Now that it's summer and I have waaaay more time to myself, I've been working on my blogging. Part of that work is finding great blogs to follow. I obviously love reading my friends' blogs, but I also enjoy blogs about teaching and health and fitness. Today I found AM Literacy Learning Log and a great post about the kinds of rules to break for kids.
How often is it that expectations are imposed on teachers by local, state, or federal administration that impede our teaching? Thanks to an amazing program at Arizona State University, I know what I stand for as far as my instruction goes. I hope that anyone who walks into my classroom will know what this is by looking around and talking to me.- I'll plan my instruction around standards. I'm using the basal readers when it fits my long term plan. Not every day.
- My kids will read their Just Right books with a pen and composition notebook, even though they have a MacBook. I get distracted with the Internet, and I'm 31! Can you imagine a 7th grader's attention span?
- I'm not going to overkill my instruction with testing. When I need it as a means to collect data on student progress, yes. Testing Is Not Teaching
- I will trade in all the cutesy posters from the teacher store for anchor charts I make with my students.
- I'm not doing AR. Kids want to read a book that doesn't have a quiz? Go ahead. Let's do Reader's Workshop instead.
- I will give up one or two class periods a week for sustained silent reading. How can I expect students to make reading a priority if I don't show them I will?
Maybe there is more than this to come, but for now, that's all I have. I am a teacher and I work for my students.
What do you stand for?
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