Midwinter break!

Midwinter break is here. I'm not sure I've ever been this excited for break. I'm a little run ragged between teaching, taking a class, and teaching a class. Add scoring 75 explorer projects and you've got a very tired Pete.

The plan for break is to get some things done. I have some planning to do to recalibrate heading into our spring break. I have a number of items to score and get into our online grade book. I've also got some reading to catch up on. I brought home 4 books that I (wishfully) hope to read over break.

Oh, and I hope to nap!

A Break Well Spent

My three days off (plus the weekend!) were certainly needed. While I did a little bit or work yesterday, today was the only real day that I got down to work for a substantial amount of time. I worked on honing my plan for this week, as well as mapping out the week after that (first week of March). That being said, I went book shopping and I read 5 books that I might be using for novel study as well as one other book. My time was well spent.

I was able to make my way through the following books:

• Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
• The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place by Maryrose Wood
• Loser by Jerry Spinelli
• A Week in the Woods by Andrew Clements

I really enjoyed all of them. As I've done in the past, I opted to dog-ear pages with possible stopping points for kids. I then took those pages and put them into my OneNote notebook for novel study books. Instead of constantly needing to go back and re-read books I can use these questions to refresh my memory. My hope is that I can get kids to think more deeply about the author's message by using some stopping points with questions aimed at analyzing character and plot.

Midwinter Break with Google Reader!

We're on Midwinter break this week! The wife and I are off through Tuesday, then she heads back to her 2nd/3rd grade kiddos and I head back to the university. January and February are awful as far as consistency, an underestimated part of learning in my eyes. Every other week has a day off because of a holiday, day between semesters, or teacher training day. This week is great for the student teacher, as it is a chance to focus on the classwork and get a little rest Monday and Tuesday.

For me, this week is a good chance to run some more (92 miles instead of the 75/wk I have averaged), and a chance to catch up on my Google reader. As I mentioned earlier in the week, the blog posts to be read ballooned to over 100. How about now? Well, I am down to 9... they are the ones that I need to really invest time to read (Bridging Differences, Will Richardson, etc).

What has Google Reader taught me?

• There are lots of people writing about writing instruction.
• Facebook has lots of users. It could be seen as a tipping point in ed-tech. I wonder if ed tech will change because of what the capabilities of a site like Facebook, and not facebook itself (the "see how useful this is" type of thing). Makes me think of globalization... it can be really good, but can also be really scary and/or misused.
• Alfie Kohn isn't universally liked. The line that stuck was "wet streets cause rain."
• Track records aren't just used in corporate America... imagine being a teacher, or superintendent evaluated based on how your kids did? Should they?
• Student teachers worry about standards. Me? Not so much. I want solid teaching that has a purpose, and is linked to standards, but I know you can't focus on the standards.
• We should be sure not to take the Internet as fact... kinda like how kids think everything in the newspaper is true.