You never Take a Break from Learning!

Recently my daughter hopped in the car and said "Mommy, I am so excited we don't have to bring anything to school tomorrow because we aren't going to be doing any learning!" Well, it was the day before winter break and I guess you can imagine the expression that came upon my face as I quickly responded, " You never take a break from learning!" Of course, my husband, being his little girl's saving grace, tried to recover for her and said calm down "teaching mommy", she means formal learning. Although his response helped me to exhale and agree it also still disturbed me that my daughter spoke of learning as an isolated occurrence in her life that only happens during the school day. With this in mind, I began to explain to her that learning occurs everyday and in all her experiences. Then I began thinking, is the learning in school really so far removed from what children experience in their daily lives? If so, we as educators need to reevaluate our practices to be sure that our children can see the connection to what they are learning in school and how it relates to their daily lives. Only then will we, as teachers be able to help students to see that what they are learning does matter and everyday you are constantly learning, no matter where you are. Life is learning and just like you can't take a break from life, you should never take a break from learning!

To keep learning ongoing and fun during the holidays, check out this helpful site that offers great ideas to make learning both fun and relative!

Rescuing Emergent Readers

Emergent Readers need explicit instruction of basic letter sound principles. They also benefit most from dictation lessons that allows them to hear the letter sounds and record each sound separately to see how a combination of letters makes up a word. Without these basic fundamental strategies, emergent readers may often struggle to get the gist of simple Consonant, Vowel, Consonant (CVC) words that they maybe able to segment the sounds and read. The use of Elkonin boxes is an effective tool that allows students to segment and record the CVC words. They allow for both visual and tactile instructional strategies during guided writing for your emergent readers. Through the use of Elkonin Boxes, students will become adept in demonstrating letter-sound relationships and gradually become proficient readers and writers. To read more about Elkonin Boxes follow the link. Elkonin Boxes Research

Elkonin Boxes Video

Video on Teaching Phonemic Awareness

Rescuing Emergent Readers

Emergent Readers need explicit instruction of basic letter sound principles. They also benefit most from dictation lessons that allows them to hear the letter sounds and record each sound separately to see how a combination of letters makes up a word. Without these basic fundamental strategies, emergent readers may often struggle to get the gist of simple Consonant, Vowel, Consonant (CVC) words that they maybe able to segment the sounds and read. The use of Elkonin boxes is an effective tool that allows students to segment and record the CVC words. They allow for both visual and tactile instructional strategies during guided writing for your emergent readers. Through the use of Elkonin Boxes, students will become adept in demonstrating letter-sound relationships and gradually become proficient readers and writers. To read more about Elkonin Boxes follow the link.Elkonin Boxes Research

Collaboration Breeds Success!

Teaching in today's classrooms poses increasing challenges to keep students engaged. Student engagement is not a small task to say the least. Yet, we know that when students are interested, motivated and captivated by the delivery of instruction, learning occurs. As teachers work hard to deliver meaningful instruction, even the most seasoned educator can become depleted of ideas and strategies as they plan lessons. Therefore, the need for collaboration in education is essential to best serve students. Consequently, collaboration is often approached with a bit of skepticism in the realm education, due to the isolated nature of teaching that has occurred for so long.

Coaching allows for the much needed proximity and interactive conversations that breeds the collaborative connections that will benefit both educators and students alike. When students see positive interactions among educators, they see first hand how important it is to be able to work effectively in a school community for a common purpose. Through collaboration, administrators, coaches and teachers are fundamentally partners working to assist students to become successful. Moreover the learning community demonstrates a unified commitment to student SUCCESS!

Ways to build and enhance a collaborative school community: 

• Identify a purpose for collaborating: Professional Learning Communities are great vehicles to navigate towards a common goal.
• Practice leads to Promotion: The more you collaborate as a professional, you can better promote and demonstrate effective collaboration skills in your classroom. 
• Time: Designated time is critical to collaboration success. The lack of time and consistency can quickly diffuse agency. 
• Understanding of how to effectively collaborate: Lack of  understanding of the "how" and "why" is the root cause of ineffective collaboration. Establishing group norms helps each member to remain focused on the purpose and the plans.
• Freedom to explore and express various points of view: It is important to value everyone's point of view. An appreciation for diversity can lead to rich learning experiences.
• Communication is key: Active listening is a key component to effective communication when collaborating. Everyone should have a voice in discussion. EVERYONE has something to bring to the table!

School is in! Yes, it seems that the summer zoomed by and now we hear the pitter, patter, and echoing chatter of the children in the hallways. It's easy to get lost amidst the chaos of the back to school routine. So here are a few pointers to ease your way back into the school.

