In response to this post tell us a bit about yourself. Where do you teach? What are your
personal interests outside the classroom? What do you expect from this
class?
As a thirty plus year English teacher, I enjoy both writing and the teaching of writing. I am a graduate of Colorado State University (BA) and Middlebury College, Oxford (MA.).My teaching career began in my home state of Colorado where I taught Head Start and elementary school. Most of my Alaskan years were spent at Susitna Valley Junior/Senior High School. I taught a wide range of literature courses, drama, journalism, media and college-prep English, as well as the required classes for 7-12.
For the past ten years, I have taught freshman English classes at the University of Alaska, Mat-Su Campus and facilitated classes and workshops chiefly through the Alaska State Writing Consortium (ASWC). I strongly believe writing is key to all academic success. I have been teaching classes online for UAA and ASWC since 2004.
One of the first things the careful reader may note is that my name can be spelled two ways! The correct pronunciation is "Sondra" but the official spelling is "Sandra" so you see the problem. I alternate spellings.
My home is Trapper Creek where I live in a log house with my husband. We have a small farm where we have raised kids, pigs, chickens, rabbits and produce. This year we have scaled back and have only a small garden. I am writing this, however, on the sunny porch of a small place in Arizona where we escape for a few months each winter while I continue teaching online. I am starting to feel like this place is home as well.
The reason I have included a penguine on the post is because my husband David and I are avid birders. We love to travel and most of our trips have include being in the countryside looking for exotic birds. I am fascinated by birds and have been bird watching on six continents. I also indulge in amateur photography so you will have to suffer through pictures from my travels on the class site. We just returned from a six week trip to Chile and Argentina where we saw many penguins and flamingos.
I hope you are looking forward to our online adventure in writing as much as I am. Do not hesitate to email me with any questions as the class gets underway.
Isn’t teaching a wonderful and terrifying career? Continually, I have the opportunity to push myself and learn – about people, process and content. I love it! For the past twenty-two years I’ve worked with children of poverty and their teachers at Title One elementary and middle schools in Anchorage. Currently, I support four Title I schools, and teach Literacy in the Intermediate and Middle School Grades, for the Master of Arts in Teaching Program at the University of Alaska, Southeast. I’ve been active in the Alaska State Writing Consortium (ASWC) since I was an undergraduate student at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). I went on to graduate from UAA with a M.Ed., and have accumulated more than one hundred post-graduate credits. It is thrilling to me that the number of teachers, who want to integrate writing with content, and teach writing as a process, is again on the rise. The tools of technology now broaden our conversations and expand our composition choices. There is so much to learn! Reflective of ASWC’s leadership model, my mentor is Sondra Porter, the lead teacher for this class. For nearly 10 years Sondra has taught the Virtual Institute and I am honored to have her support. One of my long-term goals is that I extend a helping hand to you, so the principles of ASWC continue to be evident in our teaching, our writing and the writing of our students. Currently, I live in Eagle River with my husband of thirty-three years. We are relatively new grandparents who enjoy our grandbabies and delight in seeing our children as parents. In the summer of 2011 we took our first trip to Europe and can’t wait to go back! Besides traveling and meeting people, I also enjoy live theater, music and poetry, reading, hiking and fishing. I am eager to meet you and excited to begin our online journey together.
Julia, I am excited to be collaborating with you again. It seems that the more things change with teaching and techniques, the more they stay the same. I remember taking the First Steps in Writing with you. I still refer to their writing continuum as a guideline.
Hi Donna, I'm so pleased you're in my section. Yes, everything old is new again. I too still use the First Step Continuum. It's the technology now that pushes me! But being a teacher means you're always a learner too!
Hello! My name is Jessie Neely. I am one of two 2nd-grade teachers at Nunaka Valley Elementary School in Anchorage. This is my first year teaching 2nd grade and my first year in Alaska. Previously I taught kindergarten in West Yellowstone, Montana. Outside of the classroom I enjoy alpine skiing, fishing, hiking and hanging out with my fiancé and dog. I am taking this class with hopes to gain ideas of how to help my students become better, more efficient writers. I hope to find new ways to teach and model effective writing. I am excited to learn ideas!
Hi, Jessie. Welcome to 2nd grade. I went from teaching 2nd to kindergarten to back to 2nd. This opportunity to collaborate with other teachers about writing should be a well of new ideas and activities to try in our own classrooms.
My name is Nerissa Thorson and I teach first grade at Nunaka Valley Elementary. This is my eighth year teaching first grade and I love it. I enjoy getting out and enjoying the outdoors in Alaska, I like to snowmachine, snowboard and take my dog for walks. I hope to become more comfortable with writing in my personal life, I have never thought of myself as a very strong writer so I hope to gain more confidence in my own writing. I am also hoping to gain new writing ideas to bring back to my classroom and how to better integrate writing into all subject areas.
Hi Nerissa! Your post reminded me much of myself...I've never been an avid writer in my personal life either, and I often find myself very uncomfortable with the idea. Hopefully we'll have a great class filled with fellow teachers who will support us and allow for our confidence to grow! :)
Nerissa, I'm there with you, not feeling like a strong writer. I try from time to time to write, mostly journaling, but just don't really enjoy writing much. Despite my own aversion to writing, I do want to know how to encourage my students to believe in their own writing ability. Many of them are so creative and I love reading the stories they come up with when allowed to write with very little guidance on subject matter.
I look forward to learning along with you during this class. Kudos to you for teaching those little ones. I teach 6th and don't know how you guys manage the younger grades.
Hi All! This is Katie Wilkins, first-year teacher in Bethel, Alaska. I’m a recent graduate of Indiana University-Bloomington with a degree in both Special and General Education K-6. Currently, I’m teaching first-grade special education at Mikelnguut Elitnaurviat (M.E.-for short) in Lower Kuskokwim School District. I find that a lot of my focus in the classroom is on Reading and Math; I’d like to develop my own ideas about writing in order to regularly incorporate writing into my classroom routine.
Wow Katie! What was it like moving from the states to Bethel? I don't know much about it. I have been in Alaska for 4 years, but haven't ventured out too far yet. As I kept reading I "wowed" again... special ed. That's great! I admire special ed teachers very much! Welcome to Alaska! ~Katie
Wow, Bethel! What brings you to Alaska from the east coast? I, too am an east-coaster (New York) and have been in Alaska for two years now in Fairbanks. I can't imagine living any place more remote than this so I applaud you for going from the creature comforts of the east to the few resources of the north. Bravo!
Hi! I'm Christine Dyer; I teach English 11 (American Lit.) Honors and AP Lit. and Comp. at Ben Eielson High School on Eielson Air Force Base (outside of Fairbanks). I also teach freshman English classes at the U of A, Fairbanks campus. I'm really excited about this course--I participated in an ASWC course a few years ago in Fairbanks and loved it! When I'm not doing school stuff, I'm spending time with my husband and toddler--we're getting ready for our new addition due in June!
P.S. I'm using the same blogger account that I use with my students; that's why my name shows up as Mrs. Dyer...
Hi Christine--I hope you will share some of the things you are doing with blogger with your students. There are so many possibilities! Do they create their own blogs? Welcome to class!
I'm sure that you will soon find this out, but I'm not that tech-savvy: I use the blog--mostly--as a way to save paper, posting homework assignments that I would otherwise have to make copies of. Sometimes the kids post their responses straight to the blog in the form of a comment, though. They have to have Google accounts or create a blog (that they never use for the class) in order to post. That was what drew me to this class the most: getting more acquainted with the use of technology in the classroom. I LOVE class discussion, and I'm SO lucky to teach kids who thoroughly read the material and REALLY want to talk about it in class, so I find myself asking: "Why give up face-to-face discussion time? What else could be more enjoyable and productive?" I'm hoping to find the answer to that question through this class. (I could probably start by learning more about blogger in order to use it more effectively for homework assignments...)
I’m Marci. I am having brand new experiences every day. I am enjoying many firsts this year. This is my first year as a teacher, my first time in Alaska, and my first time truly living on my own outside of a college setting.
I am teaching in a K1 classroom with 17 students. I work with a wonderful paraprofessional. I hope to learn new ideas and techniques from this class that will help me teach my students to become better writers. I am particularly interested in integrating technology in the classroom and would like to create a classroom blog, although my students don’t know how to type yet.
Next year I may be teaching in a 4-6 classroom. I am excited about the possibilities this will provide. I am also interested in teaching English as a Second Language in another country. I enjoy photography, sewing, and scrapbooking.
Hi, Marci. My last two years of practicum classess were in a k-1-2 classroom with full inclusion. It was wonderful madness! If you can surround yourself with great mentors and positive support you will enjoy the multi-age classroom!
My name is John Jessen & I am currently teaching in the 9th Grade Academy @ Bartlett HS. I was the Head Varsity Football Coach @ Bartlett from 1996-2011. Starting in 2012, I am the Head Frosh Football Coach. I'm also the proud father of two kids soon to be 22 & 21. Both are Bartlett grads and are UA Scholars doing their best. :) I'm very proud of both of them. I have a lovely girlfriend Shelley Schroeder, who teaches with me @ Bartlett HS. Finally, I have a weiner dog named Rueben Rubanos Jessen.
My interest outside the classroom lately have been football, travel, my dog and facilitating & financing my home improvement.
I expect three credits from the class to recert in 2018. :) All joking aside I love to learn. In the past I've taken writing classes and had a great time. In those classes I learn a lot from the content, my peers and the instructors. On a side note I really learn a lot of technology while taking these kinds of classes. A few years ago I took a Writing Matters class from Juneau. I want to learn, have fun and earn credit.
Thank you all students & teachers for helping me navigate through this. Welcome to the class everyone!!!
Hey John! Glad to see you're in the class. I think you, Derek, and I are the only high school English teachers on here that don't teach in the bush. Haha! I've taken a few English courses in the couple years we've been here and we're typically out-numbered by elementary teachers. Not sure why that is. Maybe it's because most people assume students know how to write by the time they get to high school. I'm sure you would agree that's not entirely true. :) What are your thoughts on high school vs. elementary teachers taking instructional writing courses? Looking forward to reading your thoughts during the course!
Hi! My name is Timona Grogan. I teach at Arctic Light Elementary on Fort Wainwright. This is my 19th year of teaching. I'm currently teaching 5th grade but, I've also taught 4th grade. I have a masters degree in Special Education from Western Oregon. I taught special education for seven years. I'm originally from Amsterdam, Holland. English is my second language. My goal this year is to incorporate writing, technology, and art into my teaching. I've done many new and exciting projects this year. Six of my student's art will be shown in the upcoming technology conference in Anchorage. I'm always looking for creative new ways to incorporate my passion of taking photographs into my classroom. I recently bought a new ipad, so I'm having a fantastic time learning all kinds of new things! I can't wait to get my hands on some creative writing ideas so that I can continue to come up with activities my students will enjoy. They love being the center of attention in their writing. Having visuals really helps. Plus, there are some amazing apps out there that can be used to create some incredible art. I recently did an activity and the kids actually asked if we could include a poem because we hadn't done so. I also have four children of my own that range from the ages of 13 to 28. I also became a Grandmother six months ago! So much fun! I look forward to taking this class and hope to be inspired to write more and learn from everyone!
I am looking forward to this course, Addressing New Writing Standards Across the Curriculum. I have been a teacher of elementary or middle school students for the last 26 years and am a fellow of the Alaska State Writing Consortium.
My name is Jill Exe and I am a graduate of Montana State University in Bozeman, MT, and did my student teaching in the small community of Drayton near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England. After graduating and traveling throughout Europe, teaching in a large urban setting (distinctly different than my small home town) was my goal. For six years, I taught elementary students in underprivileged areas of Houston, Texas. From there, I made another extreme change and moved to Barrow, Alaska, the most northern US town, with no regrets. I love the arctic and enjoyed Barrow immensely, however, after 15 years at various elementary grade levels and middle school language arts classes, I decided to go to an even more rural setting and now reside and teach in a wonderful Inupiat community that is routinely visited by polar bears, tourists, and the occasional politician and/or bigwig.
For the past twenty years, I’ve been teaching all subjects and have generally addressed writing through various content areas. While I acknowledge Sondra’s belief that writing is key to all academic success, my personal experiences have led me to believe that reading and writing can’t be separated (even more so with the new standards) and that writing is the means in which kids show their academic prowess in any and all other content area.
Life on the North Slope has been an adventure and teaching here has been incredibly rewarding. For fourteen years, I traveled from my home near my parents in western Montana to the top of the US to teach and I made a conscientious decision to adopt a puppy that summer given that I had no “family” of my own in Alaska. As fate would have it, my seven-year-old nephew came to live with me that fall as well. So, late in life I became the mom to a Boston Terrier puppy and my most favorite person in the world, Benjamin.
I can appreciate the penguin on Sondra’s post as I have become an avid watcher of wildlife and have added a polar bear icon to my google account. A trip to the Galapagos Islands is on my bucket list and I’ve been made of an opportunity to go next April for 14 days. While I have a vast number of sick days stockpiled, I just may have to go on unpaid leave for a portion of the trip…I haven’t shared my plans with my administration quite yet. I’m curious if Sondra has seen any snowy owls, ivory gulls, or Ross’s gulls. I love snowy owls (have a wall dedicated to owl artwork in my home) and the gulls are the most rare of birds that I have seen.
I am currently taking a course with Anita Archer via ASDN and am hoping to blend what I learn in both classes for the benefit of my students!
