So…I’m Back, I Guess

After a semi-prolific summer of blogging, I just stopped in September.   My list of excusy-sounding reasons is enormous, spanning the gamut of excusedom, but really I was sort of in a blog-funk.  I was ignoring my feed, and simply didn’t feel like the bloggerly life was calling to me anymore. 
Then a couple of weeks ago, [...]

Loosening Up about the MEAP

We are into our second week of school, and the hysteria over the local high-stakes testing–the MEAP–is cranking up at its usual pace.  This year, in a quick-and-dirty effort to improve writing scores, our higher ups have produced (drum roll please) some paperwork for us to fill out!  At the end of each week, each [...]

Feeling Fully Serviced

Well, I’m still functioning (thank you lizard brain!) after four six-hour PD days.  I could whine more about this, but my last post was more than sufficient.  So I think I’ll try to tease a few of the pieces that I think may be useful out of my memory.
The 1/2 day math session consisted of [...]

Transparency Can Be Good For You–Or Me

Caution:  Brain Dump Ahead
Today at RCWP’s Tech Matters I presented myself as a case study on the theme of collaboration. Aside from sharing a few tools I use to stay connected/networked, like Classroom 2.0 and my Google Reader, I told two stories about my collaborative efforts. One is a story of success [...]

The 999th Reason I Love RCWP

I’m spending this week at Red Cedar Writing Project’s Tech Matters, and I love these people. I am crammed in a tiny room with 20 people, 20 laptops, and a smartboard all day for four days, which sounds like a terrible way to spend a week in August before school starts. Not so. [...]

Summer Goals Round-Up

This summer I let my introverted side have free reign, and even my professional development was done mostly in isolation.  While I wouldn’t embrace this approach long-term, it was a good choice for me coming off a year in which I really struggled with issues of collaboration at work.  Time and distance have helped me [...]

So I Bought a Video Game

This event was met with mild interest by my nine-year-old niece until she realized it didn’t come with a corresponding Wii.  I’ve read about the value of computery games, and I know that the masses of DS-toting fifth graders who learn in my classroom make gaming a part of their daily lives.  So after a [...]

Summer Goal Update Part 1

I was on a blogging hot-streak, then sort of stumbled.  But the work toward other summer goals continued…
I just finished Mr. Chickee’s Messy Mission by Christopher Paul Curtis.  I met Mr. Curtis last fall and also had a chance to hear him read an excerpt from his most recent novel Elijah of Buxton.  I was [...]

By Golly, I Like It!

Today I read The Gollywhopper Games by Jody Feldman.  What a cool book!  Very reminiscent of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (which the author credits as an inspiration in her acknowledgements), this is the story of a boy who makes it into an elite sort of competition run by a toy manufacturer.  The characters are [...]

Learning to Swim

I am in the midst of two weeks of swim lessons with the niece and neph. The neph and I do Aquatots, then watch the niece, Allison, in her much higher-level class. At 9, she loves to swim and shows confidence and grace in the water.
So I was slightly aghast when she begged not to [...]