Monday, November 25, 2013

Looking forward to Summer PD (it's really cold in Boston today)

I'm still decompressing from NCTE (heading to an all-day workshop in a few minutes--excited!), but I wanted to pass this along while I remember to.

The NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities) has these summer opportunities for teachers.  I haven't done one yet, but I hope to.  If you can travel over the summer, there are so many cool ideas here.  Deadlines are in March, which will come quickly . . .

Saturday, November 23, 2013

How to find NCTE 2013 materials

Thanks to everyone who attended my presentation with Dr. Liz Gonsalves at NCTE!  We had a terrific time.  If you're new to this blog, welcome!

If you are looking for the materials on the NCTE web site, here's how to find them.  

Visit http://ncte.connectedcommunity.org/2013Annual and search for "Abbey" in the search box.  To find Liz's stuff, search "Gonsalves."  



Of course, if you can't find them, email me at abbeydick1@gmail.com.  Thanks again!  This conference has been an excellent weekend for me--lots of reunions with old friends and new strategies to try in the classroom next week (or maybe after Thanksgiving!).

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Green Flags/Red Flags for Common Core Implementation

I've been too busy with school, life, and NCTE-prep to do much blogging lately, but I'm trying to get back on track.

Here's a document I find really useful and return to regularly:
http://misiciowa.org/uploads/BHK8-Literacy_Green_Flag_Red_Flag.pdf

It helps me ask myself, "Am I doing this right?"  Using just a few of the strategies is changing my practice and the way I think about my work.

Hopefully I'll run into some of you at NCTE.  Happy conferencing!

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Professional Practice Goal

Hello, all.  I have become swamped with all I have going on, so the blog is less than updated right now . . . Anyone else kinda busy this fall?

One cool new resource I recently found was the Convention Planner on NCTE's Web site: http://www.ncte.org/annual.  I was able to search the program and make a (giant) list of all the events that would be the best for me!  It's only a few weekends away!

This year, my Professional Practice Goal is to work on Student Led Discussion.  I know I need to get better with discussion practices, procedures, rubrics, and protocols this year, so that's my aim!

If anyone can help me, let me know!  I am looking for

  • books on quality and quantity of participation
  • discussion strategies
  • lesson plans
  • participation rubrics and self-assessments
  • systems you use to promote, track, and assess participation
  • anything else that will help me!

As always, email me at abbeydick1@gmail.com if you have a question or resource for me.