Friday, July 31, 2009

Sylvie by Jennifer Sattler

Sylvie is a pink flamingo who wonders and questions. She wants to know why she is pink. After a straight-forward answer from her mother (you are what you eat), Sylvie curiously begins to explore new foods and things that change her appearance and leave her feeling a bit unsettled. Sylvie discovers that to feel like herself again, she goes back to what she knows.
I am hoping this hits home with my curious learners. Sylvie is an example of a bold and imaginative character who learns as she explores. I am thinking she will help set the tone for taking risks and learning in my own classroom. Can't wait to read this aloud this fall!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Mosaic Meme

Karen at Talkworthy has tagged me in a Mosaic Meme!! I am finally responding.

After joining Twitter and Facebook, I am finding the ups and downs of social networking. With Twitter, I feel a simplicity and professional connectedness to educators, thinkers and writers. I try to use the information on Twitter to change and grow. I am trying to balance tweeting useful information with receiving it. I think I will get there and I am allowing myself to be a taker rather than a giver on this social network.

I am also still trying to find time to explore Twitter. TIME is a big piece I feel for social networking and it is easy to get lost spending time on my laptop. I struggle with this as I have three children at home and their activities, domestic responsibilities ( I like my house to be somewhat picked up but am not over the top with cleaning), teaching and just having a life. There are many days I would like to close off the world and just sit with my laptop and explore but in reality it doesn't happen.

After talking with some of my friends yesterday, I heard Mary Lee explain her goals for beginning the school year. She reminded me that it all comes back to balance (which I have posted about before). This fall I will be thinking about how to balance Twitter into my personal internet time and maybe even find a balance for tweeting and RTing.

Here is my mosaic: