My Blog

So much depends upon

REMEMBERING

Remember those who have fought

and continue to fight for our freedoms.

Remember those who keep us safein our daily lives,

fighting fires, saving lives, protecting laws.

Remember the one who gave the ultimate gift,

freedom from eternity in Hell.

So much depends upon

the color purple.

Many don’t understand the significance of such a bold color.

Some believe it stand for royalty.

Others believe it stand for wisdom.

But for me and my family,

It stands for life –

I wear purple to support Cystic Fybrosis.

I wear purple proud for my precious baby cousin,

even though he doesn’t yet understand the importance of such a life saving color.

Dr. Frye’s article was very informative and made me reconsider what many teachers still practice today. After reading that some students may need to go back to a lower grade level, I began to wonder how this may help an upper grades child who is reading a second grade leveled book. As Dr. Frye explains, some information obtained is better than getting discouraged and learning nothing at all. If a child is able to read a lower level book, they are not only learning the information the book offers but also improving their reading level. As a teacher, we need to make sure, to the best of our ability, that the books our students are reading meet the criteria of a good book. Not every book will be at a child’s particular grade level. Plus, the books need to be exciting and engaging for the students. I really appreciate the tables 1-4. I think they will be a big help in selecting books for my students. I like the idea of each reader study books from the same topic or similar genre. Group discussions would be wonderful and easy to perform as a teacher. The students would feel knowledgeable as they feel off of each other. By everyone reading about similar subjects, the teacher could easily cross curriculum into other subjects.

Caitlyn is a variant of Caitlin and pronounced KAYT-lin.  Caitlin is the Irish form of Catherine, meaning pure.  There are 6,169 people with the first name Caitlyn in the U.S. and it is currently the 2397^th most popular name.  Over 99 percent of the people with this name are female.  I have only met one other person who spells their name exactly the same way I do.  There are 7,529 people with name Council in U.S.  It is the 4901^st most common last name.  One of my favorite things that I found on researching my name was that there is ‘1 or fewer’ people in the U.S. named Caitlyn Council.  

On my dad’s side of the family, ever male has a name with the initials J.L. so if I was a boy, my name was going to be Joshua Lewis.  This name came off of a soap opera from that year.  The two names that my mother had picked out for girls names were Allison Nicole and Lauren Michelle.  However, my cousin was born just four and half days before I was and my aunt named her Allison Michelle.  Yes, my mother was very upset with her sister but has never said a word about this.  She didn’t want to ruin their relationship.  My mom had shared names with my aunt but my aunt never shared any back; we now know why.  Dad was the first one to mention the name ‘Caitlyn.’  My parents were watching the show Airwolf when he realized the like the character’s, Caitlyn, name.  They then began to talk about middle names and quickly decided on Nicole.  Mom agreed and the question of not only nine months, but also four and a half long days was answered.

This portion of the Notebook Know-How informs the reader of several strategies for beginning a notebook and improving writing fluency.  To begin, they suggest that the writer do just as we have done in class:  write about his like their name history, their likes and dislike, and list writing.  By beginning with something that might interest the students, they will be more egger to write and keep things fresh.  I’m sure many young students do not know the meaning of their name.  I think it is important for the students to know the background and definition of what they are called every day.  It may give importance to some.  I would also hope that this would spike interest and the student may go home to ask their parents why they picked their particular name.  By turning questions into writing, students will always have something to write about and it will give them the chance to learn about what is interesting to them.  I personally don’t like the creating list idea.  This doesn’t help with sentence structure or grammar very much.  To build fluency, the students must practice writing daily.  Mistakes will happy and students need to know that if they make a mistake, it is ok.  I had never heard of the strategy, lifting a line.  I like the idea that one single line could take you into a whole new exciting story!  This lets the students know how important their journal is and that is should be made as personal as they make it!  This book gives so many great resources to encourage young writers and teacher too!

Walter Dean Myers has created beautiful verses and picture collages throughout his book called Brown Angels.  I really enjoyed viewing the pictures on each page.  I liked the fact that the pictures were on the same page as the poem; I thought it seemed interesting how the poem and pictures seem to fit perfectly together.  But when they didn’t I would have to draw my own conclusions as to what the poem was referring too.  I took special liking to this book and I believe that comes from my love of scrapbooking.  I love how we can express ourselves through written words that have specific means not only to us but a reader as well.  I believe it is also important to show our feelings.  I don’t consider myself to be great at expressing my feeling through words but taking photographs one way I share my thoughts.  So much emotion is found throughout this book – I love that!

Love That Dog is a very interesting book.  I will be honest and say that I wasn’t looking forward to reading this particular book.  I thought it would be too random and that I wouldn’t get much out of this book.  However, I really enjoyed watching this young child grow as a writer.  I guess I could see some part of myself in this child.  He also brought up many good points by asking thoughtful questions.  This young writer starts out not understanding poetry and the meaning behind in and he grows into a more confident writer.  I like the fact that this teacher read some poems from famous authors.  I had never even heard of Robert Frost until my junior year of high school.  What a wonderful experience it must be to have been exposed to such wonderful writings.  I also liked how the teacher seemed upbeat in her comments of this young child’s poems.  I think the teacher had a major impact of this child’s confidence in writing freely.  I like the idea of free verse; the freedom it allows helps the creative thoughts come and form written feelings.  Poetry is great for any age but I feel that I appreciate it now more than I did when I was made to read or write on certain topics.  The lesson plan that went along with this book provided a great base to start teaching poetry.  I do intend on using this in my classroom!

All the Small Poems and Fourteen More was also another book that I wasn’t looking forward to reading.  I knew this book more than likely wouldn’t have a story plot to it and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to really get into reading these poems.  However, by the end of the book I found that I enjoyed the fact that this is a wonderful book to just be lying around the house to pick up and read a few poems whenever you have a moment to spare.   A poem can brighten up your day if you only take time to appreciate it.  The poems were very descriptive.  Most of the time, I felt like I was actually with the topic of that particular poem I was reading.  One of favorites has to be Barefoot.  This poem reminded me of my childhood friend and me running around hot summer days barefoot.  Not only were we free from school during the summer but our toes were free to wiggle around to feel the earth below them.  The descriptive words in these poems were simply amazing!!

This article gives the reader many new ideas and suggestions for using Blogs in the classroom.  Once you get past the setting up part of blogging, they are a simply way for students to embrace technology and give them something that is theirs to express themselves.  Personally, I know how excited I get when I see my work online, I can only imagine what elementary school students must be thinking.  I believe the students will strive to work a little harder and proof their work a little more closely in order to their writing to be blog worthy.  Personally, I feel that blogging should be done during the school day, especially in a low income area.  As a teacher, you never know what your students really have access too.  Even if their family has a computer, the parents may not allow their children to use it.  Many people in low income areas still do not have access to internet.  As a teacher, I want to strive for equality in the classroom and that includes wanting all students have as close to the same experiences possible.  I certainly wouldn’t stop a student from posting at home if they felt like it but I wouldn’t make it a requirement.  By some students’ blogging at home, if they wish, the classroom computer may be freed up for other students in the classroom.  I was interested in the different blog types that could be used in the classroom.  Even in our college classes, we have used a few different host sites.  Most are basically the same once you get started.  Topics also vary but I believe that no matter what the students are writing about, the process could only encourage the students to increase writing proficiency.  Personally, I believe I’m going to start my class out in posting book reviews.  This not only encourages writing reviews for other classmates but reading as well.  Once the students get familiar with blogging, the possibilities are endless!