Today Hannah Turns 9

She is 9! 9 wonderful years. And 9 years when she had to learn things that children do not learn until much, much later in life.

In many ways, she is a wonderful 9-year old. In many other ways, she is way to conscious about life and death, way beyond her years. She is well aware of death and is afraid of people around her dying. She had to experience loss at a very young age and this has made her overly concerned about things may seem to be dangerous in her eyes: Snorkling? No mom! You can't do that, it's dangerous. Careful when you drive mom! What do I do if something happens to you? These are questions that no child should have to ask. But unfortunately, this is life!

Happy b-day Hannah! Today is a happy day! Let's celebrate life! We are proud of you and your accomplishments!

Podcasts for learning

This topic is more related to my computer class and language learning than to Hannah's literacy experiences.

In the link below, you will find a variety of podcasts that can be used for learning, or in the case of language teachers, can be used for language learning purposes. Radio Lab is among the new podcasts recommended. I still have to become a fan of Radio Lab. I listen to lit, but it is not yet one of my favorites. Who knows? Maybe in the future, it becomes one of my faves.

Check out the list:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/film-festival-podcasting-classroom-resources?utm_content=blog&utm_campaign=FMFF&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

Reading Strategies and Common Core

While Common Core is supposed to teach children how to read academic texts by implementing reading strategies, missing from my daughter's classroom is an awareness of what strategies good readers use. So when I tell her "before reading the text, read the title and then go to the comprehension questions at the end of the text," Hannah says to me: This is not what my teacher tells me. This is very frustrating since I try to tell her what good readers do, but she fights me because she thinks I don't know.

Reading strategies are critical for anyone who is in school. You have to read long and complex texts, therefore, you need to know how to read and what strategies to use. So this summer, our focus will be on reading strategies so that she become a strategic reader. As Grabe and Stoller put it, what readers need to do is learn how to become strategic readers rather than apply strategies.