Once Upon A Teacher

When Stenhouse Publishers recently contacted me to be a part of their new blog tour, I was thrilled to find out the authors of the new book were Stacey Shubitz and Ruth Ayres because I am a big fan of their blog! Their ideas are simply yet thought provoking as they focus on what they are thinking about and learning daily as teachers of young writers.

Reading their new book: Day by Day: Refining Writing Workshop Through 180 Days of Reflective Practice did not disappoint. It incorporates their same easy to follow style of writing in a format that makes it possible for teachers to pick up and use those lessons the next day as well as learn to improve on their lessons based on the reflections Stacey and Ruth have made following each lesson.

One of my favorite things about the book is that so many of the lessons include strategies for writing that really double as strategies for differentiation. One such strategy is the Plan Box. Before students even left the gathering area from the lesson for work session, they were to draw a plan box which basically consisted of the steps they needed to complete when returning to their desk. This helped students stay on task and helped students internalize mini goals for that day.

In the book, Ruth and Stacey have this quote from my favorite fiction author, Jodi Picoult:

I think we have stories because they help us understand who we are.

Often I have felt like that is an important, yet challenge goal of Writers' Workshop. Kids may be egocentric but they don't really understand who they are. Ruth and Stacey have a great strategy they call collecting bits of life called ephemera. Ephemera is artifacts from your life. Ticket stubs, doodle notes, drawings, candy wrappers...basically anything that represents who you are as a person. After reading about ephemera I have been noticing the little artifacts of my life. So many things that I have been tossing in the trash could be "seeds" for new writing ideas. I love that strategy!

There are so many things in the book that I have underlined and highlighted to try in a lesson, but you can preview the book online yourself here. This is a must read book for writing teachers that will be a great resource for you to return to year after year as you plan for your young writers.

In planning for my interview with Ruth I wanted to find out what the readers of my blog wanted to know about Writers' Workshop. I solicited questions from a few of my colleagues here at Chets Creek Elementary where I work and our friends at International School of Bangkok. Ruth was kind enough to agree to meet with me "virtually" on skype to answer these questions. (We had a little weather delay as a snow storm scrapped our first meeting time! Sorry for the delay in posting!) I enjoyed chatting with her and getting to know her better as well as hearing her thoughts in person. I hope you will enjoy this as well.

A Conversation with Ruth Ayres from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

Check out the previous stops on the Blog Tour:
A Year of Reading
Raising Readers and Writers
Write Brained Teacher

I never really considered myself a writer. I struggle with it even now, staring at the same sentence for five minutes, erasing what I just wrote and staring into space trying to gather my thoughts. I think it is because of the way I think. I'm not a sequential thinker. If you know me well enough for me to just randomly tell you what I'm thinking you might think I'm ADD. My thoughts and ideas jump all over the place. If I need to follow a thought or idea through I really need to make myself a list and keep myself on task for it to get done. And that is probably why I'm not a fluent writer. I don't write down a plan. I try to muddle though my thoughts in the post and many times end up thinking my writing sounds just like chit chat. I know that may be okay, but the chit chat has to stay on topic!

My life as a writer has had a complete metamorphosis in the last several years. Basically, the only writing I do on paper is a to-do list for the day. It keeps me focused, sitting on my desk next to my elbow. I have tried to replace it with online to-do lists. They just don't cut it for me. Other than that, my writing is done on this blog, on twitter, on my ipad, in email and on facebook.

It has occurred to me that my children probably wouldn't even recognize my handwriting if they had to identify it. That really bothers me, because I treasure the letters I have from my grandmother and father who have since passed away. I would recognize their script anywhere and it brings comfort to me to get out those old letters from time to time. I really need to sit down and take the time to put pen to paper.

What is your Life as a Writer like?

Catch up with other posts in the Fall Blog Challenge.

Photo by hira3 on flickr

There are many small moments with my kids that I wish I could capture and remember for posterity. I don't mean the award ceremonies, dance recitals and birthdays, although those are really special memories. I mean the really small moments. Where they ask questions or share ideas. Or just surprise you with what they do.

Recently, my son looked across the kitchen table at me and said, "Mommy, do people on the other side of the world stand upside down?" I just had to laugh.

His class just finished studying the author, Mem Fox and learning about Australia. They even skyped a teacher from Australia! I remember specifically talking to him about how it was midnight for her and we just finished breakfast. I guess there is still room for misconception in there, but I'm struggling a little with how to make him understand.

Any suggestions?

