I had an amazing time attending the International Reading Association convention in Chicago this year! The theme was Celebrating Teachers... I left the conference motivated, excited and ready to share all the great learning experiences I had. (Unfortunately, I have not shared with anyone yet...no time!) The atmosphere and the teaching professionals that came from all over the world were motivating beyond anything I had experienced.
I arrived on Sunday to attend an Institute: Developing Literacy Leadership: Key to School Improvement. It was an all day workshop and the speakers were educators I have followed and read much of their research work or published articles. Monday's workshop was Using RTI to Promote Whole-School Change in Literacy that followed the theme from Sunday. Both sessions were filled with information, research and handouts that I could bring back and use with my work at H-D. Each day I was nodding saying "yes! we are doing that" and "yes! we will get there". Mr. Speake traveled with me and he was so good to listen to my endless jabbering after each day. My only disappointment was that all of the H-D elementary teachers couldn't be there.
Workshop Presenters: Rita Bean, Susan L'Allier & Laurie Elish-Piper, Michael McKenna, Mary Ellen Vogt and Sharon Walpole, Judy Wallis, Nancy Allison, Nancy McLean, & Joan Jennings among several others.
Other famous people I heard:
Timothy Rasinski, Frank Serafini, the infamous duo of Fountas & Pinnel throughout mini-sessions in the exhibition hall. I stood by Richard Allington in the Starbucks line....I was so star struck and of course I couldn't think of anything intelligent to say!
The authors I saw:
Jerry Pallotta, Mem Fox, Kate Messner, Annie Borrows, Nicholas Sparks (well his brother but it was amazing to visit with him about his brother's books which my daughters love to read!) The moments were priceless. Well, if you live in the educational world of literacy!
The overall lesson I learned....
Motivating readers and making students life-long readers must be our ultimate goal using a reader's workshop model (gradual release) and explicitly teaching skills in all five literacy areas. WOO HOO!! Independent reading is the most powerful tool a teacher can implement in their classroom. This was just the encouragement and motivation I needed as I try to continue to help our teachers at H-D transform their classrooms to workshop model with an emphasis on independent reading.
Reading is the cornerstone of student success in school. Many of our students today do not receive any reading support at home for a wide-variety of reasons. It must be our job to share our passion and love for reading which will be a life skill that will help students in all they do.
Happy Reading! Mrs. Speake
Showing posts with label motivation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label motivation. Show all posts
06 May 2012
14 April 2012
FLIP IT!
Do you need an attitude adjustment? I definitely do
Are you comfortable with change? at times
Do you embrace it, fight it, ignore it or try to hide from it? all the above
Do you worry about areas you have no control over? way too many times
I have been on quite a journey the last few years. I left my classroom last year (which I ABSOLUTELY LOVED!!) and I became the first literacy coach for our district. I can tell you I have wanted to transfer back into the classroom every month! Constantly wondering what did I do??? But then a young teacher came into my room and asked how I have managed to stay positive and in-tune to the latest teaching techniques. She thanked me for helping her this year. Just these few little words helped me change my attitude. I do love my position and I knew when I took this job I wanted to work hard to help teachers FLIP IT! (I'll explain) It was great timing because I was falling into a pit of complaints.
I was reaching a new chapter in my life a few years ago.....my two oldest children going off to college, hitting the big 40 and wondering if I could stay in the teaching profession or was it time to find a new career. LUCKILY, I had a wise person tell me.... you can do whatever you want to. You can hide from change or embrace it. The wise phrase that I love to use.... FLIP IT!
I flipped it. I decided to change my attitude and to take an exciting personal & professional journey. I entered an on-line program and received my Reading Masters. The professional connections and journey I began was beyond my greatest hope. I learned to flip my classroom- adding techniques I was far lacking for my diverse learners. I connected with teachers that were passionate and embraced the challenges. They introduced me to a world of looking at teaching as exciting and rewarding again. They introduced me to a world of following blogs and connecting with other passionate professionals.
