I just completed my final project for my graduate psychology class, Theories of Learning and Teaching. I definitely learned a lot. I have always found phsycology interesting. Maybe that's the science teacher in me. The human brain is fascinating. And human behavior.... I could probably write a book on that.
        The most amazing thing I learned is that we have the power to "reprogram" our brains. Yes, you read that correctly. Just the idea blows my mind. The brain's capacity to learn new information is infinite; we just need to rewrite old, outdated information with the shiny, new ideas. This has a lot of implications for me as a math teacher. Often times students come to me knowledgeable about the concept, they just remembered the information wrong. A lot of what I do is reteaching and breaking bad habits. 
        The good news? Your mother was right when she told you that you could be anything you want to be as long as you put your mind to it. Studies have shown that the most successful people don't really have any innate talents or genius, they have just had more practice. Practice really does make perfect. In fact, the ideal number of hours for perfection is 10,000. Wow, that seems like a lot. But when you think about the number of hours an Olympic athlete spends training or a musician spends practicing, it makes sense. The more time you spend doing something, the better you get at it.
         Ideally, the best time to learn a new skill is when you're young. You can't teach an old dog new tricks, right? Wrong! You can, it's just extrememly frustrating. That poor old dog needs to unlearn every old trick and then work extra hard not to do the old trick every time he tries to do the new trick. The process is hard, leaving the dog and the owner so irritated that they both just give up. The same is true for kids at school. "I'm just not a math person." Well kids, I wasn't a math person either. True, some people are born with a natural talent for numbers. I was not. In fact, I spent many hours in middle school at my kitchen table crying over my math homework because I just didn't get it. It made me sad, it made me mad, and it made me feel dumb. It would have been very easy for me to say, "I'm just not a math person," take my D because at least it's passing, and focus on my strengths. I'm far too stubborn for that. I ended up teaching myself. It took a lot of work and a lot of practice, but I ended up taking AP Calculus my senior year of high school. That's the kind of rags to riches story I love to hear- a kid goes from not knowing the correct order of operations to being able to find derivatives and integrals. 
        Maybe there's still hope that I can learn how to dance without looking like a fool.

    In case you are not familiar with the term, D.E.A.R. stands for Drop Everything And Read. I was very surprised and excited to learn  that WPA has a school wide D.E.A.R. time. 
    I have only participated in D.E.A.R. once as a student. That was in first grade. Right after recess the teacher would print D.E.A.R. in big, bold letters on the chalkboard. As a first grader I took the term very literally and would love to drop to the floor with my book in the middle of the classroom. It took the teacher a few tries to get it across to me that I didn't have to actually drop everything, I just had to read. I love the idea of D.E.A.R. because it provides a structured time during the school day for students  to read for pleasure. Teachers don't care what you're reading, as long as you're reading something. I think students who don't like to read just haven't found something they enjoy reading yet. There's very few people in the world who can't wait to crack the textbook open, but odds are there's a genre or author out there that you enjoy. For me, it was mystery. I loved Nancy Drew! 
    Even as a child, I have always loved to read. Maybe that's because cartoons only came on in the mornings when I was growing up. My daily schedule went like this: watch cartoons, go to school, play outside, read, bedtime. I was also the kid that would have to be told to turn off the flashlight and go got bed! I could get lost in a book. Even to this day, I HATE stopping in the middle of a chapter. I have to know what happens next! 
    Yeah, ok Ms. Knapp, you like to read. So, what's the big deal? 
    Kids today don't read as often. Family trips to the library are a thing of the past. With TV/movies, computers, video games, smart phones, etc. a paperback book seems like an antique. Why read the book when you can see the movie, right? Well, studies have shown that there is no better tool to raise student test scores than independent reading. Teachers can throw workbooks, textbooks, projects, book reports, spelling words, etc. at their classes, but nothing raises test scores higher than having the student actually read. The best part is that it doesn't matter what the child is reading! It doesn't have to about a particular subject, it doesn't even have to be on exact grade level. We all know that practice makes perfect. The more you read, the better you get at it. Reading increases vocabulary, promotes proper grammar and spelling, fosters creativity, and helps kids learn how to use context clues and make inferences. 
    If you want to make that III or IV on your Language Arts EOG this year, make use of D.E.A.R. time! It's been said that you can't "study" for EOGs. That's true to some extent. You can't cram a year's worth of curriculum into the night, the week, or even the month before the test, but you can certainly prepare. Your goal should be to read 40 books by the end of the year. That may seem like a daunting number, but it's completely do-able. That's 2 books a month. All you have to do is read during D.E.A.R. time every day and another 20 minutes at home every night. If you get in the habit, you'll be making crazy growth on this year's EOG. :) 
    

     It's that time of year again where I wish my summer farewell. So long are the days spent at the beach, laying leisurely about the house, and staying up into the wee hours of the night. Summer is great and a welcome vacation after a long school year, but the truth is that I'm excited to be going back to school.
    I've always loved school because I love learning. I believe someone is never done learning, even after he or she graduates and earns that coveted degree. Pardon the buzz word, but I truly believe that people are lifelong learners. Even after teaching for several years, there are still things I can learn from other teachers and even from my students.
    My love of learning extends beyond the middle school classroom. I am currently taking online courses in pursuit of a master's degree. I just finished my first class last week. It was called Developing Character Through the Curriculum. It couldn't have come at a better time for me. Many teachers tend to get burnt out after four or five years in the classroom, and I feel like I was in serious danger of going down that dark road. This course reminded me of why I wanted to become a teacher in the first place and revived my passion for teaching. If you have time, I'll talk your ear off about all the great things I've learned. I'm really excited to bring these new ideas and strategies into my classroom this year.  
    In addition to graduate courses, I'm also in the process of finishing my Academically and Intellectually Gifted (AIG) licensure. I've been working with a cohort program through East Carolina University for the past two years. In order to complete my certification I have to teach at an AIG summer camp in Greenville. The bad news is that it is forcing me to miss my first day of school with students at WPA, but I left the substitute (what I hope to be) some fun activities to do with them in my absence. I hate missing the first day of school and parent orientation, but AIG camp is a great experience. I'm teaching a unit on Robotics to rising 7th-9th grade students. It has been a blast so far! I love watching them problem solve because they can be so creative. And everyone is so engaged! I'm glad I picked such a popular topic. I'm hoping to start an FLL Robotics team at WPA if I can find the funding. Talk about STEM! What better way to promote math, technology, engineering, and science than by building and programming a robot? Take a look at the website my campers and I put together at http://www.msknapp.weebly.com 
    All in all, I've done a lot of great things with my summer. But I am ready to get back in the classroom! I have a feeling that this is going to be a great year :)