Reading for a World Record & to Support Early Literacy

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Julie Niles Petersen

We Give Books & Read for the Record

Are you familiar with We Give Books–a Pearson Foundation Initiative? If not, let me tell you a little bit about it. We Give Books has several literacy campaigns and they have several high-quality books on their website for you to read. What do you do? Select a book from their growing library and read it. Once you finish reading the book, select a literacy campaign you would like to support. A book will be donated for every book you read online. Yes, it’s as easy as that to support literacy around the world!

To learn more about We Give Books and Jumpstart’s Read for the Record (which happens today, October 6, 2011), click here: http://www.wegivebooks.org/. The book that millions around the world are pledging to read today is “Llama Llama Red Pajama” by Anna Dewdney.

Because I am not currently teaching little ones, I thought I would videotape myself reading it and share it with you. Perhaps you have some little ones that might like to hear it. Here is my reading:

Being a lover of comedy and sign language, I will also share this video of comedian, Keith Wann, reading the book in American Sign Language:

Llama Llama Red Pajama – ASL Version with Keith Wann from Keith Wann

Posted in Read Alouds | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Review of Social Bookmarking & Other Link Curation Tools

Posted on August 14, 2011 by Julie Niles Petersen

What I Wanted

If you have followed the TWRCtank for awhile, you know that I had a long list of resources in the sidebars on the right-hand side of this blog. Several people mentioned they did not like all the scrolling and they wished there was a way to indicate that I added new resources to the list. Over the past few months, I’ve played around with many technology tools trying to figure out the best way to share resources for teaching reading/language arts with you.

Many of these these tools are called social bookmarking tools. By social, I mean that you are able to easily see other people’s public bookmarks and they can see yours. (Most of the sites I tried allow private and public bookmarking, but some force all your bookmarks to be public.) Social bookmarking tools also usually allow you to follow and be followed by people with similar interests.

The tools I tested are Delicious, Diigo, Pinterest, PortaPortal, Scoop.It, Sqworl, Symbaloo, WordPress pages, and the WP-Table Reloader plugin. Obviously, there are pros and cons with each tool and they will vary depending on your wants and needs. I wanted a technology tool that:

  • Created a visually attractive end-product
  • Was not intimidating to non-users
  • Allowed me to annotate each link
  • Was relatively easy to use
  • Could easily be shared with others
  • Did not require a lot of scrolling
  • Had some capability of indicating when I added new resources

Why Social Bookmarking?

It is impossible for one person to find all the great resources on the Internet. Luckily, social bookmarking is an easy way to share and keep up with the latest and greatest, as well as with the golden oldies. (I am a big fan of shared knowledge.) Until this point, I’ve been collecting and storing my links to literacy resources in an almost unmanageable number of folders in my email account. Now that I have found the tools I want to use, I can start going through them again and bookmarking them publicly. I also look forward to finding out what others are bookmarking about teaching reading/language arts.

In case you haven’t tried these tools yourself, but you are interested in social bookmarking, I created a table of pros and cons. Keep in mind that my research was not extremely thorough and some of my information may be inaccurate. That said, if you are ready to venture out into the social bookmarking world to start sharing your knowledge, I hope the table will help you select the tool that best matches your wants and needs.

My Evaluation of Each Tool

I tried to bookmark the same ten links so I could better compare the end product of each tool. In doing this, I sadly discovered that some tools would not allow me to bookmark all ten links. I will share the end product for each tool below the table of pros and cons. The ten links I tried to bookmark are about reading comprehension.

