Join the celebration!
Celebrate the 10th birthday of the weblog. Share your thoughts and experiences as an educator.
Have a slice of virtual cake with us-we won’t make you wear a funny hat. Unless you want to……
Yes, Virginia, the world is flat…..
It was a snowy day and there was no delay or cancellation for my school. I manuevered my way the 35 miles to my school knowing I only had two classes to teach that day and one was set to participate in the Adora Svitak webinar. Knowing my seventh grade class that block, I thought it was a perfect fit- they are highly verbal, curious learners. They came in and the webinar was already up and running waiting for them to join in the conversation. My projector was streaming the chat conversation alongside the window of Adora’s presentation. We added questions to the forum-we delighted when one of ours was mentioned by Steve Dembo, the host. Did I mention I teach Spanish? We are language learners- we play daily with vocabulary and communication. We are intrigued by the fact that students can connect in real time across the nation-even the world to contribute to a single story- the truest show of collaboration. We participated and learned that our favorite characters are favorites for all kids. We did not stay for the entire hour, but we sampled what it was like to contribute to a conversation about literature across the country. I thought it was so great I had invited a few people I thought might want to be a part of it with us including the building principal, the literacy coach, the technology integrator and one of my favorite seventh grade English teachers(shout out Dina!) The majority were tied up, but the tech guy came in and sat in on it with us.
We had a great experience-the kids are geared up to connect now on our Think.com access as soon as it is activated-to practice Spanish with native speakers, to help others understand our language and culture as well. The world is small and very connected.
Let’s learn from the learners
I know I will be intrigued by the thoughts and perspective they are offering us on us and what we do right and especially ways we can fix what we do wrong.
For the person who has everything……
Since we have shared some charitable ways to give this season, here is another good one.
You can donate livestock to a needy family instead of wasting money on some unnecessary bauble that is inconsequential. A colleague shared this with me and I am signing on to purchase something as well. She decided to honor her relatives in Peru with the purchase of a llama for a needy family. I saw you can purchase an entire animal or make a partial purchase towards the bigger ones like water buffalo. I am planning on buying a flock of ducks cause I can. Ho ho ho quack.
a prayer to the deity of snow days
AHHH the Northeast. Western NY especially. At least this year we did not have to trick or treat in snowsuits. Today in Spanish we reviewed weather expressions, looked at current weather images embedded in powerpoint from S America-did all the appropriate activities as the snow swirled outside…..then we read and discussed an article that highlighted all the rituals kids (and TEACHERS!) do to encourage a snow day. Some favorites: wear your pajamas inside out to bed(doing it right now myself), sleep with a spoon under your pillow(my son has that right now in his room in addition to the pjs), flush an ice cube down the toilet(both my kids did that one tonight). I also got one from a colleague that involved a dance in front of a window sin ropa…… that one we did NOT discuss in class. Do you know of anymore? Would love to compile a list of goofy things you do…… or know kids do to get the highly prized SNOW DAY!
I will let you know if it worked……..:-)
Oh and my students have the assignment to write me a thank you note on email in Spanish if we are off tomorrow……….tee hee!
