Lurking?

Every time I hear lurk it reminds me of Lurch from the Addam's Family TV show (some of you are too young to remember anything but the more recent movie version). This tall, menacing, deep-voiced butler was always there - but hardly ever contributing (except for some fine harpsichord playing).

There are now many teachers who are members of this blog site, yet most are playing the Lurch role! You always have permission to lurk, but we need to interact too! So, I'm going to get things rolling with a question, and I hope you will decide to contribute a thought, idea or resource to keep the conversation going. All you have to do is click the "comment" link at the bottom-right area below this post. Here we go....

What would you identify as one of your strongest "professional learning moments"? This may have happened in-school, or out-of-school. Please take a moment and write a short comment to share your story.

One moment that comes to mind for me was reading the metaphor of the digital immigrant and digital native set forth by author Marc Prensky. It helped me realize how wide the gap between school and life has become for our students, and heightened my sense of urgency to bridge this gap.

Raising the Quality

After our Raising the Quality Workshop today, I realize that my students have only just begun. My class is also struggling with building stamina in writing workshop like Jill mentioned.
It was brought up today at our workshop that it would be nice to share our favorite mentor text for teaching writing. A new book that I just bought this summer is called Mr. George Baker by Amy Hest . I have used it for many writing lessons (focus, so what?, content, descriptions, and style) so far this year. It is a great book!

Hello Barb and Dave,

My first blog, too. I have also survived BTSN and am working on my DRA's. The classroom is beginning to gel and we are becoming a learning community. Routines are beginning to form and structures are becoming more solid as I am getting to know my students.

As for writing, the notebooks are great! However, I am still working on writing stamina and kids understanding that they are not "done" in writing workshop.

Hope all is going well for all fourth grade teachers, and I look forward to seeing you today at Vernfield.

Jill :)

Welcome

Well, Dave, and other fourth grade teachers. I made it. This is my first blog. I just wanted to let you know that I survived Back to School night and I am continuing with DRAs. I hope all is going well for you.

Welcome!

Welcome to sasd4.blogspot.com This is our first post and I look forward to working with your grade level to make this blog a valuable tool for your own professional learning.

New initiatives are best implemented when they result in more efficient work, and I’m convinced that you will find this “virtual learning community” can become a real time-saver as you collaborate with your grade-level partners.

Lots of conversation and support will be coming in the months ahead, but for now I just want to welcome you to the world of Web 2.0. One author calls this the, “read and write” internet. I look forward to reading and creating a wonderful space together….Dave