Hi Jill! Yes, I have seen two that you mentioned and they are among my favorites as well, the snowy owl and the ivory gull. I have yet to see a Ross's gull but my husband who sometimes guides bird trips to Barrow saw them there. Look up the kelp gull which is also beautiful. I saw those while we were in Chile.
Greetings all! I'm looking forward to a really fun and educational semester!
My name is Stephney and I'm originally from the Detroit, MI area. This is my 5th year of teaching, and my 5th in AK. I've lived in several villages, Pilot Point, Newhalen, and King Salmon. The first 2 were with the Lake and Peninsula School District, where I taught K-6 and middle school in a Standards Based System. I'm currently teaching 3rd Grade for the 3rd year in a row. I truly feel like that is the age I was born to teach! I had wonderful experiences at the other levels, but 3rd grade is a true fit.
I personally have always struggled with creative and narrative writing, and I feel like I'm in a continuum towards personal growth in writing, as well as helping my students to grow with me...as we're all aware, this is a really tough area for our kiddos! I'm really hoping to gather some creative ways to reach them. In fact, I took a class over the summer with Sondra up in Denali National Park (AMAZING and HIGHLY recommended) and through out this school year I have been able to incorporate much of what I've learned...so I'm certain I'll gain some more tips for my tool kit!
In my spare time, what little I feel I have, I enjoy reading, sewing, and just spending time with my fiance' Neil and our 3 critters. However, the pastime I enjoy most is cooking! I'm not the greatest, but I love trying new recipes and seeing what I can create. Do not ask me to bake though...not my forte! I've been known to botch even Nestle chocolate chip cookies from the pre-made roll ( :
Again, I'm looking forward to working with and learning from you all!
Hi! I am so glad to connect with you again! I loved the class this summer as well. What a fun group we had in Denali. I hope you will share some of what you have been doing in writing with your students. I hope you are having a great year.
Hello, I am Valerie Kneffel. When pronouncing my last name, the “K” is silent. I am a 5th grade Language Arts/Science Teacher in Bethel, Alaska. I am in my 7th school year and enjoy living in Bethel. I currently teach two sections of reading, a section of writing and a three-week rotating section of science. I enjoy teaching reading and science; yet struggle as an effective writing teacher. I look at myself as a writer, and enjoy writing when I have the time.
I live in Bethel with my husband and my adorable two-year-old son. I enjoy spending time with my family, enjoying the outdoors (when it isn’t 50 below), sewing fur hats and mittens, and cooking with my husband. I spend plenty of time online, but haven’t followed blogs. I am looking forward to learning to blog and finding a new way to communicate with friends and family back in Michigan.
Before my grand adventure started in Alaska, I lived in Michigan. My husband and I worked his family’s dairy farm in the mornings and evenings and worked during the day. Milking cows is one thing I plan on never doing again! I started my career in Michigan teaching 3rd grad at a charter school for 3 years. I then taught at Early Head Start for 2 years. I finished off in Michigan as a sub in Special Education Early Intervention Services for the Huron Intermediate School District. I was working with children younger than 5 with special needs.
After the first audio class, I can’t wait to learn about blogs, blackboard threads, and ways to teach writing! I look forward to asking many questions, learning about writing, trying out ideas and enjoying my classmates!
Well, for me, it is always very hard as to where to begin. I quess that would be called an opening, which is the most difficult part of writing for myself and consequently, for my students. What is that expression? ‘ like father like son .‘ Well, it can apply here ‘like teacher like student.’
I am a Special Education Teacher. I work with K-12 in a school of 28 students, 14 of which are SPED. Yes, that is a VERY high percentage. I have been teaching in the bush for 20 years.
My second passion in life are/is kids, hurting kids, who need to know that there is a world out there that cares. I live and teach in a small village named Nondalton. Everytime I tell people this they say “Where’s that?” Well we are in between Port Alsworth and Illiamna near the Pebble Mine.
As for me, am a follower of Yeshua Ha-Mashiach which is the Hebrew name of Jesus Christ. Studying Hebrew and tracing back to Yeshua’s roots is my first passion. Then come my dogs, kayaking, movies, research and then gardening. It is really hard to prioritize as they all hold equal value. But, if I had to choose, after my belief system, would come my dogs.
I have four dogs. Two are Ruff Collies, (Josey and Calee Ann), one Golden Retriever (Havilah), and then lastly a Japanese Chin (Nakyta). Nakyta is my lap fur. He weighs 6lbs with 2 being his furry coat.
As for what I want from this class, is to be a better teacher of Writing. Writing is my hardest subject to teach and I have tried all types of gimmicks to get the kids interested. But, everyday it is like pulling teeth. So, I would like to know more about the modern technologies as well as techniques for teaching writing to children who have no interest.
Looking forward to learn new things from so many people!
Hi Regina! It was exciting to see you on my class list again. I am glad to hear all is going well for you. I would love to see your Japanese Chin. My faithful Border Collie died around a year ago, and I just haven't been able to replace him yet. Dogs have a way of working into our hearts, don't they?
Hello Regina! It is nice to know that you are still teaching and doing great things for the students in Nondalton! I too am hoping to get some tips from this class to help with some of my reluctant writers. We just got Ipads in our elementary wing and I have been letting the students do some research using them. This has gotten them a bit more interested in researching. I am hoping to start using them for the writing portion soon too. Take care! Jessie
My name is Eugenia Merrifield and I am a fifth year Spanish teacher at Chugiak High School. I teach both regular track Spanish and Spanish Immersion classes. I was born in Argentina, but have lived in Washington, California, Florida, Wisconsin and Texas. I lived and studied in Fairbanks for several years, but chose to move to South Central because of ASD’s language immersion programs. I am certified in Spanish, English, and Anthropology. My husband, Blake, is a North Slope ice road builder and summer time local operating engineer. We spent a great part of this summer working on his political campaign running for the Alaska State House of Representatives. Unfortunately, we lost the race, but gained much in the way of friends and experience. Currently, our three-year old daughter and I are holding down the fort in our home in Wasilla. We stay busy making a mess of and cleaning the house, going to gymnastics, ballet, and swimming.
My reasons for taking the class are threefold. First, I am looking for a way to get back into writing myself. As a youth and university student, I was an avid writer and journaler. Over the years, that practice has fallen by the wayside and I need a focused approach to help me work that writer’s muscle—I thought this class would be a good warm-up. Second, I teach writing to my Spanish Immersion sophomores and wish to find a way to get the most out of them. Notwithstanding, my lower level classes can also benefit from a fresh approach at working with words. Third, I am looking to move laterally and am just a few units shy of the next level.
Although this may not be the best time to begin a class, being in single working parent mode, the reasons to take this class overshadowed the reasons not to. I look forward to what new insights and inspiration this class and its participants will bring my way.
Hi Eugenia! Your life experiences sound amazing! I am hoping to reach my sixth grade students' inner writers. They like to write but some of their constructions are left wanting: capital letters wherever, lack of punctuation, no capitals at the beginning of a sentence. These are basic skills I thought should be in place by this level so that I can focus on improving sentence structure, word choice, etc.
I'm with you in the reasons to take the class outweighed the reasons not to. I'm taking this and two other classes, I must be nuts! But being a teacher, only in my second year I felt I should do whatever I could to improve my abilities.
I teach Language Arts grades 7-12 in Sand Point, a stunningly gorgeous 7-square mile Aleutian Island. Despite my job title, I have never identified with being a teacher, even with 10 years of college experience and 5 years of middle/high school experience. I have a deep curiosity about many interests and a dark sense of humor.
Here are my two creative passions: cooking and photography. (Hint: If you read between the previous paragraph’s lines and the two that follow, you’ll see my approach to writing and teaching writing.)
I have an extensive culinary background obtained by working as a line cook in various high-end restaurants in different regions of the U.S. My younger brother is a classically trained chef and baker who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, the best culinary school in the U.S. My mother taught me some cooking basics, but my brother taught me think like a chef and cook like one. Other culinary skills were gained through hard work and profuse sweat cooking dinner service on the line, through boundless curiosity, and through an unrelenting desire to taste anything new, unusual, or different. I deeply appreciate humble cuisine cooked simply with good ingredients. However, I keep a well-stocked gourmet pantry and a coffin freezer loaded with premium meats and seafood. A nurse practitioner girlfriend is my culinary muse, and she is feted and wooed with food.
As a self-taught outdoor photographer with little money early on, I could not afford much film and processing. This circumstance forced me to adopt a minimalist style of shooting photos while allowing me to document many lengthy solo wilderness trips throughout the U.S. and Alaska. I learned to study a scene or object from multiple viewpoints and angles to compose the best possible images with the least amount of shots. Feeling when the shot was right and knowing when it wasn’t quite there became essential. This training was invaluable for buying a DSLR camera in 2008. Since then, I have learned about many digital camera functions and have invested in lenses and accessories to enhance my repertoire. My photography skills and equipment will be challenged this summer during a month-long trip to Reykjavik, Iceland; Paris; London; Bilbao, Spain (the Basque capital); San Sebastian, Spain (the old Basque city and food capital of Europe); the Bordeaux and Champagne regions of France; and back to Paris.
What would I like to learn from this class? Here are four hopes.
1. Gaining more insight into the role of the writing teacher as an editor would be great. Published writers have editors who have a role in any final draft. How can I be a better editor to bring out the best writing and thinking in my students to let them develop their ideas on their terms?
2. How do we get students to express their varied personality types and traits? Introverts tend to have insightful observations and pointed critiques due to ruminating thoughts and ideas before expressing them. The best extroverts blurt out provocative thoughts and ideas that get people acting and thinking, even if it is in disagreement. Most students lurk somewhere between these polar opposites.
3. Learning a variety of short and long writing exercises that engage students while targeting the development of specific skills for grades 7-12 would be rewarding.
4. Learning to recognize and celebrate being a writing teacher would be sweet. Teaching writing involves imagination, improvisation, and little appreciation, especially if the gains are hard fought and small. There is little understanding of the scope of our work. Unlike other academic disciplines, we deal with EVERYTHING regarding subject matter and emotions, especially when students express themselves freely. When students show their thoughts in writing, they can reveal challenging, unexpected, and sometimes uncomfortable aspects of their beings. How writing teachers respond to these challenges plays a critical role in how these students develop as writers.
My name is Bethany Dunlap. I am currently teaching 4th grade at Bayshore Elementary in Anchorage. I like change and to be challenged, that being the case I have taught grades K-12th. What a ride it has been, but I find 4th grade to be one of my favorites.
Some of my other favorite things are spending time with my family, participating in triathlons (not competing in), and enjoying the state that I reside in. My family provides me with hours of entertainment and laughter. With a husband that is a true partner, two and four year old my heart often is overflowing with love. What a great age my children are at and position that I am in life. I am looking forward to what is to come.
Over the last few years I have found fitness to be a saving grace. It allows me alone time, time to recharge, and energy to carry me through each day. To keep focused and motivated I sign up for challenges. Last year my challenge was to complete a triathlon and I ended up completing two. As I mentioned before I participate in the events and by no means compete. Yet, I am satisfied when I complete one by the results of my hard work and following through with my commitments.
Whenever I travel outside of Alaska I gain a greater appreciate for it. I love telling new people about all the great things we enjoy as residents. Dip netting, moose hunting, hiking at midnight, backpacking, camping, cross country skiing, and too many other things to mention. I am just grateful to have such a rich and abundant life in Alaska with my family and friends.
My reasons for taking this class is to continue with the great experience I have had from previous Writing Consortium Classes. I hope to use the collaboration and ideas presented in this class to enrich my own classroom and personally get inspired about writing.
Hi, Bethany! I went to Bayshore Elementary from 3rd to 6th grade. I keep meaning to go and take a look around to see if it's changed much since the 80s.
Good evening , all. My name is Derek Shuttleworth. I have been teaching middle school and high school English for a while in a couple of different states, but I have found myself back home. It reminds me of a great TS Eliot line,"We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." In that vein it is truly interesting to read from and about you who reside in remote parts of Alaska that I have never been to and only heard of, like some Tolkien land I read about as a boy. I am discovering Fairbanks again, and though it is neither Romantic or easy living, it is home and I am glad to be here.
I went college to be an English teacher because I envisioned myself thundering away in some Keating (DPS) way through Whitman and Wordsworth, and for a time I did just that. However, every year that went by I became more and more of a writing teacher While I loved my dusty verse and provocative fiction, I found that making students into good writers was a great great challenge that they found the most reward.
Writing never ever game easy to me. I fumbled through classes and sneaked my way through a few advanced ones without ever really mastering grammar or, more importantly, seeing writing as STYLE. It is this slow epiphany that I seek to tee-up for my kiddos.
I am at a spot in my career where I am ready to project forward. I have grown comfortable and a little complacent. I want NEW. I don't want the newest fad or gimmick; I want to learn how to be a teacher of writing versus an assigner of writing. To inaugurate this little quest, last night my wife showed me how to create my own blog. So it begins.
Your post strikes a cord in my. I too want to be a teacher of writing verses assigning writing assignments. My little six year olds have a voice and I want to bring that voice forth loud, strong and with passion.
I wish your wife was here to show me how to set up a blog. I'm not certain of what I am doing therefore nerves prevail. Together we all will learn stepping forth into new beginnings.
Hi everyone! My name is Katie Campbell. I teach Elementary Music at Chugiak Elementary. This is my fourth year there and my 7th year teaching! I earned my Bachelors in Whitewater, WI and got my first job in Las Vegas, Nevada. I taught in Vegas for 3 years. My first year I was a cart teacher. I had three schools, I travelled during lunch and I only had my own classroom in one building. I would rotate in my second building and I used the stage in my third building which didn’t have a wall, it simply had a curtain which was incredibly fun during lunch or gym class! I was lucky enough to have three wonderful site-based music teachers who helped me get on my feet as I taught their overflow. I learned from year one to be flexible and roll with the punches, so while it sounds terrible, I am incredibly grateful!
