A little about me: I am a mom. I am an Educator. I am a leader. I am a coach. I am a reader. I am an explorer. I ask questions. I have a sense of urgency to ensure kids get what they need because I would want my daughters' teachers to do the same. …
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Equal Opportunity, A case for more personalized learning
If the environment is a bad fit for the individual . . . our performance will always be artificially impaired. If we get a good fit with our environment . . . we will have the opportunity to show what we are truly capable of. This means that if we want equal opportunity for everyone, if we want a society where each of us has the same chance to live up to our full potential, then we must create professional, educational, and social institutions that are responsive to individuality. (Rose, [...]
I used to . . ., But now I . . .
I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.-Socrates In the last couple of years, relevance and curiosity have been key areas of focus within our school goals. We want students to know who they are as learners and how to move forward. We want learning to be relevant to their needs. And, we want the curiosity and interests of students to be a larger part of guiding their learning. As such, we have been seeking ways for students to have a greater voice in communicating wit [...]
Look at Life with Gratitude
I bought this gem last summer from a favorite little shop in Durham, NC when we were home visiting. It is from Vintage Girl Designs if you want to support a lovely artist who mixes visual imagery, especially birds and flowers with inspiring, thought provoking quotes. At the start of 2018, my family and I started a new routine that we have followed with mixed fidelity. Every time we thought of something we were thankful for, we wrote it on a piece of paper and put it in a jar. Tonight, as [...]
What do we mean by sensory issues?
In the last number of years, our Early Childhood Teachers have observed more and more students in their classes with “sensory issues”. By this we mean kids who are seeking sensory stimuli through movement, putting things in their mouths, requiring support to sit because of lack of core strength, difficulty regulating attention, focus and/or emotions, and many other signs. We know that kids are smart and the behaviors we see are ways that they give us clues about wh [...]
This I believe . . .
This reporter’'s beliefs are in a state of flux. It would be easier to enumerate the items I do not believe in, than the other way around. And yet in talking to people, in listening to them, I have come to realize that I don’t have a monopoly on the world’s problems. Others have their share, often far bigger than mine. This has helped me to see my own in truer perspective: and in learning how others have faced their problems--this has given me fresh ideas about how to tackle mine. [...]
Dyslexia: A gift and a challenge
The Gift of Dyslexia The brains of people with dyslexia are wired differently. They are more capable of globally processing visual-spatial information. Put another way, they tend to be gifted in their abilities of holistic inspection. This means that they are able to see the whole picture of visual spatial information and hold the relationships constant, regardless of how it is moved or rotated in space. This is a significant advantage for working within a virtual space, considering thre [...]
Inspirations to start the year!
Equal is everyone getting the same thing. Fair is everyone getting what they need to be successful. We will always try to be fair, but it won’t always feel equal. On a Beam of Light Welcome back to school! Every year as I begin to work with new students, teachers, and classes, I try to find interesting ways to introduce myself to my new learning communities. For many years I have read one of my favorite picture books called On a Beam of Light by Vladimir Radunsky. (Described here [...]
Activities to build Mathematical Reasoning
Students need many relevant and real world experiences to build their understanding of number and mathematical reasoning. Fortunately, there are many ways to do that easily both at home and at school.A couple of weeks ago, education.com reached out to me to determine if I would consider a guest content from them. They seem to have interesting activities to share and I thought some of you would find it a helpful resource. Below they share some counting and skip counting activities that coul [...]
Tales of La Tortugita 