain genre. For example, if the students are exploring historical fiction, the teacher will find many different historical fiction books or texts - easy, hard, simple language, complex language, different authors and styles, different topics. Students are immersed in the genre. Throughout the unit, the teacher reads aloud different historical fiction and students read such books during independent and partner books. Students then study to iden...

Reflections by Estillette

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