I LOVE teaching music! I am one of the rare people who decided at a young age to do what I love. I was 15 when I decided to become a music teacher and even during my college years many people thought I would change my mind. I have a passion and I want to share it and spread the awesome creativity and emotionality of music! It’s such a beautiful thing and people connect to it in so many ways! This is what I was meant to do. Each year I get nervous when budget season rolls around, but I hold on tight to see where the wind blows me, always hopeful that people will rise up and see the impact that the arts can have on a human being.
I was born in Wisconsin, but lived most of my life in Illinois. I still claim that I am from Wisconsin and am, of course, a Green Bay Packer fan! Go cheese-heads! My wonderful husband and two boys (Scott, 5 and Shawn, 4)and I have been in Alaska for 4 years now. The Air Force brought us here and we decided in December to stick around after my husband finished his most recent enlistment. In the time we’ve lived here, we’ve not done much exploring. When we arrived our boys were 1 and 2 so long car rides were not on our list. Now that they are older we are certainly looking forward to exploring Alaska and raising them here. My oldest son started the Spanish Immersion program at my school as a kindergartener and it has been a blessing to watch him grow!
When I am not enjoying family time and music related activities, I am a stamper. No, not stamp collector, but card maker and scrapbooker. I love sharing my craft with others as a Stampin' Up demonstrator. It's a blast! If I weren't teaching music, I think I'd be teaching stamping full time!
I am excited to take this class! I was looking for another credit or two to take and when I saw this class, I immediately thought “YES!” I have always enjoyed writing. It’s yet another creative outlet for me. My only concern was “is this class right for an elementary music teacher?” Our professors said yes, so I jumped right on the bandwagon. I use journaling in my class once a month for my 3,4,5 students. I thought this might help inspire me with new ways to journal and help me relight the fire under my use of writing in my classroom. I really think that writing is so important! I am happy to contribute in my small way and I would love to learn how to add the digital age to it!
The first few years I taught, I had a writing workshop going in a grade three-four class. Of course, I encouraged students to write in various genres. I remember one girl, who kept complaining that she couldn’t write, found the words to a song she especially enjoyed. Soon, she too was writing songs! We would find the lyrics to other songs and she would change them to make them her own. (Much like the text innovations primary teachers do with very young writers.)
About 15 years later, a young woman approached me excitedly in the store to thank me for encouraging her to write songs in writing workshop. It was indeed, that same young girl from my grade three/four class. Today, she is a singer-songwriter!
Link to my post here: http://mamashutts.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/getting-aquainted/
Text here: Hello! My name is Tiffiny Shuttleworth and I am an English teacher at North Pole High School in the Fairbanks Northstar Borough School District. Phew! That’s a mouthfull! If you want to read a 60-second story about my life thus far, you can find it on my blog. In this post, I’ll be focusing on my life now.
As a teacher of English, I have two focuses: jargon and skills. Too often it is assumed that students can come into English and just start talking about the texts they read because they already speak English, “what more do they need?” This is truly evident in the classrooms where no vocabulary is taught at all. As a result, the same dialogue continues to happen from grade to grade. In my classroom, students build their vocabulary with 10 grade-appropriate vocabulary words each week. In addition, I start off each year with a long list of literary elements and writing terms, which we tackle in chunks throughout the first semester. We then spend the second semester continuously reviewing the terms and use the entire year to apply the terms. Students suddenly have a new language to use and the novelty of it inspires them to discuss texts and their own writing more. In addition, the advanced terminology builds their confidence as they feel an increased intelligence in their speaking.
My second focus of skills is why I am taking this Virtual Writers course. I like to teach writing in a scientific, step-by-step way. Teaching writing can be difficult for people because it conjures up the instructional guidance of, “I don’t know…you just do it.” This method can be seen in teachers that show numerous examples of one type of essay in the hopes that students will pick up the pattern on their own. In contract, I like to break down the writing process and dissect each step. I thoroughly teach the six writing traits, define techniques, and TALK about writing first, before I have the students write a word. Yes, I do believe that the improvement of writing can only occur with an increase in frequency of writing, but students need to have an understanding of what they’re doing first.
Similar to any scientific field, there’s always more to learn, and I would like to learn more writing terms, more writing techniques, more writing exercises. I can’t get enough of them and enjoy turning over my bag of writing tricks often. In short, I am in this course to collect more tricks.
Outside the classroom, as you can see above, I am all about life at home. My husband and son are my world and I love orbiting around them. I do spend quite a bit of time on school work through the evening hours and especially on Sundays, but when I’m not thinking about school, I like to get crafty. I thoroughly enjoy crocheting, knitting, quilting, and cross-stitching. I like to color with my son and put together picture projects for the house with my husband.
On the weekends, we like to go driving around town and through the hills; we’re currently looking to buy a house. We also greatly enjoy movies, going out to eat, and making “megabed” in the living room (a collection of every cushion and pillow and blanket in the house that our son loves to bounce on when he’s not playing in the tent we made him last summer). We’re a home-body family and love spending time together :)
First, I have to say that I love the image of the MEGABED.
On a more professional note, I appreciate and identify with your desire to give your students clear structure and direction in writing; I too share this desire and have practiced it as best I can, but it sounds like I am newer to the profession; I certainly have yet to develop a concrete program or well-manicured collection of "tips and tricks".
How long have you been teaching? How many years did it take before you felt like you had a formidable portfolio of writing teaching materials? Do you have any favorites you'd like to share?
Yes, Megabed is a must-do every weekend (in fact, we've recently started doing it in the middle of the week for a pick-me-up!
As for your feeling "new" to the profession, I've only been teaching for 4 years. Most of my direction to my students comes from guidance I used to supply to my authors when I worked in publishing before becoming a teacher. At first, it was actually difficult for me to teach writing to students because I often quietly asked, "Don't you already know how to do this?" I wanted them to supply me writing that I could simply edit because that's what I was used to; it didn't occur to me that I needed to teach them how to start. So, my collection of tips and tricks is only a few years old and is growing rapidly the more I learn.
So, to answer your question about when I felt confident about my instructional writing portfolio...I'm still waiting to feel confident. LOL! I'm not sure I will ever feel confident because the students I teach will always have room to grow. I've found that people don't start to find their writing voice until they are in their mid-twenties, long after high school, and even after college.
Instead, I like to cling to moments of success. And these come in ebbs and flows, great and small. I like to try to teach one new writing technique each year and if students can leave my classroom in May, knowing something about themselves as writers that they didn't in August, then I feel pretty successful.
Probably my favorite writing instruction activity is using a series of children's books to teach the six writing traits one at a time. I like to do this at the beginning of the year so we can use that jargon all year. The high school kids get a kick out of reading children's books so it gives them confidence to talk about the easy material in a new way. If you're interested, I can give you the titles of the books I use and which writing trait they each line up with. Thanks for the response!
I LOVE the idea of using children's books for each of the six traits. My experiences using children's books in high school has been overwhelmingly positive... please do share! :)
It is interesting that you came to teaching from an editing background. Remodels are way different from building a house from the ground up!
Good evening everyone! My name is Jessica Geffken and I teach at Bristol Bay Borough School District in Naknek on the Alaskan Peninsula. I have been living and teaching in Alaska for four years. My first year here was with Lake and Peninsula School District where I was Head Teacher and taught all subjects in a standards based school system at a remote two-teacher site. The past three years I have been teaching at BBBSD at the second grade level (for the first two years) and this year at the fifth grade level. Stop by my classroom website to see some of the things that are happening in my classroom! You can find it at: http://www.bbbsd.net/wp/jgeffken/
In this class I am hoping to gain confidence in my skills as a writing teacher and to also add more ideas and tips to my teacher's tool bag. Writing is one of the areas that I feel that I need to grow and learn as an educator. I have some very reluctant writers so I am also hoping to get more ideas about how to reach them and get them to write quality essays.
I am married and have three children, two dogs, a cat, and a classroom pet ( a guinea pig named Sausage). I am originally from Pennsylvania. My hobbies are reading, sewing/crafting, cooking and spending time with my family. When I was younger I loved to write poetry and journal write, but haven't kept up with that for many years now. Over our Christmas break I started working on a short book for my nieces and nephew that I am writing and illustrating in my spare time.
I am really looking forward to learning and sharing with my classmates during this writing class!
I was pleasantly surprised to see you here. If you're ever stuck for ideas, just write about your secret Santa gifts and the reactions to them during your first year in Bristol Bay.
Hi, My name is DeeAnn Apgar and this is my 5th year teaching elementary school in Anchorage. Before teaching, I was a stay-at-home mom, a doula, a non-profit contractor, a kindergarten teaching assistant and a substitute. I grew up in Anchorage and thought I wanted out after high school, but came back with my husband after college. We have two teenaged sons (Ben, 15 and Gabe, 13) and a year-and-a-half old Double Doodle (Ozzy). All three of which keep us very busy, but in my spare time, I like to read, travel, craft and walk the dog.
I'm taking this class because I don't think of myself as a writer and don't really like to teach writing. I've decided I must not really know how to do either one and that I should probably face my fears and learn. I do, however, know how to make lists and I do that very well. I'd be happy to share my skills, just ask! So, I am hoping to become a better writer and be able to teach writing with more confidence.
ay to be brave, and face what you see as your potential weaknesses... You should try writing lists this week as your "story form" for your 10 minute writing sessions! For instance, write a list of reasons your dog is hopelessly cute, or a list of reasons why you came back to Anchorage, etc., etc. There are plenty of bloggers who get by just by making and elaborating on lists!
Greetings from Haines! My husband says we used to be retired (seasonal forestry jobs) and now we’re working. I have been a full-time elementary classroom teacher for many years now, and love the ever-expanding field of education. With different students and class dynamics, it’s always intriguing to work to make sense of the world for these young ones. This past year I’ve been in our district’s new position of part-time literacy coordinator, promoting early literacy and supporting K-5 teachers. In early literacy I established the Children’s Reading Foundation of Haines (“like” us on Facebook), a wonderful collaboration of everyone involved in early childhood in Haines. We are a nonprofit with no funds, and lots of positive energy. One grant allowed us to advertise in the local paper to promote early literacy, and we have literacy events for little ones and their parents throughout the year. For K-5 our district is very excited about implementing Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study for reading and writing workshops. Personally, we live one-mile off the road system across a tide flat. Our beautiful walking commute is dictated by the tides. Although I made the commute for several of my younger years as the school librarian, teaching is so all consuming that we now live in town for the darkest winter months. In contrast to teaching, my husband and I own and operate the Haines Brewing Company. I started one school year with a community building activity to each write five of our talents, and one second grader said “You’re really good at making beer!”
Hi, everyone. My name is Donna Schneiders. I teach 2nd grade at Leon Heights Elementary in Belton, Texas. This is my 14th year in teaching. The reason I am taking this course is because my family and I are moving back to Alaska this summer and I need to recertify. Also, I have been teaching Writing Worshop for 14 years. I am constantly tweeking and changing to make the process flow better and to reach each student. I am still not confident that I'm doing it right! I hope this class can give me ideas and techniques to improve this aspect of my teaching.
I graduated from the University of Alaska in 1997. I was hired in 1998 at North Star Elementary in Anchorage where I taught 2nd grade for two year then kindergarten. I was priviledged to have Julia as support for my classroom where I learned a lot from her. After 3 years at Leon Heights I transferred out to Chugiak Elementary where I taught in the Spanish Immersion program teaching kindergarten. It was awesome. I love kindergarten!
In 2007 my husband retired from the Alaska Guard and accepted an FAA job in Billings, Montana. Long story short: We ended up in Belton, Texas. I taught pre-k for one year. That was crazy good. A year later I was fortunate enough to get hired at a fantastic school just 10 minutes from my home.
I have been married for 23 wonderful years. I have three great kids. Trenton is a junior at the University of Evansville in Indiana. Annebelle is in 7th grade and enjoys sports. Abigail is in 5th grade and enjoys soccer. I enjoy reading, watching reruns of NCIS, and taking naps!
We are all VERY excited about moving back "home". We have missed the fishing, camping, moose, bear, and, of course, our friends! Hi, Julia! Can't wait to see you and catch up!
14years WoW…I look forward to reading your posts and getting some insights. I am also impressed that you are leaving warm and coming to cold. I love Alaska and all the outdoor activities, but I am beginning to think warm. It should take another 10 years of thinking and then moving. Anyway welcome back early as I won’t see you when you come as class will be over.
Hello All! My name is Penni Traxler and I have been an elementary teacher for 13 years. I started my career in sunny California where I grew up, but after two years decided to move to Alaska. I LOVE Alaska and teaching. I work in a Title 1 school which presents its own rewards and challenges. For me the rewards surpass the challenges. Currently I am teaching first grade but also have taught second through fourth grades. I am taking this class because I want to improve my skill as a teacher of writing.
My beyond supportive and loving husband and I have been married almost eight years and have two wonderful boys. Kaden, an almost six year old, joined me this year at school and loves kindergarten. Paitin just turned three and is a love. I am blessed to have such a fantastic family.
I forgot to add my personal interests. Well, if there was more time in my day I would read, read, read but one has to sleep sometime so reading gets pushed by the wayside. I love going out to eat, movies, and most of all spending time with my family. My boys are a delight and its fun watching them grow and learn.
