Student Blogging

Ah, it’s been far too long since I’ve been able to sit down and devote my time to a really good post. Well, better late than never.

So what’s been keeping me so busy? I now have 145 student blogs up and running. Whew! I can tell you that many times over the past couple of weeks I kept asking myself if I was out of my mind! When I came up with the idea of setting my students up with blogs I figured I would start with two… Continue reading

OneNote Files

As my mind now turns toward the upcoming school year I am diligently working on transferring all my files into OneNote folders. (If you missed my post about OneNote, it’s worth a look.) So this is just a quick post to let you know the folders are being updated and you can access them here.

BTW, if you don’t have OneNote in your MS Office suite. You can download a trial copy. It’s good for 60 days, and if you find that you don’t want to purchase it… Continue reading

Truly Using Technology In The Classroom

Yes, this does seem like an ad for Apple products, but get past that and think about what is really happening here. The ultimate engagement experience for students. My mind swims with the thought of having students who are excited about being in class. Instead of us just talking at them, they are partners in their own learning. This is how technology benefits us! This is truly my ideal, what I hope to experience as an educator before I retire. Hey, I have 20+ years to go, so maybe there’s hope!… Continue reading

Smart Decision, or Smart Disaster?

I have been teaching for 11 years, and while I wasn’t a super fantastic teacher out the gate, I can now say I’m a good teacher. I don’t think that is an arrogant statement, it is simply a fact. How do I know I’m good? Sure my students always improve on the state tests, but I know I’m doing something right because my students improve period. They always get better. From September to June I watch as my students become better readers, better writers, better thinkers and yes, better test takers (not… Continue reading

What The Heck Is That?

Today was funny (peculiar, not haha). Yesterday when I started thinking about posting my top Google tips I knew that I wanted today’s post to be about Google Reader (a tool I heavily rely on). Then today I was showing my site to my husband and three teachers. Each of them asked “what is that little thing in the coffee cup?” (BTW, a HUGE thank you to the maker of this theme, Edward Caissie for doing so much to make my cute little icon work!). My response was, “that’s how you can… Continue reading