the first five years

If there is one thing I love more than cute classroom supplies, it's FREE cute classroom supplies.  I am an avid bargain shopper but I also hate anything overdone, or underdone.  I like things to look clean, neat, organized and professional while being fun and interactive (easier said than done right?) I am sure every teacher out there knows about TeachersPayTeachers.com but I just discovered it and I am obsessed .  There are tons of free downloads including posters, fonts, and strategies, and they are all super cute.  You can buy things as well and most of them are pretty cheap, and if you upgrade, you can post and sell resources too.  You can specify grade level, subject area, and price range to search for the strategies so I have been downloading everything I can find.    This is just an example of one of the amazing resources available.  I have been looking into interactive notebooks lately because I've never tried them before...

All these posts about Twitter ...must be something special about it. I just wanted to give a shout out to 5 "Twit-educators" that I have decided to follow on my Twitter account (my follow button is on the right)! 1. @TalkWithTeachers -this is a guy who, according to his bio, "wants to improve the conversation in education."  That alone should be reason enough to follow, but what's more is he participates in Twitter chats and actively facilitates questions, acknowledges the presence of users and responds, retweets, or favorites tweets that are important. 2.  @Edutopia - super cool account with loads of ideas for classrooms including lessons.  I could spend hours on this account (almost like my addiction to Pinterest).  This account posts articles to read, pictures, and great resources to incorporate into the classroom. 3. @JasonProff -I interacted with this user during my Twitter chat (see previous post) and I really enjoyed and agreed with what ...

I did it!  I participated in a Twitter chat. I chose #litlangchat because my concentrations are in Language Arts and Social Studies. I was kind of nervous going in to actually participate (I know that sounds silly) but I am only a teacher-student and I wasn't sure if my opinions mattered to the AP English teachers, ya know? I know I have opinions and I think I know what I'm talking about, but who knows...maybe I have no idea. Anyway, I really liked being able to communicate with teachers all over the country about what I love .  It was pretty difficult at one point because I was so restricted and readers can tell I love to write....hence the 2-page posts.   It was also challenging because I wasn't sure how users were  interpreting my words; the ever-important tone of voice is not a factor in the conversation. While I did participate, I refrained from disagreeing with others (this time) solely for this reason. I was really surpri...

I'm going to get on my soap box. Normally, I wouldn't begin a blog entry that way, because that just sets you up for nasty comments and people posting their life story on your page...that's why I deleted Facebook . BUT hopefully this topic isn't quite so controversial: teachers and technology. There are endless amounts of resources to use out there and pretending technology doesn't exist hurts our students and hurts us.  Technology is not going away, Facebook is not going away, Snapchat is not going away.  Ignoring them and pretending like they don't exist is not going to make them go away.  The reason I teach is to prepare students to function actively in a democratic society.   That means being able to form their own opinions based on research, knowing how and when to vote, financial literacy, and scores of other real-life situations. The point is, technology IS an active member of society and it is NOT going away. You can vote onli...

How many times a day does someone ask, "How are you?"  A lot. Don't you think it would be much more interesting to ask "Who are you?" When we consider who we are and who others are we have to take many perspectives into account.  Personally, I know that I have a Family Identity, a Classroom Identity, a Friends Identity, and most importantly a Never-Leave-Bed-Netflix-Identity .  We act differently around different groups of people whether we like it or not.  It's natural because we maintain different types of relationships with different types of people.  It's our way of personalizing relationships. In my opinion, the older we become, the more these identities merge together and overlap.  Now I know that I would not wear my pjs to an interview and treat my employer like I'm watching Law and Order. .. there have to be some boundaries.  What I mean is that the way we act in every situation or setting affects our other identities and the way pe...

Recently, I was required to read Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth for my American Literature class. The book follows the character Lily Bart, a smart, coy, single woman who is conflicted between her desire for love, and need for money.  Essentially, Wharton is writing about society's expectations of women and the lack of opportunity available to them in the 1890s. That's a lot of words. During our class discussion of the novel, the theme of happiness came up multiple times.  We discussed what the definition of happiness might be and I came to the conclusion that everyone's definition is different. Happiness could mean freedom, independence, love, spirituality, health, family ; the list is endless. It made me start to think about what my person definition of happiness is. To me, happiness is purpose, or rather, having purpose. I am happiest when I am changing lives, more specifically when I am teaching. I am happiest when I am sharing knowledge ...