Today started a new school year in 8th grade English Language Arts at Grizzell Middle School in the Dublin City Schools. It was a wonderful day meeting new students and seeing some familiar names of siblings of former students. The day flew by! In our 50 minute period, I quickly introduced myself, read aloud My Teacher is a Monster! (No She is Not!) by Peter Brown, talked in small groups about what our learning community should look like, watched John Green give a rousing pep talk to students, and created a "heart map" in our Writer's Notebooks.
This is a different year for me as a professional and as a leader in the 8th grade ELA department, as well as the content leader at GMS for ELA. My teaching partner of three years, Rita Shaffer, moved onto a coaching position in our Dublin high schools. I have three new teaching partners, including a new intervention specialist that I am co-teaching with three periods a day.
I am excited to stretch myself this year as a writer. I plan to write everything my students write - Writer's Notebook entries, narratives, arguments, informational writing and everything in between. This blog is another way to keep me writing. I hope I work on it beyond January which is when my blog floundered last year.
Another goal I have is to improve the reading and writing conferences that I have with each student. More will follow on this as the year goes on, but I feel like my conferences need more specific direction in order to better plan for mini-lessons and small group instruction.
For now, it's time to catch up with my 10th grade and 8th grade daughter on their first days of school. I love the start of school!!
This is a different year for me as a professional and as a leader in the 8th grade ELA department, as well as the content leader at GMS for ELA. My teaching partner of three years, Rita Shaffer, moved onto a coaching position in our Dublin high schools. I have three new teaching partners, including a new intervention specialist that I am co-teaching with three periods a day.
I am excited to stretch myself this year as a writer. I plan to write everything my students write - Writer's Notebook entries, narratives, arguments, informational writing and everything in between. This blog is another way to keep me writing. I hope I work on it beyond January which is when my blog floundered last year.
Another goal I have is to improve the reading and writing conferences that I have with each student. More will follow on this as the year goes on, but I feel like my conferences need more specific direction in order to better plan for mini-lessons and small group instruction.
For now, it's time to catch up with my 10th grade and 8th grade daughter on their first days of school. I love the start of school!!