letters

It's time to share! Write your letters and share them here!

Dear Self,
Nothing like waiting until the last minute. 12:57am and I'm just now writing my letters. Fortunately, I was rehearsing for this while watching the movie.
Sincerely, Last-Minute Michelle

Dear Graduate Students,
I had so much fun sharing Writing Workshop with you last Thursday. I'm totes excited for next week! (and also a littler nervous!)
Love, Teach

Dear Work Roomie,
You're my favorite. Love our office shenanigans!
Love, Roomie

Dear Emerson Teachers,
Thank you for being patient as I figure out the union rep position. I really appreciate your understanding as I grow and learn something new.
Sincerely, First-Timer

Dear AIMS Web,
I think I have mastered the administrator role - today I taught myself how to roll kids up to the next grade level, add kids, delete kids, and make rosters for the new teachers. Boom.
Fondly, your new master :-)

Dear Miss Lifesaver,
I hope you're not mad at me for not dumping water on my head! I still totally want to get together, but had a super busy week last week and the upcoming looks even crazier! We *will* make this happen! Can't wait to be friends IRL!
Love, Bloggy Buddy

Dear boyfriend,
It's almost our 2 1/2 year anniversary! It makes me happy! This is why I love college football so much - because it's a big part of the reason I met you!
xo, Dud

Dear Self,
I'm so proud of you for trying two crazy new foods tonight: Mussels and Anticuchos. Do you know what those are? Wait for it....wait.....It's cow heart. Yep, no biggie. Only one little piece. It didn't taste bad, but just knowing what it was, I couldn't stomach any more. One mussel, too, but I'd eat another one of those before the cow heart. Anyways, way to go!
Sincerely, Adventurous Eater

Well, that's all for me this very early morning! Please write your own letters and share them here! Don't forget the rule of three - leave a comment for the two bloggers ahead of you and one after. Make sure to check back after a few days...the linky will be active for the next two weeks! :-)

An InLinkz Link-up

five for friday - and it's on time!

Oohhhhheeeemmmmgeee! Blogging world, how I've missed you! It's been since - well, last Friday I guess, when I posted Five for Friday late. But I'm back again for more, so here's a peek into the last week - see what I've been up to!

First thing - I have a problem. With stapelers. Also I can't spell stapelers. Spell Check? Okay: staplers. Better. Moving on....my roommie at school got a beautiful new stapeler. (uuuggg, spelled wrong. Again!) Anyways, it' s gold. GOLD. and guess who broke it? Yep, sure did. Not sure how...wasn't being negligent. But broke it. So I'll be buying her one this weekend - hopefully I can find the gold one. 

Why yes I do. And it's broken.

Which reminded me that I broke another person's stapler a few weeks ago. So, GE, you've got one coming, too!

From now on, I'm keeping my stapling hands to myself!

Am I the only one who has a problem with kinders doing a standardized test? On a computer? This one is just practice, I guess, and I know it's the culture of the whole education system right now in our country. But it makes me so sad, like, it makes my heart hurt. Our district is 1:1 and we are so lucky for that. Kinders are going to be getting their iPads soon and doing awesome work with great apps to help them read, do math, and learn together. But more than likely, our kinders will first be exposed to their iPads for a standardized test. This is education in 2014. It not only makes me sad, but scares the hell out of me.

If it were up to me - no multiple-choice, bubble tests till third grade. No questions. So Arne, if you're reading up tonight, give me a ring.

Scary that this is what *they* think!

I had a craft night this week on Tuesday and made this:

It's a deco mesh wreath and got the idea from another blogger this summer who linked up with me. My wreath turned out huge, but I love it. I don't think it's perfect, but my girlfriends came over, we drank wine, and crafted. Liz said, "We should have a monthly craft night - like a book club, but make stuff!" To which my other friend, Kristy, said, "Yeah it's just like book club, totally! But without all that stupid reading!" So, we had fun, Kristy has no plans for reading, and I've got some school spirit on my front door! :-)

(also: ASU won their first game, which I missed, because I was teaching grad school! More to come on that...keep on reading!)

I love my mentees. I always do.  Mentoring is one of my favorite things...I love hanging out and building relationships and living vicariously thought their experiences with them. This week I was just so impressed with so much - their mini-lessons, their problem solving, the way they are already becoming such reflective practitioners. And, then I went to yoga tonight with one of them and it was a great way to spend my Friday evening!

