Books in Sixth

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Hear me "ROAR"!

My big question is... WHERE has this book been hiding all these years?! What a GEM! The futuristic world in this book is so unique and different from anything I have ever read, yet made so familiar through masterfully crafted, vivid descriptions. In other words, this author can WRITE!! My mind is swimming with pod-fighters, Ghengis borgs, The Golden Turrets, Fit Mix, plastic flowers, Awen the Dog?, The Shadows, Mutants, and giant Hawks. What a wild ride! Mika lives in futuristic London behind a concrete wall designed to protect this overcrowded population from rabid animals; apparently animals carry a deadly Plague. Mika has a twin sister who disappeared, presumed dead to most, but not to him. A mysterious organization infiltrates Mika's school and begins recruiting kids for virtual reality pod-fighting games offering huge rewards to the winners. Maybe this is Mika's opportunity to finally find his sister or at least uncover the truth of what's really going on be

The Turning of the Tides and Michael Vey

As in the all things education, the tides are constantly shifting and changing. So my blog is taking a new direction; one that will uncover my passion and hopefully ignite yours... to read! So what does this have to do with Michael Vey? This is THE book that has inspired this new direction my blog is taking. I absolutely loved this book, it's summertime, school's out, and I have no one to tell. I have recommended this book so many times simply because other students devour it and tear through the series. I finally see why! Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 is about a young man who has superhuman powers, as in electric powers. Of course he hides it so no one will know; in fear of hurting another or what might happen if he is found out. But one day, he meets another... kind of like him. And then the world around him starts falling apart. There are people after him, for his powers of course, and they will do anything, even harming people close to him. They want

The Dark Side... is Pretty Dark! - The Problems with ARC

Last school year, I delved deep into personalized learning with self-paced Canvas sets and standard driven maps for students. It was a glorious time in my creative, educational pedagogy, because I found great success with intentional, meaningful, and engaging units of study. Then came ARC. The trainings I received this summer were all about the personalized component of ARC; getting kids to read on their level, making personalized goals for each student, a valid assessment that could actually tell me something about my students' reading levels. All of which sounded reasonable and needed, and I was behind this. We received little information about the specific content of the day by day elements and did not see any manual/lesson plans until less than a week before school started. And I am here to tell you; the "Dark Side"....... is pretty dark. The structure of each lesson follows strict direct instruction with modeling from a grade level text. Now, I'm all a

Joining the Dark Side.... the ARC change of heart

It's been an interesting journey upon first hearing about ARC at the beginning of this calendar year. Teachers throughout the county were in a twist over this new reading program that we had never heard of but were required to implement the following school year. What was it? Where did it come from? Who made the decision? Why were we being forced to accept it? This was our county's most infamous secret. ARC ended up being raked over the coals and harshly criticized by administrators, teachers, and community members. And I was one of those! But I have learned a most valuable life lesson from this experience and I hope our county leaders have as well. The problem is not the program. After attending a few GOOD, really informational sessions about what ARC is all about, I have to say, it's actually really incredible. I could see the vision of how this would work in my classroom, more specifically, how this program would insure that my students were engaged in rea

The New Device!

Lots has happened since January... WOW.....LOTS! But let's talk the next step in this journey. I am now writing this blog entry on our new GCS device - the Lenovo Yoga 11e and I have got to say.. I love this thing! The quality and durability is incredible. With its mini notebook design, no need to worry about plugging in a keyboard. Want a tablet, just flip the screen around for tablet mode. I can now access all my documents pre and post OneDrive. And all I have to say about it is.... It just makes since. Our county is swarming with training this summer. One in particular I attended was the Microsoft Innovative Educators Training. Lead by Microsoft Trainers, each session was full of incredible ideas and resources on how to implement Microsoft tools into the classroom. One of the best PD opportunities I have been to! Get involved and connected to Microsoft Education at the link below. https://education.microsoft.com/ The verdict is not out as to w

We Had A Great Run!

In this new year, it is time to close the door on an inspiring journey with Amplify and begin a new chapter on our Personalized Learning journey. And in the process... I have decided to redefine my blog to open the door of conversation to, not only just tablet talk, but also the world that is the life of a teacher. But first....What went wrong? To make this short and sweet....It was just too much, too soon. With the amount of issues that shrouded us through the first year with the tablets, it seemed impossible to capture the same excitement, motivation, and zeal when redistributing the new tablets. As a teacher, we were hammered with way too many changes and not enough direction; in other words, we were building the plane while flying it and metaphorically, you know what that ultimately leads to. The worst of the debris was the awesome company tech. support people we lost in the process. Incredibly talented, innovative people who became not only colleagues, but friends, now onl