It has been such a long time since I posted. I didn't think that I would continue this blog after I left my teaching position, but I still have my hand in teaching as a volunteer.
Since my unofficial sabbatical began last June, I have been volunteering in my son's classroom two days a week. Mostly I just help out where I'm needed during "Reader's Workshop". I have a regular group of kids that I meet with to discuss aspects of their novels. Sometimes I facilitate a creative project collaboration.
I have also been volunteering after school teaching an art club for k-2 students. I designed the program to introduce the students to famous artists and their styles and to provide them with an opportunity to explore various media in a safe and creative environment. We read Peter J. Reynold's wonderful book Ish during the first class. The kids then had a fun time identifying their Miro inspired line drawings as "flower-ish" or "dinosaur-ish."
Next week, I will teach my first sports club: Kids at Play. This club combines traditional sports with favorite gym games: dodgeball, capture the flag, nuke 'em, pinball, etc.
Also, two days a week I have been leading a book group of 5/6 students. We had a rich discussion of metaphor on Tuesday, and we finish the novel, The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich, tomorrow. I am excited to see the students final assignment: "Design-Your-Own Homework." A couple of the students are as perspicacious as any grade 9 student I have taught.
Finally, I am starting a book group at a retirement community in Randolph. I am awating copies of our first read, Jodi Picoult's 19 Minutes. While I did not like My Sister's Keeper or The Tenth Circle, I am optimistic about this story.