Pros & Cons of Link Curation Tools

Technology ToolCostIs It Social?ProsCons
DeliciousFreeYes1. Can tag bookmarks.
2. Can see how many times the link has been bookmarked.
3. Can add multiple tags to each link.
3. Can change level of detail on link descriptions (low, med, high)
4. Can display alphabetically or by date bookmarked.
5. Entire link collection is displayed in one place via a list of tags.
6. Can leave/read comments about each link.
7. The date the link was bookmarked is given.
8. Easy to bookmark.		1. It looks intimidating to the non-user.
DiigoFree, but can pay to have ads removed.Yes
1. Can tag bookmarks.
2. Can save links to lists.
3. Can set up account so it cross-posts links to Delicious.
4. Can add multiple tags to each link.
5. Entire link collection is displayed in one place via tags or list titles.
6. Can get a free educator account.
7. Can leave/read comments about each link.
8. The date the link was bookmarked is given.
9. Easy to bookmark.
10. Can highlight & put sticky notes on text on pages you bookmark. (Note: I think only certain people can use the sticky notes & using the highlighter made my list of links look horrible at the advanced detail level because it included all the HTML code from the selection I highlighted.)
11. Can join Diigo groups.		1. It looks intimidating to the non-user.
PinterestFreeYes1. Visually pleasing (if the images at the link are good).
2. Easy to pin.
3. Can leave/read comments about each bookmark.		1. Can't bookmark links that do not have large images (ex. pdfs & podcasts)
2. Number of characters allowed in description is limited.
3. You MUST pin an image for each link you want to save & available images at links are not always what you want.
4. Cannot pin link to multiple boards. Must pin each one separately.
5. Can't leave/read comments about each link.
6. No clear way to show when links are new.
PortaportalFree, but can pay to have advertising removed. This also gives you the ability to upload your own files for download.No1. Number of characters allowed in description is limited, but sufficient.
2. Entire link collection is displayed via category lists.
3. Can easily alphabetize lists & categories.
4. Has a "NEW" icon you can use to indicate new bookmarks.
5. Other available icons: Wow!, :), Thumbs Up!, & Cool!)
6. Not as easy to bookmark as the others, but it's not that difficult either.		1. If you have many items in a category, it will require lots of scrolling.
2. Customization is limited.
3. Cannot copy links from one category to another. Must enter each one manually.
4. Can't leave/read comments about each link.
Scoop.ItFree Yes1. It can pre-populate a description for you.
2. The number of characters for your description is sufficient. (It may be unlimited.)
3. Easy to scoop links.		1. Not all links can be scooped.
2. Can scoop a link to only one curated topic at a time.
3. Seems less user-friendly than the others, but I didn't play around with this one much.
4. For the most part, I did not think this was visually appealing.
5. Can't leave/read comments about each link.
6. No clear way to show when links are new.
SqworlFree, but can pay to have advertising removed.No1. Visually pleasing when an image from the link can be grabbed.
2. Easy to bookmark links.
3. Can move tiles around to alphabetize, but it takes work if you've saved a lot of bookmarks.		1. Number of characters allowed in link title & description is EXTREMELY limited.
2. Can't leave/read comments about each link.
3. No clear way to show when links are new.
4. When images cannot be grabbed from links, a default sqworl icon is used.
SymbalooFreeYes1. Logos of popular websites will be displayed when you save the URL.
2. Can easily copy links to different webmixes.
3. Visually pleasing when pre-populated link icons are good or when you are good at customizing them yourself.
4. Pretty easy to save links.
5. Can be embedded in a blog or webpage.
6. Can apply for a free educator account. Why? Click here to read a great post about the Symbaloo educator account.
7. Can easily color code the tiles.
8. Can customize the wallpaper.
9. Can use your own images for each tile icon.		1. You are not allowed any characters for a link description & you only have about 30 characters for the link title.
2. Can't leave/read comments about each link.
3. No clear way to show when links are new.
4. More for curating websites than for curating links to articles, videos, and podcasts.
WP-Table Reloaded pluginFree, but you can donate.Somewhat - Comments could be left on the webpage below the table. Another possibility is to embed a Google Doc survey asking for feedback on the link curation.1. Visually pleasing when there aren't a lot of columns.
2. Unlimited number of characters for link title & description.
3. Can easily alphabetize table columns.
4. Can leave/read comments about each link.
5. Many ways to customize if you know a little HTML & CSS.
6. Lots of help on the Internet to help you customize.
7. Could enter & bold "NEW" in the table to indicate new links. Can also make the hyperlink color different to indicate new or visited links.
8. If users dislike scrolling, they can limit the number of rows to display on each page to ten. 		1. Requires some HTML & CSS.
2. A blog or website is required to use this plugin.
3. Cannot save links to multiple tables.
4. There is a way to freeze the table header, but I think the javascript is outdated so it did not work for me. If I figure out how to update that, this option will become a pro.

The End Products of Each Technology Tool

Here is a Symbaloo I curated that will show you the end product for each of the of the tools discussed in the above table. However, I did not use the WP-Table Reloaded plugin with the same ten comprehension links because I had already created a simple WordPress page for that. Therefore, I’ve included that in the Symbaloo, along with a tile showing the end product for vocabulary resources compiled using the WP-Table Reloaded plugin. Click on each tile to see the end product for each tool.

