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

 Greetings everyone! I am thrilled to share with you today some strategies I've been geeking out on in my car as I commute to work the past few weeks. I've been listening to podcasts from Heinemann , my go-to for all things teaching! Side-plug for Heinemann- I've used many books to supplement my training and and the materials that often come with it are amazing because the video libraries are great ways to see experts model strategies!  Getting back to literacy and math, I've been trying some new strategies during math lessons that connect with literacy to help my students through word problems. The podcasts were a big help hearing from Jennifer Serravallo and Marilyn Burns how they cross-connect literacy and math using what their students already know and modeling in similar ways across the subjects.  This year I've been trying out comparing the word problems to the stories we are reading in class and applying strategies from Reading Workshop to help solve them. Re...

 Today I want to focus on Teacher Leadership. It's a term that many use but I often get asked "what exactly is Teacher Leadership?" There are many definitions of teacher leadership, and my first suggestion would be to check out a great book as your first stop as a resource: The Power of Teacher Leaders . I have educator friends who have chapters published in this book, and it personally was my launchpad for understanding teacher leadership, and for my own journey as one.  To me, being a teacher-leader goes beyond the textbook definition of being a leader at your school or in your district. Although leading your team at school and working closely with administrators to create a positive culture is certainly a part of leadership, there is more to it to explore.  I've found for myself personally, that exercising my leadership skills (and continuing to grow as a leader) comes from other areas in education. Consider the different teacher organizations you belong to, and if...