Maria's Mélange

I mentioned in an earlier post that I'm trying to get myself "out there" more. I want to be seen as an expert in my field, so the only way to make that happen is to find ways to share my expertise. Last night I shared what I learned at a recent conference with our parent advocacy group. I was nervous, but it went very well! Next time I speak to adults, though, I definitely need to remember to bring a water bottle. My throat was parched by the end and then I felt like I was losing my voice all day today. This morning, I finished short proposals to do 90 minute sessions at my summer enrichment conference. Maybe they'll accept them - and maybe they won't. Either way, I've done my part in taking the next step in my professional development. In case you are interested - here are the two sessions I'm hoping to give: Ted Ed Clubs: Helping Kids Share Their Passions and Expertise. Everyone loves watching TED videos to learn new information, but what if yo...

It's been a little while since I shared a new Middle Grade novel, so today's your lucky day! Annika Riz, Math Whiz by   Claudia Mills   (Goodreads Author) Hardcover, 128 pages Published May 13th 2014 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (first published May 1st 2014) ISBN 0374303355 (ISBN13: 9780374303358) Source : ARC from publisher in exchange for my honest thoughts. Goodreads Blurb : Annika Riz loves math more than anything. She's trying to teach her dog, Prime, to count. She's determined to beat fellow math whiz Simon Ellis in a Sudoku contest at the public library. She even sleeps under number-patterned sheets. But Annika's best friends Kelsey and Izzy think math is boring. All they care about is the upcoming school carnival: their principal is going to be dunked in a dunking tank and their class is going to have a booth selling home-baked cookies. But then disaster foils the friends' cookie-baking plans. Can math save the day? My Tho...

Yesterday was a great day. You see, I'm almost 42 and I have a decent amount of teaching and life experience under my belt at this point. Until recently, though, I never really felt that I had anything to teach -- at least not to adults. Several colleagues keep gently nudging me. "You should present," they say. "You have things you can share with others," they insist. I always feel like the things I do in my classroom are things *I* learned from others. Things that other people should rightly be the ones to share in front of "big people". This past summer, I answered the call of the district tech department and ran a session on being a connected educator. We discussed and experimented with Twitter, Skype, Kidblog, etc. Yesterday, I joined a colleague in presenting at a symposium for preservice teachers. I met Janine several years ago (we actually had trouble yesterday figuring out exactly which year we met) through our master's program at...

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday -  This is my first time sharing in the MMGM event, but it seemed like a good time to join in the fun. There are several books I want to share. One is a recent release, and two will be out shortly! (I am late getting this to Shannon Messenger, so it won't be on her page I'm sure... but I'm putting it up anyway!) Visit her site for more!  http://ramblingsofawannabescribe.blogspot.ca/  Lastasha and the Kidd on Keys by Michael Scotto (Goodreads Author), Evette Gabriel (Illustrator) Paperback, 254 pages Published March 19th 2013 by Midlandia Press ISBN 0983724393 (ISBN13: 9780983724391) (Source - electronic ARC from the author, but I bought a copy for my classroom library after reading) Goodreads Summary: Latasha Gandy returns in Latasha and the Kidd on Keys, the story of a whip-smart and headstrong nine-year-old living in Pittsburgh with her nurse’s aide mother and a three-legged rescue dog named Ella Fitzgerald....

Last Thursday I attended the first day of the PA Gifted conference (PAGE). (My tweets on Thursday started with the hashtag #PAGE2012 and then shifted to #pagifted to match with another tweeter. I'll post specifics about some things I learned later. For today, just an overview on why this is so important.)   Many of you who read my words here aren't in the gifted field. Let me just take a moment and give you the main reason I am passionate about the field of gifted education. Every child... EVERY child deserves to learn every day. That isn't elitist. That isn't unfair. Gifted services aren't a special privilege. They aren't something a child should have to "earn" through good behavior or completion of an endless list of work that doesn't meet their needs. They are a simple right... a right that every child has to LEARN something every day. The parents of gifted children aren't (for the most part) trying to gain any special edge for their c...