pdZone

“Researching blogs and blogging research: synergies of colliding worlds”

As a soon-to-be literacy teacher, I find this article very interesting. Getting students to want to read – particularly boys – can be a major challenge. I have a few ideas that I would like to try to implement next year, but I’ll have to see how things go.

I have spent the past couple of days (tomorrow as well) in literacy workshops. I will be taking on a literacy assignment in the fall, so this should prove to be good PD for me. It’s really too bad that all teachers are not afforded to take whatever workshops they feel would best suit their needs as educators. I certainly understand that economic realities preclude this, but it is just such a revitalizing experience.

There was a time when I would have grumbled about having to take part in a workshop. I felt that I didn’t have time to waste on somebody else’s make-work project. Over the years, my perspective has changed. I am no longer so arrogant to assume that there is nothing new that I need to learn. In fact, the more I learn, the more I realize I still don’t know. Sitting through the workshop I find new ideas popping into my head (construction of knowledge!). These are ideas that I hope to be able to implement next year.

Walking out today, I found my head was spinning. Maybe it was the coffee, or the fact that I am running on about six hours of sleep on a good night, or maybe it is due to the fact that the hamster is really getting a workout in there. I still feel like a bit of a dim bulb when I look at the task ahead of me, but days like this make me feel a bit more like a 40 Watt-er than a 10.

Key quote:

One thing I have tried in the last few years is to have students turn in papers with a “code word” at the top, instead of their name. That way, when I mark them, I rarely know who kid wrote a paper. And it’s a simple way to remove any expectations I have based on previous performance to a current assignment.