Quotes

Some of my favorite quotes
"Readers are leaders.
Thinkers succeed."
-Marva Collins


"My heart is singing for you this morning. A miracle has happened! The light of understanding has shone upon
my little pupil's mind, and behold, all things are changed."
-Anne Sullivan

"No one should teach who is not a bit awed by the importance of the profesion"
-George E. Frasier

Great place to shop for bargains!

http://shops.half.ebay.com/julieosu513_W0QQ

Thoughts

-Don't care what others think of
what you do; but care very much
about what you think you do.
-St. Frances DeSales

Have a fantastic day and fight the good fight!!

Saving Our Schools

A great book I discovered last year was Saving Our Schools-The Case for Public Education-Saying No to "No Child Left Behind" edited by Ken Goodman, Patrick Shannon, Yetta Goodman and Roger Rapoport. EVERY teacher, administrator and public official should read this book! This book includes some great suggestions and links to valuable resources! You will not be able to put it down! Recommended reading!

Teens for Literacy

A great program to encourage kids to promote literacy, to expose kids to postsecondary educational options and to allow kids to think about education as a possible career choice is Teens for Literacy sponsored by Miami University of Ohio (see website link). It was launced in 1989 and is still going strong! It is a collaborative effort among teachers, students, university educators and community members. Students participate as planners, and implementers of rich literacy experiences with peers and younger children. This program is aimed at middle school students who are able to think about ways that would support literacy in their school sites.

Great place to find bargains for teachers!

http://stores.ebay.com/teacher2teachertreasures

Reading scores

Despite a decade of education reform, tens of thousands of Florida's high school students don't read well enough to survive in the work force.
•This year's Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test results revealed just 38 percent of 10th graders are proficient in reading.•About one fourth of Hillsborough County high school students—12,088—were placed in remedial reading classes in 2007-08.•Nearly 35% of students who entered Florida's community colleges in 2006 were required to take remedial reading.•College entrance exam reading scores are not improving. SAT scores remain basically flat in Florida and ACT reading scores in Florida dropped four points in 2007, nine points below the national average.
Now, after years of focusing on young readers, educators are turning their attention to high school students who need help.

Book Review-Zigzag-A Life of Reading & Writing by Tom Romano

Romano speaks to us directly, confronting the problems faced by educators. These problems are opportunites for us to learn. He talks about his experiences from New Hampshire to Ohio and discusses his life as a writer, teacher, and a learner. It is an inspirational book that has heart.
Grades K-College 224 pages Available from Heinemann www.heinemann.com
$19.50 ISBN 978-0-325-01125-7

Great Web site for Social Studies

America's Story. The Library of Congress presents this site which includes these topics: Meet Amazing Americans (features biographies), Jump Back in Time, Explore the States, Join America at Play (includes baseball history, as well as American celebrations from parades to county fairs), and See, Hear and Sing

Some New Fictional Books for Middle School Readers

Bound
Sally Gunning
In 1757, young Alice Cole and her family depart England for the colonies, but her mother and brothers perish on the violently stormy crossing. In Boston, her penniless father sells Alice into indentured servitude. Although she flees an abusive master, Alice is left pregnant and troubled in a pre-Revolutionary America where indentured servants suffered cruel indignities.
The Finder
Colin Harrison
Killers hunt for Jin Li, the owner of a Manhattan office cleaning company, who disappeared after stealing corporate secrets that she passed to her brother, a Shanghai speculator. Ray Grant, Li’s ex-lover, is the reluctant “finder,” an ex- New York City firefighter caught in a deadly investment conspiracy in Harrison’s compulsively readable thriller.
The German Bride
Joanna Hershon
Eva, a young Jewish woman, leaves behind her life in mid-19th century Berlin to marry a Jewish American merchant. The brutal journey to frontier Santa Fe is one of many trials Eva faces—her husband lied about his wealth and indulges in vice—but her determination to achieve a better life transforms Eva into the inspirational heroine of an engaging historical novel.
The Resurrectionist
Jack O’Connell
In a dazzlingly inventive fantasy, an Ohio druggist brings his comatose son to the Peck Clinic, where doctors “resurrect” vegetative patients. As he reads aloud from the boy’s Limbo Comics, the father realizes that his son’s recovery will depend on the intervention of the bizarre, freak show characters emerging from the comic book pages to influence medical reality.

New NASA site

A new NASA site allows children to follow Disney animated character Buzz Lightyear on a mission into space, allowing students to complete educational math and science games along the way. The games reinforce concepts like gravity, allow practice of metric conversions and review space history and technology

Reading for Pleasure

Today's kids aged 5 through 17 still enjoy reading for pleasure, although the percentage of those who read for fun declines as they age, with the drop-off starting to manifest itself after age 8 and continuing its decline through the teen years, according to the 2008 Kids and Family Reading Report from Scholastic and research firm TSC. The study also found that Internet use can actually help extend reading. "High frequency Internet users are more likely to read books for fun every day," said Heather Carter, director of corporate research at Scholastic

Opportunity For ELL and Social Studies teachers!

Under the Eurasia/South Asia Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA), the U.S. Department of State and the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) have announced a competition for secondary-level teachers of English as a Foreign Language and Social Sciences from the United States to participate in a two-week professional exchange program. The selected teachers will travel to one of the following countries—Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Georgia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, or Ukraine. The program is fully funded and provides visa support, round-trip domestic airfare, lodging and meals to attend the TEA U.S. Conference, round-trip airfare from the U.S. to the assigned country in Eurasia or South Asia, emergency medical evacuation plan, recommended vaccinations, and lodging and a daily stipend in the host country. For more information,visit the IREX website.

News from National Institute for Literacy

Boys, books, and barber shops
The National Institute for Literacy, a U.S. federal agency, and Mocha Moms, Inc., a national support organization for stay-at-home mothers of color, have launched an innovative partnership to boost children’s literacy skills, and they are turning to local barbershops to kick off their new effort.
On June 21 from 3-5 p.m., the Institute and Mocha Moms will unveil a reading nook at Campbell’s Barbershop, 5703 Dix Street N.E., Washington, D.C., complete with more than 250 books for boys and free publications for parents that support the development of reading and other literacy skills at home. The new book nook is part of Boys Booked on Barbershops (B-BOB), a growing national initiative launched in 2004 that takes advantage of naturally occurring opportunities in the community to foster a love of reading. B-BOB reading nooks have debuted in more than 100 barbershops across the country, from Florida to Illinois.
Through their new partnership, the Institute and Mocha Moms are also planning a wide range of national campaigns and activities, including a “Take Your Child to the Library Day” to increase the number of children and families in communities of color who obtain library cards and who read for enjoyment.

Greetings!

Happy end of the year to all teachers who survived another year with federal, state and district mandates! What has been the most challenging aspect this year for you? How often are students tested? Would you recommend teaching as a profession to young people??