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Image of the Child: What We Believe About Children Matters

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When I was in high school and had plans to become a high school English teacher (if you know me personally, you’ll realize how laughable the idea of me teaching high school is), I used to lay awake at night and lesson plan, like most eighteen-year-old do. I didn’t know much about education or teaching, but I was convinced that I would make my classes read Jane Austen novels and have them all dress up in period garb and hold a tea. My plans weren’t expanded much further than that, but I was convinced that would material enough to carry us through several months of the school year. Fast forward a few years when, during senior year of my undergrad, I had the opportunity to intern in a kindergarten classroom (I’d since given up my dreams of high school teaching and decided to go get my master’s in elementary education instead) and teach a lesson. I wouldn’t say my lesson was a failure of epic proportions, but I will note that it included having kindergartners sit on the carpet ...
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The Magic of Reading: Incorporating the Joy of Books into the Classroom

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At the beginning of the school year, I try to set a few areas that I want to focus on throughout the year. Some of the goals never quite come to fruition (let’s be honest, my desk is still a hot mess, despite my lofty ambition to organize it weekly) while others are slightly more successful. One of my goals was to create a culture and love of reading in my classroom. I had the opportunity to attend the Reading Summit hosted by Scholastic last summer and hear Donalyn Miller speak (she’s the QUEEN of the reading world), and I was left to reflect on my own practice. If I teach phonics and the elements of a story but the kids despise reading, what have I really taught? Reading should be transformative. Empathy, perspective, compassion, imagination, and creativity are all nestled between the pages of a book. If we never allow kids to experience this, then we’re truly doing them a dangerous disservice. This is not to diminish or ignore the critical role of phonics, phonemic awareness, st...
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Nothing Without Joy: The Role of Play, Curiosity, and Wonder in the Classroom.

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You only need to spend five minutes with a group of five-year-olds to realize that they are natural explorers, questioners (look up the statistics for how many questions a day a child that age asks!), and storytellers with an innate sense of wonder.  The world is big, and they are eager to find out more and make sense of it. In an article I recently read about asking beautiful questions (link at the end), it quotes Neil Postman as saying, “ Children enter school as question marks and leave schools as periods .” This is perhaps one of the saddest statements I’ve read about education in awhile. There have been countless studies conducted about the role of play, wonder, and questions in education. In spite of the research support, however, so much of education falls into the “one size” fits all trap of standardization. Although there is a shift towards critical, creative thinking, it is not complete or fully embraced yet within the structure of education as a whole or ref...
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Wearing a Tiara While Packing: A Reflection on Year Two of Teaching.

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 If there was an award for packing skills, I wouldn’t place. In fact, I wouldn’t even be invited to the competition. It was a comical sight to watch me attempt to pack up my classroom at the end of this school year in preparation for moving to a different room in the building. My packing methods ranged from dumping out the contents of my desk onto the floor and sorting through it to dancing to musical theater soundtracks on a table while removing staples from the wall to wearing a tiara while scrubbing my whiteboards.                 It’s slightly sobering to see the entire year packed up, the memories, challenges, and joy tucked inside the tiny confines of cardboard boxes. My second year of teaching came to a close as I waved to the yellow school buses chugging kids home for the summer.               In many ways, switching grade leve...
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My Hopes for You in 2017 (Also Mentioned: Unicorns, Glitter, and Pink Recycling Bins)

                January first has always felt like a day to approach with vigor, enthusiasm, and unbridled expectations. For many years, I would carefully select a new notebook with colorful designs on the color. Pen in hand (because pens signify a true level of commitment), I would scribble lists of resolutions, goals, hopes, and dreams for the coming year. This was going to be the year anything could happen, so some of my goals may have been more realistic than others.                 I’ve shifted away from the two page lists of expectations and towards choosing a word to embrace and focus on for the year. However, I am still in love with the beauty of possibilities that the feeling of a new year brings, the hopes to cling to freely for both myself and for you. Here are some wishes and dreams I have for you for 2017:               ...
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How to Heal a Broken Wing

When I was in middle school, a librarian jokingly referred to me as the one who was “clogging up the library system” because of the massive amounts of books I checked out at once. I quickly became adept in figuring out the delicate balancing act of opening doors and walking across a parking while gripping a teetering pile of books. Many of my journals from elementary school are simply filled with lists of books that I enjoyed/letters I had written to fictional characters. Not only do I drink as much coffee as the Gilmore Girls, I also read like Rory. To this day, I still feel a shiver of anticipation when I glide through the library’s revolving doors and receive a new Scholastic book order. In my classroom, we read frequently. We adore soaking in beautiful words, talking about the characters or concepts, and making connections (kindergarteners LOVE making text-to-self connections!). One of my favorite things about reading aloud is that we not only develop a love for stories an...
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The Greatest Adventure

I was at the Dollar Tree on a Sunday afternoon buying the random assortment of items that can only be found in a teacher’s cart. These items included plastic salad tongs, stickers, cupcake liners, muffin tins, and clothespins. The line inched towards the back of the store, and there was a general grumble of impatience. The interactions customers had with the cashier were varied. Some people shoved their money at her, obviously in a hurry. Others responded with pleasantries and conversation. Exhaustion crept across the cashier’s face as she rapidly rang up purchases for a few customers who berated her for the length of the line. When it was the next customer’s turn, she greeted her with the automatic question, “How are you doing?” The customer smiled and responded with the expected answer of, “I’m doing well, thanks.” She stopped and returned the smile, telling her that her reply and smile were just what she needed on this chaotic afternoon. That simple exchange stu...
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