In case the Symbaloo does not display properly, here is its URL: http://www.symbaloo.com/embed/socialbookmarkingtest

Your Thoughts & Shares?

What ways do you think you could use these tools? How have you used them already? What end product did you like best? How do you you share great resources you’ve discovered?

If you have already started curating public links related to literacy, please share a link to them in the comments below. I can’t wait to find more people on these social bookmarking sites who share my passion for reading/language arts. And remember… sharing is caring. :)

*Note: I would like to give a shout out to the folks in the We’re Bloggers group on the WeTeach Ning for helping me think this through. I really appreciate your time and feedback! :) Another shout out to Tobias Bäthge. I love your WP-Table Reloaded plugin and all the help you give over the Internet.

Posted in Reading Comprehension, Resources for Teaching Reading/Language Arts, Social Bookmarking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

How Parents Can Help Children Succeed In School

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Julie Niles Petersen
image of adult reading to child

Reading Aloud + Talking with Children = Off to a Great Start! (photo from Natalie Maynor on Flickr)

Below is my response to a great question posed by Amy (aka @teachmama) on the “We Teach Reading” group in the We Teach Ning. You can find that question here: “Learning During Read Alouds.”

Hi Amy,

If there was one thing I wanted parents to know, it is that the amount of talk that happens in the home is correlated to the size of their children’s vocabulary as they enter school and that the size of their children’s vocabulary is strongly correlated to reading comprehension and overall academic success.

Letting parents know that they need to talk with their children is especially important for those parents who come from a culture where they think it is strange to talk to children and for those parents who grew up in homes without a lot of talk. I would also let them know that reading aloud to children (or discussing pictures for parents who struggle with reading) offers reasons to talk about many things with their children and that it will feel natural once a routine is set in place.

Reading aloud to children also builds knowledge of the world and knowledge of the word (vocabulary) which are necessary to make inferences (or read between the lines) while reading or listening. Not being able to make inferences (or connect-the dots) between what is written (or said) and what is implied (or left unsaid) means that comprehension cannot happen. Authors and speakers imply; therefore good readers and listeners must infer to make sense of the message. The more we know, the more quality inferences we can make.

To say this in another way, if parents do not read and talk a lot with their children before they enter school, their children will be at risk for school failure. It would be difficult for even the best teachers who use the best intervention programs to help these students ever catch up with peers who have had many stories read to them and who have heard a lot of talk in the home.

One thing I would always start with is a picture/text walk and making predictions. As I read, I would discuss whether the predictions should be modified, rejected, confirmed, or if it was still too soon to say. Of course these decisions should be based on evidence in the text and from our background knowledge, or personal experiences. That evidence should be discussed to help promote good thinking skills.

Making predictions may have led to a reason, or purpose, for reading the text. If it didn’t, I would be sure to set one and share it with the child. In other words, “Let’s read to find out _____.” Having a purpose for reading leads to more engaged reading. More engagement with the text leads to better comprehension.

Although it is not necessarily the most difficult “strategy” to tackle, I think one of the most important things we can do is to encourage children to wonder as they read and for us to share our own wonders, too. It is important to teach children that not all wonders can be answered, but that good wonders lead to great (and exciting) thinking. Discussing answers to the wonders in terms of what is possible and plausible helps build critical thinking skills. Discussing where the answers (if any) might be found helps develop research skills which are needed for academic success.

One Sentence Summary: Read to your child often and talk about what you read.

I’ve blogged about the importance of talk before. If you are interested, see What Happens in the Home Before Kids Start School Affects Their Vocabulary & Overall Academic Success for the research behind my thoughts.

If you could only share one thing with parents that you think would really have an impact on their child’s academic success, what would it be?

Posted in Early Literacy, Help for Parents, Reading Aloud to Children, Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

There’s Been a Whole Lot of Learning Going On

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Julie Niles Petersen

Teaching in the Reading/Language Arts Masters Program

photo of Julie Niles Petersen & Dr. Erica Bowers

Congratulations on the
Outstanding Contribution to Reading Award, Erica!
You are a phenomenal mentor!

