My students are pretty engaged when I'm modeling and explicitly teaching. When it comes to them generating their own ideas though it can be like pulling teeth. I am making sure to use prompts and am giving them "think" time but I'm only having a couple of students participate. I wonder if it's because they … Continue reading Self-Study: Update #1
Self-Study: Update #2
My students are loving the bellringers that we are doing on Tuesdays that are centered around the question stem, "Would you rather..." It truly shows that students are more engaged and excited when the curriculum is meaningful and fun. Our district recently adopted a new curriculum so we cannot change much of it. The prompts … Continue reading Self-Study: Update #2
Professional History
I'm getting ready to conduct a self-study on my own teaching for a research paper. However, I thought it would be fitting to give a little background information before I begin. I have always wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. Not because I have teachers in the family, because … Continue reading Professional History
Now a Hoover Hawk!
Keeping in mind my goal of becoming a literacy coach within my school district, I have made a change in grades and schools for next year. Instead of teaching at the elementary level, I will now be moving up to middle school, teaching 6th grade language arts. I am sad to be leaving my Lowell … Continue reading Now a Hoover Hawk!
The Culmination of Our Multimodal Book Review
As the last blog post for my Issues and Trends in Curriculum class, we were asked to reflect on our book study and the multimodal book review we were tasked to create. Here's my post: During these four weeks of Issues and Trends in Curriculum, I have had the opportunity to expand my knowledge about … Continue reading The Culmination of Our Multimodal Book Review
Response to Negotiating Critical Literacies with Teachers
This week we in my class, Issues and Trends in Curriculum, we were asked to respond to our common text, reflecting on our learning through this course. Here is my post: Response to Our Common Text, Negotiating Critical Literacies with Teachers Prior to starting this course, I had thought that I would be only looking at … Continue reading Response to Negotiating Critical Literacies with Teachers
ILA 2018 Report- What’s Hot in Literacy?
Amanda Coan_Commentary #3 Each year the International Literacy Association puts out a What's Hot in Literacy Report. This report compares the topics literacy professionals deem as important along with "hot" topics, which are topics that are currently receiving the most attention from educators. This list changes each year it comes out because our … Continue reading ILA 2018 Report- What’s Hot in Literacy?
Commentary #2: Hashtag Activism
"Taking social action is an attempt to move the school curriculum to the community; to make it relevant to the lives of the students we teach" (Vasquez, Tate, & Harste, 2013, p. 15). This quote from Negotiating Critical Literacies with Teachers: Theoretical Foundations and Pedagogical Resources for Pre-service and In-service Contexts (Vasquez et al., 2013) reminds us of … Continue reading Commentary #2: Hashtag Activism
First Commentary for My Graduate Blog
For one of my current graduate classes, "Issues and Trends in Curriculum" we were asked to start a blog and respond to some of the issues and trends we're discussing in our class. The requirement was to start a blog using Blogger, which was hard for me since I already have this educational blog. My … Continue reading First Commentary for My Graduate Blog
Thesis Decided
Even though I have about a year left in my graduate program, I am seeing the finish line. I have decided I am going to write a thesis for my final paper. It will be a self-study focusing on my writing instruction for my ELL students. I have my thesis committee members lined up and … Continue reading Thesis Decided
Iowa Culture and Language Conference
Last month I had the opportunity to attend a two-day conference to help me improve my instruction for ELL students. I found the Iowa Culture and Language Conference to be a motivating and eye-opening experience. One of the keynote speakers was Dr. Danny Brassell. He discussed the importance of engaging students through humor and visuals. … Continue reading Iowa Culture and Language Conference
My Fifth-Grade Classroom
This post is going to be practically all pictures so you can see what my classroom looks like this year. This room is the same size as my classroom last year- just on the opposite of the building. I plan on having a section of my dry-erase board become my "focus wall" for our success … Continue reading My Fifth-Grade Classroom
Things are coming together…
I'm feeling a little relieved since I just finished my last graduate class for the summer. It was definitely a major feat! Now that I have a three week break before my next graduate class starts I'm focusing on getting ready for the upcoming school year. I am excited to say that I almost have … Continue reading Things are coming together…
Updated the Blog
I've spent the last couple of hours updating the blog to match up with where I'm at in my teaching career (as well as playing catch up on GoT). After reflecting on my blog name "Tales of a Beginning Teacher" I have decided to change the name since I am no longer considered a beginning … Continue reading Updated the Blog
First Big Move
I will be moving to fifth grade after four years of teaching third grade. A dream of mine is to be a literacy coach in my school district, but before becoming a literacy coach I feel like I need more experience besides teaching third grade. After talking with my principal, moving to fifth grade is … Continue reading First Big Move
Free Hair Cut
So, at our last assembly I was able to get a free hair cut from a few of my students. If you remember a blog post from earlier on in the year I mentioned letting my third grade students cut my hair if they reached a reading goal that we set as a class. Unfortunately … Continue reading Free Hair Cut
A Realization
As I was sitting on this Sunday evening writing a thank you letter for one of my scholarships, it dawned on me that in a short couple of weeks my life is going to change. I will be starting my first semester working towards getting my masters in Literacy Education at UNI. I will be … Continue reading A Realization
Bye-Bye, Long Hair!
So... Last year, I had a homework system that worked pretty well. Students read and wrote about the book, practiced their word sort, and worked on a few math facts. They did this every night Monday through Thursday each week. Each day the adults in my room would look over their work and give them … Continue reading Bye-Bye, Long Hair!
Fourth Year of Teaching!
As I approach the beginning of my fourth year of teaching I feel blessed, but anxious. I have had the opportunity to stay a third grade teacher and not move around. I've co-taught, been on my own, and then co-taught again. All of this while being a team leader and working with some amazing ladies! … Continue reading Fourth Year of Teaching!
More Progress Monitoring
My last post discussed the way I monitor the third grade standards overall. In this post I wanted to share with you the progress monitoring tool that I use to track the learning of my students day by day. I have a sheet for each of the three major subjects that I teach (math, … Continue reading More Progress Monitoring
Passionately Curious about Literacy Education 