My latest professional read is Day by Day: Refining Writing Workshop Through 180 Days of Reflective Practice and I'm proud to announce that Ruth Ayres and Stacey Shubitz will be stopping by here on their upcoming blog tour! I can't wait to talk with them! Here are the stops on the tour:

Dec. 6 – A Year of Reading
Dec. 7 – Raising Readers and Writers
Dec. 8 – Write Brained Teacher
Dec. 9 – HERE !

There's still time to drop by Stenhouse Publishers to preview the book online or purchase your own copy. I'd love to have some thoughts and questions of yours to add to my own. Happy Reading! And Writing!

I have always been a good reader. I loved school, enjoyed going to the library and would rather draw or write than play outside most of the time. I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up from the first time I helped a little boy sitting next to me in first grade. But my passion for reading didn't develop until the fifth grade.

In fifth grade I learned about the presidents, was a school patrol and I fell in love with reading. Everyday after lunch we put our metal lunchboxes away and settled in our desks to hear our teacher read aloud from a chapter book. The one that I remember the best is: Where the Red Fern Grows by: Wilson Rawls

I was a ten year old kid living in the suburbs. Having no schema for this story's setting caused me to really use my imagination. I was transported to the Ozarks of Oklahoma, with a little boy saving his money penny by penny to have enough to buy two coonhound pups for companionship and to help him "treeing" raccoons. And even though I had nothing in common with the character in this story, I felt like I was there with him in his tragedies and triumphs. I hung on every word as my teacher read this story aloud. I dreaded the moment she would close the pages for the day. Tears leaked from my eyes as the story ended and I furiously wiped my face before my classmates would notice. I hated the story to end.

This book impacted my life the most because from that day on I always had a book ready to read. I tried to read all the Newbery award winning books, the entire Little House on the Prairie series and any books written by Judy Blume. I chose the specialty of reading/language arts as a teacher and enjoyed transporting my students to that place that my teacher had taken me, surrounded by the magical words of a story. I have grown up to be an avid reader myself. I surround my own kids with books and even though my 14 year old thinks she has outgrown read alouds, I hear her slip into the room while I'm reading to my 7 year olds.

Other bloggers sharing their posts from the fall blog challenge can be found here :)

Photo by DaveKav on flickr

To be completely honest, math was not my best subject in school. I managed through high school because I was a good student and I had a teacher that was willing to give extra time and help me, but in college it was another story. I took College Algebra my first semester and failed it. Waited another year and then failed it again. I finally ended up taking it my last semester of school (for the fourth time) and passing it with a C. Tutoring made only a marginal difference. I finally passed and understood what I was doing when I had a teacher that really taught me the how and why of algebra. She cared about whether I understood the material or not. She made me feel like it was okay to ask questions. I have never been more excited in my life to receive a C!

Today I know that my foundational problem was number sense. I am not able to figure sums in my head with confidence, or estimate reasonably. Directions, distance and elapsed time take me twice as long as others. I am beyond thrilled that I can calculate tip percentages and sale prices on my iphone. (I used to use a piece of paper.) And yet, the holes in my math knowledge continue to haunt me.

My 14 year old daughter struggles with math more than I did at her age. This year, she is taking Algebra for the first time. My life as a mathematician now has become...relearning Algebra! But there is a big difference between then and now.

Now, I'm not alone.

I have sent messages out on twitter to get help from my PLN and immediately had some great resources and tutorials that helped us struggle through her homework assignments. And thankfully, her teacher has agreed to hold morning tutoring sessions this year. This has made a big difference in my daughter's comfort in asking questions and getting help in class. She now spends most of our evening homework time teaching me.

So my life as a mathematician is all about learning right now. So maybe I won't have to use my iphone apps to "figure" everything out all the time anymore.

I wanted to add a class poll to the Fall Blog Challenge for the specific purpose of showing that sometimes...it doesn't need to be difficult. You don't need to struggle over what to post about on your blog. You can simply share the individual results of a question you posed to the class, such as their favorite part of an activity, what they learned in a lesson or their opinion about something. Kids also like to read what their friends wrote or answered.

That being said, I think there is an aspect of this that could be interesting to the edublogger as well. You might be surprised if you ask a question to the folks around you. I know I was.

