New York! New York!

I've been back from New York for a week now and I still feel like my brain is decompressing from all the amazing information I received at TCRWP. 

For those of you who don't know, I was so fortunate to be accepted to both Teachers College's Reading and Writing Summer Institutes at Columbia University in New York City. So that's where I spent the first two weeks of summer soaking up lots of information. I could type pages and pages of what I learned - but I want to encourage you to apply and go! Because you can read all about it, but the experience is one of a kind.  It's hard to find a description or comparison. This is the best I can do: You know those amazing conversations you get when you put a couple of good educators together, like really good, passionate, love what they do, work ridiculous hours educators - that's what my two weeks in NYC was. It was two weeks of amazing conversations with amazing educators from all over the world! There was no husbands reminding us we were "off the clock", no naysayers telling us "but you don't work in the summer", no teachers who really are just in it for the summers off. Every single person there - from the institute leaders and instructors, to the keynote speakers, to the participants - every one of them were inspirational and motivational! 

If you can't ever make it to NY for TC, then I suggest following @TCRWP and #TCRWP on twitter and joining in on their Wednesday night chats. Also many of the staff developers have blogs that house a ton of great ideas. I particularly love Marjorie and Kristi's chartchums and have now had the opportunity to meet both of these incredible ladies. Their blog is full of great charts that you can start using now! 

So now that my brain is full, my notes have been organized, and my motivation has been renewed - I will begin planning for the upcoming school year. I am excited to be back in 1st grade and to be welcoming a student teacher this fall. I promise to blog all about my year and the changes I am making thanks to my learning at TCRWP.  

Topics will include:

- Writers' Workshop: my goals for this year will be improving my conferring and diving into small group work 

- Readers' Workshop: this year I will be saying goodbye to Daily 5, and changing up the structure that I have been using

- Smarter Charts: I'll be frequenting chartchums as I do my chart making this year

So stay tuned! I'll be including lots of my learning into my blogging this year. But I won't leave you completely empty handed. Here are some of my favorite quotes and tweets from my two weeks in NYC:

• When I know who I am as a learner, I learn how to deal with my deficits and can be my most successful self.
• Smarter Teachers = Smarter Students! We need to set goals for ourselves & build up our accomplishment board in order to build theirs! -Shanna Schwartz
• Comprehension isn't a reading skill - it's a life skill. 
• We can give kids experiences so deep and powerful through carefully selected texts.
• "I want the words to be magic in their ears!" - David Booth
• "Kids don't need just one good teacher. They need a whole school that is learning and pushing literacy along." Lucy Calkins
• "If one child can't breathe, you don't need to give CPR to the entire class" - Shanna Schwartz revealing the beauty of Workshop: it gives us the flexibility to meet each student's need.
• " To find good stories you need to have an open mind!" -Charles Fishman
• "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." -Mark Twain
• "I'm a huge believer in silly questions! They lead to the most interesting answers!" Charles Fishman
• "The writing career doesn't actually start with writing, it starts with reading." - Jack Gantos
• Great teachers call kids out of hiding...great leaders do the same for their people.
• "Writing makes meaning of life." - Calkins
• "The greatest impact on teachers is a collaborative culture" - Michael Fullen
• "All successful change shapes and reshapes the content of the solution as it increases the ownership and capacity of those involved." - Micheal Fullen 
• "Revision is a Compliment to your writing" -Calkins 
• "All the qualities that make me weird - make me the writer I am" - student
• "Writers are just more in the habit of building significance." - Calkins

And a few pictures of my time there: 

At the airport with my colleague - excited to head to TCRWP

Lucy Calkins welcoming us

My TCRWP bag of goodies- I got 2!

beautiful  backdrop for some homework