The Sunrise Story

It's coming. The challenge... Thirty-one days of blogging. It's almost here. Plans are being made. Students preparing. Ideas formulating. Blogs warming up. Waiting. Anticipation. Excited. Worried. Will I be able to do it? Will I fail? What if I can't? Want to know the secret to succeeding? Show up. Every day. Show up. Write. Read. Comment. Slice of Life Challenge 2018 My fifth year... here it comes. I'm ready. Who's with me? Join me at Two Writing Teachers  to read more slices!

I never used to take attendance in class. Wait, that's not true. I never used to call out names and wait for "here". Never. Ever! It felt like a waste of precious time, so I skipped it. I'd check visually and move on to beginning class...until this year. Opening a new school, I promised myself that I'd make changes, grow, and try new things. Flexible seating was something I'm trying this year (and loving, by the way), but with flexible seating came a new problem. I couldn't do a quick visual check to see who's here and who's absent because they are changing seats every day. Attendance. UGH!  Then I thought, how can I make attendance valuable time in class? The Attendance Question was born! I am not the creator of this idea, but I must say I'm LOVING the daily attendance question. Why? First, it gives me the opportunity to learn names because I'm saying each name, every single class. Second, an unexpected bonus is that it builds commu...

Friday was a big day in room 734. We launched our blogs. Sixth-grade writers are now sixth-grade bloggers. We've started later than ever...I was frustrated with the late start, usually, I like to launch blogs in the fall.  (Learning Snapchat, but this is how launching blogging feels sometimes.)  Everything was ready. I managed to procure a cart of laptops. Instructions were clearly published in google classroom. We were ready! This day is one of my favorite days of the whole year. I know what my students are capable of and how creative they are, but by the end of this process...many of them know it too.       I guide them through the creation of the blog path (the URL) and the naming of the blog. I leave clear instructions for creating and submitting a post, but everything else is up to them.   My instructions are simple: PLAY. Discover. Investigate and share what you're learning. For some students, those instructions are scary....