Catching Up- Whew!

I don't think I've blogged in two weeks! AAAAAGGGGHHH!!! I've had so much to say but my mind was so muddled with everything going on that I just refused to look at my computer or blog in avoidance. I guess now is the time.

Two Weeks Ago:
I had the privilege to attend Springboard's Train the Trainer institute. It's this event that made me stop blogging because I was so exhausted afterwards I could no longer think but I had so much to say!!! I absolutely value every bit of what I learned. I'm officially a Springboard trainer for my district {WOOHOO!!}. It was the most intense weekend full of Springboard stuff.

I'm really excited about the Close Reading Workshops that they are coming out with. If you're a Springboard teacher, you will love these! We had the opportunity to work on one. Mind you it was high school level, but man! They are just the right amount of intense. I had a great time with it. Springboard teachers, these should be coming to the Community soon. I don't know what soon is in Springboard time though. Keep checking!

 My unpacking style has changed. I was so excited to see what my kids did when we had to unpack our final unit of the year. They loved it and it was actually easy. I've been making it so hard on myself {and them} this whole time. We read the Assignment on the Embedded Assessment page, the students marked the text by circling the verbs {skills} and underlined the nouns {knowledge}. They then wrote each skill/knowledge pairing on a sticky note as a group. Finally, we created a bubble map depicting the unpacked Embedded Assessment. They told me how much better it was. I tend to agree :)

Currently:
After getting back in the swing of things I feel refocused in my teaching with Springboard. We're about to do literature circles in the next couple of weeks, so my students have begun investigating the Holocaust. We made a graffiti wall of research regarding the Holocaust. Great conversations were happening and great questions were being asked about that time period.

I'm really seeing the maturity in my 8th graders since the beginning of the year. We have a little under six weeks left and they go on to high school. It's bittersweet.

I'm nowhere near finished with anything that I need to do and don't feel prepared for what's happening next week in my class. That will come. I know. I'm really happy with just getting all this out of my head. Now, time to do some planning!