Literacy Learning Zone

Slice of Life  hosted  at the  Two Writing Teachers Maybe you've heard . . . it's annual Screen Free Week . Time to turn off the TV, iPad, laptop, iPhone. Don't scratch the Twitter, Pinterest, blogging itch. All.  Week.  Long. Time to turn ON life! Notice, read, write, draw, daydream, relax. Your goal?  Get unplugged. Be with family.  Play a game.  Sing and dance. Go outside.  Take a walk.  Fly a kite. Read a book.  May I suggest hello!  hello!  by Matthew Cordell? It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Limit when you can.  Limit what you can. Take a step back. Enjoy the disconnect. You are not missing anything -- except life p a s s i n g you by . . . Unplug. Be free. It's good for the soul.

Slice of Life  hosted  at the  Two Writing Teachers I promised myself when I started this blog that I wouldn't write about the negative. But then that means that I probably wouldn't write today. I don't feel like writing because I'm feeling, um, not-so-positive. As Ruth previously encouraged , I'll write what is on my mind right now -- perhaps that will clear some space to see the light: April is one of those in between months that breeds stress in a school. As a teacher, I have one foot in this school year and one foot that is already stepping into next school year. Right now , I am counting the days I still have with my students to press on and close the gap. Right now , I am wondering if I really did all that I could to help prepare them for next year. Right now , I am disappointed that they may not reach certain "benchmarks" or "growth targets." Right now , I am curious if they real

Slice of Life  hosted  at the  Two Writing Teachers I have taken a much-needed break from Twitter the last couple weeks, or maybe it's even been months.  You see, it can be very addicting and overwhelming and time consuming.   However, I had to return.   I love being able to learn from committed, caring, courageous, curious educators from all over the world right from my laptop or phone. Constant professional development that fits my needs. Picking and choosing articles to read. Blog posts to think about and respond to. Conversations to engage in.   With a little bit of free time this weekend, (OK.  Late, really late Friday night and my hubby was out of town), I jumped into Twitterland, and this tweet caught my eye: I didn't hesitate.  I clicked to watch - go ahead and take 5 minutes to watch this video of "Why I Stay" if you haven't seen it yet. I watched it.  Twice.  It got me thinking.  (As wi

Slice of Life  hosted  at the  Two Writing Teachers Spring has finally arrived -- Really! Gray clouds dropping Rain drops plopping Thunder lowly rumbling Tinge of green glowing Buds begin showing Flowers boldly emerging Blue skies peeking Sunshine rays speaking Temperatures slowly rising Fast bicycle riding People neighborhood striding Dogs happily joining Children outside playing Chalk art staying Bubbles lightly blowing Neighbors come a-gleaning Yard work cleaning Long winter waving Really. Spring has finally arrived!

Slice of Life  hosted  at the  Two Writing Teachers "Hey, welcome back!  What did you do over spring break?"   “I didn’t do anything."  "I stayed home."  "I sat around.” After a week off from school, from reading and writing and thinking hard, some of my students needed a little brain massage to wake up this April Fool’s Monday.   Of course, I thought: What about those books your borrowed from me? What about that blank notebook waiting for your stories?   But instead, I said, “I know you had to do more than just sit around and do nothing.  You have stories to tell, I just need to help you remember them.” I grabbed a couple copies of the “Words from A to Z!” organizer: Topic: Spring Break To do:  Fill in as many letters as you can about spring break, including:   Places you went,  people you saw, t hings that you did, etc. I started to share some of my spring break activities to spar

Of course, after a month of writing, I had to write today -- especially knowing that Tuesday is only a day away.  I borrowed yet another idea from several slicers for today's slice, er , I mean, post. Some days I feel that I'm in my own little world, writing for me, and happen to have a few people I'm lucky enough to share my writing with on Tuesdays or throughout the month of March.  Then it dawns on me that it is bigger than that.  I'm leaving behind my words, my thoughts, my feelings, my story. My story is also part of my digital footprint.  Here's what I wrote about this March leaving a deeper imprint into our ever growing digital world: Thank you to Jennifer ,  who thanked Kay ,  who thanked Robin   for sharing this awesome idea!   I have played around with creating word clouds with wordle and recently played with Tagxedo   and the ability to create word cloud shapes.  But little did I know that you can enter your url address and