Today after work I leave for NYC for a girls' weekend. Not the kind you might imagine - this one is all about teaching and writing. The highlight of this trip will be going to Teacher's College to hear the wonderful Lucy Calkins talk about all that's new in literacy and education. She is my guru, my mentor, and I follow her like a tween follows Taylor Swift. Her 'music' though is all about school. Do you remember loving school as a child? That wonderful kindergarten or first grade teacher who made you feel like a rock star for writing your name. The teacher who let you lead the class down the hallway and you felt like the king of the world. Yesterday in a kindergarten class a little boy was reading to me and when he came to the word 'the', he said, "Hey, wait, that's the word my teacher been teaching me! That's the word she been teaching!" Well, when I hear Lucy Calkins speak, she still has that same enthusiasm for l...
balancing life, work, and family