• Don't take on too much too soon. Plan ahead by logging in dates for meetings and upcoming events. Planning ahead helps you to not over-plan as well.
• Arrive on time to work and scheduled events. This will help you to not feel rushed and hurried, which can essentially alleviate a lot of stress.
• Make lesson planning fun and interesting by planning in places other than work. Take advantage of the final days of summer by planning in the park or have an alfresco dinning experience with a teacher friend to plan. Sometimes being in a different place and space can open up a world of possibility for creativity. 

Hopefully this advice is helpful to help you to ease back into the routine of school. Remember have a positive attitude because it gives you power over your circumstances! Welcome Back!!!

Summer Reading...More than a Kid Thing!

Summer is in full swing and hopefully as I pen this post most of you are reading or have plans to read throughout the summer. As educators, time off is cherished time to relax and not feel compelled to meet deadlines or due dates; yet, just like our students if we loose sight of our vision our focus will undoubtedly be clouded when our work resumes. In essence, if we don't "practice what we preach" we are not modeling great reading habits for our children and/or students. As you might have guessed, reading is one of my favorite past times so it's easy for me to be a cheerleader of consistent reading, but in reality I think we are all fans of reading because it is a life skill, but we don't want to be forced to read what others want us to. Inevitably, CHOICE is a huge motivating factor for everyone. Therefore, find interesting items that will keep you reading throughout the summer. After-all we can't promote what we don't do ourselves! :-)

Getting Ready for the Test!

We have reached that time of year again. It's the time of year that students are urged to demonstrate how much they have learned within the school year on 1 high stakes test! Undoubtedly, it can be a stressful time for both students and teachers. Certainly 1 test cannot illustrate how much progress your students have accomplished the entire school year. Yet; as we approach this inevitable time of year, knowing that high stakes testing will probably be around for a while, we have to ask ourselves, how can we prepare our students and hinder some of the anxiety that comes along with testing? We must remember: "Our anxiety comes from wanting to control what the future holds. Preparation begins at the beginning of the school year. Teaching students the critical skills that they need to conquer both the test and the anxieties that may come along with it begins long before time for the TEST. Certainly we are not in control of the future, but starting with the "end in mind" leads us to prepare for how we would like to end our school year! Consider sharing the following test taking advice to help your students SCORE on the TEST!

Successful test taking avoids carelessness. Remember you are demonstrating your ability to understand course material or perform certain tasks. Analyze your previous tests and tasks that have been provided by your teachers. Take into to account that each test prepares you for the next.

Consider things that you need beforehand to avoid panic when preparing for tests or the task at hand. This avoids anxiety and stress. Keep a good attitude and remind yourself that you will do your best.

Orient yourself with the objectives of the test to eliminate obvious incorrect answers.

Read and Review if you have time. Resist the urge to rush to complete your exams. Check to make sure that you have answered all the questions, and have not made any errors or mis-marked any questions.

Examine your tests and make sure you have evaluated it in its entirety before completion and essentially all of your efforts will be rewarded!

Hopefully, your students will SCORE successfully if they consider all of the following steps!

Dig Deeper when Reading and Responding to Text

Helping students to think deeper about what they are reading can be a laborious task when students lack the necessary tools needed to share their thinking. By incorporating the use of thinking stems, students will have the tools to dig deeper and really ponder the books they are reading as well as give thorough written responses about their connections while reading. Encouraging the use of thinking stems can boost your students' use of reading skills and strategies such as visualizing, inferring, questioning, and synthesizing, among many others. As students continue to use thinking stems, they will gradually become critical thinkers, readers, and writers! Try using these thinking stems and maybe even creating a thinking stems rubric to assess their path to becoming thoughtful readers! 

Resolve to Read!

Each new year brings on new promises and new commitments. Many of those promises feel forced and contrived to join the said "band-wagon" and make resolutions. Yet, how many of those resolutions involve reading? If you really ponder that notion, you will come to the conclusion that most if not all involve reading. So...why not just Resolve to Read even more in 2016?

The average person reads an estimate of 1000 words a day. We encounter words in a variety of modes on a daily basis. From text on television to the text messages we send and receive on our phones, everyday we encounter words. In fact, we are constantly striving to become a literate nation; consequently, we lack a literate focus. Resolving to Read in 2016 with a literate focus can actually enable you to address many of the resolutions that you may have possibly set forth for the New Year. In order to truly accomplish the goals that you have established, work hard to grasp a greater understanding of the goal by learning as much information that you can about it. In essence, start with the end in mind and allow your reading life to provide you with the necessary steps to accomplish your goals!