Persistence is a perfect word for me as I set out to refocus on goals that I have had in the past but let slide over the years.  Since January 1st, I have been using my research on growth mindset to focus and reflect mainly on my personal self as I quest for being healthy once again.  For the past 30 years I have moved in and out of being in shape and healthy.  Within in the past three years, I left all that I knew to be healthy behind in order to eat whatever and whenever I wanted while doing minimal exercise.  During that time frame I was working on my self esteem, to love myself no matter what I looked like.  Well, I succeeded in my quest for acceptance.  This was the positive that came out of letting myself go.  The negative that followed included high blood pressure, prediabetes, and a BMI that put me in level 1 - morbidly obese.  There are only 2 levels and I was close to slipping into the second level.  Basically, I was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.  I knew I had to do something about my health and I needed to do it soon.  I needed to learn from my mistakes and refocus on my goals of the past.  Essentially I needed to reset my mind.  Thus, I called in the experts.  I joined the YMCA and met with a personal trainer to help me set up an exercise plan.  I committed to getting up early in the morning to go to the gym before work.  I started tracking my diet and gave up all sweet food.  I came to terms with my weight and all my other unhealthy habits.  I began to transform my thinking with positive self talk, "I want to be healthy, I want to be able to move when I'm older, I have the rest of my life to work on being healthy.  I have to work hard today to have success."  I have shared my process with my students so they see I have to work hard at something too, just like they have to work hard at learning to read.  The word on the image that stuck out to me was "stubborn".  Luckily, I have that characteristic that keeps me getting up time and time again as I challenge myself.  I have gotten up before and I will get up again.  I have already lost 20 lbs and have felt my need for persistence already when my fixed mindset wants to take over.  I am excited to be moving ahead and will need much courage in the face of what can feel like insurmountable goals. 

Haiku Deck integration

Haiku Deck is a new tech tool that I have been playing around with and implementing in my 2nd grade Title 1 groups.  First I watched a tutorial on how to use the tool.  Then, I made slides related to a 2nd grade story from the basal reader.  The story entitled, When the Wind Blows, tells about how nothing ends; when something comes to an "end", something else begins.  I took some examples from the book and added my own pictures and captions to the slides.  After my learning process, I showed the kids my work and they got a chance to work in groups of two to make their own slides.  They mostly used my ideas for their first time; however, they used different pictures.  They really enjoyed getting a chance to retell the story using a creative approach with their own chosen pictures.  I was so engaged with their experimenting and learning.  What a great tech tool to bring out creativity in learning.  This puts Marzano's student learning factors into practice by enforcing vocabulary and learning through pictures.  Although I haven't used a lot of tech tools with my groups before this year, I can see how my engagement levels are increasing with the lessons along with the students.

Blogging Community February Strategy

A strategy I just began integrating into my 1st and 2nd grade Title 1 groups is called "Superspeed 1000".  I got the idea from a Power Teaching website.  Basically the students start with beginning site words and they go up in difficulty.  They duet read for one minute, meaning one student reads the first word, the other student reads the next word and so on until the minute is up.  They mark how far they get and start again by switching the starting position.  So far, the 2nd graders are getting farther when they read but it is great for them to practice simple words with increasing difficulty.  The first graders are beginning to make progress.  This strategy is also a good practice in cooperation and patience.