Long Distance Connections

Join us at Margaret's blog for digital literacy posts every Sunday!

Being a teacher is hard. I adore my job, but make no mistake...it's challenging. I'm grateful for those who make my job easier! Colleagues, strong administration, supportive parents...I'm blessed to have all of these. I also have a powerful PLN. Teachers from around the country (around the world) who share my passion and who share their expertise and ideas! 

How do I connect with these teachers? It starts here, on the blog. I write and they read and comment. Relationships begin to develop. It continues on Twitter. We chat and share resources. We ask each other questions. Last year I was lucky enough to meet so many of these teachers at a national conference, NCTE. 

How do we keep in touch? Currently, I am in an amazing online writing group that meets weekly via Google Hangout! It's the best way to begin a Saturday morning, by sharing our weeks and our writing. 

Yesterday I enjoyed another Google Hangout with some other teachers. We had plans we wanted to make and online wasn't enough...we needed to talk. Julieanne, in California, and Margaret, in Louisiana, and me, in Virginia...sat and talked for a couple of hours via Google Hangout. 

The hardest thing about Google Hangout is finding the time (especially across three different time zones)...and making sure the internet works.

Our talk left me feeling inspired and grateful. I am amazed that I work with teachers all over the country. I consider them mentors. Technology has changed my life as a teacher!

Celebrate!!!

Each week on Saturday 

bloggers celebrate at Ruth Ayres Writes. 

Won't you join us? 

One of my favorite parts of the week is blogging about celebrations and this week is no exception. Here are my celebrations for the week... I celebrate TWITTER! The connections that I've made on twitter have changed me and helped me become a much better teacher. I can't say it enough. This week, I reached a big number on twitter. I have 1,000 followers!!! I consider that an achievement and I'm proud. 

I celebrate my student POETS! We continue to write and revise and rehearse our poetry. Everyday I am inspired by my student poets. This week we began our state tests...in Virginia they are called the SOLs. Read this poem by Bryan about testing...

Preparing today for the standards of learning test

our teacher said you will be pressured.

We'd have to read and think during this SOL

and learn to spell stupendous, Mississippi, 

money, and POWFUNKSHAZAM

We need to remember figurative language

antonyms, synonyms, and imagery.

Recite all the types of genres

and learn to write a poem from scratch.

We'd have to speak fluently in English for poetry.

Learn how to make a great performance.

Remember all of the oldest folk tales,

and crack all the codes in the dictionary.

Then just when we thought that our heads might explode

from learning all the reading and comprehension

she told us the very best thing she could say:

that she was just kidding; this was the real English SOL.

Inspired by Kenn Nesbitt’s poem The World’s Hardest Test

I celebrate READING! Finding books that inspire me and bring out tears and laughter...I love that! This week that book was The Summer of Letting Go by Gae Polisner. It's one of those books that I drag out reading it because I don't want it to end...and it ruins me for other books. I'm having a hard time finding my next read...sigh.

Numbers ARE important...sometimes!