Response to a Sandy Hook Parent's Letter

Though several months have passed since 18 children and six educators were slain in Connecticut, there are almost daily reminders of the tragedy. Without a doubt this incident hit home more deeply and permanently because of the loss of such young lives. One of our administrators shared this letter with us this week via e-mail, and I wanted to spread it further. For one it is incredibly well-written and moving, for another it hits home for me personally.

A Sandy Hook Parent's Letter to Teachers

By Nelba Marquez-Greene

This letter was published in Education Week and was promoted by a local radio station, 95.7. 

I want to thank this mother for her recognition of what all school employees can, and often, do. We do have a real power, a real opportunity. In fact, yesterday my husband said something about how he wouldn't mind teaching all day, and I responded with "I wish!" But I didn't mean it as negatively as it may sound. Yesterday I was a businesswoman for at least two hours, and many, many days I spend time feeling like a social worker. Other days I feel like a cat-herder, but there will always be those days. 

I also want to thank this mother for her strength and her ability to put her emotions into words. I am in awe of her faith of the school system, especially in terms of her putting her son back into school just a few weeks after his sister's untimely death.

This is the kind of woman who was a mom and a wife before her words were published. Now she is a hero. 

Two Classes = Twice the Fun (and Work!)

When the 2013-2014 school year rolled around I was pleased to see that the 21st Century Communication course enrollment had increased significantly. Though I am sad to have lost a section of English I, I am thrilled that the importance of this elective is being recognized by the student body. It's interesting, however to have the conversations I have with these students twice a day instead of once, and I'm really enjoying the different dynamics of each class period. I'm amazed at how two conversations guided similarly can end up in such different directions. Regardless, both groups have attacked the curriculum and projects with gusto, and I think blogs this year are going to be even more successful. Today they actually begin work on the Social Networking project and I was able to place a lot more emphasis on affecting a positive change via social networking this semester. I think their final products are going to be by-and-large outstanding.

Back to School - Part I

What an interesting inservice I attended today. Wait...did I just use those two words in the same sentence? Interesting and inservice? Why yes, yes I did. This is no dig on my district or educators in general, but let's face it, inservices are rarely bundles of fun.

Today we were given some concrete instruction on CCSS ( Common Core State Standards) and how to use them in our classrooms. I must admit, I'm actually pretty eager to use what I learned today, which is mostly due to how much use I see for CCSS skills in students' futures.

Details to come

Baby Steps with CCSS

CCSS, or Common Core State Standards, is proving to be a challenge for me even before they are officially implemented. I am grateful, however, that this is a positive challenge.

I hope to do my action research next year on literature circles with use of CCSS. The head of my department has been very helpful in helping me find and choose good YA literature to possibly work with. I knew though that I should figure out what I was going to do with these books before I started reading them.

You must understand how hard this has been for me. I have a lovely pile of brand new YA books waiting for me and I can't read them! Torture! But doing the research first has really paid off.

Shiny New Toy

So, iPads have been a big deal for more than a little while now. I've pretty much always had iPad envy. However, I just couldn't justify the expense. My laptop never quit, I had both a work and a home desktop, and when my mobile phone contract came up for renewal I upgraded to my pretty, pretty iPhone. With all at, what use does a high school teacher have for an iPad. Of course I would use and love it, but it was far from a need. So I always joked that I was waiting for someone to give me one. Guess what, folks? It finally happened. Last Friday, the faculty's last day before summer, the IT department handed out our district-provided iPads. It had been in the works for a while, but I was a skeptic on this particular promise. It was a huge purchase obviously. Their word was their bond however and Friday afternoon the high school library was buzzing with teachers from all generations finding their ways around their shiny new devices. I couldn't wait to spend the first few days of summer personalizing and playing. Then my home Internet gave up the ghost. Needless to say I didn't exactly handle this like a grown-up, but now that I'm at my wonderful boyfriend's apartment, where the Internet works just fine, I'm a much happier camper. My entire point here is two things: 1) I GOT AN IPAD!!! 2) I now have extra motivation, reason, and platform from which to be a better blogger.

Semester Two, Semester Anew

After last semester, I feel as though I've learned a lot about learning, teaching, and 21st century skills. Thus, even just the first three days of 21st CC this semester have gone smoother. Last semester I offered students a very open-ended project about this course, what they hoped to learn in it, and what 21st century skills are. The projects were as loose as my instructions. This semester, I introduced the students to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills right off the bat, and we began discussing and working with the related buzzwords. Students are creating a variety of projects now to discuss what they think those skills mean and might look like. The projects are due tomorrow and I can't wait to see and upload some of them.

Sites You Said Were Interesting (Class Post)

Dearest 21st Century Students,

I've finally looked through your website research and pulled out the websites you found and included on the lists you turned in to me. So, if you're struggling with your Social Bookmarking and Blogging project, you might want to turn to some of these sites for inspiration.

Organization Sites

Linkable - social bookmarking

Evernote - it's like an online notebook where anything of any medium can go

SpringPad - very similar to evernote

Chore Buster - create lists to organize your chores and other tasks

Hassle Me - this site will nag you until you complete the task it's nagging you to do

Trip It - useful for organizing travel plans

Interesting Sites

StumbleUpon - a random search engine that directs you to websites fitted to your interets

Youth Noise - where young people have a voice on world issues

Pinterest - photo sharing and organizing

Epicurious - food

Personal Sites

iGoogle - a personalized homepage

Tumblr - microblogging

Academically Useful Sites

EasyBib - use for creating bibliographies