Welcome, October!
It’s been a while since I have posted here. After a much needed break this summer and then the start to the school year, I am excited to be back!
Some Things Going Well This School Year
Teaching Reading Classes - I am teaching three classes this semester and all of them are focused on teaching reading to elementary students. I have great groups of students. They are willing to try out the literacy practices that are part of the course. I am really impressed with my graduate students. Many of them learned about balanced literacy in their undergraduate literacy classes. I am addressing structured literacy this semester and they are critically looking at the differences in the two approaches to instruction and how children are best supported. I found videos of my two children reading leveled texts for a running record assessment. I asked the students to consider if they were reading the print or if they were guessing because of the predictable nature of the texts. They spend time thinking about this and considered the texts that they are using with their own students.
Reading with My Own Kids - I have been reading longer chapter books with my own children. They have been enjoying the books. With my older daughter, we read 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass. This is aimed at middle schoolers, which is why I read it with my daughter. I enjoyed the book and it gave us a lot to talk about together. We also read one of my favorite books, Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. I had to set up the context of the book for her and explain a few things about why Katherine Paterson wrote the book (it’s a sad, but lovely story). I was so thrilled that she loved the book as much as I do.
With my younger daughter, we are taking a break from The Babysitters Little Sister series. We are almost finished reading Charlotte’s Web. It worked out well that we went to a local fair at the same time that we read about the County Fair in the book. Talk about a great text-to-self connection!
Things to Look Forward to This Month
This month is Breast Cancer Awareness month and it has a much different feeling than it did last year. I’m looking forward to being able to attend a few events - I did not have the time nor did I have the energy to attend these last year.
I’m a huge fan of Oliver Burkeman. He has a new book that will be available next week, Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts. I am very eager to read this book - and the timing is really perfect.
Wishing everyone a great start to October! I told my student and my kids - it’s a new month - so new energy!