Sitting on the plane on the way home from NY, simultaneously hoping the snow doesn't delay my arrival, and reviewing all that's learned this week. I'm not quite sure how to start actually. Being at Columbia university's Teachers college this week was invigorating. Being taught, challenged and coached by the bright and passionate minds of The Reading and Writing project brought me back to the excitement I felt as an undergraduate. I think it's unusual for us as educators to find ourselves back in a state mind where anything is possible. Unfortunately it's not of the that we get the chance to reimagine how we do things and breath new life into our instructional strategies in the way we did at the institute this week.
The focus of the week was on content area instruction and the common core. Every speaker, session and conversation was focused on increasing our students understanding of the content we teach in social studies and science through authentic integration of the ELA standards. A couple of us from across the country (and a few from further...shout out to my new Puerto Rico friend!) gathered with varying job assignments, career eking this and content areas on our mind. It was a amazing though, to see the seemingly effortless way the TCRWP staff guided us through experiences as students and then as practitioners. It was a perfect balance.
Earlier this week I posted on on content area centers, one of the many simple strategies we learned and practiced, but there are a few other things I'd like to share. In the coming days, I plan to post about mini-lectures, nonfiction read-alouds and some strategies for teaching students to think and write about main idea. I'll also share and reflect on the tweets of myself, TCRWP staff and my new colleagues.
Looking forward to sharing my learning!
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