I know that I read chose non-fiction picture books focused on animals last week and I had planned on choosing a much different topic this week but since our class is reading The One and Only Ivan I chose to read some children’s non-fiction picture books about gorillas and chimpanzees. Unfortunately, I was unable to... Continue Reading →

This week’s reading probably totaled about 8 hours rather than 4. I’m not sure why I chose to read so many longer books this week but I enjoyed all of them to varying degrees and I learned about some book awards that I wasn’t previously aware of.     The first award I chose a... Continue Reading →

Have I struggled to find time to read? YES! Does this mean I don’t love to read? NO! My struggle with reading has been the cause of some stress in my life, especially this past week with the holiday weekend and our family Labor Day camping trip cutting into my time. However, I did take... Continue Reading →

This past week, I decided to choose a theme for the non-fiction picture book challenge. I thought long and hard about what theme I wanted to go with before making a decision. There are tons of options when it comes to themes in children’s non-fiction books and although some of them definitely hold more interest... Continue Reading →

This past week, I read an assortment of longer children’s books. Two of them were books that were required materials for one of my other classes and had the notion to read ahead on my own. The other two I found on lists of popular children’s books; one of was on my top ten list... Continue Reading →

I am a lover of books. Since I was a little girl I have found comfort in slipping away to some fantastical, magical, adventure-filled place. You might have already guessed that I love fiction books most. So, I decided to try a new challenge, to get out of my comfort zone. Over the years there... Continue Reading →

When I first read the assignment to read 30 Caldecott Award winners and/or Honor winners, I was overwhelmed. I panicked inside wondering where I would find the time to read so many books. On top of the stress of trying to fit all this reading into my schedule, I wondered where I was going to... Continue Reading →

Dell Blogger Day by Isriya Paireepairit is licensed under CC by 2.0   I had never written nor had I ever read a blog until last fall when I was required to take a class called Literature in the Digital Age. After reading the syllabus for the class, I was a ball of nerves because I’d never... Continue Reading →

Yes, I am a self-proclaimed nerd, a bookworm, sometimes a know-it-all. In a world surrounded by those who sometimes surprise me with how little knowledge they have of the world around them, I may come across as a snob. Honestly, I never looked down on anyone who didn’t know some silly tidbit of information that... Continue Reading →

On Tuesday of this week, I spent 4 hours in the Resource 1 classroom, however, I did leave the classroom during the teacher’s down time and spent time in the 2nd grade classes. I walked around and helped the students with their math lessons online using IXL. In the resource room I assisted the 4th […]

On Tuesday, February 21, I spent 4 hours in the resource 1 classroom again. I helped some of the students complete math assignments as well as read questions to one of the students that were on his math summative. Later that afternoon, I guided 4th grade students in reading a segment in their reading texts […]

On Tuesday  (2/14/17) I spent almost 4 hours in the Resource 1 classroom again. The teacher was gone for CIPT meetings so I worked with the substitute. I spent most of this time assisting the 4th grade students with reading comprehension and vocabulary. On Wednesday (2/15/17) I was in the Resource 3 classroom. I went […]

My second day in the resource 1 classroom was quite a bit more involved than the first. I spent 4 hours in the classroom on this particular day and was there to observe and participate with grades 1-5 for both reading and math. It seems like the majority of the students that came to the […]

My second day in the resource 3 classroom was a lot of fun. Although there were several students out due to illness, I had many chances to interact with the students. The teacher was working with the students on coloring inside the lines when I arrived so I sat down and assisted some of them […]

On Tuesday I spent about an hour and a half in a Resource 1 classroom. With it being my first day in that particular classroom, most of what I did was observation. I watched the teacher work with students in 4th and 5th grade with reading comprehension and mathematics. These students worked on comparing fractions […]

I went into the Resource 3 classroom today with some anxiety. I was a little nervous about how I would handle working with and observing children with more severe disabilities and I wondered if this observation and participation time might convince me to change my major back to general education. The teacher was warm and […]

I would like to begin this post by saying that anyone considering a career in education needs to take this class or a class that will be multi-modal in regards to the way the digital tools used are taught as well as one that exposes the issues that face education reform today. Out of all […]

This semester has been extremely informational for me. All the things I always took for granted regarding education, especially primary and secondary were turned upside down and have now become a concern for me. You could connect the dots even and say that this semester has forced me to become more of a critical thinker, […]

      If there is one thing I have learned throughout the course of this semester in this literacy class, it is that there is a lot of work to be done on our nation’s public school systems if we are to really prepare our students for adult life. If I were to sit […]

      Over the course of 37 years, I have been involved in the processes of learning and teaching but have rarely stopped to consider whether what I had learned and taught or how I had learned or taught those things was effective. I have stated in this blog before that I have always […]

I spent countless hours planning, writing, rewriting, choosing photos, editing photos, adding music and narration, and then doing it all over again on this project. I ran into quite a bit of trouble on several different occasions. First, I had to reset my tablet in order to get the volume and microphone to work properly. […]

Today is Thanksgiving Day and as we travel down the interstate to meet family for the holiday I reflect upon the things that have happened in the past for which I feel gratitude. Like most people, I am thankful for family, friends, faith, shelter, clothing, and nourishment. If I think a little more deeply, I […]

  Since I seem to be technologically deficit, I have been really working on spending more time learning about various tech tools and apps that could benefit me in my future classroom.  Like most people, I do have a Facebook account and a Snapchat account. I think it will probably be helpful for me to […]

  Man, I guess I never put a whole lot of thought into how much tech stuff I was going to be required to learn and master in order to get my degree in education! I know I’ve said it before but I am just not a tech-y person. I get excited when I hear […]

This Monday I finished my 30 day challenge with The Daily Create on ds106 and I can say I did learn a few things as a result of doing the challenges but I still do not feel like I know or understand much about digital storytelling. In the article about digital storytelling, the definition of […]

As part of this week’s module, we were given the option of keeping an attention log. In this log we have been asked to notate 9 things. 1. Date 2. Description of physical space and device 3. Duration of session 4. What occurred 5. What you did 6. How you felt 7. What worked 8.  […]