Ms. M's Tales of a Teacher: My Personal Teacher Blog

 One of my favorite topics to talk about is leadership. I enjoy reading about it, learning from others, and developing my own leadership skills through practice. One question I often hear discussed is should early educators wait to begin exercising their teacher-leader roles and abilities?  I certainly think that one could argue both sides of this case with great evidence. For example, early educators should wait because their first few years in the classroom can be overwhelming. Getting to know students, learning the culture of their school, partnering with families... the list is endless. The last thing on his/her mind would be taking on extra roles and tasks as a leader!  Over the years I've noticed with my own friends and fellow officers on our leadership team with KDP that the first two years are always tough. Time management is vital, yet even the best have difficulty balancing leadership tasks with their new classroom demands.  On the other hand, being a part of a leadership

 Just recently I started working on my plans for upcoming lessons in writing. As per usual, many thoughts floated into my mind as I worked through what seems like "the usual" flow. This wasn't the first time that the same thoughts arrived, but I realized if I keep thinking them... it's worth writing them down and sharing.  Even as I reflect now, this is what writing truly is- ideas and thoughts. How can we possibly teach thoughts and ideas to our students? There seems to be a wealth of "expertise" in the teaching world about "how to teach writing effectively" but again I ask, is there truly a correct way, or is one way more effective than another? I've been searching for this answer for probably my whole career so far. as I've always found the art and science of teaching writing the most difficult of all subjects (especially the language arts) to teach.  Certainly there are specifics such as mechanics that students need to know. I enjoy tea

 In this post about guided reading, my goal is to focus in on the cloud of comprehension. This can be a scary place because comprehension encompasses so much that it seems either impossible to get started, or you can get so lost in the discussions that you seem to loose your place and purpose of the reading. Never fear, this happens to all of us and that's ok! Sometimes it's best to just let the conversation flow when a student starts talking about his/her understanding of a story. During guided reading however, it's best to remain on the path of what the group goals are for the day and use time strategically to review the strategy or skill intended. My suggestion is to focus on one or two skills for each session and discuss the various strategies students are using to practice the skill. I also do a lot of modeling in the beginning of the year as students talk about the story. I take my turn (just like them!) with a  think-out-loud to ask questions and model my thinking fo

 Now that you have your readers making predictions and looking through their text, it's time for the next step for guided reading. This is (in my opinion,) the most exciting part. It's time to actually read! Now that the students have predicted what the book will be about, and their interest is sparked, they will spend the next part of the session reading. Many teachers ask; What should I be doing during this time? The answer is there are many things that can be done, however, it depends on what goals you set before the session for your student group. You will know your students best, and therefore make informed decisions about how the session will run. Here are a few different suggestions for where to start:  Print work/ Fluency: Many teachers use this time to work with struggling readers on print work and fluency. As you listen to your student reading, review decoding strategies and encourage students to reread the sentence after all words have been decoded. Demonstrate how t

 Happy new year to all! This seems to be a perfect time to reflect on the second half of academic year coming up. Many people are making resolutions, and while this may seem like an antiquated idea, it's actually something I look forward to as a teacher. Although our "year" begins somewhere between August/September and ends sometime in May/June, we are lucky as teachers that we get to have two times where we can hit the restart button. Not many professions have that possibility.  Every year we get a fresh start with a new group of students. We get to clean and decorate our classrooms, start with a fresh planner, and get handed a clean slate. In January, we have the opportunity to assess how it's going, make informed decisions, and adjust as needed.  Personally, I like to take the time to look at a few areas in particular: family communication, lesson plans, and personal teacher exploration.  Family Communication- January is a great time to review students' progres