Reflect and Give Thanks

It is my favorite time of year. I love to eat, we get a long weekend, football is on all day, and I get to spend time with my family. What else could I ask for. With that said I will keep my message short this week in honor of a short work week that is approaching.

With the holidays approaching fast it is important to take a minute to enjoy our loved ones. I would challenge you all to spend as much time relaxing with those you love as you can over the next week couple of weeks. This time of year is also a great time to reflect on our lives and give thanks for all the blessings we have. I will get you started and I hope you will add your comments to the Blog.

I am thankful that I have been blessed with a wonderful, patient and understanding wife, who is an incredible mother. I am thankful for two happy healthy kids that are full of life. I am thankful for the career opportunities that have been provided to me and I am thankful that each day I get up for work I am going to a job that I love. Hopefully you are thankful that you have the opportunity to work with wonderful students each day and you get to shape the person they will become. Take some time and give thanks over the next couple of weeks and find an opportunity to help someone that is not as fortunate as you are.

Small Group Instruction

Each of you has a variety of ability groups and educational levels present in your classrooms. Ask yourself how you are meeting the individual needs of ALL your students. Over the past few weeks we have discussed diversity and the importance in recognizing the differences represented within the school and our classrooms. These differences also include the current instructional levels of our students.

According to Fountas and Pinnell, guided reading is an instructional setting that enables you (the teacher) to work with a small group of students to help them learn effective strategies for processing text with understanding. The purpose of guided reading is to meet the varying instructional needs of all the students in your class, enabling them to greatly expand their reading powers. Utilizing this approach or specific strategy groups is the best way to reach ALL students in a timely manner.

This week we are also sending the 1st grade team to Shiloh to observe their math workshop approach to teaching mathematics. Often this is the time during the day when we appear to struggle the most to reach students that are severely above or below grade level. Although it may require more prep-time it will surely help you to be more effective. Teaching only to the whole group will never help us to reach each and every child. Ask yourself two questions:

1. Am I pulling enough small groups to address the instructional needs in my classroom?

2. Are there things I am doing because I like to do or because I have always done them that could be eliminated to allow more small groups to meet?

Be honest with yourself and remember we are here for each and every child that walks through the door, not just the ones that are easy to teach.

What Matters Most?

Well it has been eleven weeks already and the holiday season is just around the corner. Stress levels are sure to rise over the next few months and I have the perfect strategy for maintaining your sanity. Spend time with those you love doing the things that you love to do. We all need to be sure we are giving our students everything we have while we are here, but we also need to be sure we are taking care of ourselves and our loved ones.

As you can tell from the picture to the right I will be spending the weekend with Ryan at a good friends wedding. I can't wait to see Ryan walking down the isle (I hope he is not running) with the flower girl. I know he will be dancing it up and having a good time and I can't wait to see that. It is little moments like these that you all need to enjoy. Look for opportunities to laugh with friends, hug your kids and put a smile on someone's face.

At the end of the day you will be better at your job if you are happier in life. Take care of your family, help someone in need and take care of yourself. Get some exercise, rest when you can, eat healthy and enjoy life. It is the little things that will help put a smile on your face later in life.