The Daunting Task of Writing

Hey there! Ever since blogging became a thing in the late 1900s (that's around the year 1999 for you youngsters), I've been a part of it. I started blogging my senior year in high school, but I defeated the purpose of a blog by making it private and no one could read it but me. That's where all my "emo poems" went that I like to tell my students about. However, later in college, I kept a public blog regularly and had a small but loyal readership. The best part of blogging is that now, whenever I feel like it, I can go back through the archives of my blogs and reminisce about the "good ol' days"(more like the emotional roller coaster days).

Sadly, something happened when I became a teacher. I dropped blogging almost all together, save for a handful of posts over the years, and to be honest, I pretty much dropped writing anything that wasn't for school. What happened? I certainly didn't lose my passion for writing! Over the years, instead of writing my own blog, I've been entertained and informed by other teacher blogs.

This summer, I read two blogs (here and here) that made me particularly jealous, and when I get jealous, I get competitive! I love the voices these two talented bloggers have and love the ideas they share even more. One of the most difficult things about writing is knowing where to start, but seeing what these other teachers are doing helped me get over that uncertainty. You start by doing...it really is that simple!

So begins my latest blog "This Week". I plan to use this blog to reflect on and communicate my successes and struggles in the classroom. This year I am challenging myself to post at least twenty-five blogs by May 2015. To help hold me accountable, I'm posting it in my classroom and counting on my students to give me gentle reminders when I'm slacking. Hopefully, over time, I will open the dusty crypt of my blogging skills (cue the creaking sound) and .

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Perception vs. Reality

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Killer Waves, Students Teach, and We Believe

This week was our first full, five day week...and oh boy, it was a full week! :) Most of CHS at the Chris Herren assembly. Really puts into perspective how small our school is! We were swept up in the short story "Rogue Wave" by Theodore Taylor in 7th grade this week. It was a challenging story, but it had a great plot that kept us on the edges of our seats. We practiced writing summaries together and did some activities to help us identify multiple themes. Before we started reading the story, the 7th graders made their own vocabulary lists by scanning the story for unknown words. Then they put their lists on Quizlet so they could practice their words in a variety of ways. On Friday, students wrote their Genuis Hour project proposals on our blog . One of my fantastic students posting evidence from the text to support a theme. The summary my students helped write together. Deciding what evidence is relevant. Speech students led some interesting disc

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