My first semester as a professor is quickly coming to a close. The only thing I have left to do is grade my students’ final papers (due by midnight this Saturday). After that, I should be able to invest more time on the TWRCtank until the next semester begins on January 20, 2011.

Teaching next semester is not a guarantee. However, if all goes well, I will continue teaching READ 508 – Teaching Reading in the Elementary Classroom in the spring. I’ve been co-teaching it this semester with Dr. Erica Bowers (pictured above right) and there is a possibility of co-teaching another course with her next semester. (Yes, I’m keeping my fingers crossed–she has been a phenomenal mentor to me over the years and I would love to co-teach with her again.)

Since these are online courses, I really needed to learn some new technology. Thankfully, members in my Twitter PLN have kept me current on the many different technology tools they use in their classrooms. Had it not been for them, I would have been completely overwhelmed. Google Docs is one tool I had heard about for a long time, but never took the time to learn. Finally, I jumped on the Google Docs bandwagon and I am in awe. The collaborative nature of this tool is perfect for online teaching! We only used it for a few projects this semester, but I have already dreamed up more uses for it for next semester. (This was the first semester that courses in this program were offered online.)

I also had to familiarize myself with how to use Blackboard as a teacher. Unfortunately, the university will upgrade to the newest version (or switch over to Moodle) meaning I’ll have some more learning to do. In Blackboard, we had weekly forums to discuss such things as videos we watched, required readings, and teaching reading in general. Students were required to start a thread by Tuesday and respond to two of their peers by Saturday. I stayed out of the conversation (for the most part) until Sunday. Then, I wrote up my TWRCs about the learning unit. Much of what I wrote will eventually show up in future blog posts. :)

As I mentioned in a previous post, I also learned how to make screen cast videos. They are so much fun to make and are a real asset in the online environment. One assignment also required students to make a Wiki. I hope to incorporate that more in the future, too.

If you have recently taken an online class or you teach online, I would love to hear your thoughts–pros, cons, and suggestions on how to make it more interactive.

The Orange County Reading Association

photo of Erica, Julie, Freddy & Megan at OCRA's 47th Annual Fall Conference

Dr. Erica Bowers, Julie Niles Petersen,
Dr. Elfrieda H. Hiebert & Megan Sommers
O.C.R.A.'s 47th Annual Fall Conference
October 23, 2010

My presidency for the Orange County Reading Association will also be coming to a close soon (May, 2011). Our fall conference is our largest event and it was a great success. Our keynote speaker was Dr. Elfrieda (aka Freddy) H. Hiebert. I have heard her speak many times and I honestly believe her session at our conference was the best I’ve ever heard. She never fails to push my thinking while making me laugh at the same time. Thanks a million for everything, Freddy!

photo of @teachingwthsoul @TWRCtankcom & @flourishingkids

@teachingwthsoul @TWRCtankcom & @flourishingkids

Not only was I honored to introduce Freddy, but I also had the opportunity to meet two very passionate educators from my Twitter PLN in person–Joan Young and Lisa Dabbs. I was delighted they also presented for us. I just wish I was able to attend their entire sessions and spend time with them after the conference. Being the president, I had to make sure everything ran smoothly which it did thanks to so many of our wonderful OCRA volunteers.

Other people who so graciously volunteered to speak at our fall conference included: Amy Adams, Ron Boren (the inspiration behind my blog title), Dr. Linda Clinard, Kim Hanley, and Karin Foster. Although I did not get to hear their entire sessions either, I heard great things. A big thank you to all of you! Click here to find all available presenter handouts from OCRA’s 47th Annual Fall Conference.

Our second big OCRA event will be held on March 24, 2010. Our keynote speaker will be Kelly Gallagher. I have heard him speak once before and he was amazing. I can’t wait!

After learning all about Google Docs for my online course, I also created an account for OCRA. I spent numerous hours converting and organizing all the Microsoft documents I have compiled for OCRA over the years to Google Docs. Other volunteer members are doing the same. Although this project is nowhere near completion, it has already proved advantageous and I am so excited for the future. It should save us so much work and let us collaborate much more effectively. Thank you, Google Docs!