Lately.... I have fallen back into bad habits... complaining, grumbling and pointing fingers. My goal this month..... FLIP IT! Our district is going through many changes. Its time to focus on the positive..... stop looking at the problems I/we have, the test scores that may not be high enough, teachers that just want a pay check & bad PR in the public. What I tell students all the time, "worry about yourself". I have to worry about myself and start focusing on the positive. There are so many positives at H-D. I work with about 45 teachers and I can tell you great things are happening in every classroom and I look forward to continuing the journey with them. I am re-reading the book below which has helped too.
DON'T let the few negatives drag you down and prevent you from being the best teacher you can be. FOCUS on the positives! LOOK BACK and see how far your students have come this year!
Are you comfortable with change? at times
Do you embrace it, fight it, ignore it or try to hide from it? all the above
Do you worry about areas you have no control over? way too many times
I have been on quite a journey the last few years. I left my classroom last year (which I ABSOLUTELY LOVED!!) and I became the first literacy coach for our district. I can tell you I have wanted to transfer back into the classroom every month! Constantly wondering what did I do??? But then a young teacher came into my room and asked how I have managed to stay positive and in-tune to the latest teaching techniques. She thanked me for helping her this year. Just these few little words helped me change my attitude. I do love my position and I knew when I took this job I wanted to work hard to help teachers FLIP IT! (I'll explain) It was great timing because I was falling into a pit of complaints.
I was reaching a new chapter in my life a few years ago.....my two oldest children going off to college, hitting the big 40 and wondering if I could stay in the teaching profession or was it time to find a new career. LUCKILY, I had a wise person tell me.... you can do whatever you want to. You can hide from change or embrace it. The wise phrase that I love to use.... FLIP IT!
I flipped it. I decided to change my attitude and to take an exciting personal & professional journey. I entered an on-line program and received my Reading Masters. The professional connections and journey I began was beyond my greatest hope. I learned to flip my classroom- adding techniques I was far lacking for my diverse learners. I connected with teachers that were passionate and embraced the challenges. They introduced me to a world of looking at teaching as exciting and rewarding again. They introduced me to a world of following blogs and connecting with other passionate professionals.
Lately.... I have fallen back into bad habits... complaining, grumbling and pointing fingers. My goal this month..... FLIP IT! Our district is going through many changes. Its time to focus on the positive..... stop looking at the problems I/we have, the test scores that may not be high enough, teachers that just want a pay check & bad PR in the public. What I tell students all the time, "worry about yourself". I have to worry about myself and start focusing on the positive. There are so many positives at H-D. I work with about 45 teachers and I can tell you great things are happening in every classroom and I look forward to continuing the journey with them. I am re-reading the book below which has helped too.
DON'T let the few negatives drag you down and prevent you from being the best teacher you can be. FOCUS on the positives! LOOK BACK and see how far your students have come this year!
 |
| A great book that helped me change my mindset! |
Happy Reading & FLIP IT- Mrs. Speake
17 March 2012
What the Teacher Wants!: F...l....u....e.....n.....c.....y
I love following so many blogs! If you don't follow blogs or have a blog you have no idea what you are missing.
It truly allows you to visit many AMAZING classrooms and see what EXCELLENT teachers are doing in the world of education. I am still amazed at the many items teachers create and readily share. THANK YOU to What the Teacher Wants.... These two gals have amazing ideas and they share many things for free. They have over 5000 followers for a reason! WOW!
Following and reading blogs motivate me and encourage me to strive for excellence and quality. Teaching is a passion and a way of life!! :) That is a good thing- we need to be surrounded by fellow teachers that believe in our kiddos and have high expectations for their success!!
Check out their fluency charts and the rubric. (click on link below) LOVE IT!! I have been in several classrooms this past week teaching fluency mini-lessons and its been so much fun. These items will work perfect in our K-3 classrooms. I hope to post my mini-lessons and ideas this week.
What the Teacher Wants!: F...l....u....e.....n.....c.....y
Happy Reading! ENJOY THE WEATHER! 70s in Iowa on March 17th- WOOHOO!