I taught my first grad school class this week. Mostly it was fun and productive, but I could also feel the first year teacher jitters and the inexperience (with this age group) creeping up. The best parts of the night were the active engagement ones - when we did Writing Workshop, when we used some Kagan structures to share, when they got to talk about their literacy attitudes. I did get the most nervous when I was doing some lecturing on the Cueing Systems and Balanced Literacy. Not to self: Keep everything active next week! But, I'm so excited to get to know a new group of people and add a new experience to my resume!

Hopefully this is not applicable, but just funny! :-)

So that's all....but I'll be back on Sunday for the Letters blog. I'm writing that blog every other week on Sunday and this week is the week! So, get your letters ready to share, and hope you'll come back and link up! :-)

Happy Friday! Enjoy the long weekend! And thanks to Doodle Bugs for the link up! If you like Five for Friday - check it out and link your blog!

five for friday

Hi all! Better late than never, right, for the Five for Friday? Here are five random things that have been going on this week with me!

Well, first thing - a publishing company by the name of User Design has sent me a copy of their book for review - it's called Punctuation..? and does a really nice job of explaining the purposes of all the different kinds of punctuation that writers use. It's got simple drawings that go with the explanations:

The book covers all kinds of punctuation: apostrophe, brackets, colon, comma, dash, ellipsis, exclamation mark, forward slash, full stop, guillemets (just learned what those were!), hyphen, interpunct, pilcrow, prime, question mark, quotation marks and semicolon.

This book was published in the United Kingdom, and I love how they call a period a full stop - it makes so much sense to think of it that way and name it that - especially for kids!

I think this book would be a good resource for kids - maybe intermediate students. As it's best to teach grammar within the context of authentic writing, this would be a great resource for kids to have when they got to the editing stage of their writing process.

If you'd like more information on this book, check out the User Design website!

Last week on our district's opening day, I presented blogging to our whole staff! I was pretty nervous to speak to all the teachers in our district, but all turned out well!

Thanks to Colleen at Literacy Lovin Gals for the great pic!

After I talked briefly, I shared this iMovie with our staff - it recognizes all the D100 bloggers and also shares quotes about why we love to blog so much!

I need to be better at record keeping. Part of my position is to collect ideas for ordering materials. Last spring, I kept a list of all the things I wanted to order - submitted that budget to my principal (thinking it was too crazy high!) but she made it a little bigger because she thought it would get cut. Well, it didn't! So, we have lots of money to do tons of text sets, plus I set money aside for poetry and traditional literature collections, and more guided reading books for kinder and the bilingual classrooms. Which brings me to my problem: I didn't write down exactly what I wanted, so now I have lots of researching to do. I will definitely keep better notes next year!

There's a blog hop going on! I'm so appreciative to Carla at Comprehension Connection and Andrea from Reading Toward the Stars for putting this together, but there are 20 Reading Specialists and Literacy Coaches sharing literacy ideas for back to school. Make sure to check it out...you can start the hop here! 

We're having a tea party!

International Literacy Day is on September 8th, so as a way to support the World Literacy Foundation and to have fun at school, students will come to class dressed as their favorite characters! We are then going to have a tea party where kids will take on the persona of their character. I'm super excited!! I'm thinking about being Edward Tulane, but I need to find an Abilene!

Have you heard of International Literacy Day? Check out their website here and plan something with your students!

Well that's all for me this week! I'm off to our neighborhood arts fest - love that it's just two neighborhood blocks away! Enjoy your weekend!

Oh--and don't forget my Letters linky will be back again next Sunday! Check out our last one and get ready to deliver your letters!

blast off with critical literacy

Hi everyone and welcome to BigTime Literacy! I'm Michelle and I'm so excited to be a part of this blog hop! If you've jumped around some of the other sites, you can see that we've got tons of great ideas to share. I wanted to share some information about critical literacy with you today...I just know you're going to love it!

Pablo Freire is a big name behind critical literacy. The cliff's notes version of it is that it is literacy that is focused on challenging injustice and inequality in society. The researchers and teachers who subscribe to this kind of teaching believe that language should be a means for social action and teachers should bring social inequalities to light with their students in the hopes of doing something to make the world a better place. So, in addition to students learning to read and write to take care of their daily business, they are also taught to use literacy to make themselves agents of social change.

