Google Docs

Great Ways to Use Google Docs!

I love how Susan used a glogster to make this more visual for people like me!

I am currently taking a Google course and am still getting my feet wet in all of the Google Apps... I am looking forward to exploring Google Docs and learning how to become a more effective 21st century teacher!

I Wonder...

As part of Making Meaning, our adopted curriculum for read alouds and comprehension, we had a conversation today about wondering. We read An Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni and stopped at several points throughout the book for students to have conversation about what they wondered would happen next.

After we read the book we had a discussion about other things we wonder about. We made a "Wondering Wall" on butcher paper, where the students can write down things they wonder about. At the end of the day I stopped and read some of the wonderings they had written about. It was one of those "Wow!" moments. All of the sincerity and innocence of a 7 year old came out on this piece of paper.

I wonder if I will loose my tooth tomorrow.
I wonder if I will win my softball game.
I wonder if I will have a good day at school.
I wonder why the sky is blue.
I wonder if my grandmother will not be sick anymore.
I wonder if my dog is having fun in heaven.
I wonder if God is really real and what does he look like?
I wonder how the stars twinkle.
I wonder if I am going to have a baby brother or sister.
I wonder what dinosaurs really looked like.
I wonder if aliens are in outer space.
I wonder why the sun is so bright.

Wow! Sometimes I wonder if I stop long enough to think about all the things that go on in a 7 year olds head. They process so much and wonder about everything! I have every intention of keeping this "Wonder Wall" going over the next week or two... or maybe longer! I mean, this is what learning is all about, right? Those wonderings turn to questions and inquiry, and eventually lead to discovery!

10 minutes after we started the wall they were already asking to tweet about it. My kids love twitter! They wanted to share their wonderings and wanted to know what other people wonder about. Then they started making connections... Student-"Ms. McInvale... I think we can find out why the stars twinkle." Me- "Really, How?" Student- "Why don't we research it... Then we won't wonder anymore because we will know!"...  Wow!

I am constantly amazed by what my first graders are capable of doing! They challenge me every day!

Wondering, Thinking, Hoping!

As I create this blog, I am thinking about its purpose. Right now it is part of an assignment for an online Google course I am taking with several other educators at my school. I wonder what it will turn into...

I am hoping that this blog will create an avenue for me to reflect. I believe that reflection is a vital part of learning. I think it is important to look back on accomplishments, failures, challenges, obstacles, and successes and learn from them. I think it is easier for me to reflect on lessons, projects, conversations, and ideas that have worked and exceeded my expectations as an educator. My hope is that I will spend more time reflecting on the challenging tasks, and the ideas that just flat out don't work. I am confident that through the reflection and feedback from other educators the real learning will take place.

I consider myself to be an out of the box thinker. I love to learn and am constantly processing something. I feel like my brain is always turning and sometimes I have a hard time sorting through everything that is going on up there. I love to try new things, but tend to struggle with where to start. At times I feel like I dive headfirst into something and sometimes the end result is amazing and other times it is an epic fail! I hear about all of the wonderful things that other teachers are doing in their classrooms, and more often than not I find myself saying, "I am going to try that." The problem is that this can become very overwhelming because there is not time to do everything that I want to do. I need to work more on prioritizing and organizing! I think this blog will give me a space to process and sort through thoughts and ideas.

I am looking forward to re-entering the blogging world in a different way! I am most excited about reading and following some of the inspiring blogs that have been created by other educators.

Let the blogging begin...