My name is Fiona Worcester. I was born and raised in Anchorage, and received an excellent education in the Anchorage School District, and in the mountains and trails around this beautiful town. My friends and family would describe me as driven, outgoing, creative and genuine. I am a naturally curious person and enjoy meeting new people of all ages and backgrounds.
This year has brought many changes for me professionally. After substitute teaching and student teaching for the past three years in various high schools, with a focus on Language Arts, I got my first full-time contracted position, as “Technology Collaborator” at Goldenview Middle School – across town from where I’ve been working for the past few years. My official role is to help teachers integrate technology into the curriculum. I also teach two 7th grade PE classes – with class sizes of 50 students! I am impressed daily by the commitment of the teachers and parents at this school, and the academic and emotional intelligence, athleticism, and spunk that I witness (sometimes only episodically) in my students. I am also assistant-coaching Cross-Country Skiing at South High School just next door. This is my fourth year coaching in the ski community in which I’ve been involved for over 20 years.
For fun, I enjoy all kinds of skiing and biking, practicing yoga, playing “dress-up”, going on rafting adventures, and playing music. Recently, I became the front woman for the rock-and-roll comedy act, the Moby Wang and Supergirl Show, in which I sing, play flute and harmonica solos, and dance with pom poms. For the past two summers, I have toured with a group of circus performers called “the New Old Time Chautauqua”, playing flute in the marching band and stage band in shows across Alaska and in Eastern Oregon. My ambitions include competing in adventure races and becoming fluent in Spanish by age 35.
I expect that this class will help hone my understanding of the formulas behind good writing and methods for effectively teaching writing. I also hope that it will provide me with methods for better differentiating writing instruction to fit different students’ needs and goals. Finally, I hope that the class provides an opportunity for me to experiment with different online-based tools and media for composing and sharing writing and creating writing communities.
Hi Fiona! I've always wanted to be in a rock band :) I looked at The Moby Wang and Supergirl Show Facebook page and it seems that we have a few friends in common. Maybe I'll see you on March 29th!
Elizabeth Bray Kenney is my name. Teaching is my passport. Alaska is my home. My husband Matt and I have three adult daughters, and we are new grandparents to our first grandchild. We are over the moon with this first time experience and love spending as much time as we can with our newest family member. The land of enchantment is once again there with this young life. What fun it is! Skiing and fishing have been my two Alaska outdoor passions. I thoroughly enjoy the instant connection with nature in both sports. The opportunity to test the skills of ‘one person at the end of the pole with the abilities of the one at the other end,’ as Isaac Walton so aptly described the fisherman. Two summers ago I had my fishing thrill of a lifetime. My husband and I were out in the middle of a vast expanse of water, just out of Resurrection Bay in Seward Alaska. It was relatively shallow for halibut, only ninety feet. We had the beautiful bounty of ling cod. We happen to be in an area in which there were many. We had each caught one and that was our limit. I gently asked God to please let me have the opportunity to catch a halibut rather than another ling cod. I knew I would damage it by catching it and have to release it with marginal chance of survival. Halibut hang out just below the ling cod. All of the sudden my rod became an inverted ‘J’. I looked at my husband who already had his eye on the action, as I breathlessly said, “Honey, this is something big.” He quickly noted the movement of the rod and said, “You have a halibut…a big one.” We worked on bringing that fish up for about thirty minutes, which was really a short time for halibut fishing stories and experiences. The slow movement and the struggle of winding the line in made it seem like we had been at this task for over an hour. As the fish came to the surface, I heard myself utter the words many men would love to hear from their wives, “Honey, help me with this. I will do whatever you tell me. ” For those unmarried folks, I cannot explain this, but it is the ultimate marital moment of trust, in the middle of cold Arctic waters, to boot. When I got the fish to the surface, my husband shot and gaffed it. He had the fish by one gaff at one point of its body and I had the fish with a gaff at the other end. He carefully and quickly roped the tail of the fish with heavy woven rope and put a cord through the gills. I was on the back deck holding the fish with a gaff and had it with my husband’s help half way on the deck. I suddenly realized if this fish flips the wrong way, this catch and I are overboard in a hurry. I was able to change position and we finished loading our prize catch on the back of the boat, as we headed back to the harbor. I had just caught a 189 pound halibut. There I was babysitting the catch marveling and appreciating this magnificent fish. When we arrived at the harbor, some of our neighbors on the dock came over to admire the catch. I realized that I had somehow made a rite of passage as an authentic Alaskan fisherwoman. I had gotten a decent size halibut.
Two years ago I had an epiphany and realized I was not done teaching. I realized that I needed to teach adults English. I have been engaged in that activity at Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage and love it. I have loved teaching writing to children. Most of my experience was using the computer as the final publication tool rather than as an integral part of the process. I am looking forward to seeing how many of my new classmates use the computer in your classes. We grew up with lots of grammar instruction. Diagramming sentences was considered so much FUN! Both of those are passe, but hold such great memories of fun with language as a young language learner.
Hello Everyone! I am Jenny Martinez and I am in my 2nd year of teaching. I got off to a "throw you in the deep end" start my first year because I was hired two weeks after the school year started. No time to prepare for that first day of my first year. All that being said, I teach 6th grade at Homestead Elementary in Eagle River. I am in my 2nd year of teaching 6th graders and l love it. I am fortunate that where I teach is a quick 5 minute commute from my house so there is never any traffic :)
I actually earned my bachelors degree in business administration online while my girls were little. Once they got into school, I realized that although business was easy for me, I didn't enjoy the prospect of sitting in a cubicle all day. I had always enjoyed teaching when given the opportunity, so I looked into the possibility when I learned my husband's Navy career would bring us to Alaska. I was thrilled to discover that UAA offered a Post-Baccalaureat program for elementary education. It allowed me to get certified without having to do another bachelor's program. I feel like I have been blessed to have a job that I love to do and that makes teaching so much better.
My husband just retired from the Navy this month after 24 years of service. He served his last assignment at JBER with Alaskan Command. He began a civilian job in January of this year doing logistics for a company that won a contract with Exxon. The position will keep us here for at least 3 more years during the life of this project's contract. Where we will go from here is yet to be seen.
I am mother to three daughters, one will graduate this year from high school and she is looking forward to attending UAA and living at home. My two other daughters are in 6th and 4th but attend our neighborhood school, not the one where I teach. The two younger ones are in Girl Scouts and keep me busy. We also have a beagle, two cats, and a 70-gallon saltwater fish tank (my husband's hobby).
I love to read and would love to spend more time doing so for pleasure. Last summer, the end of my first year of teaching, found me with a nose in a book for the first two weeks. I read right through four books in those fourteen days! Beyond reading, I love to spend time with my family doing most anything. This summer we are looking forward to a family trip to Hawaii where we will also meet up with my mom, stepdad, brother, and niece. We are using my daughter's upcoming graduation as the excuse to all get together.
As a relatively new teacher, I find teaching my students HOW to write a difficult task. I have students who still fail to properly punctuate, capitalize, format a complete sentence, and tell me they have "no ideas." I am hoping this course will help me to teach them how to become better writers beyond just adding adjectives, lengthening sentences, or indenting a paragraph.
I see myself more as a reader/editor than a writer. I have many people ask me to read over their papers to look for problems and I feel confident in my ability to do this well. I have been told by teachers over the years that I do, in fact, write well, but I think I just know how to write to please a teacher. I don't write for pleasure. I have tried several times over the years to journal, but I always stop after a few weeks. When I do write, it is usually poetry. I think I prefer the format of being able to express ideas and emotions in a compact, non-story format. It's odd to me because I love to read stories not poetry, but I prefer to write poems not stories. I dread assignments that tell me to be "creative and write a story." I would MUCH rather meet requirements in my writing.
I am definitely looking forward to learning in this class about how to be a better writer myself and how to be a better teacher of writing.
Hi, Jenny! I appreciated your last paragraph. I see myself more as a reader/editor than a writer, as well. I also LOVE to write Haiku- although probably not the poetry you prefer- and I've never had luck with journals. Hopefully, this class will bring us up to speed in our writing and teaching!
OK, here goes... I just figured out how to sign up, how to create a blog, a "profile" (how discerning a term!), and how to, hopefully, post on this page. I wrote a lengthy introduction a few weeks back only to have it all disappear after I clicked "publish." Has that ever happened to you? There is nothing more frustrating than that first, instant realization that you've just wasted several hours by having your work disappear into the technosphere. I must admit, I've always been a bit wary of technology. As with everything else in our capitalism-addled culture, there is always some market incentive behind every click and gizmo. (Indeed, Marx would say this "what-can-we-get-out-of-you" motive is enhanced through technology.) Things I've read lately encourage my skepticism. Most recently, The Nation published a story "You Are What You Click" in it's March 4 edition that discusses how companies are tracking Internet users for "consumer profiling" for marketers. The author says that we are, in effect, be stalked by these companies (particularly Google, Facebook, Apple, Twitter, and Yahoo). "Whenever you browse the web, you leave a permanent trace of your activity," author David Auerbach notes. The accumulation and aggregation of data is complex and interwoven among many companies. And it's barely regulated. The article we read for the class about our "Digital Footprint" makes, essentially, the same observation. However, it suggest we create our own profiles in ways that may be advantageous to our careers or highlight accomplishments to characterize ourselves in a better light. I remember a teacher at a school I signed up with had "Googled" my name and copied a page that noted I had participated in activism for Greenpeace. She put a flyer in all the teacher's mailboxes "warning" them of the background of the teacher this, to her, ignorant Native selection committee had hired. (I've always been proud of my civil disobedience arrest record, needless to say.) There are certainly drawbacks to the incessant flourishing of techno-gadgets. Teachers in many schools spend a good percentage of their time as cell phone cops. No wonder. Richard Louv, author of "Last Child in the Woods," notes that your average teenager spends 56 hours looking at a screen, beholden to the corporate God of technology. Cultural critic and sociologist Neil Postman, in End of Education, compares the story of the technology with the stories of religion. It always means progress, goes the myth. So, here I am, writing for a blog, assured that my words won't disappear into the ether of the technosphere once I click the proper order of buttons. But they will, in that strange world, still comprise a "profile." And maybe I'll get a free toothpaste sample.
That worked. For future users: if, after clicking "publish," you are asked to type in a word to show you "are not a robot," you are successfully signed in and ready to publish your comment. Also, it's a good idea to type into a word document first, then copy and paste into the body of your comment window.
My room is somewhat eclectic. It changes as we, as a group, change. On my blog there will be the kids bulletin boards that they built at the beginning of the year. Some will add on as the year progresses and they see something they like ore they get interested in other things. The boards are covered with things they like from school, home and magazines. They are pretty typical of 2nd graders as they consist of various animals. My one boy has lions and bears and eagles. The girls have mostly cuddly animals and some things they have called “fooff”. That is the best rendering of they word they say.
Then we have a bright red kidney table where we gather for our work. I like it as it keeps us together and my attention can be split evenly during our lesson. It is also where our smartboard is with which we do a lot of interacting with.
Today our story was about the elephants of Kenya that are being hunted to extinction for the ivory tusks. We looked up Kenya and the elephants and came across David Sheldrick’s haven for orphaned and injured animals, primarily elephants. It matched their spelling and reading unit to a tee as we had just read about Daphne Sheldrick and how she cares for the baby elephants after their mothers have been killed by poachers. They saw pictures of various elephants and were amazed at the sizes. (It is always so GREAT to watch their faces and “WoW’s” they scream at sights they have never seen.) Our story talked about how the elephants hug their care provider and there was even a picture of that. We aren’t always lucky to find things that we just read, but today was a jewel.
The kids have their laptop computers in their carry bag that is also suited to their likes in one corner which add to the colorful design of the classroom.
They set them up in various parts of the room when they do their computer course or when we type out lessons. Unfortunately, our windows are covered or are to high to see out but we have decorated them with pictures flowers and plants.
In the morning it is full of life, but in the afternoon it becomes much quieter as the little ones leave and the high schoolers come in and they tend to be much more sullen. Their reason is they don’t like to come as my room is considered the place where you go for “help” and as teens, that isn’t cool. When they relax or do some “fun” things it becomes a little more livelily, but over all it is much more serene.
So, most of my joy is in the morning with the kids who still think learning is cool and exciting. Don’t get me wrong I love my teens as well, but not much excites them.
Overall my room is bright with color and noisy in the morning and soon to get brighter as we will start our plants.
As a thirty plus year English teacher, I enjoy both writing and the teaching of writing. I am a graduate of Colorado State University (BA) and Middlebury College, Oxford (MA.).My teaching career began in my home state of Colorado where I taught Head Start and elementary school. Most of my Alaskan years were spent at Susitna Valley Junior/Senior High School. I taught a wide range of literature courses, drama, journalism, media and college-prep English, as well as the required classes for 7-12.
ReplyDeleteFor the past ten years, I have taught freshman English classes at the University of Alaska, Mat-Su Campus and facilitated classes and workshops chiefly through the Alaska State Writing Consortium (ASWC). I strongly believe writing is key to all academic success. I have been teaching classes online for UAA and ASWC since 2004.
One of the first things the careful reader may note is that my name can be spelled two ways! The correct pronunciation is "Sondra" but the official spelling is "Sandra" so you see the problem. I alternate spellings.
My home is Trapper Creek where I live in a log house with my husband. We have a small farm where we have raised kids, pigs, chickens, rabbits and produce. This year we have scaled back and have only a small garden. I am writing this, however, on the sunny porch of a small place in Arizona where we escape for a few months each winter while I continue teaching online. I am starting to feel like this place is home as well.