When I taught on the middle school loop (7th - 8th grade) I always spent seventh grade teaching the kids strategies for improving their comprehension, and then in eighth grade, we read to change the world. Some of our activities included the following:

1. Studying Upstanders (people who stand up for others), and also identifying the victims, perpetrators, and bystanders in such situations.
2. Reading stories about real life kids who stood up to others or made a change in their community. This book is awesome for these kinds of stories: It's Our World Too: Young People Who are Making a Difference.
3. Writing fictional picture books that focus on an issue of social justice and having the character in the book do something to make a difference in the lives of others.
4. Studying the Holocaust through Book Clubs - including having conversation and building background about this time period. We also visited Chicago's Holocaust Museum!
5. Writing essays about famous Upstanders, such as Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King, Jr., Anne Frank, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, etc.
6. Watching movies where young people take action to make change: Freedom Writers and Walkout, in particular.
7. The culminating event: Choosing a cause to research (and write a report on) and then also making a difference some how - through raising awareness, raising money, or volunteering.

The kids in my eighth grade class loved this curriculum - our focus for everything always went back to, "You can change the world," and they always remembered their projects, coming back to ask if I still did this project with students after they left.

This was a whole year's worth of curriculum, but if you wanted to start integrating critical literacy in your curriculum, you could start with picture books - read them aloud to students and having class conversations about them. Then, if you wanted, your class could research and come up with an action plan to make positive change in your community!

Today, I will leave you with a few picture books that I loved reading to my eighth graders. Your journey with critical literacy just might begin here...

The Lady int he Box

by Ann McGovern

Social Issue: Homelessness

In this story, two children begin to help a homeless woman on their block by leaving food and clothing for her. When their mom finally finds out what they are up to, she shows them how they can give back to their community even more.

Stars in the Darkness

by Barbara Joosse

Social Issue: Gangs & Violence

In this story, a young brother wonders why his big brother doesn't come home at night, until he sees the bandages and blood on his arms and, "knows what he knows." Little brother and his mama decide they must do something to keep their streets safe, so with the help of their community, they do so.

The Streets are Free

by: Kurusa

Social Issue: Organizing for Change

This picture book is based on a true story from San Jose de Urbina, Venezuela. This story centers around children living in this area during the 1950's, when many people moved into this area, leaving the children with no space to play. So, they decide they will talk to the Mayor about making space for a park. He doesn't exactly get moving with their project, but when reelection time rolls around, he has a ribbon cutting ceremony at the location of the future park, giving the children hope that their park will soon come to be. Read to find out if they get their park and how their voices made an impact on their daily lives!

Freedom Summer

by: Deborah Wiles

Social Issue: Racism

In this story, two boys, Joe and John Henry, have lots in common, and one big thing that sets them apart: Joe is white and John Henry is black. The story is set in the summer of 1964 so even though they like to do lots of the same things, John Henry can't do many of them. But then, a law gets passed ending segregation. Hearing the news, the boys race to the pool to swim together, but what they find isn't what they expect...

Those are just a few of a long list of books that will get the kids in your class having discussions about power: who has it, who doesn't, and questions about why. For a longer list of books, check out this site that I came across on Twitter this week (thanks @traceyhabla!) Hopefully by sharing these stories with our students, we can begin to dialog about our world, and help our students see the power that they possess to make it a better place!

If you've loved what you read here, be sure to follow me on bloglovin! One of the coolest things about blogging are the amazing networks I'm building with colleagues all around the country! Also, find me on Twitter and Instagram @bigtimeliteracy :-)

Have you taught with social justice in mind? What are your favorite books? I'd love to add them to my collection...be sure to leave me a comment with titles!

And now it's time to blast off to the next site on our hop - You'll be visiting my friend Wendy at Read with Me, ABC and she's going to share how to set up Interactive Notebooks for your readers. Enjoy her post and thanks for stopping by!

Letters

Good morning, friends! We're back for another edition of Sunday Morning Letters!

Dear Mentee A,
Your room looks beautiful and I can't wait for your new kiddos to meet you! We're going to have such a great year...thank you for sharing your first year with me (not that you really had a choice...) :-)
Love, Mentor


Dear Mentee G,
I know you said you're "a big nerd," but I love that I'm going to learn so much from you this year. I know we'll have a good three days still getting everything ready for your kinders, and I can't wait to see you with them on their first day!
Love, Mentor


Dear Pepsi and Coke,
I really try to end our relationship. Like, all. the. time. But I just can't seem to let you go, so a drink every other day or so will just have to be okay.
Sincerely, your happily caffeinated teach


Dear RB,
I'm so happy that your blog is good to go! I love that both you and your coteacher are blogging and I'm looking forward to reading more from you. And, I'm so glad we're friends. If you ever need anything, I'm here for you girl!
Love, your buddy (I almost wrote butty, hahhahaaaa)
PS - I did not love when you pointed and laughed at me on Friday before my speech...but looking back, it's hilar!


