So, we've finally reached that point... the U.S. Citizenship test is changing this week. Know anyone who's thinking about it? The USCIS has posted resources, including flashcards and vocabulary lists.

This weekend, your board members are meeting to redo stuff that we haven't looked at for 20 YEARS!!!! We're rewriting our bylaws and trying to serve you better.

So what would you like to see as we look to evolve into the 21st Century? 

Help us help you. 

Drop us a line. 

Go ahead. You know you want to!

Every year, I always seem a little taken aback by how long it takes for me to start working with the students on my caseload...calculating summer loss, working out schedules, dealing with the master schedule and who should or should not be pulled out. It's all enough to make me a little crazy. 

It was different when I taught high school.

There was a curriculum, you got started, and you taught.

But I also know that I didn't know my 150 ELLs as well as I know the 30 or so who are on my caseload now. I know all of their reading levels, I have a vague idea as to how to move them along to become better readers, and I know who is really struggling with other subjects and who probably will be moving toward exiting my program.

The one thing that has never changed for me is how isolated I feel as a teacher. No matter how much I try to work with my colleagues to collaborate on instruction, I still feel as though we rarely are on exactly the same page. 

So that is the goal I am setting for myself today. My school is struggling with how to turn itself into an integrated arts school, but I can't really see my job as changing very much. I need to give my students comprehensible input, regardless of the content area. And to get there, I am going to work this year toward change in working with the mainstream teachers to move forward.

Sorry about the rant. I just need a positive end to my week!

We're getting closer and closer to conference time, and I really do appreciate those of you who have decided to present. Your board members are meeting this weekend to talk about the schedule and to decide what holes still need to be filled. 

If you are one of those people who is a straggler and procrastinator (very much like me)--and, yes, as a former journalist, I know that a deadline is a deadline--but you still think you want to present, you should still turn in a proposal. We'd love to get more teachers involved. 

The kinds of things we're looking for is what has been working for you. What units do you have that you could pass on? What issues are burning for you and you're just dying to know what others are doing about it? If you would like to talk, we'd like to listen.

So shoot me an email

As we look at the first full week ahead, I am drowning in paperwork and budgets. But...

I have found reading tips in bunches of languages at Colorin Colorado! I don't know if you have open house coming up, but I think I could use the extra draw. Tip sheets for parents of children in Preschool through Third grade are available in the following languages: Arabic, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Hmong, Korean, Navajo, Russian, Tagalog, and Vietnamese. They have English and Spanish tips as well for babies through third grade. Happy reading!