Another Interview with Katie

Check out the interview with Katie Wood Ray on A Year of Reading.  Thanks, Franki, for sharing Katie's wise words with us.  I've printed my blog post and your blog post to do some serious thinking about the writing work we'll begin... tomorrow!  I love how Katie makes me think.

     Yes, tomorrow.  Tomorrow is my first with my fourth graders.  Fourth graders.  That sounds strange after teaching third grade for the past eight years.  But, I'm excited to move on with the majority of my students and adding a few new children sprinkled in, just to add spark and flavor.

     I love year-round school.  I love our periodic breaks throughout the school year.  Of course, there are those who don't like a year-round schedule and once again, we're slowly phasing it out (I heard someone say just today in the teacher's lounge, "I can't wait until we have a real summer.")

     A real summer?  They weren't around at the beginning, when we first implemented this strange, new calendar... somewhere along the way the original purpose of having year-round school has been lost in the “agrarian” cycle in which we live.  Families need time together, but I've found that September is the perfect time to travel.  And, well, there is the sports schedule (I think the 11th commandment is "Thou shalt not interfere with High School Sports.")

     As for me, I'm going to relish in our 4-track, year-round schedule as long as I can... I love it.  As a parent, I think it was so wonderful for my children and we made it work.  But, I meander...

     Read Katie's interviews.  Ponder both Franki's interview and mine... as you read Katie's new book, ask yourself "What am I doing to help my students lead the kind of scholarly, thoughtful, inquiry based writing lives they deserve?"  I know I will be...