It's essay writing day

Well actually, that was yesterday, but I am still at it today. I wrote half a blog post yesterday, then realised I was procrastinating. But here I am, procrastinating again. Actually, I feel hopeful that the essay is coming together after a million revisions. I am 500 words over the limit and I haven't even written my conclusion yet, but it is easier to edit down than write new material.

I chose the subject myself (Talk in the English classroom) and I am finding it strangely fascinating. I guess I have never really thought about how important speaking is as a tool for learning. It is through speech that children first start to understand the world for themselves and we all speak before we can read and write. But once a child reaches school, it is reading and writing that are deemed the most important skills (well, in this country anyway). Speaking gets overlooked. But children need opportunities to talk about their learning and assimilate new knowledge by expressing it in their own words. They also need to develop oral competence for later life. If you can't string a sentence together with confidence, how will you negotiate adulthood, when you will be required to interpret speech in all sorts of different contexts all the time? It is interesting stuff.

Turkeys and Snow Days

We had Thanksgiving at my parent's house last weekend and my sister went a little 'Martha Stewart' on us and created these turkey name places. I think they look cute sitting on the table in the sun.

Its been a hectic couple of weeks but we are nearing the end of term and I can't wait for the Christmas holidays. I passed my first milestone at school on Friday - one of my students gave me a Christmas card which said 'Dear Miss - you are a wonderful teacher'. It made my day!


We have had a lot of snow and 'inclement' weather recently and last Thursday I enjoyed a guilt free snow day - guilt free because school was closed so I didn't even have to attempt to get into work. Admittedly I studied all day (I have an essay due in two weeks) but I did take a break in the afternoon and met my friend for a hot chocolate and a walk on the common. We came across a robin on our walk who really wanted to have his photo taken. He kept jumping into the cutest most Christmassy poses. I snapped him perched in this bush. Adorable.