Mrs. Speake
It truly allows you to visit many AMAZING classrooms and see what EXCELLENT teachers are doing in the world of education. I am still amazed at the many items teachers create and readily share. THANK YOU to What the Teacher Wants.... These two gals have amazing ideas and they share many things for free. They have over 5000 followers for a reason! WOW!
Following and reading blogs motivate me and encourage me to strive for excellence and quality. Teaching is a passion and a way of life!! :) That is a good thing- we need to be surrounded by fellow teachers that believe in our kiddos and have high expectations for their success!!
Check out their fluency charts and the rubric. (click on link below) LOVE IT!! I have been in several classrooms this past week teaching fluency mini-lessons and its been so much fun. These items will work perfect in our K-3 classrooms. I hope to post my mini-lessons and ideas this week.
What the Teacher Wants!: F...l....u....e.....n.....c.....y
Happy Reading! ENJOY THE WEATHER! 70s in Iowa on March 17th- WOOHOO!
Mrs. Speake
08 March 2012
Technology
I had the pleasure of attending our district's technology meeting this afternoon. Truthfully, I admit I was not looking forward to being gone. My to-do list was much too long and I felt I needed to stay and intentionally plan a unit for another meeting I have on Friday afternoon with 5th grade not to mention the Kindergarteners I needed to finish assessing for reading levels.
I have been on the tech meeting since I started with our district in 1993 (OM-has it been that long already??) I was just thinking it was time to step down from the committee, but the meeting was MOTIVATING! I love technology and I love learning new things with technology. We had the pleasure of hearing the following teachers present. These gals are providing great learning opportunities through technology for our H-D students.
*Mrs. Krull -Middle school tech teacher has done great things with keyboarding, researching, discovering and investigating many software programs and internet uses with her 400+ students! Check out her fusion pages. As a parent I loved seeing the resumes the 8th graders created-real life skills.
*Mrs. Johnson- a 6th grade math and reading teacher, check out her fusion pages-very impressive!
*Mrs. Hoegh- High School Consumer Science teacher began, The Bulldog Cafe, which is a wonderful business & learning opportunity for our students. Check it out-she is doing wonderful things for our students.
*Mrs. Aalbers- 1st grade teacher shared the many uses of Kidspiration- wonderful software for every elementary teacher to use in every content area!
*Leanne Tucker and Alicia Clark- Preschool teachers shared the sites Starfall and BookFlix. Our students must be surrounded with technology.
My new learning via Mrs. Johnson: What should I read next? (Check out this website)
As literacy coach I hear this question from teachers, students and parents. I am great at recommendations for young learners but I struggle with older students as I have been a first grade teacher for the last 12 years. This site allows you to enter the title of the last book read and it generates a list of ideas for your next read. Check it out- AWESOME! Can't wait to use it and share with my teachers I work with.
My personal wish for technology is to get an Ipad. Oh the things I could do at school!! The latest incentive is a new app coming out this spring- Fountas & Pinnell BAS Leveling Kit! We could do all running records digitally- record, save and share teacher to teacher. I guess I can wish- and maybe if Mr. Speake is reading this (as he is one of my four followers) he will know just what to buy me for my birthday. ;)
Thanks to all the teachers that regularly use technology-our students do not know a world without it! Thanks to Mr. Morton, Mrs. Fridley and Mrs. Peterson our dedicated H-D tech team!
Happy Reading! Mrs. Speake
I have been on the tech meeting since I started with our district in 1993 (OM-has it been that long already??) I was just thinking it was time to step down from the committee, but the meeting was MOTIVATING! I love technology and I love learning new things with technology. We had the pleasure of hearing the following teachers present. These gals are providing great learning opportunities through technology for our H-D students.
*Mrs. Krull -Middle school tech teacher has done great things with keyboarding, researching, discovering and investigating many software programs and internet uses with her 400+ students! Check out her fusion pages. As a parent I loved seeing the resumes the 8th graders created-real life skills.