The reason I have included a penguine on the post is because my husband David and I are avid birders. We love to travel and most of our trips have include being in the countryside looking for exotic birds. I am fascinated by birds and have been bird watching on six continents. I also indulge in amateur photography so you will have to suffer through pictures from my travels on the class site. We just returned from a six week trip to Chile and Argentina where we saw many penguins and flamingos.
I hope you are looking forward to our online adventure in writing as much as I am. Do not hesitate to email me with any questions as the class gets underway.
So excited for the opportunity to work with and learn from you again!!!
DeleteSounds like you've had a pretty adventurous few months since we've last seen each other! Hopefully I'll be able to hear some great stories...
Isn’t teaching a wonderful and terrifying career? Continually, I have the opportunity to push myself and learn – about people, process and content. I love it! For the past twenty-two years I’ve worked with children of poverty and their teachers at Title One elementary and middle schools in Anchorage. Currently, I support four Title I schools, and teach Literacy in the Intermediate and Middle School Grades, for the Master of Arts in Teaching Program at the University of Alaska, Southeast.
ReplyDeleteI’ve been active in the Alaska State Writing Consortium (ASWC) since I was an undergraduate student at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). I went on to graduate from UAA with a M.Ed., and have accumulated more than one hundred post-graduate credits. It is thrilling to me that the number of teachers, who want to integrate writing with content, and teach writing as a process, is again on the rise. The tools of technology now broaden our conversations and expand our composition choices. There is so much to learn!
Reflective of ASWC’s leadership model, my mentor is Sondra Porter, the lead teacher for this class. For nearly 10 years Sondra has taught the Virtual Institute and I am honored to have her support. One of my long-term goals is that I extend a helping hand to you, so the principles of ASWC continue to be evident in our teaching, our writing and the writing of our students.
Currently, I live in Eagle River with my husband of thirty-three years. We are relatively new grandparents who enjoy our grandbabies and delight in seeing our children as parents. In the summer of 2011 we took our first trip to Europe and can’t wait to go back! Besides traveling and meeting people, I also enjoy live theater, music and poetry, reading, hiking and fishing.
I am eager to meet you and excited to begin our online journey together.
Julia, I am excited to be collaborating with you again. It seems that the more things change with teaching and techniques, the more they stay the same. I remember taking the First Steps in Writing with you. I still refer to their writing continuum as a guideline.
DeleteHi Donna,
DeleteI'm so pleased you're in my section. Yes, everything old is new again. I too still use the First Step Continuum. It's the technology now that pushes me! But being a teacher means you're always a learner too!
Hello! My name is Jessie Neely. I am one of two 2nd-grade teachers at Nunaka Valley Elementary School in Anchorage. This is my first year teaching 2nd grade and my first year in Alaska. Previously I taught kindergarten in West Yellowstone, Montana. Outside of the classroom I enjoy alpine skiing, fishing, hiking and hanging out with my fiancé and dog. I am taking this class with hopes to gain ideas of how to help my students become better, more efficient writers. I hope to find new ways to teach and model effective writing. I am excited to learn ideas!
ReplyDeleteHi, Jessie. Welcome to 2nd grade. I went from teaching 2nd to kindergarten to back to 2nd. This opportunity to collaborate with other teachers about writing should be a well of new ideas and activities to try in our own classrooms.
DeleteMy name is Nerissa Thorson and I teach first grade at Nunaka Valley Elementary. This is my eighth year teaching first grade and I love it. I enjoy getting out and enjoying the outdoors in Alaska, I like to snowmachine, snowboard and take my dog for walks. I hope to become more comfortable with writing in my personal life, I have never thought of myself as a very strong writer so I hope to gain more confidence in my own writing. I am also hoping to gain new writing ideas to bring back to my classroom and how to better integrate writing into all subject areas.
ReplyDeleteHi Nerissa! Your post reminded me much of myself...I've never been an avid writer in my personal life either, and I often find myself very uncomfortable with the idea. Hopefully we'll have a great class filled with fellow teachers who will support us and allow for our confidence to grow! :)
DeleteHi Nerissa
DeleteI always clap for you talented teachers who teach K-2. I couldn’t but I truly admire those that do….
Nerissa, I'm there with you, not feeling like a strong writer. I try from time to time to write, mostly journaling, but just don't really enjoy writing much. Despite my own aversion to writing, I do want to know how to encourage my students to believe in their own writing ability. Many of them are so creative and I love reading the stories they come up with when allowed to write with very little guidance on subject matter.
DeleteI look forward to learning along with you during this class. Kudos to you for teaching those little ones. I teach 6th and don't know how you guys manage the younger grades.
Hi All! This is Katie Wilkins, first-year teacher in Bethel, Alaska. I’m a recent graduate of Indiana University-Bloomington with a degree in both Special and General Education K-6. Currently, I’m teaching first-grade special education at Mikelnguut Elitnaurviat (M.E.-for short) in Lower Kuskokwim School District. I find that a lot of my focus in the classroom is on Reading and Math; I’d like to develop my own ideas about writing in order to regularly incorporate writing into my classroom routine.
ReplyDeleteHi Katie
DeleteWelcome to Alaska and great blessing for you at your school!!
Wow Katie! What was it like moving from the states to Bethel? I don't know much about it. I have been in Alaska for 4 years, but haven't ventured out too far yet. As I kept reading I "wowed" again... special ed. That's great! I admire special ed teachers very much! Welcome to Alaska! ~Katie
DeleteKatie, awesome you are in Bethel too! I am over at Gladys Jung teaching 5th grade. Hope we get a chance to work together!
DeleteWow, Bethel! What brings you to Alaska from the east coast? I, too am an east-coaster (New York) and have been in Alaska for two years now in Fairbanks. I can't imagine living any place more remote than this so I applaud you for going from the creature comforts of the east to the few resources of the north. Bravo!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteHi! I'm Christine Dyer; I teach English 11 (American Lit.) Honors and AP Lit. and Comp. at Ben Eielson High School on Eielson Air Force Base (outside of Fairbanks). I also teach freshman English classes at the U of A, Fairbanks campus. I'm really excited about this course--I participated in an ASWC course a few years ago in Fairbanks and loved it! When I'm not doing school stuff, I'm spending time with my husband and toddler--we're getting ready for our new addition due in June!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I'm using the same blogger account that I use with my students; that's why my name shows up as Mrs. Dyer...
Hi Christine--I hope you will share some of the things you are doing with blogger with your students. There are so many possibilities! Do they create their own blogs? Welcome to class!
DeleteSondra:
DeleteI'm sure that you will soon find this out, but I'm not that tech-savvy: I use the blog--mostly--as a way to save paper, posting homework assignments that I would otherwise have to make copies of. Sometimes the kids post their responses straight to the blog in the form of a comment, though. They have to have Google accounts or create a blog (that they never use for the class) in order to post. That was what drew me to this class the most: getting more acquainted with the use of technology in the classroom. I LOVE class discussion, and I'm SO lucky to teach kids who thoroughly read the material and REALLY want to talk about it in class, so I find myself asking: "Why give up face-to-face discussion time? What else could be more enjoyable and productive?" I'm hoping to find the answer to that question through this class. (I could probably start by learning more about blogger in order to use it more effectively for homework assignments...)
I’m Marci. I am having brand new experiences every day. I am enjoying many firsts this year. This is my first year as a teacher, my first time in Alaska, and my first time truly living on my own outside of a college setting.
ReplyDeleteI am teaching in a K1 classroom with 17 students. I work with a wonderful paraprofessional. I hope to learn new ideas and techniques from this class that will help me teach my students to become better writers. I am particularly interested in integrating technology in the classroom and would like to create a classroom blog, although my students don’t know how to type yet.
Next year I may be teaching in a 4-6 classroom. I am excited about the possibilities this will provide. I am also interested in teaching English as a Second Language in another country. I enjoy photography, sewing, and scrapbooking.
Welcome Marci to the last great wilderness and many new "firsts"
DeleteHi, Marci. My last two years of practicum classess were in a k-1-2 classroom with full inclusion. It was wonderful madness! If you can surround yourself with great mentors and positive support you will enjoy the multi-age classroom!
DeleteHello everyone,
ReplyDeleteMy name is John Jessen & I am currently teaching in the 9th Grade Academy @ Bartlett HS. I was the Head Varsity Football Coach @ Bartlett from 1996-2011. Starting in 2012, I am the Head Frosh Football Coach. I'm also the proud father of two kids soon to be 22 & 21. Both are Bartlett grads and are UA Scholars doing their best. :) I'm very proud of both of them. I have a lovely girlfriend Shelley Schroeder, who teaches with me @ Bartlett HS. Finally, I have a weiner dog named Rueben Rubanos Jessen.
My interest outside the classroom lately have been football, travel, my dog and facilitating & financing my home improvement.
I expect three credits from the class to recert in 2018. :) All joking aside I love to learn. In the past I've taken writing classes and had a great time. In those classes I learn a lot from the content, my peers and the instructors. On a side note I really learn a lot of technology while taking these kinds of classes. A few years ago I took a Writing Matters class from Juneau. I want to learn, have fun and earn credit.
Thank you all students & teachers for helping me navigate through this. Welcome to the class everyone!!!
Hey John! Glad to see you're in the class. I think you, Derek, and I are the only high school English teachers on here that don't teach in the bush. Haha! I've taken a few English courses in the couple years we've been here and we're typically out-numbered by elementary teachers. Not sure why that is. Maybe it's because most people assume students know how to write by the time they get to high school. I'm sure you would agree that's not entirely true. :) What are your thoughts on high school vs. elementary teachers taking instructional writing courses? Looking forward to reading your thoughts during the course!
DeleteI think I have this mastered. I shut off my computer and restarted it and was able to post!!! Victory!!! Thank you all for the help.
ReplyDeleteJohn THANK YOU! Your post helped me to get my writing to post. It wasn't working for me and now it is so thank you!!!!!
DeleteNow trying to use my laptop.
ReplyDeleteHi! My name is Timona Grogan. I teach at Arctic Light Elementary on Fort Wainwright. This is my 19th year of teaching. I'm currently teaching 5th grade but, I've also taught 4th grade. I have a masters degree in Special Education from Western Oregon. I taught special education for seven years. I'm originally from Amsterdam, Holland. English is my second language. My goal this year is to incorporate writing, technology, and art into my teaching. I've done many new and exciting projects this year. Six of my student's art will be shown in the upcoming technology conference in Anchorage. I'm always looking for creative new ways to incorporate my passion of taking photographs into my classroom. I recently bought a new ipad, so I'm having a fantastic time learning all kinds of new things! I can't wait to get my hands on some creative writing ideas so that I can continue to come up with activities my students will enjoy. They love being the center of attention in their writing. Having visuals really helps. Plus, there are some amazing apps out there that can be used to create some incredible art. I recently did an activity and the kids actually asked if we could include a poem because we hadn't done so. I also have four children of my own that range from the ages of 13 to 28. I also became a Grandmother six months ago! So much fun! I look forward to taking this class and hope to be inspired to write more and learn from everyone!
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to this course, Addressing New Writing Standards Across the Curriculum. I have been a teacher of elementary or middle school students for the last 26 years and am a fellow of the Alaska State Writing Consortium.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Jill Exe and I am a graduate of Montana State University in Bozeman, MT, and did my student teaching in the small community of Drayton near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England. After graduating and traveling throughout Europe, teaching in a large urban setting (distinctly different than my small home town) was my goal. For six years, I taught elementary students in underprivileged areas of Houston, Texas. From there, I made another extreme change and moved to Barrow, Alaska, the most northern US town, with no regrets. I love the arctic and enjoyed Barrow immensely, however, after 15 years at various elementary grade levels and middle school language arts classes, I decided to go to an even more rural setting and now reside and teach in a wonderful Inupiat community that is routinely visited by polar bears, tourists, and the occasional politician and/or bigwig.
For the past twenty years, I’ve been teaching all subjects and have generally addressed writing through various content areas. While I acknowledge Sondra’s belief that writing is key to all academic success, my personal experiences have led me to believe that reading and writing can’t be separated (even more so with the new standards) and that writing is the means in which kids show their academic prowess in any and all other content area.
Life on the North Slope has been an adventure and teaching here has been incredibly rewarding. For fourteen years, I traveled from my home near my parents in western Montana to the top of the US to teach and I made a conscientious decision to adopt a puppy that summer given that I had no “family” of my own in Alaska. As fate would have it, my seven-year-old nephew came to live with me that fall as well. So, late in life I became the mom to a Boston Terrier puppy and my most favorite person in the world, Benjamin.
I can appreciate the penguin on Sondra’s post as I have become an avid watcher of wildlife and have added a polar bear icon to my google account. A trip to the Galapagos Islands is on my bucket list and I’ve been made of an opportunity to go next April for 14 days. While I have a vast number of sick days stockpiled, I just may have to go on unpaid leave for a portion of the trip…I haven’t shared my plans with my administration quite yet. I’m curious if Sondra has seen any snowy owls, ivory gulls, or Ross’s gulls. I love snowy owls (have a wall dedicated to owl artwork in my home) and the gulls are the most rare of birds that I have seen.
I am currently taking a course with Anita Archer via ASDN and am hoping to blend what I learn in both classes for the benefit of my students!
Hi Jill!
DeleteYes, I have seen two that you mentioned and they are among my favorites as well, the snowy owl and the ivory gull. I have yet to see a Ross's gull but my husband who sometimes guides bird trips to Barrow saw them there. Look up the kelp gull which is also beautiful. I saw those while we were in Chile.
