Day in a Sentence | BlogWalker

March 13, 2011
by blogwalker
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DIAS ~ Inspiration, Rewards, and Dreams Unleashed

Today’s DIAS post is a first for me. I’ve been a member of the community since the ever-innovative Kevin Hodgson posted on the NWP Technology Liaison’s listserv and on his blog an invitation for teachers across the nation and world to come together, in a few words or a sentence or two, as a community and share something about their week. But this is the first time I’ve hosted DIAS, thanks to an invitation from Bonnie Kaplan.

The week has proven to be one of rewards, inspiration, and dreams for the DIAS community.

Rewards:

From Mathew – My first iPhone app, Reading Remedies, was released in iTunes this week…a satisfying conclusion to months of work and weeks of waiting.

From April – Received permission (and scholarships!) to take ALL of my students to a Youth Summit next week on teen leadership, substance abuse, positive choices, and things of this sort; just found out that one of my students from last year is a presenter! Oh the joy .

From Mary – I spent yesterday with 170+ 17 and 18 year old students at PLWP High School Writing Day. Students selected two workshops from a variety of workshops presented by PLWP TCs or Missouri Western State University writing professors. After lunch students had the opportunity to read something they had written at an open mike session. It was rewarding to hear those student writers.

From Amanda – The look on my son’s face when he saw his requested dinosaur birthday cake, was confirmation that the hours spent baking and frosting were the perfect way to celebrate FOUR!

Inspiration:

From Kevin – I wrote with my students — just quietly writing, and it was a short but wonderful pocket of inspiration. Here is the podcast of the poem I wrote: http://www.box.net/shared/static/939ghix050.mp3.

From Nancy – Today was spent with my friend at the Rehab where her daughter is in a coma, and I found the courage and strength of those surrounding this lovely young girl to be inspiring.

From me – I spent Wednesday afternoon with a group of 5th graders at a Title 1 (high poverty) school, where students were wrapping up their documentary film Hope for Haiti, when a student shared, “I feel like I’ve done something good.”

Dreams:

From Carla – Dreaming of change and understanding that it takes very small steps to get there, plus a whole bit of patience.

Feeling privileged to belong to the DIAS group (and heading in to check out Mathew’s iPhone app!!),

Gail

March 6, 2011
by blogwalker
2 Comments

Day in a Sentence – Join the conversation!

Thanks to an invitation from NWP colleague Bonnie Kaplan, I’m hosting this week’s Day in a Sentence.

If you’re new to DIAS, a warm welcome! We are an international community of educators that on a weekly basis do some kind of wrap-up of the past week. Often the host of the week will suggest a theme or format (e.g., “Wrap up your week in a 3-word sentence.”).

Considering our current economic realities, I’m pretty sure, to some degree, all of us are facing some challenges in our school communities. With so much bad news in the media (and in our lunch rooms too), I’d love to hear something that inspired you this week. Something that made the week worthwhile. But if you just need to vent a bit, that’s fine too.

So please click on the comment link and share your DIAS! At the end of the week, I’ll release all comments. Hope to see yours there:-)

Here’s mine:

I spent Wednesday afternoon with a group of 5th graders at a Title 1 (high poverty) school, where students were wrapping up their documentary film Hope for Haiti, when a student shared, “I feel like I’ve done something good.”

January 1, 2009
by blogwalker
1 Comment

Year in a Sentence: First email of 2009

Loved starting the New Year with an email from NWP colleague Kevin Hodgson, whose creative energy and projects never cease to amaze and inspire. So what did I love about this morning’s email, my first message of 2009?… An invitation to reflect on my year and share with the DIAS community…. An introduction to a new tool, (something Kevin sends our way on a regular basis), Xtranormal. Oh my, think of the classroom applications for this tool!

….Inclusion of music (another frequent bonus from Kevin)…. And the promise of continuing on with this valued part of my PLN into the New Year.

Thanks, Kevin, and Happy New Year to you and the DIAS worldwide community:-)

September 6, 2008
by blogwalker
2 Comments

Day in Sentence

What I most value about Web 2.0 are the multiple opportunities to join groups of like-minded colleagues and to craft and continually expand my own personal learning network. The D ay in a Sentence community is one of my favorite communities. To begin with, it stems from my friend Kevin, whose enthusiasm, expertise, and sense of digital adventure tends to be infectious. When Kevin takes a blogging vacation, he passes the DIAS weekly postings on to others. This week, for instance, educator and writer Deb Renner Smith, whose blog I’ve just added to my RSS feed, is hosting DIAS. The DIAS rules are simple. The idea is to wrap up your day or your week in a sentence. But you’re allowed to break the rules. If you need two sentences, no problem. If you can summarize in just a phrase, or an image, or even a poem, that works too. And we’re a global community too. With the new school year now under way in most districts, many, many of my colleagues putting in tons of extra hours in hopes of making this the best year ever for their students. But this week my DIAS comes from a student perspective:

This week my son, who has more than once dropped out of school, called me as he enthusiastically headed off for a new semester at a local community college, and he left this message: “So much depends on getting a good teacher.”

To my son’s comment, I’d like to echo a thought posted today by Bud the Teacher inviting all of us to “go do good things” as I head back in to re-read a related post on Two Writing Teachers.

March 15, 2008
by blogwalker
6 Comments

A Difficult Week for California Educators – “Beware the Ides of March”

I have not heard the final tally yet on the number of California teaches who were “pink slipped” this week, but in my district alone the number is over 200! Unless there is a surprise in my mailbox today (5:00 today – the “ides” of March – is the cutoff for notification), I still have my job. Given that most of the cutoffs will go to those with the least seniority, California schools will be losing many of their newest teachers, along with the energy, enthusiasm, and innovations they bring fresh from their credential programs.

The Voice Thread below is in recognition that all of us as educators will be impacted either directly or indirectly by the 2008-09 budget cuts. I left a message earlier on Murcha’s Day in a Sentence Voice Thread, but wanted to also dedicate today’s post to this painful topic. Comments are welcomed!

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