So we created this blog last summer with the idea of sharing
out ideas with fellow educators. We designed, decorated and developed our site and worked to get it all done. Then
you know what happened? It. Sat. Empty.
I was intimidated. I read dozens of blogs on a weekly basis. I searched ideas all over the web. But when it came to writing down and sharing
my own ideas and inspirations—I was drawing a blank.
So... seven months later, leave it to Valentines’ Day to
inspire my first post. I was frantically racing to put together the all so
important valentines for my two sons-I went from the print and copy store,
bounced on over to the Amazon online cart, then raced to the Target dollar bins
just to find myself sitting on Thursday night working away at roughly 30
valentines.
The 14th came and went and the boys were so
excited to hand out their creations. (let’s be honest-mine!) We received SO
many complements on them and my response every time was “Thanks—but I got the
idea from someone else!” (specifically, blogs like Just Another Day in Paradise
and Design, Wash, Rinse, Repeat). I felt
guilty every time I said it, like all the work I had done wasn’t
justified. But that’s when I made the
connection between the silly valentines and my own classroom.
As teachers, we do a disservice when we feel like we can’t
take ideas or lesson from each other.
We are the most
valuable resources! Duh?! And so it was
fitting that my first post would be all about a great lesson I recently
taught—that was inspired by another teacher!
I recently set out to
tackle the ominous Common Core standard “treatment of themes”. I found very little available as far as
resources go, so I decided to start where I usually do—with a picture book! I
started searching the web and came across a lesson by a fellow teacher using
two classic books by beloved author Patricia Polacco. After reading her lesson and realizing how
similar the two stories were in regards to various story elements, I was then
able to build off of it to create one of my favorite lessons of the year! Without her great book selection I would
never have been able to take the lesson to the next level and to use it teach that
ever elusive standard.
Moral of the story—be open to others ideas and
unashamed to build your own beautiful with
the help of someone else.
ThInG yOu!
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