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| 2013 - It has been quite a journey... |
It’s that
time of year, the time where I turn to blogs and read the “best of” posts. I have written a “best books” list before and
was tempted to do one here, but decided to add more to it. Here is my “best of 2013”
list. A bit random, a bit fun, a bit about me.
Best Books
Have to
start here. I’m going to limit myself and just pick two books in each category.
I’m not going to think about it, stress about the ones I missed, nope. Off the
cuff, here they are:
Picture
book: Mr. Tiger Goes Wild and Journey
Chapter
book: The Real Boy and Center
of Everything
Young
Adult: Paperboy and Fangirl
Non-fiction:
The Animal Book and The Boy Who Loved Math
Poetry: What the Heart Knows: Chants, Charms, and
Blessings and God Got a
Dog
Graphic Novels: Bluffton and Poseidon
Best Posts
Well, it’s hard to define “best” here. Most popular? My favorite that I
wrote? How about one of each.
My most popular post was: How do you know they are reading?
My favorite that I wrote this year: A learning experience
Honestly, I was thinking that the first one was my favorite
until I realized it was also the most popular. Mainly it was my favorite
because of the kiddo that inspired it. I dearly love Josh and miss my class
from last year. Not to say I don’t love this year’s group, I do. But I carry
all of my students with me and think of them often.
I ended up selecting the second post as some of my favorite writing because it was a hard lesson and was still raw when I wrote.
Best Teaching Decision
To spend
zero minutes doing test prep. I’ve never done much, but often about three weeks
before the state test I would begin working through example questions as a
class. Last year I reflected. Did that really help anyone? What if I taught, as
usual, right up until the day we tested? What then? And I did. Our scores were
great and I don’t regret that decision for a minute.
Best Parenting Decision
This is
kind of a teaching decision as well. I chose to put Luke in my rotation for
fifth grade. He is not allowed to be in my homeroom, but I could be his reading
teacher. Otherwise, he would go in the other fifth grade rotation. I first
asked Luke what he thought and he wanted to be in my reading class, so we went for it.
I love
teaching him. As he would probably be the first to tell you, there are some downfalls.
I’m harder on him than the other kids. I absolutely know if he’s reading at
home or not. With my other students I can only make an educated guess. If Luke doesn’t read, his
grade drops. That being said, I know him better now than I did in August. I
know his friends better. It is a whole new level of relationships with your
students when they’ve talked to you about books in your basement while you’re
on the treadmill. Another level when you have had breakfast together in your pajamas.
Best Purchase
In flight Wi-Fi
on my Southwest flight from Chicago to Boston and back. I’m a notoriously bad
flier. I have massive anxiety. I knew I would be alone, I didn’t know how I’d
manage, so I ponied up the $8 each way and used Twitter to distract me. That
and saying the serenity prayer a few thousand times kept me sane.
Best Professional Development
Twitter.
This isn’t to say that NCTE, All Write, MRA, or other conferences aren’t
worthwhile, but Twitter is PD that I depend on all year long. It keeps me
motivated and inspired in the months between conferences.
Best Memories of 2013
I’m putting
a caveat here – best memories related to reading, writing, teaching, or
something connected to it.
- Ivan
winning the Newbery
- Bubble
Gum Day
- Slice of
Life Challenge with my class
- Going to
MRA and meeting Margie
- Walking
field trip with my students to Farm School
- Saying
goodbye to one of my best classes. Knowing what our connection meant.
- Reading
Camp
- All Write
- Michigan
for Nerd Camp and vacation
- Choice
Literacy writing retreat
- Tweeting
for Choice Literacy
- A new
school year
- Skype
visits
- Mock
Caldecott Unit
- NCTE
- Nerdy
Party – meeting Linda Urban and Peter Brown
- Liam finishing Wonder, Luke finishing The Lightning Thief series (and Chris as well!)
- Reading
my students writing at the end of the first quarter
-
Reflection on how much they’ve grown already
And there
you have it - my “best of” list for 2013. It was an amazing year and I’m
confident 2014 will be even better. I cannot wait to see what the future
brings.
