Slice of Life #31

Thank goodness for lunch time.  I was absolutely starving as I walked into the faculty room.  I walked over to the large, industrial strength refrigerator in the corner and pulled open the door.  The fridge was packed with faculty and staff lunches.  I froze- what bag was my lunch in? I suddenly couldn’t remember!  Did [...]

Slice of Life #30

Ten minutes after school began this morning, I had one of my students go home with pink eye.  Her eye was so swollen, she couldn’t even open it!  I sent her off with classwork and homework for the next two days and carried one with our morning routine.  When lunchtime rolled around, I was already [...]

Slice of Life #29

As I organized my notes for our Holocaust unit of study, I started making a list of the books I would be making available to my students for their book clubs.  At this point I had a pretty good selection of WWII novels, allowing each book club to focus on a different aspect of the [...]

The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child by Donalyn Miller

This is a review I have been struggling to write for about a week now.  Honestly, I was overwhelmed- where could I even begin?  A large part of me wanted nothing more than to post a review that consisted of, “GO BUY THIS BOOK NOW!” but I realized that wouldn’t be very helpful to my [...]

Slice of Life #28

I was in the mood for something sweet today, something different.  I didn’t feel like having anything that was in the fridge or the pantry.  Hmmm, I could make cookies, I thought to myself.  Looking around, I seemed to have the necessary ingredients.  But what kind of cookies?  I hopped on the computer and started looking [...]

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

“Dead girl walking,” the boys say in the halls. “Tell us your secret,” the girls whisper, one toilet to another. I am that girl. I am the space between my thighs, daylight shining through. I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame. Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies, competitors [...]

Slice of Life #27

As I scanned through my radio presets, I stopped on the country station.  Is this Kenny Chesney? I thought as I listened to the song that was pouring through my speakers.  Why don’t I know this song?  Does he have an album coming out?  No, he can’t!  He just had a new album this past [...]

The Braille Literacy Crisis in America

Earlier this week I received a press release from the National Federation of the Blind that I wanted to share.   An astounding 90 percent of blind people today are Braille illiterate. This would be viewed as a national outrage if the same crisis faced sighted individuals, and yet blind people continue to be deprived of the Braille education and resources [...]

Slice of Life #26

Walking into the copy room this morning to run off a non-fiction article for our reading mini-lesson, I groaned.  The all-too-familiar red light was blinking.  Red=bad.  And the bad can be anything.  Maybe it needs paper.  Or it’s jammed. Or thinks it’s jammed.  Or just wants to stop copying.  Whatever it is, it means a [...]

One Shot: Over the Fence Great Book Rec- Hot Books in My Classroom

Chasing Ray suggested that we break up the end of winter doldrums by highlighting a book that we loved.  In her post, she gives the image of leaning “over the fence” to tell your neighbor about that fantastic book you just read. In my head, I pictured leaning over one of my student’s desks and whispering about [...]