The Good Stuff

Recently students in Reading Workshop wrote about the "good stuff" that they see at our school. Sometimes people forget just how much positive goes on every day at school. The student responses serve as a reminder.

* People find money and put it in the lost and found
* People help each other
* Mr. McGuire bugs other teachers
* When our teachers tell us to get into groups no one is left out
* When we work in groups everyone works together
* Teachers are almost always happy
* Kids help other kids get on track
*Kids having good attitudes
*People are always smiling
* Everyone is respectful to each other
* There is a future for my friends and me
* We get to sing
* It's so much better than city schools where everyone always wants to fight
*You can act like yourself without being judged
* People work together to get things done
* Kids give 100% effort on almost everything
* The teachers are really funny
* Kids don't make fun of you, if you can't do what they can
* Teachers make it fun to learn
* No one really cares about looks
* People share stuff with other people
* When a person drops their stuff people help them pick it up
* Kids are happy to come to school
* Everyone can make the right choices and be smart
*People keep their promises
*People get along at recess
*Teachers are so kind-hearted
*Kids don't just eat with their friends
*People compliment each other
*A nice principal
*People encourage other people
*People get along
*Students help students
* Lots of technology
*Great staff, that has a big impact on the school
*People respect each others' differences
*Friends like me for who I am

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Conkle's Hollow Field Trip

The sixth grade visited Conkle's Hollow Nature Preserve in the Hocking Hills as part of a Geology field trip. Students enjoyed the day and the beautiful rock formations.

Noted Naturalist, Paul Knoop explained many facts about the area, how it came to be, and facts about many plants and animals.

What Mountains Have You Climbed?

What challenges have you overcome? What challenges have you faced? As you look back on this school year, 170 days full of goods and bads, what went well? Where did you succeed?

Or, as sung by Miley Cyrus

The struggles I’m facing,

The chances I’m taking

Sometimes they might knock me down but

No I’m not breaking

And as you look ahead, what challenges still have to be faced?

There’s always going to be another mountain
I’m always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,

And how will you handle those challenges?

Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes I'm going to have to lose,
Ain’t about how fast I get there,
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb

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100 Incredibly Inspiring Blogs

The Reading Workshop has been included in a list of 100 Incredibly Inspiring Blogs.  The post on What Makes a Good Teacher leads the list of posts that take a look at what makes a good teacher and will inspire you to appreciate what you do or maybe even improve your style as an educator.

Thank you for inclusion! As I stated in the post, I am not claiming to do these things, but it does give me something to work towards.

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Grading Students' Blogs

Want an A on your blog? Climb the stairs to writing success. Climb the stairs to earning a good grade.

Did you spell everything correctly? I would hope so. After all, who would want to write something that is available to the whole world, and misspell words? Can the reader understand the topic because you stick to it? Following these minimal standards will earn you at least a D.

Did you use correct grammar? Can the reader follow your post in an organized manner? This is still a most basic expectations for writers that want to publish their work. The skills learned in the primary grades are not too much to expect for work posted on the WWW. A C means satisfactory and not meeting this criteria would surely not be sufficient for earning any higher grade.

To build loyal readers, first you must have interesting content presented in a well-written way. Supporting details draw in the readers and give them understanding. If posts are written cleanly, the words illustrate the meaning, and the reader can visualize your ideas, you will earn a B.

Occasionally someone will write something that makes the reader pause, and think, or causes the reader to agree or disagree. Sometimes hours after reading an essay, the reader is still thinking about it. When a blog post has that something special, then the writer deserves an A.

What step are you on? Have you climbed the stairs to writing success?

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Blogging in Language Arts

After eight months of commenting on The Reading Workshop blog and writing an online journal on the Reading Workshop Wiki, students are stepping into the driver's seat. A few students have already had the opportunity to create their own blog as part of this class. Now, all students who have their parents' permission can have a blog of their own.

The opportunity to publish online is a powerful motivator for students because it gives them a voice, an audience, and the chance to get immediate feedback. Students are excited about the opportunity to share their work. Blogs engage every student in the writing process and allow the students to both reflect on their own writing and react to the writing of others. I intend to use our blogs as a platform for a variety of writing exercises. Each student will respond to prompts, share ideas and resources, and reflecting on learning inside and outside of the classroom.

The blogs are accessible to anyone searching the Internet, but I will oversee all student blog contributions, and I will exercise administrative access privileges whenever necessary. By their nature, blogs are designed to allow comments by readers, but for safety reasons, this feature will only be available to our students and approved visitors.

If parents and teachers would like access to be able to comment on the blogs, they can send me an email and I will set up privileges.

The students are excited and I look forward to seeing the results of their hard work and creativity. Links to all of the students blogs are in the sidebar.

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