Great Blog Posts

Here are some great blog posts I read this week:

• I've been running across posts by different people who attended NerdCampBC. Looks quite intriguing. They had about 150 people attend. They start with a blank slate, visit and mingle and eventually some people volunteer to lead sessions and then people sign up for those sessions. What a risk eh?! I spent quite a bit of time on A Year of Reading's post about the conference. She had a number of links to things she learned there! Here are the slides from Donalyn Miller's presentation on Reading in the 21st Century. I get to do a presentation on The Book Whisperer and the info in her presentation will be quite helpful! As I kept digging I found an even more amazing link. This link has all the sessions with a link in each that takes you to the notes from that session! Wow!! 
• I found a list of authors who will skype for free! Boy, if we could have an author skype with us for a book club session....yowza!! That would be so fun!
• Mrs. Biggs has some great questions in her get to know you questionnaire. I'd like to do a little revising of the one we use. Her post is a great start!
• I've been mulling over what goals I should have for my professional development this year and I'm leaning towards focusing on formative feedback, especially with writing. This post reminded me of that again. I loved her thoughts about being careful to not look too much at the neatness or perfectly organized paragraphs - but at the content. I learned a lot about that while marking PATs this year. Must remember that as the school year continues! I need to find a good book or expert to use as a study this year to keep myself focused.
• I believe that teachers should be readers. I am a bit like a religious zealot. In my heart I have a great desire to get other people to read. I loved this Nerdy Book Club post, which expressed so well, the importance of reading kids books. This is going to be a part of my presentation in October, for sure!