Slice #12 -- The Reader's Notebook
I am a member of our local art museum. They send out emails titled Object of the Day linking to pieces in the museum and providing some info. It's nice, and what I will imitate during the Slice of Life challenge for 2024. Each day, I am highlighting an object used in my daily life and generating a piece of art to accompany my writing by using the AI program, Adobe Firefly.
Today... the reader's notebook.
I teach a methods for English teachers course that is fully online. I have lots of opinions about the online part, and I super-miss being in person. One way I try to connect with these early career teachers is through a reader's notebook. I've used them throughout most of my career with kiddos and adults alike.
I was behind on last week's grading and am just getting to giving feedback this morning. I spent a couple of hours scrolling through their reflections and leaving little comments--emojis cheering them on, heartfelt connections, and suggestions of strategies to try. One has already replied. A handful will not reply to a comment all semester. I suppose that is how all of our strategies in teaching go; nothing works for everyone.
The notebook is a really powerful look at the profession... seeing the reflections of teachers connecting what they are reading to what they are seeing in the classroom through their brand new 'teacher eyes' gives me so much hope for the profession but also a heavy heart. Teaching is hard.
Sending an invitation to all of you today to pause and reflect (it's good for your health) and to find a new teacher and support them somehow (it's good for theirs).
I love this idea of the "object of the day". As an instructional coach I see the same things--so much hope, but also challenge. Thank you for the invitation to support a new teacher.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad I stopped by again! (I wish I could find the wherewithal every day! I hope the washer and dryer have arrived!) I keep a reader's notebook now writing something about every book (sometimes articles, usually poems). It's a memory crutch as much as anything else, but I have learned that when I write about a book even one I wasn't crazy about, I find a deeper appreciation, a richer understanding. (It also happens during book club face-to-face, but that's a whole other thing as you suggest here.) I love how you end this with the parenthetical perfection!
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