professional resources

Literacy Links – Volume 104

book list, coaching, literacy links, online learning, professional resources, writing
One of my first Instagram Reels.

I know that Scholastic Book Fairs aren’t equitable and show loads of privilege, but I’m still going to recommend books to my young readers and their families. So I learned how to make Instagram Reels. Whew! I *truly* understood how my grandparents must’ve felt when they learned how to email. It took me DAYS to figure it out, and they are mediocre AT BEST. Still…I can’t wait to use that glitter filter again. All the heart eyes!

Here is this week’s roundup of literacy links if you’re looking for some quick inspiration, tips, and refreshment:

Literacy Links – Volume 103

book list, literacy links, phonics, poetry, professional resources, reading
My bulletin board of tools and ideas to accompany my Pot of Gold and Teach: From A to Zine about poetry.

At the beginning of April, I published the Pot of Gold portfolio of resources (digital one-page, bulletin board, zine, and podcast). The focus this month: POETRY! I’m not exaggerating when I say that poetry saved my sanity during the first year of the Pandemic. Usually a voracious reader, I could NOT read books. I couldn’t concentrate. I had to reread a page eight times. I eventually lost interest because it was such a frustrating experience. This was not good for me. Reading is such a big part of my identity, and I felt lost without books in my life. Determined one day, I decided to try poetry based on Jason Reynolds’s wisdom. I have lots of poems and anthologies that I’ve collected over time, so every day I would read one. Then I started reading several poems. By June, I was successfully reading novels in verse. Poetry didn’t have “pages in the form of pitbulls”. It allowed my brain to focus on the intentional words on the page and also emote beyond the worry and empathy that consumed me. If I hadn’t grabbed hold to the poetry life saver back in April 2020, I might still be struggling to keep my head above water.

testify
by Eve L. Ewing

i stand before you to say
that today i walked home
& caught the light through
the fence & it was so golden
i wanted to cry & i lifted
my right hand to say thank
you god for the sun thank
you god for a chain link fence
& all the shoes that fit into
the chain link fence so that
we might get lifted god thank
you & i just wanted to dance
& it feels good to have food
in your belly & it feels good
to be home even when home
is the space between metal
shapes & still we are golden
& a man who wore the walk
of hard grounds & lost days
came toward me in the street
& said ‘girl what a beautiful
day’ & i said yes, testify
& i walked on & from some
place a horn rose, an organ,
a voice, a chorus, here to tell
you that we are not dead
we are not dead we are not
dead we are not dead we are
not dead we are not dead
we are not dead we are not
dead
yet

Here is this week’s roundup of literacy links if you’re looking for some quick inspiration, tips, and refreshment:

Literacy Links – Volume 101

phonics, poetry, professional resources, reading, vocabulary
World Read Aloud Day resources for my school!

February 2, 2022 is the 13th annual World Read Aloud Day! In the Before, my colleague and fellow reading enthusiast planned a day of read aloud activities. This year’s offerings are going to be a lot more passive. Our school is just coming off of a very draining week, and asking teachers to do *another* thing didn’t feel right. But I will be sharing some digital resources that teachers could add to their day at their discretion. Happy reading!

Here is this week’s roundup of literacy links if you’re looking for some quick inspiration, tips, and refreshment:

Literacy Links – Volume 99

early literacy, literacy links, professional resources, vocabulary
Pot of Gold #5: Vocabulary

Passive PD isn’t my fave or at all effective really, but I have really enjoyed curating my Pot of Gold bulletin boards. The latest one is all about vocabulary, and I’ve been collecting ideas for the past several months (Golden nugget tip: Keep a file open as a place to deposit moments of genius when they strike!). Now that everyone in my home younger than fourteen is tucked in and read to for the night, I’m heading upstairs to create the last element: a podcast. Wish me luck.

Here is this week’s roundup of literacy links if you’re looking for some quick inspiration, tips, and refreshment:

Literacy Links – Volume 97

coaching, literacy links, professional resources
My first Pot of Gold of the 2021-2022 school year.

