Hi, Chris, We all feel overwhelmed at times. After 16 years, I still wonder what in the world I am doing sometimes. Something I have learned over my years of trying new things is that we all feel that way. I have a very adamant "nontraditional" belief system as well. You fall back into routines because they are familiar, and that's totally understandable. A word of advice: Don't change everything at once. You'll drown. Just change one aspect of your old routine. When you feel you have that one under control, then change the next one.
Are your mandates very stringent? Are you allowed to use workshops to teach? Do you have to use a specific set of materials for these differentiated groups? Could you use the 30-60 minutes of group time to meet with a group while the rest are reading and responding to text? The school I was at the last four years I was confined only to a specific textbook, but I learned to manipulate the system to my advantage just a little bit at a time. Where I am at now I can use the workshops as long as I am still teaching to the standards. I have a wonderful book by Nancy Akhaven called How to Align Literacy Instruction, Assessment, and Standards: And Achieve Results You Never Dreamed Possible. She shows fantastic ways to plan to the standards within the context of mini-lessons. Kim -- Kimberlee Hannan Department Chair Sequoia Middle School Fresno, CA _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
