The Days of Day

So... this is pretty funny.  I opened up my blog to write something and had no idea what I'd write.  My secret for moments like this is that I often start blog entries with a photo I like and a title that occurs to me when I see the photo... then, weeks or months later I open it up and write something. I sat down tonight not knowing what to write and JUST at the moment I opened it all up, I saw the title I'd chosen (still up there) and at the same time heard Tom's ipod, which is apparently set on "random", started playing Robert Earl Keene singing "The Road Goes on Forever and the Party Never Ends." That "coincidence" is not enough, though.  I sat down to write while my boys get ready for bed after we kept them up a little late having our Saturday night family party... a party we all desperately needed because the week had just zipped by, leaving us all feeling a little bit like someone riding the bullet train convertible style.   We watche...

I made this book for my friend Jerusha for her birthday present.  That was back in July.  The only thing I've done since then is decorate a wooden block to be a hall pass for my new classroom.  I DID win the school-wide contest for that, but it didn't require ANY glitter at all so I don't think it fully counts as Day-time.

We English teachers usually believe that the WORD, the combination of  letters into meaning,  is the most important tool in the box. In an effort to document my belief that it may be time to consider that  there are other tools that help students  make meaning out of their lives,  out of what they read, out of what they think... I offer this slide show. Perhaps the literacy toolbox could be expanded. I say this knowing that some kids, like my oldest son, might balk... but also knowing that other kids, like my youngest son, would sing arias of found comfort and joy. Maybe next to the words and sentences, some kids could find color  and shape and sticky-stuff...  maybe cuttings and doodles and sketches... This slide show exhibits a visual reading journal using a traditional  text entry and  a webbed entry.  It also shows some altered books.