April Pinterest Linky

Today I am linking up with Diving Into Learning for her linky, "Time Spent on Pinterest Should Equal Professional Development Hours."  Below are some of my most recent finds on Pinterest.  Check out my boards to see more great pins!

Number Sense: Visual Number Line


Life Science: Animal Body Parts


Craft: Easter Egg Caterpillar

Don't forget to hop over to Laurah's to donate to her ELL students and receive a great thank you bundle of great TpT products!

Encourage A Young Writer

Today is Encourage a Young Writer Day! I love teaching writing, especially using the workshop method. Honoring students' ideas and interests as valid topics for writing validates their ability to be real writers.

Here is the cover of a book I wrote in second grade!  I was so proud to have my work "published."  I have kept this book all these years because it exemplifies to me the power of a teacher who encourages students by valuing their work.  This is no great writing sample, but empowering me as a writer by binding my work has stuck with me and encouraged me to continue writing.

How do you teach writing?
Please comment or link up!

Loving Linkies!

I love linking up on other blogs.  Linkies are great ways to find new blogs and great ideas!  Today I linked up on the following linkies:

 

 

And last, but not least 

  

My favorite (recent) Pinterest finds:

(all images are linked, so click away!)

 

 

 

 

 You can follow me on Pinterest to see more of my awesome finds! And be sure to visit the linkies (linked through the buttons above) for more great ideas.

I am an Ohio blogger!

I am an Ohio blogger!  Though, I currently teach in Guatemala and I was born and raised in Illinois!  I went to college in Ohio and fell in love with the area.  My dream job is to return to Ohio to teach.  I have linked up at Fifth in the Middle.  There you will find blogs organized by state.

As I mentioned above and in my profile, I am currently teaching English as a Second Language to poor and orphaned children at a boarding school in Guatemala.  It has been an amazing experience so far.  The thing that has impressed me the most is how eager the students are to learn.  The year is almost over and yet they are still overly eager.  Every day I have students ask if it is their class' day for English class.  (Yes, they all know the schedule we have kept since the beginning of the year).  They even ask to have classes on Saturdays!  In a subconscious way, these young children know that getting an education is a privilege in their country. The more these students learn, the more opportunities they will have for the rest of their lives.  I am humbled to be their teacher and I have changed as a result of my experience here.
Teaching in a different culture has helped me hone my personal teaching style as I have had to think deeply about the ways in which my teaching style is different from the traditional teaching style here.  Perhaps more about teaching style in a later post!
I officially welcome you to my blog!  I am looking forward to the community we will make here that will stretch from state to state and around the world!