I remember three years ago while wading through the new Common Core and all of the changes my district was making with curriculum thinking, "But where am I in all of this?". We got rid of the basal and I, along with many teachers, went into panic mode. All the new "workshop" approaches with authentic learning sounded great in theory, but they were hard to implement in the quick time frame expected. I mean COME ON...I had worked hard creating fun activities to go along with the basal stories! I had file cabinets holding a year's worth of learning. How could I just toss all of that and do new things? I admit, I was overwhelmed and really sad about leaving what I had known...and did well. But, change we did and I learned to embrace the workshop time. Change is hard, but hang in there if you are going through it. Search for pieces that you can put your own stamp on. For me, it was Writer's Workshop. I LOVE TEACHING WRITING NOW! I'm always looking for a cute craft or something we can do to highlight the writing. The pieces may all be about different topics, but if I hang them up on something cute it is that piece of me that I'm looking for. I know....I know.... kids are supposed to decide their final product for TRUE workshop and we do most of the time, but I need something that pleases me too. The kids LOVE making crafts and are excited with the displays. See that craft behind my picture in the corner? That was for writing that we did about a book character. The shovel has a picture of the character on it. That was my May craft and it looked wonderful for heading us to summer vacation.