Attending Dr. P. David Pearson’s Inaugural Webinar

photo of Sharon, P. David Pearson & Julie Niles Petersen

Sharon, P. David Pearson & Julie Niles Petersen by the Golden Gate Bridge
(Photo taken on 06-07-2006 during a Comprehension Institute at the
University of California, Berkeley)

On October 5, 2010, I attended P. David Pearson’s inaugural webinar, “Reading Comprehension: The role of talk, text, task.”* I have learned so much about reading comprehension from Dr. Pearson and have been one of his fans for many years. This webinar didn’t disappoint me, but it disappointed him that his videos wouldn’t play. He informed us that if we wanted to watch the videos, we could watch them in a video of a live presentation he recently gave at the University of Wyoming, “Rich Talk about Text,” because it was basically the same presentation. Although it is over an hour, I highly encourage you to watch one of them because they are fantastic!

You can find more resources from Dr. Pearson on his website at http://www.scienceandliteracy.org/research/pdavidpearson.

*Thank you International Reading Association for making so many great resources available to us! Another thank you to Dr. Pearson for sharing his wealth of knowledge with us!


The California Reading Association’s Professional Development Institute

photo of Dr. Donald R. Bear at CRA 2010

Dr. Donald R. Bear at CRA 2010

On October 15-16, 2010, I attended the California Reading Association’s Professional Development Institute. I went to Regie Routman’s keynote speech, “Accelerating Achievement for All Learners: What Does It Take?” I also attended sessions by Lori Oczkus, Dana Grisham, Donald Bear, Shane Templeton, and Elfrieda Hiebert and loved each of them. I may write more about the sessions at a later date.

Wouldn’t you know, I ran into another person from my Twitter PLN, @Cathy_Blackler. What a treat! Overall, I greatly enjoyed my time at CRA. You can click here to access all available presenter handouts from the California Reading Association’s Professional Development Institute.

CRA: Thank you for putting together such an intellectually stimulating PDI and for compiling these great resources!

The TWRCtank and Future Endeavors

First, let me just say that if you emailed me through the TWRCtank or Twitter and I did not get back to you, I apologize. Not only was I overwhelmed with OCRA and learning how to teach online, but I was also going through a cancer scare. I realized I could not do it all and I had to let some things go. I’ve saved your emails and will get back to you once I finish grading my grad students’ final papers. I hope you understand.

Next semester isn’t that far away and I’m guessing I’ll be less active on the TWRCtank during that time, but I hope my absence won’t be as great. However, if I end up co-teaching the second course, I know there will be a lot of learning going on with that one, too.

Overall, I think I really like teaching online–especially since READ 508 was my favorite course when I was in the masters program. On the other hand, I have to admit… I really miss working with struggling readers–especially in one-to-one or small group situations.

I have continued looking for a full-time reading specialist position to no avail. Our nest egg is shrinking rapidly and my health insurance through COBRA is running out so I’ve had to do some serious thinking about my plans for the future. Here are some things I have been considering:

  • Tutoring via Skype. I really love tutoring and had considered tutoring full-time in the past, but I didn’t like that the hours coincided with the time I normally spend with my husband. If I figured out how to tutor online, that would no longer be a problem because I could tutor English speaking students all over the world during daytime hours. If you have ever tutored online, I would love to hear about it.


  • Consultations via Skype. This would probably be with people who are concerned with a struggling reader. I know I’ve helped parents by giving them suggestions in parent-teacher meetings, so imagine I could do the same thing via Skype.


  • Products. I’ve considered selling things like pencils, stickers, and mugs with the TWRC acronym, but I’m not really sure how to go about doing this. If I did this, would you consider buying them?


  • Sponsors. I’m not sure how I would go about finding people who are willing to sponsor this blog, but it could be a viable option. Are you interested?


  • Monetizing this blog. I will probably add an Amazon store and Google AdSense ads in the near future.


  • Donations. I will probably also add a donation button just in case someone is feeling nice. :)

Any thoughts on my ideas or suggestions for things I haven’t considered would be greatly appreciated. I really love teaching reading and hate to think that due to the economy and education budget crisis, I might end up having to give it all up to go back to the world of business.

Finally, one thing I plan to change on this blog is to add a new page for my resources. I recently attended a webinar on easy technology tools and learned about www.portaportal.com. I think it will be a really nice addition. Have you ever used it?

