Class Project

I am currently in the midst of an insanely crazy semester as I try to knock out my remaining 3 reading endorsement classes in one fell swoop. Already halfway through two of those courses, this week began a new 6 week intensive course that moves at the speed of a jet liner at full throttle. As I sat and stared at the remaining 20/ 150 pages I needed to read by tomorrow night, I asked myself, “what the hell were you thinking” and cursed at myself for adding more craziness to my life. Unfortunately, this is a common thought running through my head… I seem to think I can do it all when in reality… yeah… you get the picture.

Anyway… for this particular class, in addition to all of the reading, I have to complete a 20 page (by the time all of my information has been added) graphic organizer/ reading guide as evidence of my growth and understanding pertaining to the topic. Now I know what students hate completing reading guides. My head feels like a ping-pong ball bouncing back and forth from text to computer and continually searching for the last paragraph I completed. Even if no other learning comes out of this course (which I am not saying will happen but just in case…) this class will definitely make me think twice about the assignments I require for my students in the future!

As if those two requirements were not yet enough (because you know… I have ALL the time in the world these days…) this particular chapter also requires me to design a student project encompassing an author visit and writing pieces to welcome them to the school. While I was annoyed at the length of this assignment, it at least allowed my head to take a break from the constant back and forth AND it forced me to apply my learning into a creative project that could foreseeably be used in a future classroom.

Without going into detail about my design, I just wanted to share how hard it was to choose just ONE author to invite to my school! I could have made a case for a dozen or more… but I finally settled on Patricia Polacco as she often puts into words, the type of teacher I someday hope to be. Having her as my inspiration, this project went from frustrating to free-flowing (actually doubling the required length) and one that I would someday love to be able to put into motion in the future. How absolutely amazing would it be to actually have something like this come to fruition? I know… big dreams but I guess I will never know unless I try!

Now I would love to hear from you! What author would you like to invite into your classroom? How would you have your students welcome them? We can make reading and writing exciting if we try… lets all start to think outside of the box and see where inspiration can take us!