10 Expectations of Schools From Students

This was posted on George Couros blog -The Principal of Change - He says:
Carolyn Cameron, one of the most open and progressive principals I have ever known (she was also my former boss), shared the following video regarding student expectations for school.  The first point was that it was important to build relationships and know students as individuals.  The nine other points are things that I really believe in, but it was great hearing it from a student perspective.

What are we reading this week?

This week I am reading, Who Owns the Learning by Alan November.


I must say anyone in education NEEDS to read this book!  Anyone who is in a classroom and asking students to take charge of their own learning is where we need to be.  This book will change the way I teach from now on.  I am marking every page and still not finished, I will probably have to make an entire notebook over it also.

Today I read for class - Trends in Literature
Brave Girl  - Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909. by Michelle Markel- historical picture book
The Matchbox Diary by Paul Fleischman - sweet story of immigration
Poems to Learn by Heart collected by Caroline Kennedy
The Deer Watch by Pat Lowery Collins

I also finished an audio book on the way home from UIL this morning.
The One and Only Ivan - by Kathleen Applegate.

I cried, of course, as the smooth timber voice wove the story around me in the car.  Such a sweet tale that is actually based on a true gorilla.  I know in my heart that all my animals have these voices and stories inside them.  As a child, I knew this and my best friends were my animals in my barn.  So I will always connect to any animal story.

I finished a girl/romance book this week by one of my favorite authors,  Lisa Schroeder, she is a favorite because my students love her short easy romances with some little twinge of truth and trouble in them.
Her latest is Falling for you.





Last week I finished this great Guy Read - Rotten.  This story is quick to read and fall into because Jimmer has just returned from juvie and he is trying to stay out of trouble, and yet his mom's new dog lead him right back into a big mess.  Jimmer becomes friends with the dog and tries to save him but who knows if he will or  not.




That is it for this week.  But I went to the library today to find some more great titles waiting for me.  YIPPEE.  What are you Reading??