Greetings all! I'm looking forward to a really fun and educational semester!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Stephney and I'm originally from the Detroit, MI area. This is my 5th year of teaching, and my 5th in AK. I've lived in several villages, Pilot Point, Newhalen, and King Salmon. The first 2 were with the Lake and Peninsula School District, where I taught K-6 and middle school in a Standards Based System. I'm currently teaching 3rd Grade for the 3rd year in a row. I truly feel like that is the age I was born to teach! I had wonderful experiences at the other levels, but 3rd grade is a true fit.
I personally have always struggled with creative and narrative writing, and I feel like I'm in a continuum towards personal growth in writing, as well as helping my students to grow with me...as we're all aware, this is a really tough area for our kiddos! I'm really hoping to gather some creative ways to reach them. In fact, I took a class over the summer with Sondra up in Denali National Park (AMAZING and HIGHLY recommended) and through out this school year I have been able to incorporate much of what I've learned...so I'm certain I'll gain some more tips for my tool kit!
In my spare time, what little I feel I have, I enjoy reading, sewing, and just spending time with my fiance' Neil and our 3 critters. However, the pastime I enjoy most is cooking! I'm not the greatest, but I love trying new recipes and seeing what I can create. Do not ask me to bake though...not my forte! I've been known to botch even Nestle chocolate chip cookies from the pre-made roll ( :
Again, I'm looking forward to working with and learning from you all!
Hi! I am so glad to connect with you again! I loved the class this summer as well. What a fun group we had in Denali. I hope you will share some of what you have been doing in writing with your students. I hope you are having a great year.
DeleteHey Stephney,
DeleteIt's good to see you here. Congrats on the engagement to Neil. The Denali writing class sounds like fun. I look forward to reading your posts.
Hello, I am Valerie Kneffel. When pronouncing my last name, the “K” is silent. I am a 5th grade Language Arts/Science Teacher in Bethel, Alaska. I am in my 7th school year and enjoy living in Bethel. I currently teach two sections of reading, a section of writing and a three-week rotating section of science. I enjoy teaching reading and science; yet struggle as an effective writing teacher. I look at myself as a writer, and enjoy writing when I have the time.
ReplyDeleteI live in Bethel with my husband and my adorable two-year-old son. I enjoy spending time with my family, enjoying the outdoors (when it isn’t 50 below), sewing fur hats and mittens, and cooking with my husband. I spend plenty of time online, but haven’t followed blogs. I am looking forward to learning to blog and finding a new way to communicate with friends and family back in Michigan.
Before my grand adventure started in Alaska, I lived in Michigan. My husband and I worked his family’s dairy farm in the mornings and evenings and worked during the day. Milking cows is one thing I plan on never doing again! I started my career in Michigan teaching 3rd grad at a charter school for 3 years. I then taught at Early Head Start for 2 years. I finished off in Michigan as a sub in Special Education Early Intervention Services for the Huron Intermediate School District. I was working with children younger than 5 with special needs.
After the first audio class, I can’t wait to learn about blogs, blackboard threads, and ways to teach writing! I look forward to asking many questions, learning about writing, trying out ideas and enjoying my classmates!
Hi Out There
ReplyDeleteWell, for me, it is always very hard as to where to begin. I quess that would be called an opening, which is the most difficult part of writing for myself and consequently, for my students. What is that expression? ‘ like father like son .‘ Well, it can apply here ‘like teacher like student.’
I am a Special Education Teacher. I work with K-12 in a school of 28 students, 14 of which are SPED. Yes, that is a VERY high percentage. I have been teaching in the bush for 20 years.
My second passion in life are/is kids, hurting kids, who need to know that there is a world out there that cares. I live and teach in a small village named Nondalton. Everytime I tell people this they say “Where’s that?” Well we are in between Port Alsworth and Illiamna near the Pebble Mine.
As for me, am a follower of Yeshua Ha-Mashiach which is the Hebrew name of Jesus Christ. Studying Hebrew and tracing back to Yeshua’s roots is my first passion. Then come my dogs, kayaking, movies, research and then gardening. It is really hard to prioritize as they all hold equal value. But, if I had to choose, after my belief system, would come my dogs.
I have four dogs. Two are Ruff Collies, (Josey and Calee Ann), one Golden Retriever (Havilah), and then lastly a Japanese Chin (Nakyta). Nakyta is my lap fur. He weighs 6lbs with 2 being his furry coat.
As for what I want from this class, is to be a better teacher of Writing. Writing is my hardest subject to teach and I have tried all types of gimmicks to get the kids interested. But, everyday it is like pulling teeth. So, I would like to know more about the modern technologies as well as techniques for teaching writing to children who have no interest.
Looking forward to learn new things from so many people!
Hi Regina! It was exciting to see you on my class list again. I am glad to hear all is going well for you. I would love to see your Japanese Chin. My faithful Border Collie died around a year ago, and I just haven't been able to replace him yet. Dogs have a way of working into our hearts, don't they?
DeleteHello Regina! It is nice to know that you are still teaching and doing great things for the students in Nondalton! I too am hoping to get some tips from this class to help with some of my reluctant writers. We just got Ipads in our elementary wing and I have been letting the students do some research using them. This has gotten them a bit more interested in researching. I am hoping to start using them for the writing portion soon too. Take care! Jessie
DeleteMy name is Eugenia Merrifield and I am a fifth year Spanish teacher at Chugiak High School. I teach both regular track Spanish and Spanish Immersion classes. I was born in Argentina, but have lived in Washington, California, Florida, Wisconsin and Texas. I lived and studied in Fairbanks for several years, but chose to move to South Central because of ASD’s language immersion programs. I am certified in Spanish, English, and Anthropology. My husband, Blake, is a North Slope ice road builder and summer time local operating engineer. We spent a great part of this summer working on his political campaign running for the Alaska State House of Representatives. Unfortunately, we lost the race, but gained much in the way of friends and experience. Currently, our three-year old daughter and I are holding down the fort in our home in Wasilla. We stay busy making a mess of and cleaning the house, going to gymnastics, ballet, and swimming.
ReplyDeleteMy reasons for taking the class are threefold. First, I am looking for a way to get back into writing myself. As a youth and university student, I was an avid writer and journaler. Over the years, that practice has fallen by the wayside and I need a focused approach to help me work that writer’s muscle—I thought this class would be a good warm-up. Second, I teach writing to my Spanish Immersion sophomores and wish to find a way to get the most out of them. Notwithstanding, my lower level classes can also benefit from a fresh approach at working with words. Third, I am looking to move laterally and am just a few units shy of the next level.
Although this may not be the best time to begin a class, being in single working parent mode, the reasons to take this class overshadowed the reasons not to. I look forward to what new insights and inspiration this class and its participants will bring my way.
Hi Eugenia! Your life experiences sound amazing! I am hoping to reach my sixth grade students' inner writers. They like to write but some of their constructions are left wanting: capital letters wherever, lack of punctuation, no capitals at the beginning of a sentence. These are basic skills I thought should be in place by this level so that I can focus on improving sentence structure, word choice, etc.
DeleteI'm with you in the reasons to take the class outweighed the reasons not to. I'm taking this and two other classes, I must be nuts! But being a teacher, only in my second year I felt I should do whatever I could to improve my abilities.
I teach Language Arts grades 7-12 in Sand Point, a stunningly gorgeous 7-square mile Aleutian Island. Despite my job title, I have never identified with being a teacher, even with 10 years of college experience and 5 years of middle/high school experience. I have a deep curiosity about many interests and a dark sense of humor.
ReplyDeleteHere are my two creative passions: cooking and photography. (Hint: If you read between the previous paragraph’s lines and the two that follow, you’ll see my approach to writing and teaching writing.)
I have an extensive culinary background obtained by working as a line cook in various high-end restaurants in different regions of the U.S. My younger brother is a classically trained chef and baker who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, the best culinary school in the U.S. My mother taught me some cooking basics, but my brother taught me think like a chef and cook like one. Other culinary skills were gained through hard work and profuse sweat cooking dinner service on the line, through boundless curiosity, and through an unrelenting desire to taste anything new, unusual, or different. I deeply appreciate humble cuisine cooked simply with good ingredients. However, I keep a well-stocked gourmet pantry and a coffin freezer loaded with premium meats and seafood. A nurse practitioner girlfriend is my culinary muse, and she is feted and wooed with food.
As a self-taught outdoor photographer with little money early on, I could not afford much film and processing. This circumstance forced me to adopt a minimalist style of shooting photos while allowing me to document many lengthy solo wilderness trips throughout the U.S. and Alaska. I learned to study a scene or object from multiple viewpoints and angles to compose the best possible images with the least amount of shots. Feeling when the shot was right and knowing when it wasn’t quite there became essential. This training was invaluable for buying a DSLR camera in 2008. Since then, I have learned about many digital camera functions and have invested in lenses and accessories to enhance my repertoire. My photography skills and equipment will be challenged this summer during a month-long trip to Reykjavik, Iceland; Paris; London; Bilbao, Spain (the Basque capital); San Sebastian, Spain (the old Basque city and food capital of Europe); the Bordeaux and Champagne regions of France; and back to Paris.
What would I like to learn from this class? Here are four hopes.
1. Gaining more insight into the role of the writing teacher as an editor would be great. Published writers have editors who have a role in any final draft. How can I be a better editor to bring out the best writing and thinking in my students to let them develop their ideas on their terms?
2. How do we get students to express their varied personality types and traits? Introverts tend to have insightful observations and pointed critiques due to ruminating thoughts and ideas before expressing them. The best extroverts blurt out provocative thoughts and ideas that get people acting and thinking, even if it is in disagreement. Most students lurk somewhere between these polar opposites.
3. Learning a variety of short and long writing exercises that engage students while targeting the development of specific skills for grades 7-12 would be rewarding.
4. Learning to recognize and celebrate being a writing teacher would be sweet. Teaching writing involves imagination, improvisation, and little appreciation, especially if the gains are hard fought and small. There is little understanding of the scope of our work. Unlike other academic disciplines, we deal with EVERYTHING regarding subject matter and emotions, especially when students express themselves freely. When students show their thoughts in writing, they can reveal challenging, unexpected, and sometimes uncomfortable aspects of their beings. How writing teachers respond to these challenges plays a critical role in how these students develop as writers.
Well Hello Mr. Donadieu!!! Hope all is well...miss that poignant, dark sense of humor 'round these parts!
DeleteMy name is Bethany Dunlap. I am currently teaching 4th grade at Bayshore Elementary in Anchorage. I like change and to be challenged, that being the case I have taught grades K-12th. What a ride it has been, but I find 4th grade to be one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteSome of my other favorite things are spending time with my family, participating in triathlons (not competing in), and enjoying the state that I reside in. My family provides me with hours of entertainment and laughter. With a husband that is a true partner, two and four year old my heart often is overflowing with love. What a great age my children are at and position that I am in life. I am looking forward to what is to come.
Over the last few years I have found fitness to be a saving grace. It allows me alone time, time to recharge, and energy to carry me through each day. To keep focused and motivated I sign up for challenges. Last year my challenge was to complete a triathlon and I ended up completing two. As I mentioned before I participate in the events and by no means compete. Yet, I am satisfied when I complete one by the results of my hard work and following through with my commitments.
Whenever I travel outside of Alaska I gain a greater appreciate for it. I love telling new people about all the great things we enjoy as residents. Dip netting, moose hunting, hiking at midnight, backpacking, camping, cross country skiing, and too many other things to mention. I am just grateful to have such a rich and abundant life in Alaska with my family and friends.
My reasons for taking this class is to continue with the great experience I have had from previous Writing Consortium Classes. I hope to use the collaboration and ideas presented in this class to enrich my own classroom and personally get inspired about writing.
Hi, Bethany! I went to Bayshore Elementary from 3rd to 6th grade. I keep meaning to go and take a look around to see if it's changed much since the 80s.
DeleteGood evening , all. My name is Derek Shuttleworth. I have been teaching middle school and high school English for a while in a couple of different states, but I have found myself back home. It reminds me of a great TS Eliot line,"We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." In that vein it is truly interesting to read from and about you who reside in remote parts of Alaska that I have never been to and only heard of, like some Tolkien land I read about as a boy. I am discovering Fairbanks again, and though it is neither Romantic or easy living, it is home and I am glad to be here.
ReplyDeleteI went college to be an English teacher because I envisioned myself thundering away in some Keating (DPS) way through Whitman and Wordsworth, and for a time I did just that. However, every year that went by I became more and more of a writing teacher While I loved my dusty verse and provocative fiction, I found that making students into good writers was a great great challenge that they found the most reward.
Writing never ever game easy to me. I fumbled through classes and sneaked my way through a few advanced ones without ever really mastering grammar or, more importantly, seeing writing as STYLE. It is this slow epiphany that I seek to tee-up for my kiddos.
I am at a spot in my career where I am ready to project forward. I have grown comfortable and a little complacent. I want NEW. I don't want the newest fad or gimmick; I want to learn how to be a teacher of writing versus an assigner of writing. To inaugurate this little quest, last night my wife showed me how to create my own blog. So it begins.
Your post strikes a cord in my. I too want to be a teacher of writing verses assigning writing assignments. My little six year olds have a voice and I want to bring that voice forth loud, strong and with passion.
DeleteI wish your wife was here to show me how to set up a blog. I'm not certain of what I am doing therefore nerves prevail. Together we all will learn stepping forth into new beginnings.
