Do any of you know the song, It's All Coming Back to Me Now, by Celine Dion? Well, it describes right now, in this moment, exactly how I feel about my return journey to the classroom. I have had the privilege of working with one of our most knowledgeable mentors who has had the challenge of trying to bring me up to speed in any of the curriculum areas that do not concern mathematics. It is safe to say that the "Learning Curve" is more vertical than an actual curve.
When I left the classroom 7 years ago, teaching literacy was one of the things I thought that I did really well; it was an area that made me enthusiastic and confident. As soon as my decision to officially leave the world that has been mine for the past 7 years, elementary mathematics, I knew that my focus had to shift to Literacy. And shift it has! Things have changed, but they have also stayed the same. Everything I am learning has a familiar ring, but the biggest shift I think I have noticed wasn't a surprise - teaching is intentional. From the books we read to the lessons we teach, it is all done using information gained from working with our students and striving to meet their very diverse needs. I need to watch, talk with and learn from my students and they will provide me with specific information that will help me decide where to go next.
I have been researching both reading and writing workshop, looking for examples of focus lessons, anchor charts and word study information. I now have several binders dedicated to these topics and they are filling up already. Yesterday I am sure that I printed nearly an entire package of paper! I have replaced one ink cartridge and have some spares on the side waiting to go to work.
Beyond the personal mentoring that I have been fortunate to receive, I have discovered what I believe to be, exemplary online resources.
Right now, the ones I have been visiting most have been:
Mrs. Meacham's Classroom Snapshots provides endless resources that will support so many aspects of my classroom beyond the Literacy piece.
Wachusett Regional School District which has an entire section devoted to Literacy. I have found yearly plans, lesson plans, lists of mentor text, you name it - I found it here.
I have not had much time (or paper) to begin exploring ReadWriteThink, which is the website of the International Reading Federation. Here I have found a ton of classroom resources that will also be helpful to me as the year goes on.
Just this morning I discovered the PFlugerville ISD , an online curriculum site for all subjects, which appears to have a ton of useful information.
My goal is to use this blog as the spot to keep track of my return trip to the educational place I love the most, my classroom. I hope that I will be able to provide information to others, that they may also find helpful in their journey as well.
If any of you have suggestions for other websites that I may find helpful, I would love for you to share them with me.
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