I used my faculty as my "class" and asked the question: If you could buy any one piece of technology, what would it be? Here's what they told me:
Principal
S.Phillips - ipad

Kindergarten
J.Johnson - macbook

L.Perez - laptop

D.Barber - huge flat screen TV

N.Thomas - laptop

L.Sambito - ipad

D.Cothern - ipad

M.Ellis - ipad

JJ.Brown - ipad

V.Cole - ipad

B.Ciupak - ipad

First Grade

P.Wallace - smartboard w/tablet and ipad

T.Chant - smartboard

T.Ruark - smartboard

R.Roberts - smartboard

M.Mallon - ipad

C.Dillard - ipad for me, smartboard for kids

D.Harbour - electronic reader for me, smartboard for kids

D.Timmons - for tech to work!

Second Grade
R.Bridges - smartboard

H.Correia - laptop

L.Metzger- ipad

K.Morris - ipod docking station

J.Shaffer - headphones

D.Rossignol - headphones

K.Nelson - laptops for students

L.Morgan - iphone4 or ipad

W.Lankford - kindle

C.Walag - ipad

L.Thomson - flip video

C.McLeod - digital DVD recorder

B.Roberts - ipad

Third Grade

L.Patterson - new pool that can convert into a patio with push of a button

L.Hoffmann - smartboard

K.Symons - ipad

R.Timmons - student response system

M.Ross - ipad with camera

A.Russell - digital video camera

C.Constande - ipad

T.Sani - ipad

M.Corbett - smartboard

D.Evanko - flatscreen LCD TV

C.Tsengas - ipad

C.Chascin - kindle

Fourth Grade

J.Nash - student response system

C.Montero - smartboard

B.O'Connor - smartboard

J.Montisano - smartboard

A.Phillips - multimedia speakers

R.Pinchot - smartboard

M.Launey - whiteboard and laptop

Fifth Grade

K.Shannon - Google TV by Sony

T.Ruark - 4G cellphone

T.Lehane - laptops 4 kids

S.Rabe - iphone

C.Swidorsky - macbook

L.Werch - external hard drive
ResourceJ.Snead - large format photo printer

K.Cherney - 30 flip videos or ipod

D.Tamburrino - ipod docking station

N.Hall - flip video

R.Robinson - GPS for wife

J.Plank -smartboard

J.Gannam - laptop
S.Shall - macbook pro

B.McCall - ipad

And for me, I've been wanting a good pair of multimedia speakers and a microphone :)

I wasn't surprised that so many wanted ipads. I looooove mine. But I was surprised that so many wanted a smartboard. Especially since I'm not a big fan of smartboards, and neither are the few teachers I know that have them. It surprised me for sure.

What would you buy?

Check out the other posts from the fall blog challenge in the right sidebar of my blog!

Many years ago, I heard Lucy Calkins speak about teaching reading. There were many things she said that day that impacted my teaching in so many ways. One of the things she said was: Share your life as a reader. Let kids hear about your reading habits. They need to know it's not just a subject, but a part of everyone's life. I also think that sharing a little bit of the "personal you" with you students helps them feel more comfortable with sharing their own thoughts with you.

I am a zealous reader. If I don't have a book to read and a book waiting to be read...then something is very wrong. I love learning new things, meeting new characters, reading a new author's craft, settling in to a familiar writing style and escaping to a different time and place. If I find an author I like, I try to read all of their books. I'm such a snob about new authors because I don't want to waste my precious time on a book I won't like, so I only read books that have been recommended to me. I even keep a digital book log in Google docs, by author, to keep track of books I've read so that I don't accidentally reread them years later (I am the only one stupid enough to do that? ) But it's very handy when I'm at the store or library. I simply pull up my docs account on my iphone to check to see what books I haven't read by a specific author.

People ask me all the time, "How in the world do you find time to read?" I like to use a phrase that I learned from Lucy Calkins. I make time by carving out time for reading in my day. If I look at my busy day that starts at 5 am and ends after my 3 kids' extra curricular activities and their homework then I wouldn't find the time. But I start by always keeping a book with me. I read while I'm drying my hair, sitting in the car line after school, at the waiting room during appts. with the kids, while waiting for a training to start and then maybe for 15 minutes in a quick bath before bed. (My favorite reading spot!)

My life as a reader has changed in one signifigant way this year: the iPad! Once I read a book on my iPad, I was hooked! It's easy to keep in my purse, I always have the next book ready and waiting to read. I. Just. Love. It. But I do have one confession to make, after reading about 5 books in a row on the iPad, a friend loaned me a book she had bought. I opened up that paper book after several weeks of reading and realised... Acckkk! I could barely read the words. I had been using the larger font feature on the iPad and turning up the brightness on the backlighting. Ahhh, I guess it's time for glasses.

Check out posts by others participating the the Fall Blog Challenge 2010 on the right sidebar of my blog :)