Babies, blogs, Locust walk and literacy curriculum

 HOW cute are these babies? For our group blog for a class, we were having some 'header' issues. Every one I picked ended up blurry and finally, I could take it no more. I took a little break from working on my paper proposal and the concept note, determined to find something that was colorful and cute. I was giggling WAY too much as I looked up 'wordpress header babies.' I wanted to use this Dr. Seuss quotation from the beginning, so I had to type it in via paint, but now our blog is ADORABLE.

It's almost November and it feels like all of us do is ask "Did you finish the concept note? Have you picked out classes for the Spring? etc." Spring classes already!? Yes, time is flying! Advanced registration is upon us and there are just too many decisions to be made. Which is why I enjoy looking at the cute flower babies instead. 

One thing I did do last week was quickly stop while walking on Locust (it runs through campus, very pretty, as you can see in the photo, although sometimes I feel like it's a highway and it very challenging to make a left turn into the grad center) to snap a photo for Love your Body Day. 

Locust is great if you're looking for things to do. My favorite part are the "town criers." Literally, they just shout stuff out while handing out flyers, or sometimes, don't even have flyers. One guy was actually handing out flying that were protesting the use of flyers! Fighting flyers with flyers? Seemed a bit strange. Sometimes there is even food. However, given my limited time here and very busy schedule, I do what many grad students seem to do--avoid the flyers. Let the undergrads take the bait. ;) 

My cohort has been doing a lot related to Fall, like apple picking, pumpkin carving (they actually cared pumpkins that said "IEDP" and put it in the Education building lounge....yeah, we're that cool), and there was a happy hour, but I had class. I like to at least mention these things, even though I'm not actually able to actually do them.

Although I had to miss the happy hour today, I instead was laughing my butt off during a class. The literacy curriculum (the actual name is...Forming and Reforming the Reading/Writing/Literacy Curriculum in Elementary Schools) class is next to a statistics class and the stats prof has come in AT LEAST six times to tell us to quiet down because apparently, our laughter disrupts his class. Secretly, I'm sure all the students wish they were in our class instead. Because the class is aimed at teachers and the instructors also have classroom experience to add, every session is so inspiring and different. Today was no exception. We discussed "Esperanza Rising," very recommended, picking our a sentence that resonated with us and discussing them in groups. Then we did this poetry activity, reading different poems and writing our own. It really makes me want to teach again and use all that I'm learning to improve my skills. However, I can at least use what I'm learning to help other teachers improve. But, who knows where the future will lead? 

One reading for the literacy curriculum class by Katherine Schultz "Locating Listening at the Center of Teacher" (2003) quotes hooks (1994) at the beginning of a chapter:  

"To teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin." (hooks, 1994)

 She also drew upon Freire (1973) to say "to become an integrated person means to understand the worlds in which we live and work and take part in reshaping those worlds" (p. 9). 

Although I sometimes feel like my eyes are going to start bleeding from all the reading...it is worth it.