One of the best things about being an elementary school teacher is that I get to read books and legitimately call it "work".
I gave myself the goal of reading all eight books for our battle of the books competition:
Rooftoppers
Words With Wings
Ava and Pip
The Crossover
Wild Born
Binny for Short
A Snicker of Magic
The Right Word
The competition is in April, so I've got roughly a book a month.
I checked out Ava and Pip for my next read because my students were enjoying it.
I'm also conquering Text-Dependent Questions by Fisher and Frey for graduate school, so that takes top priority (seeing how class ends November 22nd).
Also on my list of books to read:
Love and Logic (professional book)
Wonder
The Lemonade War
What else should I read?!
{Earlier this month}, I knocked out a graduate course in a weekend. It was a great course where I learned new strategies, felt energized about my teaching, was excited to try new things in the classroom, and I could immediately apply what I've learned the next day.
Basically, the dream in terms of professional development.
So naturally, it's time to take another course. If I'm correct with keeping track of graduate school, this is the final class I need to hit the "Masters +32" level. This of course makes me think I should have just gotten another master's degree, but oh well.
Theoretically finishing this class means I'll get a pay raise next year for increasing my education from master's plus 16 to master's plus 32, but since I got a pay cut this year and the district is going into {arbitration} with the teacher's union, I'm not holding my breath on being paid fairly.
This one is offered by the same instructor (because she's amazing) and on close reading and text dependent questions.
It's not a secret that I love books, so I was really excited that this beauty is now mine!
Fisher and Frey are some of my favorite educational researchers, so this is just an added bonus.
The next three weeks will be consumed with seven modules and reading a majority of this book, but I've got my work wife Mrs. H along for the ride. I love learning and I love working with colleagues who are also motivated to continually learn and try new things. I've got a general understanding of close reading and text dependent questions (TDQs), but I'm excited to learn more about the four part model and how to use it with students.
The ultimate goal of text-dependent questions and close reading is to have students interact with the text. I'm not in the business of making little robots who can read a passage and regurgitate information back to me. I'm in the business of creating little thinkers who interact with the text and think critically about the world around them.
What steps are you taking to continue your own education?
After a thrilling weekend in Arizona, the harsh realities of Sunday night seem to be hitting harder than normal.
This week brings:
- An hour long Battle of the Books meeting after school
- An hour of tutoring after school (one of my students missed an entire week)
- An observation
- A parade
- Making a Halloween costume
- A four hour grad class on Thursday
- An upcoming FIVE day weekend for students (Friday is Nevada day, then next Monday and Tuesday are staff development days)
Then...this:
Perfect storm indeed.
I frequently need to remind myself that I can do anything, but not everything.
This slipped my mind when I thought the end of the school year was a good time to sign up for another graduate school class. I already have my master's degree in education and am quite close to finishing up my post master's thirty two credits.
A technology class was offered through UNLV and our school district, so I thought, why not?
3 credit hours in four weeks didn't seem like that big of a deal. I signed up along with my partner teacher, Mrs. H. If nothing else, we could rely on each other for motivation.
However, then we went to our grade level planning meeting and realized all the expectations for the end of the year. So we decided to lock our doors to minimize pre-work distractions, make a plan, and crank out the eight projects and papers required for this class.
By sheer motivation, copious amounts of caffeine, and lots of early mornings, we finished our three credit graduate class. Not in the four weeks we were allotted, but in twelve days. Yes, twelve days.
So that, dear readers, is the main reason for the lack of posts in May. Graduate class got in the way and I had to prioritize: sleep, work, grad school. Everything else just fell off my plate for that crazy two weeks. I'm steadily playing catch up with all the great things I have to share on my blog, so please be patient. However, report cards are due Friday and I still have some grading to do...eight days til summer!