Dear Jamberry Nails,
I'm not going to lie, I got tons of compliments when I was jammin with my jammicure, and I loved the patterns! But it just took so long to get it done myself. So, I will try again in the future, but for now, I'm off to the manicurist.
Love, lazybones


Dear students,
I can't wait to see you....tomorrow! (and maybe today if you come to the back to school picnic!)
Love, Teach


Dear Bucktown Arts Fest,
I CAN'T WAIT  till next weekend when you'll be just two neighborhood blocks away. I'm saving my pennies for some great new art!
Love, a very excited neighbor


Dear CN,
You've been amazing as we have worked on blogs. Thank you for the shout-outs and for supporting all the new bloggers who will begin on their journeys. When RB texted me all excited for her first comment, I just *knew* it was from you...and I was right! You're #amazeballs :-)
Hugs, Blogging buddy


Dear Roomie,
So funny how amazeballs was added to the dictionary! You knew I'd appreciate that, right? Thought of you on my last letter!
Love, Roomie


Dear Team Heartless,
I still have the most special place in my heart for our team. When we were together for those two years, I knew we had a really cool thing, but I didn't know exactly how special it was. I still look back on those years with such love and admiration for each of you. I think a big part of the reason I miss middle school is, in large part, to you all!
xo, a very proud teach

So, readers, do you have letters to share? It's time to link up! Write your post and submit your link here! We'll be back at this again in two weeks, so plan to meet me here at BigTime Literacy again!

Have a great week - and if it's your first week back, enjoy the special moments with your students!

An InLinkz Link-up

meet the teacher blogger!

So excited for a new linky...Meet the Teacher Blogger brought to you by Falling Into First!

About my professional career: I'm going to be starting my 12th year in education next week (kiddos come Monday!) I spent 10 years teaching middle school and this year will be my second as a Literacy Coach in my school district. I'm excited to be in year two of the coaching position - there are six coaches in our district and we've all done a year together and so I'm ready to hit the ground running when we get back next week!

Also, this fall will be my first as an Adjunct Professor at Dominican University! I will be teaching a graduate level course about Language Arts Methods this semester and I'm super excited to share that with new teachers!

This is my most favorite person:

Hektor and I have been dating about two and a half years and things are good! We just got back from visiting Cedar Point last weekend and, although we were scared and waited until the very end of our trip, we actually went on the scariest coaster there: Top Thrill Dragster. It was pretty exhilarating, to say the least. We're both getting excited for college football season - he's a Gator and I'm a Sun Devil, but if it weren't for our two teams, we probably would have never met!

Here's the big highlight of the summer...my first trip to Europe -

Had such a great time and I can't wait to travel again! To read more about my trip, click here.

These are a few of my favorite things:

Paris, Sun Devils & college football, craftivities with my friends, traveling, chocolate chip cookies, coffee, middle school kids, anything literacy related, making little gifts for people, red wine, writing letters, Papyrus cards, my family and friends, fall, Chicago sports, YA novels, pictures

If I weren't a teacher, I'd probably be....

A writer. I hope to write a book one day!

Three words that describe me are:

easy-going, loyal, driven

Finish the sentence, "______, said no teacher ever!"

"Bureaucrats should definitely make all the rules around eduction policy, said no teacher ever!!"

Q: It's your birthday and you can invite anyone, dead or alive, to the party. Who would join you?

My grandparents. I look back at all the time I could've (and should've) been spending with them and I regret not hanging out with them more.

Q: You get to pick one superpower. What is it?

All of my immediate family and almost all of my best friends live out of state: San Diego, Phoenix, Seattle, Madisonville, Charlotte, West Palm Beach, and the UP of Michigan. So, I'd love it if I could transport myself to their houses for dinner or to watch the Bachelorette with wine - just for the evening. Close my eyes, poof! and open them in their houses. This would also be a convenient commute! I'd *love* to sleep in a little later!


Q: What's your favorite quote or saying?

Q: If you had to sing a song on American Idol, what would it be?

Probably Gold Digger by Kanye West. What can I say...I love rapping! :-)

Q: Are you a morning person or a night owl?

