Thoughts on Teaching and Learning: Goals

How does one set goals for a completely unknowable future?

And since the future always has been and always will be unknowable, why does the current unknowable future seem more murky than all the others we've lived our way into? (Perhaps that one little word...pandemic? Yeah...)

I've decided I'm going to move forward with Seth Godin's advice in mind. I'm going to "...put some effort into making an imperfect situation a little less imperfect."

My goals for the summer are "Toolkit-Filling Goals." I'm going to get my Google Educator Certification (Levels 1 and 2, if all goes well), my NewsELA Educator Certification, I'm signed up to attend the Inclusive STEM & CS Summit, and I'm going to work through all of Amy LV's Notebooking videos.

Big plans for what I will do means I will have to let go of some things. This past weekend, I gave myself permission not to try to make an entire wardrobe of masks for myself and hubby. Instead, we'll support the economy as creative entrepreneurs make all sorts of functional (and hopefully fun) masks for us to buy.

This will likely be the year I don't make my Goodreads goal. And I'm okay with that. I haven't stopped reading. I just won't make it to the number of books I've read in the past or the number of books that seemed possible last January.

The "completely unknowable future" is just beyond the bend in that photo at the top of this post. I'm going to do my best not to try to see around the bend. I'm going to keep my eyes on my feet, taking one step at a time. I'm going to watch the clouds, and look for meadowlarks in the grass. One step at a time.

Thoughts on Teaching and Learning: Worried About Our Kids

Over the past several weeks, I have found myself doing a lot of reflection trying to get this online teaching right.  I keep meaning to get my thoughts on paper but then get caught up in the day-to-day work of teaching in this pandemic era.  I know if I can catch my breath, there is a lot to learn and reflect on during this time. So, I decided that every day in May, I will share my thoughts on Teaching and Learning.  This is Day 17.


During these last two months, I have been worried about our world's children. As teachers, we knew with this online/pandemic teaching, our priorities had to be connecting in a way that helped students and families through this difficult time.  The phases of this online/pandemic teaching seem predictable--it seemed fun at first and we all thought it was temporary. But then children and families and teachers got weary and this week many of my students verbalized the sadness they were feeling. I know teachers everywhere did an amazing job of taking care of our students and teachers. I am wondering how our children will be impacted in the future.

This article--Kids Are So Over Zoom: Here's What ToDo About It--popped up in my feed today and it put in words a lot that I've been worried about. It explains a lot that teachers have been seeing. For teachers and parents, it's  worth the read.

Thoughts on Teaching & Learning: 3 Picture Books

Over the past several weeks, I have found myself doing a lot of reflection trying to get this online teaching right.  I keep meaning to get my thoughts on paper but then get caught up in the day-to-day work of teaching in this pandemic era.  I know if I can catch my breath, there is a lot to learn and reflect on during this time. So, I decided that every day in May, I will share my thoughts on Teaching and Learning.  This is Day 16.


Typically, I read lots and lots of picture books. We have a fabulous library system and I often order a stack to read through on a Saturday and then decide which ones I need to own. I've really missed out on picture books over these last 2 months-I haven't kept up on the new picture books at all. And I think my students miss them too. Usually, we read at least 2-3 picture books a day but during this remote learning, we haven't really read a lot of picture books live and together. It's something I would change for next year.

This week, we did share a few picture books on Google Meet. Both are books I need to own and they both invited great conversations. If you haven't seen Lift by Minh Lè and Dan Santat, it is a must-have. I had preordered this one long ago (I do that when I see a must-have book and then I forget about it and it is a nice surprise when it arrives!). This one is as fabulous as I had anticipated. The words, the pictures, the title, all of it. There are some great themes in this one and I think it would be an amazing book to read at the beginning of the year too, as classrooms are building community.

Brave Molly by Brooke Boynton-Hughes is a book I learned about from John Mere in a Build Your Stack session this winter. This is a wordless book and the Kindle version worked out well on Google Meet. Students could see all of the details and noticed a great deal on each page. This book addresses social anxiety, but students had conversations around fear and anxiety in general so it seemed like a good book for this week.

One book that I did not share with my class, but that I will probably share this week as a great one for summer reading is this new nonfiction picture book. You're Invited to a Moth Ball: A Nighttime Insect Celebration by Loree Burns is amazing! (I think I discovered this one from Melissa Stewart.) And such a great invitation for children and families who are stuck at home. I love this book for so many reasons. First of all, it is a great fun activity for kids and families to do at home, outside. Second it is a great mentor for How-To Writing. And there are lots of extra features that give more information. And the photos are fabulous. I became a huge Loree Burns fan several years ago when I read Handle with Care and I've followed her work since. This book is fabulous, and I can see it being a well-loved book in K-5. as it has so many different entry points.

We got good news this week--our library will be opening with curbside pick-up so I am hoping I can spend the first few weeks of summer reading reviews etc. and ordering all those picture books that I've missed knowing about.

Thoughts on Teaching & Learning...Closure

Over the past several weeks, I have found myself doing a lot of reflection trying to get this online teaching right.  I keep meaning to get my thoughts on paper but then get caught up in the day-to-day work of teaching in this pandemic era.  I know if I can catch my breath, there is a lot to learn and reflect on during this time. So, I decided that every day in May, I will share my thoughts on Teaching and Learning.  This is Day 15.

This week was our last full week of remote learning. Our last day with students is on Tuesday. We have a few fun virtual events planned for next week but today I dropped off gifts to my students. It was a bittersweet afternoon. It was soooo fabulous to see many of them either waving from the porch or a window after I rang the bell. I knew I missed them but it was REALLY, REALLY good to see them. And it was hard. It was not the kind of goodbye we should have had. And I felt bad for each of them to have to be going through this.

Since the beginning of this, my goal has been to make this online/pandemic learning experience as good as it can possibly be for kids and their families. I tried hard to focus on connections and community and giving them some sense of normalcy. This week, I could tell it was getting harder for kids to realize that this was the end of their elementary years.  So I hope that this small gift can help bring a little joy and a bit of happy closure to the end of this school year.  And really, putting together the gifts and spending the afternoon dropping them off, seeing some of the kids in the process, was quite a gift for me.  Today was so good for my heart.

How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.

-Winnie the Pooh

Poetry Friday -- Pineapple

Thank you Evelyn (via Jone) for this tasty pineapple poem.

For you, readers, I offer this recipe for bliss:

Over cubes of fresh pineapple, drizzle dark molasses, then sprinkle with the zest of one lime. Let it sit as long as you are able to resist the sweet tropical scent, then indulge. You may never eat plain pineapple again!

Now, head over to Jama's Alphabet Soup, where chocolate chip cookies and the Poetry Friday Roundup await you!

Thoughts on Teaching and Learning: A Fun Break (with some thinking about writing...)

Over the past several weeks, I have found myself doing a lot of reflection trying to get this online teaching right.  I keep meaning to get my thoughts on paper but then get caught up in the day-to-day work of teaching in this pandemic era.  I know if I can catch my breath, there is a lot to learn and reflect on during this time. So, I decided that every day in May, I will share my thoughts on Teaching and Learning.  This is Day 14.

I am not often a binge watcher. It is a frustrating thing to my family, but I can't sit for 10 hours and watch 20 episodes of a Netflix series. However, I did find myself binge-watching The Holderness Family videos this week. You might remember them from a Christmas Pajama video a while ago. I remember watching it and thinking it was cute, but their quarantine videos have made me become a big fan. A huge fan.

This What Happens Now? video popped up in my Facebook feed and I was quite amused. Not enough to start binge watching but a few pleasant moments laughing at this.

Then (you know how these YouTube videos conveniently go right on to the next one...) I saw this one and boy I could relate.

But I couldn't help but notice the brilliance in the song rewriting.

Then I was hooked. This family is hysterical, and they are capturing so much of what the world is going through. So, I kept watching.

Holding Out for a Haircut

If Disney Songs Were About Quarantine

My writing teacher brain kicked in and I could not get over the brilliance of these videos.   Pure entertainment--but what must it have taken to create these? They are telling really important stories in this fun format. They are capturing lots of history in a clever way. The writing and word choice, the music, the visuals, the video special effects.  I couldn't help thinking about digital writing and what these videos could teach me about possibilities for our kids. Does this genre of writing have a name? How do all of the pieces of each video fit together? How do we make room for things like this in our writing classrooms?  I keep watching these over and over, thinking about the creation process.

These videos REALLY made my day a whole lot better when I discovered them and binge watched.  One of the best purposes for writing and creating I can think of. Granted, the Holderness Family brings professional knowledge, tools and access to these videos. I continue to be amazed at all that people are posting these days --from their homes--it really does open up the possibilities of what our students can do, in and out of school with creation and digital tools. The writing process, word choice, added visuals, etc. make these Holderness Family videos very complex pieces. They have reminded me that I have to continue to expand what I think writing looks like and think about what I can learn from all the videos, podcasts etc. that are helping us get through this pandemic/quarantine.

Thoughts on Teaching & Learning: Our Last Read Aloud

Over the past several weeks, I have found myself doing a lot of reflection trying to get this online teaching right.  I keep meaning to get my thoughts on paper but then get caught up in the day-to-day work of teaching in this pandemic era.  I know if I can catch my breath, there is a lot to learn and reflect on during this time. So, I decided that every day in May, I will share my thoughts on Teaching and Learning.  This is Day 13

Today, we finished our last read aloud of the school year.  It is always bittersweet to finish that last book.  Read Aloud is always such an important part of our days together and it's been the one time during this online/pandemic teaching that most students have shown up every day and we've rebuilt our community.  From what parents have shared, our daily 11 am read aloud was a time many students looked forward to. Which makes me happy. My big goal during all of this was connection and relationships and some sense of normalcy and joy and I think read aloud accomplished that for many students.

One thing I notice was that students were less willing to talk. They were far more passive than they usually were in the classroom.  They seemed to need a different experience with read aloud---one that was just about connecting and community.  One where they could just listen in mostly.   One student said midway through the book, "We know if we don't talk, you'll just keep reading and we just want to hear the story." (Something they never asked for in our classroom as the talk and thinking together was always as important as the story for most students). So, I went with that. And it seemed right.

Our last read aloud was The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate. I chose this as our last read aloud for several reasons and I think it was the perfect pick. Many students had heard The One and Only Ivan as a read aloud in 3rd or 4th grades so they were familiar with the characters. They had shared some excitement about this new book when I shared the cover reveal months ago.  I hoped going back to characters we already knew and loved might be comforting. I also hoped that some kids would want to reread The One and Only Ivan (which several did or are planning to.). And finally, I knew the movie is scheduled to come out soon and I figured this would be another great memory/connection in the fall when they watched the movie.

The book is fabulous, and I highly recommend it for a summer read or a class read aloud. We read it over a 2-3 week period but we could have read it in about 1-2 weeks as the chapter are short, and the kids just beg to keep reading more as there is some suspense throughout.  Students loved the story and the characters and the fact that we got to know this fabulous character Bob a bit better.  My students also say they'd recommend this to everyone as a summer read. Most liked pretty much everything about it.  And as a teacher, I took comfort in reading more about characters I've known and loved for years.  (I think this would also make a good first read aloud of the school year. Even for students who haven't read The One and Only Ivan, I think this stands alone and Bob is a fabulous character --there is plenty to think and talk about throughout the story.)

Katherine Applegate does an amazing job with this story and it was such a wonderful way to end our read aloud time together this year.

Peggy Oxley: Teacher, Mentor, Friend

We are all the teachers we are because of the communities of teachers we are part of.  I have always known how lucky I am to have landed in Central Ohio and to have become part of the community of literacy educators here. I cannot imagine teaching without the kindness and brilliance of our local community of teachers.

This week, many of us in Central Ohio and beyond, are heartbroken because we lost an anchor in our community. Peggy Oxley, incredible teacher, mentor and friend, passed away this week.  You can read about Peggy here--a lovely obituary that reminds us of all that she did and all that she was committed to in her very full life.

I can't really remember for sure when I met Peggy. She's someone that, once you meet her, you feel like you've always known her, that she's always been there cheering you on, supporting you, teaching you, learning beside you. I think I met her first at our fabulous local Children's Bookstore, Cover to Cover. We both happened to be shopping on the same day, which happened quite often:-) I think Sally Oddi introduced us. And then of course I knew her through attending the Literacy Connection events for years and then I became a member of the board and had the opportunity to get to spend more time with Peggy--to see the power in her kindness and belief in people and literacy and education.

If you've ever been to a Literacy Connection event, you know Peggy. Peggy is the person who has led this group for decades. Even before teacher-created professional development and inquiry were part of the work teachers did, Peggy knew that inquiry and community and professional reading and teacher agency were critical to teacher learning and she created a community around those beliefs. She brought together a group of people who were committed to doing the best work we could for children. If you live in Central Ohio, you have most likely benefited from her vision.

All that Peggy did, she did with intention and joy.  Which meant that the Literacy Connection events were filled with intention and joy. Which is why this group, under Peggy's leadership, has lasted for such a long time. It is a critical community of learners for so many of us. Not only did she create a professional community but because of Peggy, so many of us have become good friends--she built circles of friends wherever she went.

Although Peggy was very involved nationally, she knew the importance of coming together locally, of learning together, of thinking together, of friendship.  The Literacy Connection events are held twice each year and they are full of the best energy out there. Peggy's vision, her commitment to bringing the best speakers to Central Ohio and to yearlong study around classroom work is unique and so treasured.  I know personally, Peggy invited me into this incredible community of educators and gave unconditional support and love (professionally and personally) for decades. I know she did this for so many of us.

I have not really been able to process this loss. It is a hard time to grieve and many of us are sad that we can't be together, that we can't give Peggy the tribute she so deserves. I am heartbroken today to have lost a teacher, mentor, and friend.  I know that Peggy's legacy will live on in so many people, but really, I cannot imagine this world without Peggy in it.

Thoughts on Teaching & Learning: The End of The School Year

Over the past several weeks, I have found myself doing a lot of reflection trying to get this online teaching right.  I keep meaning to get my thoughts on paper but then get caught up in the day-to-day work of teaching in this pandemic era.  I know if I can catch my breath, there is a lot to learn and reflect on during this time. So, I decided that every day in May, I will share my thoughts on Teaching and Learning.  This is Day 11.

This is our last full week of school. I knew it was coming.  I thought I was ready.  Saying goodbye and ending the school year is always hard. Usually on the last day of school, I can hardly breathe, and I don't take a full breath until the buses have pulled away. I thought this year would be different because we knew--we've known for weeks--that we wouldn't be able to say goodbye in person. And we've settled into this remote/pandemic learning.  And it's been okay.

But then I started to plan this last 7 days with my students--trying to make it feel like a celebration, but without actually being together. And it is hard.

Then I saw this tweet from Jen Schwanke:

And I realized that yes, it is like time stopped. As much as I thought we'd be out of school for more than the 3 weeks that the governor announced on March 13, I certainly assumed we'd be back at least for a bit of time. I never thought we'd never be together in our classroom again--in the room we had created together. I never thought that kids wouldn't have the chance to do those things that we ask them to do so that the goodbyes are bearable and that they leave knowing how loved they are. I never thought I'd be cleaning the room, their room, alone.  

This week, with last day virtual celebrations being planned and end-of-year checklists being shared, it hit me that we are going to have to say goodbye on Google Meet. And I got really sad. I realized that usually, during this last week of school, we clean and we talk and we read and we have extra recess and we look at old photos and that even though we can do some of this from our homes, and in Google Meet, it isn't the same.

I started meeting with kids this week--to have final celebrations and conversations. None of us know how to end the school year like this.  But we are doing our best.

I have admitted how difficult this remote/pandemic is from about day 2 but nothing has been as hard as this last week of trying to close out a year without having all the time we were supposed to have.  Dismantling something alone that we weren't finished creating together. Thanks for the warning, Jen.

Thoughts on Teaching & Learning: Summer Reading

Over the past several weeks, I have found myself doing a lot of reflection trying to get this online teaching right.  I keep meaning to get my thoughts on paper but then get caught up in the day-to-day work of teaching in this pandemic era.  I know if I can catch my breath, there is a lot to learn and reflect on during this time. So, I decided that every day in May, I will share my thoughts on Teaching and Learning.  This is Day 10.

As we go into our last full week of school/remote learning, I am thinking about Summer Reading. In the classroom, I always dedicate a lot of time these last few weeks helping students create a summer reading list.  And I always do the same. We preview books, we share titles, we read reviews, we visit websites, we take recommendations from others.

For the past several summers I've participated in Donalyn's summer #bookaday and I spend time counting the days and thinking about books I'll start with.  Summer is always a great time for me to catch up on so much reading and I make it a priority.

But I am finding that I am not reading as much these days. When this stay-at-home started, I figured I'd read a book a day.  I have plenty of books at home and plenty of time.  But I've really been struggling with reading. I've managed about a book a week most weeks but those are mostly read in spurts.

When I talked to my students about their reading, I am finding similar things. They are missing reading as much as they did, but they are not able to read as much.  And without being in school--having access to our classroom library, the school library and our amazing  public libraries, they are a little lost.  

We've spent some time over the last few weeks talking about this-how and what are we reading during this time. And I've noticed that for so many of my students, reading habits are changing. Some students aren't making the time for reading and are in a reading slump. But others are discovering new things.  Students who would never reread a book are now rereading books they have at home. Books they love.  Students who were adamantly opposed to eBooks have given them a second chance and realized that checking out and reading an eBook from the library is better than not having new books to read at all. My own 20-year old daughter has discovered audiobooks during this time at home. 

I'm wondering about these reading habits--which ones are just getting us through this crisis and which ones will stick. And I'm wondering how best to help my 5th graders think about summer reading during our last week together.   I'll still share some books and some sites for finding new books, but I think much of our talk will be around our habits and how we might have to build new reading habits during this time.  

As I think about summer #bookaday, something I've been committed to for years, I wonder how that might work this year.  Typically, I pick up a stack of books each week from the local library, but this year, that is not possible. So, I am rethinking what "counts" as reading. We are so lucky to have hundreds of authors reading their books aloud online. Does watching a video of that "count" toward my bookaday?  And I've never reserved picture book eBooks from the library--is that even a possibility? If so, I need to learn how to do that. And I wonder how I might build audiobooks into my life with so little driving (I typically listen to audiobooks on the drive to work but am wondering how I build those into my life at home.)

This week, when we talk about summer reading, I want my students to think about options.  Temporary options--through this crisis.  know my summer reading life may not look like it has in the past and I have to assume theirs won't either.  And I don't know what it will look like--if libraries will open, if I can learn to love eBooks, if I will stick with summer #bookaday.  I know as readers, many of us are talking about our changed reading habits during this time.  As adult readers, we know that we are still readers, and that we'll get our "normal" reading lives back. I want my students to know that too, 

So, I think this year, as we prepare for summer reading, I'll continue to talk to kids honestly about their changing habits and the reading challenges so many of us are facing during this pandemic. I'll throw out some resources and hopefully help them expand on the possibilities. Rather than creating a summer reading list, maybe we'll talk about building in some new habits as readers --or at least building in the habit of trying new things as readers as we navigate this pandemic.