Chp. 12 Make Every Minute Count

I want the secret pill to allow me to do what Regie says on p. 287, "Have more energy for teaching and advocacy is to have a life outside of school." It seems that many of us spend many hours at school and home focused on school. Do our students benefit from this? I think to some extent they do.

I do know that my family suffers because I want to do all that I can to be the best teacher for my students and I can't seem to do all that I need to do during the school hours. Therefore, I must spend time out of school on school work. Instead of it getting easier, it becomes more challenging for me each year.

I like the chart on p. 282 (Secrets of Good Writers). This would be a great chart for my classroom and maybe even have the students come up with their own list.

Another issue that I'm going to revisit in my own classroom is on the topic of DOL. I have been using this, but Regie makes a good point that it would be more meaningful if we were to work with the students' sentences.

What a great book! I am so glad that I've read it and am amazed at all the tips, research, ideas, etc. that was in it. By reading it and having conversations about writing, it has made me really think about what is taking place in my room now and what I want to take place in the future. I am already feeling much better about teaching writing!