Here's the thing. I hate to wake up to an alarm, but I generally wake up on the earlier side (like 7:30-8) when I get to sleep in. And, much to Hektor's dislike, I'm falling asleep on the couch to any movie we try to watch by like 10. So that makes me a morning person, right?

Q: What is your favorite resource that you've created in your TpT shop?

It's my procedure posters for Word Study. They're super cute and designed well. I think I maybe need to lower the price. They hardly sell even though I love them! Truth: I'm totally not good at TpT!

Share something we might not know about you.

I have this crazy obsession with reading about education policy and charters and the privatization of our public schools. I can't stop! I get sucked into Twitter almost every day reading one article and then following it to another. I'm actually really worried about public education, and think that teachers need to be more in the know about what's going on in our profession, and speak up about it! Please check out the Badass Teacher's Association to learn more!



Well thanks for stopping by to get to know me! You should definitely join the party...just click the button below and you'll head over to Stephanie's page!

Reminder to my followers and anyone new to my blog: The Letters Linky is this Sunday! Make sure to have your Sunday Morning Letters ready to go! Any new visitors...I'd love if you'd join us on Sunday morning!

teach simply

I can't believe it's been so long since I logged into my blog! After blogging every day in July, and then only once in August, it feels super weird, but I'm glad I'm back!

I really should be working on this Online Blackboard course I need to complete so I can teach my very first grad school class beginning later this month. (!!!!) I'm so excited to teach the course - it's Language Arts Methods at Dominican University! The university put together a little course for the instructors to get acquainted with the online component - ours is called Canvas. I'm halfway through and locked out now since I'm waiting to have my last assignment checked. Nothing like waiting until the last minute - it's due on Thursday at 4 and I'm only halfway done!

but anyways....back to the title. I was at my sister's this weekend and she had this cute little decorative plaque thing up on her wall with all of these sayings, and one was "live simply." It was something like this:

Anyways, I got to thinking about this instead: teach simply. Obviously, there is nothing simple about teaching. In the very least, it's a constant stream of decision making and multitasking that can wipe out all your energy in just a half day. 

Rather, I mean, teach simply - don't go overboard with all the stuff that is in the teacher store. You really just don't need it.

The teacher I am today and the teacher I was from 2003-2008 are two totally different people. I was that teacher. In my first five years of teaching, my classroom looked like the teacher store. I bought the posters, the job boards, the books of worksheets, the hall passes - everything was super cutesy and none of it was the thinking of the community of learners in my room.

Then grad school came around. I learned about so many books that were amazing for kids, and so I began spending tons of money on building my library. Chapter books and graphic novels and picture books, nonfiction and poetry and biographies and text sets.

Meanwhile, I was watching, and learning from (one of my now) best friends. She didn't have any of the Ancient Egypt posters or fraction posters up in her room. Instead, she created anchor chart after anchor chart displaying her students' thinking on paper and then posted on the wall.

And then I got it.

You don't need to buy all that stuff at the teacher store. You don't need books of worksheets and test prep manuals and all the extras that companies like Pearson want you to buy.

What do you need?

Books. Lots of them.
Composition notebooks.
Chart paper and good markers.
Post-its.

If I had a classroom today, you wouldn't see any of that stuff above. You'd just see my kids surrounded by great literature, reading their books next to open notebooks with a pen in their hand. When they were confused, you'd see them reference the thinking of our class that was plastered on all the walls around the room.

What story do the walls of your classroom tell about the learning that is/will be happening there?

fashionably late to the Currently party!

Greetings from a rainy Monday afternoon here in Chicago!

I've been a traveling girl the last week or so, and still have one more trip before I get back down to business with school. I have so much to do, but you know, I'm going to go ahead and do a blog first. Anyone else work like this...doing the fun things first and procrastinating up until the last minute? (I hope I'm not the only one!)

anyways, on to the Currently Party - muchos thank yous to Farley for hosting....always look forward to meeting up at the beginning of the month!

Listening To...
Well, the sound of the rain outside, which is pleasant since I'm home relaxing, and also a new favorite song: Roller Coaster by Luke Bryan.

First, Luke Bryan - gorge! Second, the song is super good, too!

