Be Limitless, Not Llimited

Sandra reading an excerpt from Their eyes were watching God 

Sandra started off our day today by sharing two books that touch her heart.  The first book, Their Eyes were watching God written by Zora Neale Hurston, grabbed the attention of the listeners as the lives of men and women are compared.  The second book, The things they carried written by Tim O'Brien, was chosen by one of Sandra's student cohorts.  The excerpt from the meta fiction story reminds us of how any experience will have more of an impact if there is a personal connection.















Lauren shared another resource for teachers!  826Chi is a nonprofit organization that provides an opportunity for your students to learn about writing and publish their own work.  Take your class in to learn about the writing process, work with a writing coach, and create a book of their own, which they can take home to show mom and dad!

826CHI

Steve Zemelman visited our workshop to discuss what a leader is.  He helped turn our prior knowledge of the characteristics of a leader into specific categories.

Implementation

• Organization
• Planning
• Constructive criticism/feedback

Emotional Qualities

• Fair
• Confidence
• Passionate

Relational

• Motivating
• Respectful
• Modeling

Communication

• Active Listening
• Sharing
• Asking Questions

Cognitive/ Attitudinal 

• Creative
• Unbiased
• Openminded

Carousel Writing

We learned another writing strategy, similar to conversational writing!  After discussing ideas about what leadership is and what it looks like we chose one topic to write about.  We had a few minutes to write our ideas, opinions, and thoughts then we passed them to each partner in our group to get their thoughts on our writing.  We debriefed shortly afterwards to discuss how we could become leaders and improve our leadership skills.

One-to One Meetings: How to improve relationships when in a leadership role.

Questions to ask:

• What got you into teaching?
• Any inspirations or specific experiences that made you want to become a teacher?

• What things are important in/to your job?
• How do you accomplish that?

*Don't forget*

• Connect to the answers and content area
• Ask clarifying questions
• Find a common or comfortable territory 

Wow what a busy morning, now we have all afternoon to work on our inquiry projects and any writing we started last week!

Read about a "Literary Pharmacist" in, The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

~Katrina Peterson