One of my favorite parts of being in the teaching profession is waxing philosophical. I have people around me that think a lot like I do (or maybe I think like they do), and those that I am completely different than and have no chance of getting to change their stance. Still, I love talking and discussing educational philosophy.

I have done a lot of professional reading over the past couple of years, and what I'm feeling like is that when I read something, I'm, to a certain extent, easily persuaded. An open mind is helpful when wanting to grow professionally. That doesn't mean that I take everything I read as gospel, but I do try and see how what I'm reading jives with where I'm at in my career and what I'm specifically working on.

I thought it may be an interesting exercise to identify my top influencers to how I teach--those authors, philosophers, or speakers that discuss what education should look like and that jive with what I think as well.

1. Ken Robinson - from TED Talks, his book, The Element, and having heard him speak in person, I love that he challenges education from a creativity standpoint. He offers vivid illustrations and examples and can really drive important messages through.

2. Ken O'Connor - the author of How to Grade for Learning, which has straightened out some big questions about grades. From not grading behaviors, assessing standards rather than averages, and being more specific about what my students can and can't do, O'Connor sums up really well those things that I have been grappling with as of late.

3. Peter H. Johnston - the author of Choice Words, which, among other things, argues that students should participate in a narrative of what they are doing. If they are students working on math, they are mathematicians. If they are students working on writing, they are authors and writers. They are readers. Johnston says that teachers should be much more deliberate with what they say. Until now, I think I have aligned myself to a natural ability to communicate with kids. Johnston would argue that I can be even more effective if I am being more specific in what I am saying. This is interesting to me as an area that I can really work on.

4. David Levin / Mike Feinberg - the founders of KIPP. I've flat out stolen the idea of Work Hard. Be Nice. from these two. In an era of education change and where education is on the front burner of the nation's hot button topics, I love the principles that these two have established as they have worked to develop higher standards for teaching and learning.

5. Charles Murrary - the author of Real Education, his thesis is that I work in a field that is romanticized and that not every child may have the potential to be anything they may desire. This is interesting because I found myself wrestling back and forth with what he was saying, and I would argue that this has been one of the biggest challenges to my philosophy in a long while.

Hey, I'm Julia, and I'll give you the run down of our week.

First, it's Red Ribbon Week. Red Ribbon Week is dedicated to Kiki Camarena who tried to keep drugs out of the U.S. On Tuesday, we got to wear our favorite team t-shirts. On Wednesday, we wore crazy hats. Red Ribbon Week is pretty fun, and I hop your school is drug free.

On Wednesday, we went to Skate-Away. We got to skate our hearts out. It was also a contest to see who could get all of their students to come. Ms. Meyer's class won.

It's a four-day week because our teacher got to hear about their new Smart technology, and to do grade cards. We actually got to interview a teacher who went to this.

Thanks for tuning in!

Book: I'm Too Big by Lone Morton

Mystery Reader:  Michelle Morrison's Clues

1. My favorite book when I was in fifth grade was Anne of Green Gables.
2. My favorite subject in fifth grade was Reading.
3. I am the only girl in my family.
4. My favorite music group is Shinedown.
5. I love teaching French.

What a treat! Our Mystery Reader this week was Michelle Morrison, who is a French teacher in Topeka. She gave us a great lesson on speaking French and even read us a book in French.

Hi, I’m Julia, and I’ll be giving you our week! Today is the end of the quarter, so you better read while you still have a chance.

We have done a lot with boats in science. On Monday, we named our boats. In my group, we named them S.S. Miget, Mary Lou, and S.S. Battle Ship.

In Guided Reading, some groups got some new books--two groups, in fact. And now we write how much we have to read ourselves.

Hope you like hearing about our five days!

I am in the process of scheduling parent / teacher conferences on Wednesday, October 27 and Thursday, October 28. Last week I sent home notes asking for your preferences on scheduling dates and times. In order to schedule the best time for you, please make sure this note is returned as soon as possible. Thanks!