Why I Started Blogging

Linking up today with Monica of I Heart Grade 3 to share my story on why I started blogging.

Ok, so here's some honesty for you.  I started blogging last August because I was beginning to feel lazy, unproductive, and unsuccessful.  Never in my life have I EVER felt this way and I cringe at using those words, but it's true I seemed to be lacking motivation and was starting to really lose my groove in regards to the education world.

Here's a little back story to help clear things up...

Almost 2 years ago now (GAH!), my husband and I moved to the UK for the opportunity of a lifetime.  You see, he was offered a position to live and work in the UK for a 3 year period and then is guaranteed his position back in San Diego at the end.  Without much thought we signed on and it has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life.  I mean really, we have traveled to 21 different countries in the last 2 years and it has been A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  Now while all this is glorious and I am beyond thankful, I have now been out of the classroom for 2 years.  Well, this isn't entirely true, I did work at a British school as a full time aide for part of last year, but it wasn't the same as having my own classroom.  Anyway, long story short I really started to miss being in the classroom and although we were traveling a lot, I felt like my days at home were so long and unproductive and just BLAH!  It began making me feel down!

So, last August after my husband left for work and I mopped the floors for the 5th day in a row it dawned on me... why not blog and create products for TPT?  When I was teaching I never felt like I had the time to really start up a blog or TPT store and living here has given me the perfect opportunity to do so.  I mean, I now have a blog, a TPT store, and Facebook page and really feel like these things are not only keeping me somewhat sane, but helping me to fill my creative need and at the same time keeping me up to date with school things.  And although I have my up and down months, I am happy knowing that I have learned so much about blogging/TPTing and feel confident that I can keep this going especially once I get back in the classroom.  I definitely fall in the "hooked" category now. 

Well, that's my story and I'm happy to have this little blog to share it on.  May it continue to grow and be a happy place for me and hopefully for you too. :)

Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites: Chapter 4 {Games}

Hey All!  My book finally arrived last week and I'm all caught up so I'm here to link up with Queen of the First Grade Jungle for chapter 4 of this awesome book study.

First, I have to tell you I am LOVING this book!  I continuously find myself shaking my head yes and thinking "this is good teaching."  I couldn't agree more with the strategies I've read about so far and totally agree that teachers are "dendrite growers." I also have to note that I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to be trained in both GLAD (Guided Language Acquisition Design Project) as well as Whole Brain Teaching and really feel that many of the strategies I learned from these trainings fall directly in line with Marcia L Tate's thoughts.

Chapter 4 is all about games and is a great reminder that games DO have a place in the classroom.  I know we all have a number of academic demands to meet but finding ways to let our little ones "play" while learning is HUGE.

 I really like the quote,"When students are engrossed in game playing, the stress is lessened and memory for content is increased. "  I truly believe this!  If I play a game with a group of students I notice right away that they begin to quickly pick up on concepts and later retrieval of these concepts is quicker too.  I mean think about it, games give them motivation or a reason to "learn."  I quote "learn"  because many times students don't even realize they are learning while playing a game!  Now come on isn't that just the best type of learning?!

Here are my takeaway points from this chapter:

What were your thoughts on this chapter?  Head on over to Queen of the First Grade Jungle to link up and read more!