Teacher Voice

I have been thinking about my voice. While my speaking voice could surely use some improvement, I am referring to my beliefs and concerns about the field of education.
Why do educators remain so reserved when it comes to discussions about our field and teaching practices?  My first thought is that we are afraid.  If we rock the boat, we might get tossed overboard!

The problem with fear is that it inhibits leadership and stifles needed change. One of my favorite quotes on leadership is by John Maxwell.  "A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way."

I am passionate about making a difference in the lives of the children I serve.  It is my job to speak-up on their behalf.  I can and will express my voice in the knowing, going and showing.

I also enjoy hearing from others in the field of education.  Take a look at Teacher Leadership Today. They are dedicated to the cultivation of teacher voice around important matters in education.

Lead the way...........

Writing Update

A summary of notes from the ELA meeting:


Teachers must continue to teach writing standards at all grade levels, not those that are tested (5^th and 8^th)).  Multiple choice items are tied to the extended response rubric.  Teaching formulaic writing negatively affects Extended Response scores and provides limited compositional experience, which negatively affects multiple choice scores.

So what do you do? Here are some ideas/links I hope will help you!

*Teach writing through reading-examine sentence structure, explore

  author’s craft, paraphrase text

*Encourage authentic writing (some links disabled) 

*Base minilessons on student writing

*Have students do plenty of responding to texts

*Voice is a statewide weakness, so encourage sentence complexity  

*Show students how multiple choice items relate to the 4 domains

  on South Carolina's extended response rubric

*Do a Read Aloud daily, pull passages from the text and have students determine the author based on sentence type, word choice, etc.

*Students need to work on writing conclusions 

*Sentence combining is still difficult for students

*Students are using inappropriate transitions-need to use logical transitions

Other links:

Composite Writing Matrix

Grammar Punk

Guide to Grammar