Too Many Blogs #EduLS

I quit the Summer Learning Series after we got to the blog challenge.  So here we are in the Educator’s Learning Series...at the blog challenge.  Ugh.

I love writing.  A lot.  However, I like to read what other people write far more than I like other people reading what I write.  The thought of writing daily or weekly blog posts actually makes my perfectionist wanna-be brain hurt.

I religiously read some really good blogs:

1. http://momastery.com/blog/ is the blog that started my obsession.  http://goo.gl/A4Vpc1 is the post.   We had recently moved into a house on a river, and my biggest fear of living on the water came true for Anna.  I have read Momastery and Anna’s blog http://aninchofgray.blogspot.com/ every day since.  
2. http://blog.maclaughlinstudios.com/ is a blog I stumbled on through the Houston Chronicle.  Christina wrote articles in the OpEd section, I think.  At the time, I was going through my own stepmother/second wife issues and I could totally relate to her articles. Now she’s a technology teacher in Spring, so we have even more in common.  She reminds me so much of myself, but in a prettier body.
3. http://www.mungermack.com/spawn/2015.shtml is written by an old high school friend of mine.  He and his wife have 3 kids and are absolutely hilarious.  It amazes me that he has kept up this personal blog since 2008.  What a gift this will be for his kids when they are older.  
4. http://chipgillespie.com/blog/the-chisholm-family-the-woodlands-tx/ is a blog post I saw years ago on a former student’s facebook page.  This photographer amazes me.  Some of the posts literally make me cry. Hopefully at some point in my life I’ll be skinny enough and have enough money to have family pictures taken by him.

By the time I’ve read through all these blogs plus Facebook and Twitter, I don’t have time left to maintain a blog! Plus, nothing I could write would ever compare.

Reflections on Third Grade #SummerLS

Ten reflections after my one and only year teaching third grade RELA:

1.  It would be more beneficial to read with students the entire day rather than spend hours teaching "reading strategies."  This is especially true with reluctant and low-performing readers.

2.  Students have to be taught "writing endurance."  They have to experience what it feels like to have writer's block.  They also have to practice working through it.  Knowing how to write in cursive helps.

3. Class size directly affects learning.

4.  Relationships are important - relationships with teammates, administrators, students, and parents. Relationships outside of school are important, too.

5.  Recess is important - for the students AND the teachers.  The days I had recess duty (rather than lunch duty) were far better.

6.  Transition times are the worst.  Time spent teaching students how to walk in a line is time well spent. 

7.  Take attendance on time, and don't piss off the attendance clerk.  Have students stack the chairs at the end of the day, and don't piss off the custodian.

8.  Expectations are important - the administration's for me, mine for my students', and my students' for me.

9.  Coloring can be cathartic.  

10.  I'm no expert, so listen to others who are!