Today, I was talking to a popular sub @ my school who has the same teaching style I do. She’s tough! well, I was talking to her about my class’ behavior and she totally validated me.
“Yeah, they”re a little rambunctious!” she said.
“Ok,” I thought. She validated my thoughts on them…but in the wrong way!
I’m finishing up my fluency folders. I’m also finishing up my Action Plan for the WASC team. It’s not hard. It’s like I’m just writing a mini- IEP. It’s all coming together. Little by little! Hallelujah & Thank you Jesus!
So, my husband & I drove down to La Jolla. It took 1.5 hours, but it was a nice, peaceful ride. The training, through The Rowland Foundation was phenomenal. I was treated to a speech by two well known speakers & proponents of phonics- Dr. Louisa Moats (Teaching Reading is Rocket Science) & Dr. Anita Archer (Teacher of teachers & Presenter Extraordinaire). I was so impressed with the both of them. I want to be like them when I grow up!
The highlight of the training- SUPERKIDS early education phonics program for pre-k–2nd grade. It’s being touted as a prevention, not an intervention. I love, love, love, love, love, love it! Let me say it one more time- I love it! It is fantastic; really great for English Language Learners. I think, if this were used at my school for the younger grades, it would fill up all the seats and give our school a great reputation.
Although the lodging wasn’t taken care of as specified on the flyer, I’m really glad that I went. But right now I’m tired and about to take a nap, so I’ll write later! Bye for now!
***Just in case you don’t know who the Rowland Foundation’s or it’s creator is, it’s none other than Pleasant Rowland, creator & former owner of American Girl.
If you would like to read more about Pleasant Rowland, google her or click on this link.
Dear Readers,
I’m a little miffed right now. Why? Well, I have training tomorrow. Seems like it’s going to be a pretty good training. However, I only agreed to attend the training, which is in LaJolla, CA, btw (about a 90 minute drive) because the flyer stated that food & lodging were included.
“Sure,” I thought, “A night away from home & time away from my kids. I’ll do it!”
Well, as it turns out, it’s not so simple. Just to be on the safe side, I call ahead just to make sure the room is reserved in my room. I got quite a surprise when the contact person told me that there were no rooms blocked off for guests. I told her that the flyer said that food & lodging were included.
She says, ” I know that’s what it said, but it’s lodging for the day, not overnight.”
She was not very good at expressing herself. Maybe she was flustered. I tried to understand how lodging for the day means lodging included. That’s not lodging!!! That type of “lodging” simply reserves a spot for my behind in a chair.
So, now I have to leave out the house by 6:30 or 7:00 tomorrow when I thought I was going to be refreshed after a free night’s hotel stay. AWAY. FROM. MY.KIDS!!!!
While I’ll do what I gotta’ do. I’m just saying that if I knew that lodging wasn’t included, I would not have volunteered for this training. So, let me turn in. I’ve got a long drive ahead of me tomorrow. Bye for now!
Lately, I’ve been on a mission to rid myself, or rather, make more manageable, my procrastination problem. It had become a really big problem. It’s so bad that I have papers in my closet, at work, from last grading period that I haven’t returned to the students. Do you see my dilemma now?
Well, as I said, I am on a mission to make my procrastinating more manageable. I’ve read articles (once I’ve gotten to them), asked for advice from successful people, and listened to meditation CDs.
While listening to the meditation CD, I had time to stop and think about why I have been a Procrastinatorsaurs. That’s when I realized I was procrastinating because I’m afraid of failing at that task. When I am fairly certain that I can perform a given task, I get right on it. However, if I know that I will struggle with it, I will put it off, and off, and off. As I’m doing with my grading and returning student work.
I’m really happy that I’ve gotten to the root of my procrastination problem. So far, I am making great progress. Let’s just hope that it continues. Here’s hoping. Bye for now!
Dear Readers,
The girls, save one, have returned their permission slips and have begun seeing the Art Therapist. Since I got mad at them the week before last about all of their drama, they have been solving more of their own problems. Thank God for that because they were really stressing me out. Little girls can be sooooooooooooooooooooooooo catty. Whew! Here’s hoping for less girls and more boys next year!
Dear Readers,
I am so silly. I always forget what works for me. A couple of my students have been struggling. I’ve worked in Education for 10 years now. I should have pulled from my store of knowledge. But, sometimes we can become so overwhelmed that we forget (as I did) what works for us. Once I came to my senses, I quickly made fluency folders from pages I copied from Practicing Basic Skills in Reading & Practicing Basic Skills in Language Arts by Ray Beck, Peggy Anderson, & A. Denise Conrad.
At first I only made fluency folders for the struggling readers. Then I realized that almost every student needs help in some capacity. So, although there are 7/15 students working on fluency, there are 8 students that are at or above grade level in English. However, they still have deficits. I have 4 students who need to work on appositional phrases, commas in a series, and commas for parenthetical phrases. Yes, all of that is in the book. It’s not cheap though. I looked on ebay, Amazon, & a couple of other sites for inexpensive copies, but did not find it. These books are $100. Pretty steep, but worth it. You could run a whole language arts intervention program for lower to upper elementary with this book.
So that I won’t forget this for next year, I am going to keep a FORGETFUL folder where I record my ideas that work for me. Hopefully I won’t forget where I put it! : D!!! It’s a fantastic book. Check it out!
WOW!!!!!!! One of my students is not coming to school tomorrow because she’s going to Disneyland. REALLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYY!!!! This student is absent once a week. Should her parents really be upset when she gets her report card???????
Need writing rubrics? If so, visit this website for great ones: http://www.edmondschools.net/AboutUs/Curriculum/CurriculumSpecialties/TheWritingCenter/ElementarySchoolHome/ElemWritingRubrics.aspx
One of the problems with Binaca Blast is that she has a Learning Disability. I really had to work with her in order to build her comprehension. When I read this article on the Reading Rockets website, I felt validated because I’ve used most of these strategies with her. So, without further ado, here’s the article I found on the Reading Rockets site on teaching students text comprehension: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/3479/
Well, I’ve hopefully discovered the solution for the drama queens & kings in my classrooms. Since I work at a Jesuit school, we have Ignatian volunteers. We have a school psychologist, a school nurse, and an Art Therapist. Permission slips have gone home for the students to be able to see them, but so far, no one has returned them. I have been putting pressure on the girls to return them because I am not going to deal with their drama anymore.
The main cause of the drama is Binaca Blast. She is incredibly insecure & her mother is incredibly crazy. This is so not a good combination. She keeps disruptions going in the class all day long. I finally told her that I am not going to entertain her drama anymore. Hopefully her mother will let her participate. Here’s hoping!
Special 2 Me 