Loving...
Millennium Force - a roller coaster at Cedar Point. The boyfriend and I were just there for the weekend and had a great time! I love roller coasters but got myself a little freaked out before we went on this one - it's classified as a 'giga-coaster' because it's super tall (310 feet) and super fast (93 mph). Right out of the little loading room it's straight up to the top. Cool thing is that it doesn't go upside down, so you don't have the harness around by your years so it feels smoother. Even thought I was freaking out before we went, it was #awesomesauce :-) (We had a waiter one night who said that like 5 times!)

Thinking....
I have lots to do! I need to get a quick course done so I can teach at the University in the fall (hoping to have that done by the time I meet with the other adjuncts on the 14th), I have an iMovie to make for the start of the school year, I need to get some text sets created so I can do some ordering, plus I'm going to Charlotte on Wed, so I need to do laundry and pack and go have fun with my family. I think I'm definitely going to have to bring the computer and work a little bit each day while I'm there! But for now...

Wanting...
To get more literacy content on this blog! It's been summer so I guess it's okay that I've been writing lots of things off topic from reading and writing. Plus, I always like to know the bloggers who I follow including things about their personal lives, but I really want to get some more content on this blog that is literacy related! Hopefully after Charlotte things will simmer down a little and with back to school I'm sure it will naturally happen that way. Do you like reading about the personal lives of bloggers or just about education related topics?

Needing...
To get back on track with the eating! Was just out of town for like 6 days and even though I walked *alot* around Cedar Point, it was not enough to compensate for all the junk food I ate. I need to be more responsible with food for sure! I'm excited to get back to a little routine with work so hopefully the food intake will be more healthy! I'm going to Vegas in October for a wedding and need to get it together for that trip!

1st Day...
Kinda bummed that I don't have my own class, but I'm still excited to see the kiddos I worked with a lot last  year. It's nice now that I've had a year at my new elementary school to get to know everyone! Not sure what I'll be up to the first day - I can't even remember my first day last year! But anyways, excited to get back to the kiddos!

Some unrelated news before I go - I'm going to host a linky every other Sunday with the Sunday Morning Letters! Feel free to swing by and link up with me - next one will be on the 17th, but you can still link up with yesterday's Letters blog until the end of this week!

Also, I changed my facebook page! Be sure to follow the new page for BigTime Literacy here! You can also find my on Twitter and Instagram @bigtimeliteracy :-)

That's all for me here today. I think I'm going to take a nap and *then* get started on the to do list! Happy first day back to school to all of you who are making your way back this month!

sunday morning letters

Hi all!

I've been traveling a little and away from my computer, but I think I finally figured out the Letters blog! I'm changing it to "Sunday Morning Letters" and will run this linky every other Sunday, so please, plan out your letters and join me!

Dear Barnes & Noble,
I'm not going to lie, I'm kinda disappointed in your selection of picture books. It used to be awesome with tons of paperback copies of various titles by Cynthia Rylant, Patricia Polocco, and Kevin Henkes. I knew I could find The Recess Queen or Enemy Pie any time I wanted. Now...it's all this new stuff and only in hard cover! I need you to stock the classics for when my picture books are locked up in my office and I have a fine at the library!

Dear Roller Coasters,
I used to say yes to anything. No question, I'd do it. Just like I said yes to the Wind Seeker - Cedar Point's swings right on Lake Erie. I was terrified. 301 feet up and spinning around, just a lap belt and not even a harness. I was so scared, I closed my eyes and gripped (and sweated all over) the boyfriend's arm. Good news: I'm still alive, but I don't think I'll be riding everything under the sun from now on!

Dear Middle School Teacher Friends,
I had so much fun hanging out with you! I can't wait until our spring break trip...and if you send me the google doc, I will start working on all those movies I have never seen. (It's going to take a lifetime to watch them all!)

I'm on Instagram! @bigtimeliteracy

Dear friends who are thinking of blogging,
1. You should totally just start it, 2. You will have lots to say, and 3. Everyone will want to read it, trust me!

Dear new school year,
I'm not going to lie, just a little excited for you to roll around again. I am loving the summer, but I won't complain about going back to work. Well, with the exception of the alarm clock...


Dear Teach100,
I'm so excited to be listed on your website....and now I have new goals of improving my social media presence to improve my score. How awesome would it be to get into the top 100! Gotta keep reaching for more... :-)


Dear new school supplies,
I can't wait until we meet again! Soon, very soon!

Dear readers,
I didn't forget that I still have to do my reflection of the blogging challenge...that is coming, promise!

It's time to link up! Remember the rule of three, and give a comment to the two bloggers before you and the one after!

An InLinkz Link-up