Posted in California Reading Association, My Background, Orange County Reading Association, Reading Comprehension, Reading Conferences & Conventions, Teaching Online, Technology, Webinars | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Versatile Blogger Award

Posted on September 11, 2010 by Julie Niles Petersen

image for the Versatile Blogger award

The Versatile Blogger Award



Back on July 16, 2010, I was overjoyed to find out that my blog was nominated for another award, “The Versatile Blogger.” What made it even more special was that this award was first given to Susan Dee (aka @literacydocent), who then passed it along to me. Why was that special? Well, Susan and I started blogging around the same time and I am glad her blog received this recognition. I am grateful to her for the support she has given me ever since I began following her on Twitter. I consider her a valuable member of my Personal Learning Network (PLN). I believe it is from her that I found one of my new favorite phrases, “pushes/expands my thinking.” (Thanks, Susan!)

Susan blogs about children’s literature and teaching at The Book Maven’s Haven. I have subscribed to her blog feed in Google Reader and I always look forward to reading her posts. Just yesterday, I discovered that she also has a Facebook page and I became a fan.

Here is how this award works:

  1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.
  2. Share 7 things about yourself.
  3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason! (In no particular order…)
  4. Contact the bloggers you’ve picked and let them know about the award.



Part One


Thank you so much for passing the award along to me, Susan. I am honored and it really made my day! I really enjoyed reading the seven things you shared about yourself in your post about the Versatile Blogger award.

Part Two

Deciding on seven things to share about me was challenging. I thought creating a list might help–I am famous for my lists… and spreadsheets, too. On the list, I included things I thought would give you a laugh like my orange chicken fiasco. I also included things about my personality, like that I am a perfectionist procrastinator who after some reflection will answer you honestly if you ask, “So what do you think?” (Trust me, this is not always a good thing!) After looking over the lengthy list, I decided to follow Susan’s lead and share things that led me to where I am today in my career and why I blog. Here they are:

  1. The first time I can remember wanting to be a teacher was in the third grade. My third grade teacher, David Borke, made learning so much fun and I am delighted that he is now one of my Facebook friends. Thank you for the inspiration all those years ago, Mr. Borke. I’ve had many teachers over the years and you remain one of my all-time favorites!


  2. In high school, I enrolled in the secretarial/clerical program at our local vocational school and loved it. I was a great typist and loved learning all the latest technology–including how to use a standalone word processor which was basically a typewriter that displayed your typed words on an LCD screen. It also had a backspace key which eliminated the need for correction tape and allowed you to save your work. It was very high tech at the time! I also learned some computer programming skills and created my very own programs in DOS. My, how times have changed. While enrolled in the secretarial/clerical program, I also took French in high school and loved it. I thought I should combine the two loves and become a secretary in France. Then, I realized that to do so, my grammar would have to be impeccable and since that isn’t even true in English, I realized it was probably not a viable pursuit.


    photo of an early stand alone word processor

    Early Stand Alone Word Processors
    Were All the Rage!



    Note: Check out the programs currently offered at this vocational school. If teaching had been an option while I was attending, I wonder how my life would have changed. I am such a fan of this school and wish every high school student had the opportunity to take classes of this caliber for free. I know I benefited greatly from attending. Thank you, Mr. Chris Korbel and so many others at TBA Career Tech-Center! By the way, Mr. Korbel… I rarely say “ain’t” anymore. But, when I do, I think of you! :)


  3. In high school, I also took some sort of community service class where I volunteered at a local elementary school and my passion for being involved in the schools was reignited. At the same time in another high school class, I had to pretend to have a disability for a day. I chose to be mute. Wouldn’t you know that very same night, I ended up running into two people who used sign language to communicate. Because I had not forgotten the sign language alphabet that either Mr. Bourke or Mrs. Craker (my wonderful 5th grade teacher) taught me, I was able to communicate with them through finger spelling and a great friendship developed. Spending time with Harold and Kari led me to want to become a sign language interpreter in the schools. I researched colleges that specialized in this and found Golden West College in California. I moved to Orange County two weeks after graduating from high school, but had to wait one year to enroll to avoid paying out-of-state resident fees.


  4. While waiting to enroll in college, I worked as a clerk typist, putting my secretarial/clerical skills to work. During break times at the “roach coach,” I began speaking with people from the neighboring company who also came out for a mid-morning snack. This included the vice president of the company. He found out I grew up in Michigan and recruited me by saying their company sent trainers all around the United States–including Michigan! I was intrigued and became a medical billing software trainer a short time later. Yes, I went to Michigan and many other places around the United States for this company and loved it. But, all the traveling made going to college difficult, so I dropped out. However, after years of training people how to use our computer software, I realized that teaching was indeed the path meant for me. I left the company and went to school full-time to work on earning my teaching credential.


