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MACUL 2012

A year ago, I went to my first MACUL conference.  At the end of the conference, my mind was sWiRlinG and my brain was overflowing with information.  I remember thinking to myself, I am never coming to this conference again.  This feeling came from the fact that I was learning about all these new things and I wasn't doing any of them. This made me feel clueless. Not only that, I didn't know where to begin!  I was so overwhelmed with ideas and emotions, so I thought giving up was the answer. (I was SO wrong)  Well, here I am at MACUL again.  So, what changed?


I was able to change because I realized I don't have to do EVERYTHING I just learned.  Once I made this realization, I was able to breathe and start to filter the information I had gotten.  This was the most important lesson I learned at MACUL last year.  I went to MACUL because I knew that I loved technology.  I left MACUL learning, as an educator, how to use technology in a useful and not overwhelming fashion for myself and my students.  Technology is thrown at us every day of our lives and when new ideas come into our path we have to stop and think:


-Can I see myself using this? (if the answer is no, just let it pass.  If it's really worthwhile, you will hear about it again and maybe this time you will know someone who can offer their background in it making it a little more appealing to you.  And, you may have more courage to try it out.)
-How am I going to REMEMBER to come back to this later? 


In a year I have gone from loving technology, to becoming Knowledgeable about technology.  When I hear about something "new" I ask myself the above questions AND I dig into it deciding right then and there, can I use this?  For me, if I don't start using it right away, I won't use it.  So, if something doesn't appeal to me as being able to utilize it right away, I let it go.  Maybe another time it will work into my classroom, but not now.  This tiny lesson has made me have more courage to try new things and not beat myself up for NOT trying the "newest" and "coolest" thing I heard about, yet.  I like to let it soak in for a bit before taking that jump. 


So, I am going to spend tonight "filtering" through what I have come across these past few days and I welcome you to come back and see what I am going to start implementing "Next Week" ;)


I have added some fun finds to my classroom links page over the past 2 days so feel free to peruse those for now! http://wilsonh.weebly.com/students.html

Thanks MACUL for making me a better teacher and wanting to become a better teacher for my students.

Read Across America Skype

Take a look at the project below and let me know if interested :)

Daily 5 Series: Listen to Reading

"The fluent reader sounds good, is easy to listen to, and reads with enough expression to help the listener understand and enjoy the material." -Charles Clark, "Building Fluency: Do It Right and Do It Well!" Listen to Reading is probably the MOST popular of the Daily 5 Choices.  If I didn't give my students guidelines about how many choices they need to make each day, they would choose L2R every time...Since it's so popular I make sure that I have a variety of tools for this choice and that enough students can get to it each day while still making other choices.  Along with a variety of tools, students know the correct way to use L2R.  Here are the tools used in my classroom: L2R Tools & Resources *Netbooks*   I have 4 Netbooks for students to sign up at.  Students have clothespins with their student numbers on them and this is how they sign up for all the Listening Stations.  When one student is finished, they remove their clip, slide the next student's up and also taps them on the shoulder letting them know it is their turn.   While students are on the netbooks, they choose stories from our Symbaloo Page: (http://edu.symbaloo.com/mix/reading2ndgrade)   They know to choose books on the left side of the page because those have the words along with the story for them to Read Along with :)  We review quite often about how reading along with the story is what will help them become more fluent readers.   *Walkmans* Walkmans w/sign up sheets CD's/Tapes for Listening Stations So, yes I am going back in time and using some old school Walkmans!  I had so many books on TAPE, and my students just did not think they were "cool."  Sooo, the Walkmans made them cool again.  They can bring them to their reading nooks and they just LOVE it.  It was a bit challenging teaching them this old technology, but they got the hang of it :)  I found them on Amazon for $7 in case you were wondering ;)  *Discman* *CD/Tape Player* Students get to sit in Rocking Chair while using the CD/Tape Player   Thanks for reading and I hope this gives you some ideas/tips for your own L2R.  Please comment on what resources you use for L2R as I am ALWAYS looking for updates/additions to my own system.  Happy President's Day!

Daily 5 Series: Work on Writing

“Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.”


Writing can be a daunting task for some students, so my job is to make it fun, interesting, and new.  I try to give my students a new Writing Prompt every other week so there is time to go through the writing process, and also have time to choose what they want to write about.  I do Writer's Workshop at another time of the day, but Daily 5 time gives them "extra" time work work on current pieces.  

I always have a checklist with student names for the Writing Pieces that we currently are working on, but most importantly, I have a list of Free Choices they can make if they finish the required pieces.  This ranges from books containing Writing Prompts to technology links which students can use our classroom netbooks for.  Either way, they always have PLENTY of Writing options to choose from.


During Daily 5, students write in their Writer's Notebook.  This is a notebook of their choice which contains all of their rough drafts from the year.  

Some great links to get your students "pumped" about Writing are:


PicLits
Scholastic Story Starter
Word Tamer
StoryMaker
StoryBird

If you have inspiration to share with young writers please comment below!  Happy Writing :)