*Mrs. Johnson- a 6th grade math and reading teacher, check out her fusion pages-very impressive!
*Mrs. Hoegh- High School Consumer Science teacher began, The Bulldog Cafe, which is a wonderful business & learning opportunity for our students. Check it out-she is doing wonderful things for our students.
*Mrs. Aalbers- 1st grade teacher shared the many uses of Kidspiration- wonderful software for every elementary teacher to use in every content area!
*Leanne Tucker and Alicia Clark- Preschool teachers shared the sites Starfall and BookFlix. Our students must be surrounded with technology.
My new learning via Mrs. Johnson: What should I read next? (Check out this website)
As literacy coach I hear this question from teachers, students and parents. I am great at recommendations for young learners but I struggle with older students as I have been a first grade teacher for the last 12 years. This site allows you to enter the title of the last book read and it generates a list of ideas for your next read. Check it out- AWESOME! Can't wait to use it and share with my teachers I work with.
My personal wish for technology is to get an Ipad. Oh the things I could do at school!! The latest incentive is a new app coming out this spring- Fountas & Pinnell BAS Leveling Kit! We could do all running records digitally- record, save and share teacher to teacher. I guess I can wish- and maybe if Mr. Speake is reading this (as he is one of my four followers) he will know just what to buy me for my birthday. ;)
Thanks to all the teachers that regularly use technology-our students do not know a world without it! Thanks to Mr. Morton, Mrs. Fridley and Mrs. Peterson our dedicated H-D tech team!
Happy Reading! Mrs. Speake
29 February 2012
The Fluent Reader
I absolutely love Mr. Rasinski's book, The Fluent Reader. Last week I had the opportunity to present a Fluency Session for our literacy professional development. This is the time of year students fall behind their peers in regards to fluency and independent reading fluency.
What is Fluency? The ability to read the words in a text with sufficient accuracy, automaticity, and prosody to lead to good comprehension.
This book is a must have for any elementary teacher! Mr. Rasinski presents the latest research and shares many effective fluency strategies that are easy to integrate in a balanced literacy program. He also includes a DVD with video samples and many downloads to get you started. I read the book in just a few days and I was so excited to get a chance to share my findings with our PreK-5 teachers. Highlights from the book:
Read Aloud-motivating readers & modeling
Assisted Reading-scaffolding for your developing & struggling readers
Repeated Reading- ways to implement this strategy in fun & engaging ways
great ideas to use assistants, volunteers, parents, older student tutors
Performance Reading- fun! poetry, songs, chants, Reader's Theater
many ideas, and ways to start instantly
Synergy- how to make lessons engaging, fun & powerful
Content Areas- integrate fluency throughout the day in many content areas
Assessment- how to best assess, rubrics, don't over rely on DIBELS!
Video: Tim Rasinski on teaching reading fluency
Happy Reading! Mrs. Speake
23 August 2011
Literacy Kick-Off
Today we launched our literacy kick-off for our Prep Kindergarten-5th grade! Our school district is in the beginning stages of revising and renewing our balanced literacy programs and aligning this with the Iowa Core and making sure we are teaching 21st century skills.
Our first goal this academic year is to improve our independent reading piece, bringing back our own personal love of reading and sharing this love with our students. We want to create students who CAN read, WANT to read and CHOOSE to read. A second goal is reviewing all of the comprehension strategies and making sure these skills are explicitly taught and modeled.
A few highlights:
- Awakening our inner reader & helping our students find the joy in reading: The Book Whisperer, Donalyn Miller
- Leveling & organizing the classroom library (our summertime project)
- Procedures and routines to help build reading stamina
- Scheduling time into the daily schedule-what can we give up
- What is the latest research regarding independent reading
- Fountas & Pinnell Assessment Benchmark Kits- how will we assess
Together we are going to take small steps (some might say giant leaps)
to strengthen and bring our literacy programs into the 21st century. I know we will have many moments of great success and times of stress and frustration BUT what is so awesome about our group of teachers is that we are all ready to face this challenge together.
Happy Reading!! Ronna
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