It’s nearly time to return to school here in Massachusetts, so I’ve been busy prepping some PD for the amazing teachers in my building. Some of it is ideas overload, some of it is a review of the basics, and some of it is reflecting on our best practices. Just realized that’s totally my style: ideas, review, and reflection. Kind of like how I taught.

Here is this week’s roundup of literacy links if you’re looking for some quick inspiration, tips, and refreshment:

Literacy Links – Volume 96

early literacy, literacy links, poetry, professional resources, racial justice, reading, writing

This summer, I’m participating in some summer work focused on Cultivating Genius by Dr. Gholdy Muhammad. Our second Zoom discussion is next week, so I’m putting together my thoughts based on the assigned reading. I love this reflection question so much: How does this lesson help students see themselves or others? I used Canva to make a visual reminder for myself (And others! Choose your OWN colors!) to guide my lesson planning. Adding this prompt to my teaching brain will bring Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop’s idea of mirrors and windows to my classrooms.

Here is this week’s roundup of literacy links if you’re looking for some quick inspiration, tips, and refreshment:

Literacy Links – Volume 95

coaching, literacy links, professional resources, reading, writing
My Summer 2021 book stack

Reading is a huge part of my life. It’s who I am. My car has a bumper sticker that says “read”, and I have MANY reading-themed graphic tees. So I was devastated when my brain wouldn’t let me read during the pandemic. I would try and then lose track after a few sentences. Eventually, I was able to listen to audiobooks. Then, I could do graphic novels and novels in verse. It wasn’t until April 2021 that I successfully finished a chapter book. By June I’d made my list of books I wanted to read over the summer. I’m more than halfway through my book stack, and every book has been AMAZING! More significantly, it has felt like coming home to be reading again. The power of books is real.

Here is this week’s roundup of literacy links if you’re looking for some quick inspiration, tips, and refreshment:

Literacy Links – Volume 94

book list, coaching, creating, professional resources, racial justice, reading
Our rainbow runway for our end-of-the-year awards ceremony. The confetti (the remains of our scrap paper bin) was simultaneously my best and worst idea of the year.
But SO worth it.

Someone once doubted my ability to find the joy in teaching, and it was a very painful comment. How could they think that? Was my joy not enough? Or were the things I thought were joyful not obvious to an observer? With my joy-fidence rattled, I decided to infuse as much obviously, outwardly joyfulness into my teaching. We sang. We danced. We created colorful art. I’m pretty sure these are all things I would’ve done anyway, but that accusation practically made it my official goal for TeachPoint. Not such a bad thing after all.

Here is this week’s roundup of literacy links if you’re looking for some quick inspiration, tips, and refreshment:

Literacy Links – Volume 93

book clubs, book list, literacy links, professional resources, reading, summer, writing
My current favorite read aloud for the last day of school!

Man, I really wanted to publish Volume 100 by the end of this school year. Turns out being a full-time, *first-time* kindergarten teacher and full-time coach was too much even for an overachiever like me.

I don’t feel too bad though. I taught kids how to *read* this year (and even got them all to meet or exceed our district’s end of year benchmark ), a task I would’ve thought impossible fifteen years ago when I started teaching fifth grade. Turns out I’ve learned a lot in those fifteen years from people much smarter and more experienced than me AND I can do hard things. If I never forever endeavor, indeed.

Here is this week’s roundup of literacy links if you’re looking for some quick inspiration, tips, and refreshment:

Literacy Links – Volume 92

book list, literacy links, professional resources, summer
KV’s stained glass window display to celebrate the end of our geometry unit.

One of my favorite parts of teaching in The Now is the art that we’ve created. From plays for our theatre to this stained glass window display, we’ve been creators. Creating has been a great form of expression and even leads to more writing and reading. What a colorful year!

Here is this week’s roundup of literacy links if you’re looking for some quick inspiration, tips, and refreshment: