https://padlet.com/karadr/2rdqa3fnrmla "Students will invite us to share their worlds..." en-us 2019-07-11 23:57:40 UTC 2026-01-02 17:40:49 UTC hello@padlet.com karadr https://padlet.com/karadr/2rdqa3fnrmla/wish/371195371 We desperately want to show our children the world, when in reality, they want to desperately show us their world.  
From my daughter's earliest moments, she would always say, "I do!  I do!".  At times I would force this little independent creature into doing what I wanted her to do, but I soon learned that it made more sense to let her do things for herself and only intervene when I felt she was in danger or she became too frustrated.  I soon learned that the greatest gift I could give her was to let her do as many things for herself as she could and be there if she needed me.  
The same can be said for allowing our students to invite us into their writing world.  Not only does this allow our students to become more creative, they grow exponentially more.
My daughter is now an exceptional writer.  Yes, her spelling is awful.  It is quite frustrating for me.  She may not be published, but she is on her way to becoming a leader in whatever field she decides to pursue.  ]]> 2019-07-15 15:02:53 UTC https://padlet.com/karadr/2rdqa3fnrmla/wish/371195371 karadr https://padlet.com/karadr/2rdqa3fnrmla/wish/371197362 I remember seeing these books in our school library. Does your school have these resources? How do you balance the expectations of your district and the resources you know are best practice?]]> 2019-07-15 15:20:09 UTC https://padlet.com/karadr/2rdqa3fnrmla/wish/371197362 karadr https://padlet.com/karadr/2rdqa3fnrmla/wish/371197728 I just loved how Latrice had the ingenuity to point out her circles as classroom rules.  She had the where with all to explain through writing that there was to be "no fooling around the water fountain!" 
We are all called to follow a path.  I see a teaching job in her future or perhaps she will one day be a highway patrolman.  Either way, she saw a problem and used writing to fix it. There is no foolin' Latrice.
I want to empower my students to take a leadership role in their writing path.]]> 2019-07-15 15:23:47 UTC https://padlet.com/karadr/2rdqa3fnrmla/wish/371197728 karadr https://padlet.com/karadr/2rdqa3fnrmla/wish/371200721 I think about my own experience with spelling, the classes I have taken throughout my career as an educator, and the views expressed by Calkins, and I can't help to think, can we have it all?  Can we have a classroom that honors the developmental phase that each student is in, as well as provide the feedback a child needs in order to progress in their spelling development?  Yes, you can. "Children learn to write when they see us writing for real purposes" (Calkins, p. 60). It's messy.  It takes some imagination and communication, but as we give feedback and teach mini-lessons, and model our own writing, students will begin to understand the oddities of spelling and succeed.]]> 2019-07-15 15:56:10 UTC https://padlet.com/karadr/2rdqa3fnrmla/wish/371200721