Robert Sternberg, former president of the American Psychiatric Association, says that "active and engaged citizens must be creatively flexible, responding to rapid changes in the environment; able to think critically about what they are told in the media, whether by newscasters, politicians, advertisers, or scientists; able to execute their ideas and persuade others of their value; and mist of all, able to use their knowledge wisely in ways that avoid the horrors of bad leadership..." Isn't this what we want for our students? How does our day to day instruction help students to become creative, flexible, and critical thinkers?
I hope the multi-texting lesson we worked through helps us to begin thinking of ways to let our kids do the hard work of making connections, thinking things through, and becoming aware of the multiple sides of every topic. Thank you for trying this out.

In Chapter 9 on page 116 Wormeli uses a very interesting word - confabulation. I had never encountered this word until I read this book. Please tell me what you think about confabulation.

Wow, it's already 2009 and we have so many things to accomplish.

Thank you for being willing to take a second look at Chapters 7 and 8 in Fair Isn’t Always Equal. I have to re-visit these chapters often to keep reminding myself of the true goal of learning and the role that grading plays in my classroom.

As you all saw from my demonstration lesson, reading something once is often not enough to really understand it. I purposefully chose difficult texts to put you in the place of a struggling reader. How did it feel? How can we help our students see that re-reading is important, whether it's a math problem, a poem or directions?