Hi everyone! My name is Katie Campbell. I teach Elementary Music at Chugiak Elementary. This is my fourth year there and my 7th year teaching! I earned my Bachelors in Whitewater, WI and got my first job in Las Vegas, Nevada. I taught in Vegas for 3 years. My first year I was a cart teacher. I had three schools, I travelled during lunch and I only had my own classroom in one building. I would rotate in my second building and I used the stage in my third building which didn’t have a wall, it simply had a curtain which was incredibly fun during lunch or gym class! I was lucky enough to have three wonderful site-based music teachers who helped me get on my feet as I taught their overflow. I learned from year one to be flexible and roll with the punches, so while it sounds terrible, I am incredibly grateful!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE teaching music! I am one of the rare people who decided at a young age to do what I love. I was 15 when I decided to become a music teacher and even during my college years many people thought I would change my mind. I have a passion and I want to share it and spread the awesome creativity and emotionality of music! It’s such a beautiful thing and people connect to it in so many ways! This is what I was meant to do. Each year I get nervous when budget season rolls around, but I hold on tight to see where the wind blows me, always hopeful that people will rise up and see the impact that the arts can have on a human being.
I was born in Wisconsin, but lived most of my life in Illinois. I still claim that I am from Wisconsin and am, of course, a Green Bay Packer fan! Go cheese-heads! My wonderful husband and two boys (Scott, 5 and Shawn, 4)and I have been in Alaska for 4 years now. The Air Force brought us here and we decided in December to stick around after my husband finished his most recent enlistment. In the time we’ve lived here, we’ve not done much exploring. When we arrived our boys were 1 and 2 so long car rides were not on our list. Now that they are older we are certainly looking forward to exploring Alaska and raising them here. My oldest son started the Spanish Immersion program at my school as a kindergartener and it has been a blessing to watch him grow!
When I am not enjoying family time and music related activities, I am a stamper. No, not stamp collector, but card maker and scrapbooker. I love sharing my craft with others as a Stampin' Up demonstrator. It's a blast! If I weren't teaching music, I think I'd be teaching stamping full time!
I am excited to take this class! I was looking for another credit or two to take and when I saw this class, I immediately thought “YES!” I have always enjoyed writing. It’s yet another creative outlet for me. My only concern was “is this class right for an elementary music teacher?” Our professors said yes, so I jumped right on the bandwagon. I use journaling in my class once a month for my 3,4,5 students. I thought this might help inspire me with new ways to journal and help me relight the fire under my use of writing in my classroom. I really think that writing is so important! I am happy to contribute in my small way and I would love to learn how to add the digital age to it!
The first few years I taught, I had a writing workshop going in a grade three-four class. Of course, I encouraged students to write in various genres. I remember one girl, who kept complaining that she couldn’t write, found the words to a song she especially enjoyed. Soon, she too was writing songs! We would find the lyrics to other songs and she would change them to make them her own. (Much like the text innovations primary teachers do with very young writers.)
DeleteAbout 15 years later, a young woman approached me excitedly in the store to thank me for encouraging her to write songs in writing workshop. It was indeed, that same young girl from my grade three/four class. Today, she is a singer-songwriter!
Link to my post here: http://mamashutts.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/getting-aquainted/
ReplyDeleteText here: Hello! My name is Tiffiny Shuttleworth and I am an English teacher at North Pole High School in the Fairbanks Northstar Borough School District. Phew! That’s a mouthfull! If you want to read a 60-second story about my life thus far, you can find it on my blog. In this post, I’ll be focusing on my life now.
As a teacher of English, I have two focuses: jargon and skills. Too often it is assumed that students can come into English and just start talking about the texts they read because they already speak English, “what more do they need?” This is truly evident in the classrooms where no vocabulary is taught at all. As a result, the same dialogue continues to happen from grade to grade. In my classroom, students build their vocabulary with 10 grade-appropriate vocabulary words each week. In addition, I start off each year with a long list of literary elements and writing terms, which we tackle in chunks throughout the first semester. We then spend the second semester continuously reviewing the terms and use the entire year to apply the terms. Students suddenly have a new language to use and the novelty of it inspires them to discuss texts and their own writing more. In addition, the advanced terminology builds their confidence as they feel an increased intelligence in their speaking.
My second focus of skills is why I am taking this Virtual Writers course. I like to teach writing in a scientific, step-by-step way. Teaching writing can be difficult for people because it conjures up the instructional guidance of, “I don’t know…you just do it.” This method can be seen in teachers that show numerous examples of one type of essay in the hopes that students will pick up the pattern on their own. In contract, I like to break down the writing process and dissect each step. I thoroughly teach the six writing traits, define techniques, and TALK about writing first, before I have the students write a word. Yes, I do believe that the improvement of writing can only occur with an increase in frequency of writing, but students need to have an understanding of what they’re doing first.
Similar to any scientific field, there’s always more to learn, and I would like to learn more writing terms, more writing techniques, more writing exercises. I can’t get enough of them and enjoy turning over my bag of writing tricks often. In short, I am in this course to collect more tricks.
Outside the classroom, as you can see above, I am all about life at home. My husband and son are my world and I love orbiting around them. I do spend quite a bit of time on school work through the evening hours and especially on Sundays, but when I’m not thinking about school, I like to get crafty. I thoroughly enjoy crocheting, knitting, quilting, and cross-stitching. I like to color with my son and put together picture projects for the house with my husband.
On the weekends, we like to go driving around town and through the hills; we’re currently looking to buy a house. We also greatly enjoy movies, going out to eat, and making “megabed” in the living room (a collection of every cushion and pillow and blanket in the house that our son loves to bounce on when he’s not playing in the tent we made him last summer). We’re a home-body family and love spending time together :)
Tiffiny-
DeleteFirst, I have to say that I love the image of the MEGABED.
On a more professional note, I appreciate and identify with your desire to give your students clear structure and direction in writing; I too share this desire and have practiced it as best I can, but it sounds like I am newer to the profession; I certainly have yet to develop a concrete program or well-manicured collection of "tips and tricks".
How long have you been teaching? How many years did it take before you felt like you had a formidable portfolio of writing teaching materials? Do you have any favorites you'd like to share?
Thanks!
Yes, Megabed is a must-do every weekend (in fact, we've recently started doing it in the middle of the week for a pick-me-up!
DeleteAs for your feeling "new" to the profession, I've only been teaching for 4 years. Most of my direction to my students comes from guidance I used to supply to my authors when I worked in publishing before becoming a teacher. At first, it was actually difficult for me to teach writing to students because I often quietly asked, "Don't you already know how to do this?" I wanted them to supply me writing that I could simply edit because that's what I was used to; it didn't occur to me that I needed to teach them how to start. So, my collection of tips and tricks is only a few years old and is growing rapidly the more I learn.
So, to answer your question about when I felt confident about my instructional writing portfolio...I'm still waiting to feel confident. LOL! I'm not sure I will ever feel confident because the students I teach will always have room to grow. I've found that people don't start to find their writing voice until they are in their mid-twenties, long after high school, and even after college.
Instead, I like to cling to moments of success. And these come in ebbs and flows, great and small. I like to try to teach one new writing technique each year and if students can leave my classroom in May, knowing something about themselves as writers that they didn't in August, then I feel pretty successful.
Probably my favorite writing instruction activity is using a series of children's books to teach the six writing traits one at a time. I like to do this at the beginning of the year so we can use that jargon all year. The high school kids get a kick out of reading children's books so it gives them confidence to talk about the easy material in a new way. If you're interested, I can give you the titles of the books I use and which writing trait they each line up with. Thanks for the response!
I LOVE the idea of using children's books for each of the six traits. My experiences using children's books in high school has been overwhelmingly positive... please do share! :)
DeleteIt is interesting that you came to teaching from an editing background. Remodels are way different from building a house from the ground up!
Thanks for your response and the insights. :)
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ReplyDeleteGood evening everyone! My name is Jessica Geffken and I teach at Bristol Bay Borough School District in Naknek on the Alaskan Peninsula. I have been living and teaching in Alaska for four years. My first year here was with Lake and Peninsula School District where I was Head Teacher and taught all subjects in a standards based school system at a remote two-teacher site. The past three years I have been teaching at BBBSD at the second grade level (for the first two years) and this year at the fifth grade level. Stop by my classroom website to see some of the things that are happening in my classroom! You can find it at: http://www.bbbsd.net/wp/jgeffken/
ReplyDeleteIn this class I am hoping to gain confidence in my skills as a writing teacher and to also add more ideas and tips to my teacher's tool bag. Writing is one of the areas that I feel that I need to grow and learn as an educator. I have some very reluctant writers so I am also hoping to get more ideas about how to reach them and get them to write quality essays.
I am married and have three children, two dogs, a cat, and a classroom pet ( a guinea pig named Sausage). I am originally from Pennsylvania. My hobbies are reading, sewing/crafting, cooking and spending time with my family. When I was younger I loved to write poetry and journal write, but haven't kept up with that for many years now. Over our Christmas break I started working on a short book for my nieces and nephew that I am writing and illustrating in my spare time.
I am really looking forward to learning and sharing with my classmates during this writing class!
Hey Jessica,
DeleteI was pleasantly surprised to see you here. If you're ever stuck for ideas, just write about your secret Santa gifts and the reactions to them during your first year in Bristol Bay.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteMy name is DeeAnn Apgar and this is my 5th year teaching elementary school in Anchorage. Before teaching, I was a stay-at-home mom, a doula, a non-profit contractor, a kindergarten teaching assistant and a substitute. I grew up in Anchorage and thought I wanted out after high school, but came back with my husband after college. We have two teenaged sons (Ben, 15 and Gabe, 13) and a year-and-a-half old Double Doodle (Ozzy). All three of which keep us very busy, but in my spare time, I like to read, travel, craft and walk the dog.
I'm taking this class because I don't think of myself as a writer and don't really like to teach writing. I've decided I must not really know how to do either one and that I should probably face my fears and learn. I do, however, know how to make lists and I do that very well. I'd be happy to share my skills, just ask! So, I am hoping to become a better writer and be able to teach writing with more confidence.
DeeAnn- w
Deleteay to be brave, and face what you see as your potential weaknesses... You should try writing lists this week as your "story form" for your 10 minute writing sessions! For instance, write a list of reasons your dog is hopelessly cute, or a list of reasons why you came back to Anchorage, etc., etc. There are plenty of bloggers who get by just by making and elaborating on lists!
Greetings from Haines! My husband says we used to be retired (seasonal forestry jobs) and now we’re working. I have been a full-time elementary classroom teacher for many years now, and love the ever-expanding field of education. With different students and class dynamics, it’s always intriguing to work to make sense of the world for these young ones.
ReplyDeleteThis past year I’ve been in our district’s new position of part-time literacy coordinator, promoting early literacy and supporting K-5 teachers. In early literacy I established the Children’s Reading Foundation of Haines (“like” us on Facebook), a wonderful collaboration of everyone involved in early childhood in Haines. We are a nonprofit with no funds, and lots of positive energy. One grant allowed us to advertise in the local paper to promote early literacy, and we have literacy events for little ones and their parents throughout the year. For K-5 our district is very excited about implementing Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study for reading and writing workshops.
Personally, we live one-mile off the road system across a tide flat. Our beautiful walking commute is dictated by the tides. Although I made the commute for several of my younger years as the school librarian, teaching is so all consuming that we now live in town for the darkest winter months. In contrast to teaching, my husband and I own and operate the Haines Brewing Company. I started one school year with a community building activity to each write five of our talents, and one second grader said “You’re really good at making beer!”
Hi, everyone. My name is Donna Schneiders. I teach 2nd grade at Leon Heights Elementary in Belton, Texas. This is my 14th year in teaching. The reason I am taking this course is because my family and I are moving back to Alaska this summer and I need to recertify. Also, I have been teaching Writing Worshop for 14 years. I am constantly tweeking and changing to make the process flow better and to reach each student. I am still not confident that I'm doing it right! I hope this class can give me ideas and techniques to improve this aspect of my teaching.
ReplyDeleteI graduated from the University of Alaska in 1997. I was hired in 1998 at North Star Elementary in Anchorage where I taught 2nd grade for two year then kindergarten. I was priviledged to have Julia as support for my classroom where I learned a lot from her. After 3 years at Leon Heights I transferred out to Chugiak Elementary where I taught in the Spanish Immersion program teaching kindergarten. It was awesome. I love kindergarten!
In 2007 my husband retired from the Alaska Guard and accepted an FAA job in Billings, Montana. Long story short: We ended up in Belton, Texas. I taught pre-k for one year. That was crazy good. A year later I was fortunate enough to get hired at a fantastic school just 10 minutes from my home.
I have been married for 23 wonderful years. I have three great kids. Trenton is a junior at the University of Evansville in Indiana. Annebelle is in 7th grade and enjoys sports. Abigail is in 5th grade and enjoys soccer. I enjoy reading, watching reruns of NCIS, and taking naps!
We are all VERY excited about moving back "home". We have missed the fishing, camping, moose, bear, and, of course, our friends! Hi, Julia! Can't wait to see you and catch up!
Hi Donna,
Delete14years WoW…I look forward to reading your posts and getting some insights. I am also impressed that you are leaving warm and coming to cold. I love Alaska and all the outdoor activities, but I am beginning to think warm. It should take another 10 years of thinking and then moving. Anyway welcome back early as I won’t see you when you come as class will be over.
