MS Reading Association Conference

This past week I got 3 days off of work to attend the MS Reading Conference. It was at the Beau Rivage. I really enjoyed my last trip before the baby comes! Only 9 weeks now. Scary.
I listened to some really good speakers and I think that I left with some awesome ideas to use in my classroom. The speaker that I really enjoyed the most was Brett Dillingham. He is from Alaska, and specializes in storytelling. Let me tell you- he is super interesting! I learned a lot about how kids tell stories, and how to help them tell and retell stories. Sorry for all you non-teachers out there. This is probably a boring post. But seriously, if you are a teacher- go to BrettDillingham.com to check him out. Very inspiring. He also did a talk about the new documentary "Waiting on Superman". I knew this documentary was about schools, but I really haven't heard much about it. Apparently it bashes teaches and says that the only solution to American education is Charter Schools. I will not go in to this on my blog, but this is NOT the solution. If you really know a teacher, then you know how hard they work. I am not patting myself on the back by any means- I am just letting all of you know, I have not come across a teacher that doesn't work super hard every single day and I sure haven't met one that doesn't go home at night worrying about her students. If you have a chance, spend some time in a public school. Read to kids, help them review spelling words, just watch a classroom full of 7 years olds. It's amazing. That is really what our schools need right now. The support of our community. Anyway, off my soapbox. I'm going to get some new house pictures up soon. Promise.
Oh and by the way- the reason you haven't received a Christmas card from us yet is because we cannot get a good one. The dogs will not cooperate. Maybe our next photo session will work out.