From Many Words to One

1. What is your Compass? -Best Practice and We are doing what is best for students? Is it really and are we really? Who do we listen to when there are so many voices?

2. A chance to Restart -The first of a few posts on giving students a chance to be more than a level.

3. I am very proud of my introductory work with my students last year using picture books and more teacher directed reflection (learning that my reading journey is not theirs I have moved my focus more to individual than whole class) Here are a couple showcase posts inspired by Kylene Beers and Pernille Ripp. Disrupting Thinking The Book we need now and Hard Topics with Picture Books

4. Refugee by Alan Gratz- Because I love it

5. Mirrors- Still one of my favourite moments in teaching and I wasn't the teacher. There are things you will never forget and Mrs. K and her classroom are one of those for me.

6. Credit where it's due- Sometimes we need to take a minute to thank those that make us better. This was one of those posts.

7. Square Peg Round Hole- The start of my change towards more student choice and direction, inquiry and curiosity. Less labels and more honouring the whole student.

8. Sometime Random...- A reflection on a day that random distractions took us elsewhere.

9. The Airing of Grievances- There are a lot of posts I want to share but this is all student voice, I abandoned the things I have loved after listening to my students feedback on how those things impacted their love of reading and I am ok with it.

10. Inspired and Grateful- This is not a top ten list just ten posts that I liked a lot when I wrote them. If this was a top ten I would likely move this to number 1. I have nothing but gratitude for those who have helped me this year, repaired the damaged confidence that I had and supported me in this journey. I have so many candles that disrupt the darkness. Wow looking back at some of these posts I just am so grateful for the journey that 2017 has been. I look forward to 2018. I look forward to learning more with and from my students. I look forward to meeting new people in education and cultivating a powerful PLN. I look forward to learning more from my online mentors and in person from my colleagues. Most of all I just look forward to learning. What is the best way to teach literacy skills? Is there such a thing as "best practice" if so what is it really? What does good leadership look like? How do we build life long readers? How can I help a student who thinks they are a label realize they are so much more than that? The questions I have need to be answered and I want 2018 to be the year that I explore these questions. The current trendy little twitter hash tag is #oneword2018 one word to frame your year around. I wasn't going to do it but then while sitting on a twitter chat last night I realized I already had one.