Hello All! My name is Penni Traxler and I have been an elementary teacher for 13 years. I started my career in sunny California where I grew up, but after two years decided to move to Alaska. I LOVE Alaska and teaching. I work in a Title 1 school which presents its own rewards and challenges. For me the rewards surpass the challenges. Currently I am teaching first grade but also have taught second through fourth grades. I am taking this class because I want to improve my skill as a teacher of writing.
ReplyDeleteMy beyond supportive and loving husband and I have been married almost eight years and have two wonderful boys. Kaden, an almost six year old, joined me this year at school and loves kindergarten. Paitin just turned three and is a love. I am blessed to have such a fantastic family.
I forgot to add my personal interests. Well, if there was more time in my day I would read, read, read but one has to sleep sometime so reading gets pushed by the wayside. I love going out to eat, movies, and most of all spending time with my family. My boys are a delight and its fun watching them grow and learn.
DeleteMy name is Fiona Worcester. I was born and raised in Anchorage, and received an excellent education in the Anchorage School District, and in the mountains and trails around this beautiful town. My friends and family would describe me as driven, outgoing, creative and genuine. I am a naturally curious person and enjoy meeting new people of all ages and backgrounds.
ReplyDeleteThis year has brought many changes for me professionally. After substitute teaching and student teaching for the past three years in various high schools, with a focus on Language Arts, I got my first full-time contracted position, as “Technology Collaborator” at Goldenview Middle School – across town from where I’ve been working for the past few years. My official role is to help teachers integrate technology into the curriculum. I also teach two 7th grade PE classes – with class sizes of 50 students! I am impressed daily by the commitment of the teachers and parents at this school, and the academic and emotional intelligence, athleticism, and spunk that I witness (sometimes only episodically) in my students. I am also assistant-coaching Cross-Country Skiing at South High School just next door. This is my fourth year coaching in the ski community in which I’ve been involved for over 20 years.
For fun, I enjoy all kinds of skiing and biking, practicing yoga, playing “dress-up”, going on rafting adventures, and playing music. Recently, I became the front woman for the rock-and-roll comedy act, the Moby Wang and Supergirl Show, in which I sing, play flute and harmonica solos, and dance with pom poms. For the past two summers, I have toured with a group of circus performers called “the New Old Time Chautauqua”, playing flute in the marching band and stage band in shows across Alaska and in Eastern Oregon. My ambitions include competing in adventure races and becoming fluent in Spanish by age 35.
I expect that this class will help hone my understanding of the formulas behind good writing and methods for effectively teaching writing. I also hope that it will provide me with methods for better differentiating writing instruction to fit different students’ needs and goals. Finally, I hope that the class provides an opportunity for me to experiment with different online-based tools and media for composing and sharing writing and creating writing communities.
I wish I could build links into these posts! Because I can't,
Deleteif you want to know more about the New Old Time Chautauqua, visit chautauqua.org
Search "The Moby Wang and Supergirl Show" on facebook to find out more about my band!
Hi Fiona! I've always wanted to be in a rock band :) I looked at The Moby Wang and Supergirl Show Facebook page and it seems that we have a few friends in common. Maybe I'll see you on March 29th!
Delete
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Bray Kenney is my name. Teaching is my passport. Alaska is my home. My husband Matt and I have three adult daughters, and we are new grandparents to our first grandchild. We are over the moon with this first time experience and love spending as much time as we can with our newest family member. The land of enchantment is once again there with this young life. What fun it is!
Skiing and fishing have been my two Alaska outdoor passions. I thoroughly enjoy the instant connection with nature in both sports. The opportunity to test the skills of ‘one person at the end of the pole with the abilities of the one at the other end,’ as Isaac Walton so aptly described the fisherman.
Two summers ago I had my fishing thrill of a lifetime. My husband and I were out in the middle of a vast expanse of water, just out of Resurrection Bay in Seward Alaska. It was relatively shallow for halibut, only ninety feet. We had the beautiful bounty of ling cod. We happen to be in an area in which there were many. We had each caught one and that was our limit. I gently asked God to please let me have the opportunity to catch a halibut rather than another ling cod. I knew I would damage it by catching it and have to release it with marginal chance of survival. Halibut hang out just below the ling cod.
All of the sudden my rod became an inverted ‘J’. I looked at my husband who already had his eye on the action, as I breathlessly said, “Honey, this is something big.” He quickly noted the movement of the rod and said, “You have a halibut…a big one.” We worked on bringing that fish up for about thirty minutes, which was really a short time for halibut fishing stories and experiences. The slow movement and the struggle of winding the line in made it seem like we had been at this task for over an hour.
As the fish came to the surface, I heard myself utter the words many men would love to hear from their wives, “Honey, help me with this. I will do whatever you tell me. ” For those unmarried folks, I cannot explain this, but it is the ultimate marital moment of trust, in the middle of cold Arctic waters, to boot.
When I got the fish to the surface, my husband shot and gaffed it. He had the fish by one gaff at one point of its body and I had the fish with a gaff at the other end. He carefully and quickly roped the tail of the fish with heavy woven rope and put a cord through the gills. I was on the back deck holding the fish with a gaff and had it with my husband’s help half way on the deck. I suddenly realized if this fish flips the wrong way, this catch and I are overboard in a hurry. I was able to change position and we finished loading our prize catch on the back of the boat, as we headed back to the harbor. I had just caught a 189 pound halibut. There I was babysitting the catch marveling and appreciating this magnificent fish.
When we arrived at the harbor, some of our neighbors on the dock came over to admire the catch. I realized that I had somehow made a rite of passage as an authentic Alaskan fisherwoman. I had gotten a decent size halibut.
Two years ago I had an epiphany and realized I was not done teaching. I realized that I needed to teach adults English. I have been engaged in that activity at Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage and love it. I have loved teaching writing to children. Most of my experience was using the computer as the final publication tool rather than as an integral part of the process. I am looking forward to seeing how many of my new classmates use the computer in your classes. We grew up with lots of grammar instruction. Diagramming sentences was considered so much FUN! Both of those are passe, but hold such great memories of fun with language as a young language learner.
ReplyDeleteHello Everyone! I am Jenny Martinez and I am in my 2nd year of teaching. I got off to a "throw you in the deep end" start my first year because I was hired two weeks after the school year started. No time to prepare for that first day of my first year. All that being said, I teach 6th grade at Homestead Elementary in Eagle River. I am in my 2nd year of teaching 6th graders and l love it. I am fortunate that where I teach is a quick 5 minute commute from my house so there is never any traffic :)
ReplyDeleteI actually earned my bachelors degree in business administration online while my girls were little. Once they got into school, I realized that although business was easy for me, I didn't enjoy the prospect of sitting in a cubicle all day. I had always enjoyed teaching when given the opportunity, so I looked into the possibility when I learned my husband's Navy career would bring us to Alaska. I was thrilled to discover that UAA offered a Post-Baccalaureat program for elementary education. It allowed me to get certified without having to do another bachelor's program. I feel like I have been blessed to have a job that I love to do and that makes teaching so much better.
My husband just retired from the Navy this month after 24 years of service. He served his last assignment at JBER with Alaskan Command. He began a civilian job in January of this year doing logistics for a company that won a contract with Exxon. The position will keep us here for at least 3 more years during the life of this project's contract. Where we will go from here is yet to be seen.
I am mother to three daughters, one will graduate this year from high school and she is looking forward to attending UAA and living at home. My two other daughters are in 6th and 4th but attend our neighborhood school, not the one where I teach. The two younger ones are in Girl Scouts and keep me busy. We also have a beagle, two cats, and a 70-gallon saltwater fish tank (my husband's hobby).
I love to read and would love to spend more time doing so for pleasure. Last summer, the end of my first year of teaching, found me with a nose in a book for the first two weeks. I read right through four books in those fourteen days! Beyond reading, I love to spend time with my family doing most anything. This summer we are looking forward to a family trip to Hawaii where we will also meet up with my mom, stepdad, brother, and niece. We are using my daughter's upcoming graduation as the excuse to all get together.
As a relatively new teacher, I find teaching my students HOW to write a difficult task. I have students who still fail to properly punctuate, capitalize, format a complete sentence, and tell me they have "no ideas." I am hoping this course will help me to teach them how to become better writers beyond just adding adjectives, lengthening sentences, or indenting a paragraph.
I see myself more as a reader/editor than a writer. I have many people ask me to read over their papers to look for problems and I feel confident in my ability to do this well. I have been told by teachers over the years that I do, in fact, write well, but I think I just know how to write to please a teacher. I don't write for pleasure. I have tried several times over the years to journal, but I always stop after a few weeks. When I do write, it is usually poetry. I think I prefer the format of being able to express ideas and emotions in a compact, non-story format. It's odd to me because I love to read stories not poetry, but I prefer to write poems not stories. I dread assignments that tell me to be "creative and write a story." I would MUCH rather meet requirements in my writing.
I am definitely looking forward to learning in this class about how to be a better writer myself and how to be a better teacher of writing.
Hi, Jenny!
ReplyDeleteI appreciated your last paragraph. I see myself more as a reader/editor than a writer, as well. I also LOVE to write Haiku- although probably not the poetry you prefer- and I've never had luck with journals. Hopefully, this class will bring us up to speed in our writing and teaching!
OK, here goes...
ReplyDeleteI just figured out how to sign up, how to create a blog, a "profile" (how discerning a term!), and how to, hopefully, post on this page. I wrote a lengthy introduction a few weeks back only to have it all disappear after I clicked "publish."
Has that ever happened to you? There is nothing more frustrating than that first, instant realization that you've just wasted several hours by having your work disappear into the technosphere.
I must admit, I've always been a bit wary of technology. As with everything else in our capitalism-addled culture, there is always some market incentive behind every click and gizmo. (Indeed, Marx would say this "what-can-we-get-out-of-you" motive is enhanced through technology.)
Things I've read lately encourage my skepticism. Most recently, The Nation published a story "You Are What You Click" in it's March 4 edition that discusses how companies are tracking Internet users for "consumer profiling" for marketers. The author says that we are, in effect, be stalked by these companies (particularly Google, Facebook, Apple, Twitter, and Yahoo). "Whenever you browse the web, you leave a permanent trace of your activity," author David Auerbach notes. The accumulation and aggregation of data is complex and interwoven among many companies. And it's barely regulated.
The article we read for the class about our "Digital Footprint" makes, essentially, the same observation. However, it suggest we create our own profiles in ways that may be advantageous to our careers or highlight accomplishments to characterize ourselves in a better light.
I remember a teacher at a school I signed up with had "Googled" my name and copied a page that noted I had participated in activism for Greenpeace. She put a flyer in all the teacher's mailboxes "warning" them of the background of the teacher this, to her, ignorant Native selection committee had hired.
(I've always been proud of my civil disobedience arrest record, needless to say.)
There are certainly drawbacks to the incessant flourishing of techno-gadgets. Teachers in many schools spend a good percentage of their time as cell phone cops. No wonder. Richard Louv, author of "Last Child in the Woods," notes that your average teenager spends 56 hours looking at a screen, beholden to the corporate God of technology. Cultural critic and sociologist Neil Postman, in End of Education, compares the story of the technology with the stories of religion. It always means progress, goes the myth.
So, here I am, writing for a blog, assured that my words won't disappear into the ether of the technosphere once I click the proper order of buttons. But they will, in that strange world, still comprise a "profile."
And maybe I'll get a free toothpaste sample.
That worked. For future users: if, after clicking "publish," you are asked to type in a word to show you "are not a robot," you are successfully signed in and ready to publish your comment. Also, it's a good idea to type into a word document first, then copy and paste into the body of your comment window.
ReplyDeleteMy room is somewhat eclectic. It changes as we, as a group, change. On my blog there will be the kids bulletin boards that they built at the beginning of the year. Some will add on as the year progresses and they see something they like ore they get interested in other things. The boards are covered with things they like from school, home and magazines. They are pretty typical of 2nd graders as they consist of various animals. My one boy has lions and bears and eagles. The girls have mostly cuddly animals and some things they have called “fooff”. That is the best rendering of they word they say.
ReplyDeleteThen we have a bright red kidney table where we gather for our work. I like it as it keeps us together and my attention can be split evenly during our lesson. It is also where our smartboard is with which we do a lot of interacting with.
Today our story was about the elephants of Kenya that are being hunted to extinction for the ivory tusks. We looked up Kenya and the elephants and came across David Sheldrick’s haven for orphaned and injured animals, primarily elephants. It matched their spelling and reading unit to a tee as we had just read about Daphne Sheldrick and how she cares for the baby elephants after their mothers have been killed by poachers. They saw pictures of various elephants and were amazed at the sizes. (It is always so GREAT to watch their faces and “WoW’s” they scream at sights they have never seen.) Our story talked about how the elephants hug their care provider and there was even a picture of that. We aren’t always lucky to find things that we just read, but today was a jewel.
The kids have their laptop computers in their carry bag that is also suited to their likes in one corner which add to the colorful design of the classroom.
They set them up in various parts of the room when they do their computer course or when we type out lessons.
Unfortunately, our windows are covered or are to high to see out but we have decorated them with pictures flowers and plants.
In the morning it is full of life, but in the afternoon it becomes much quieter as the little ones leave and the high schoolers come in and they tend to be much more sullen. Their reason is they don’t like to come as my room is considered the place where you go for “help” and as teens, that isn’t cool. When they relax or do some “fun” things it becomes a little more livelily, but over all it is much more serene.
So, most of my joy is in the morning with the kids who still think learning is cool and exciting. Don’t get me wrong I love my teens as well, but not much excites them.
Overall my room is bright with color and noisy in the morning and soon to get brighter as we will start our plants.