Glad to be Back! Because Twitter just doesn't have enough character allowance for me!

It's been over a year! Since my daughter is now able to return to physical activity, yet has some bad days, I feel I have time to return to sharing my experiences and expertise in teaching. Yes, I say expertise. As teachers we need to own that label, not be so humble. We are implementing. We are making it happen. We stumble, fall, and pick ourselves, our students, and their families back up. We are experts. This is hard for us to internalize because there are so many aspects to education that it's impossible to be in expert in it all. One thing we know how to do, and do it everyday, is motivating kids to learn. 

Disclaimer: My opinions are my own. I can be passionate about my opinions and am highly motivated by them, but better than that as an educator I love to change and grow from hearing about what my students, families, and other educators are experiencing and have opinions about. I've noticed that opinions about education/teaching/learning are based on real experiences, and real experiences are the key to change and growth. A pitfall for some can be over generalizing based on experiences. Each child is unique. I've taught over 400 students just in my classroom and have interacted with many others, and not one has been the same. Generalizations make it easier for those involved in research fields of ed. and curriculum development, but teachers know generalizations are biased and impractical. My desire to remain in the classroom as a practicing teacher after 18 years is a reflection of my value of real experiences. I hope the joy of experiencing learning stays in my heart for the next 20 years. On the other hand, my pet peeve and the one thing I just don't get is apathy. My world is filled with the joy and enthusiasm of children, occasionally I've seen some apathetic kids, on rare occasions. All most all of the time there are other stresses or disabilities affecting that child that can mask itself to the outside observer as apathy. So, that is why it is hard for me to be around apathetic people. "If the kids can do it, why can't you?" That's the thought that gets stuck in my mind. There have been very few apathetic people I've met in education. Most  are incredibly motivated. It may not be about what I value that sparks their motivation, but it's still impressive how motivated and dedicated educators are! I happen to work with some of the BEST!

History: This blog was set up 2 years ago in my quest to integrate 1to1 ipads in my classroom. I had this amazing tool and wanted to figure out how my students could use it for research, creation, production, and collaboration. I still have a lot to learn as technology changes, but I'm better. It's been three years of ipad implementation, so I pretty much can say what works and what doesn't. I started a different blog a few years ago for sharing of classroom teaching practices as we transitioned to Common Core Standards. At that time, I was freed from demanding curriculum restraints and was able to implement centers among other things, so I had to remember and find out how teach differently. It was fun, but I didn't make much of it as you see. http://moserssecondgrade.blogspot.com/

Future: As I look to the future of this blog, I'd like to change the name among other things. It will reflect my experiences and expertise in all that is teaching, education, and leaning. Currently, my focus has been environmental education, project based learning, and my never ending quest to find solutions that support struggling readers and their families.