  5. Knowing I needed to make money to pay for school, but needing a position that was flexible and not too taxing on the old noggin, I took a short bartender’s course and became a bartender at a very friendly neighborhood bar that had its very own Norm. I am so grateful for the owners’ flexibility with my schedule and for all the customers who cheered me on while going to school. After completing the work for my teaching credential, I taught first grade and loved that, too–especially the teaching reading part… and teaching 40 first graders how to do The Riverdance for International Day! After five years, I realized I needed to learn a lot more about teaching reading to really help my students, so I enrolled in a master’s program for teaching reading.


  6. While completing the work for my reading specialist credential, I tutored students in reading. Obviously, part of the reason I did this was to make money to pay for my education. Surprisingly, I think it was one of the best things I could have done. Tutoring students of different ages with different strengths and weaknesses in a one-to-one setting while completing the masters program allowed me time to delve deep into the intricacies of teaching reading. When enrollment at the tutoring center declined, I put my secretarial/clerical skills back to work and worked as an office temp because it gave me the flexibility I needed. This also proved to be another great career move because I learned all about spreadsheets. Keeping track of data and being able to analyze it is very important for a reading specialist. After completing the work for my master’s degree and my reading specialist credential, I worked with struggling readers (K-6) for four years in the public school system. You can read all about how I lost that position here.


  7. And that brings us to the present time… For the past fourteen months, I have been looking for a reading specialist position. The severe budget cuts and teacher layoffs in California have made finding a position difficult, to say the least. When open positions are advertised, they are usually restricted to applicants who were laid off from the hiring district, making applying for positions nearly impossible. Trying to stave of boredom while looking for a full-time position, I began blogging about teaching reading and learned how to use Twitter and Facebook to push my thinking. I had no idea that this would be another surprising career move. It still amazes me how invaluable Twitter is to educators!

    Finally, in August, I was offered a teaching position. Yay! I am now teaching teachers online in the very same masters program from which I graduated. Guess what? I love it–especially learning how to use all the technology I’ve been reading about on Twitter and Facebook. Unfortunately, it is only part-time and does not include health benefits. With my Cobra running out at the end of November and the job market the way it is, I am very concerned. My husband is a Mercedes mechanic and health benefits do not come with the job. Although I may be offered to teach more courses next semester which could lead to health benefits, there are no guarantees. My husband and I are now considering a move to his homeland, Denmark, because having health insurance would not be an issue–all Danish residents are entitled to free health insurance.


So there you have it… seven things about me you may not have known and may wish you did not know. (I bet you have also figured out by now that I am a bit wordy.) If you want to learn even more about me and this blog, please visit my “About” page.

Part Three:

Although the directions state that the blogs are listed in no particular order, everything in my being cringes at such a lack of organization. Therefore, I am listing them in alphabetical order. I am also purposefully not repeating any of the literacy related blogs I listed here, or any that were on Susan’s list even though I really wanted to include, Look At My Happy Rainbow: My Journey as a Male Kindergarten Teacher.

  1. Beginning Reading Help
  2. Blogging through the Fourth Dimension: Education musings, technology, and lessons; my life as a teacher
  3. Chocolate for Teachers: Sweet stuff from funny kinds
  4. Dr. Goodreader: Teaching readers how to diagnose and cure reading “clunks”
  5. First Grader…at Last!: Inspired by Junie B, but created for the real first graders…
  6. Ginger Snaps: Tidbits and treats for teachers
  7. How to Teach a Novel
  8. Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…: For Teaching ELL, ESL & EFL
  9. Literacy Builders: for the love of learning”
  10. Lori’s Lessons
  11. NancyTeaches: A Teacher Who Loves to Learn
  12. Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud
  13. Teach with Picture Books
  14. Teach Mama: learning in the every day
  15. Vocabulogic: Bridging the Verbal Divide


    16. I hope you check out these blogs. I also hope you will share your favorites in the comment section below. Finally, I hope you did not find the “seven” things I shared completely boring. It was really difficult to decide. Although it is clear that I love learning and doing new things, I want you to know that talking about teaching reading is my number one passion and I do not think that will ever change. (Well, talking about blogging is kind of fun, too!)

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