Greetings from Cali! I was out today because I'm at a two-day literacy conference in San Diego. As teachers, we never get to travel, so this is definitely a cool opportunity and I'm enjoying every second of it. In terms of how things went in room 210 while I was gone, I have my fingers crossed and will be eager to hear the (hopefully positive) report on Monday...

We had our poetry test this week, and though some of them are insistent that poetry is "just too hard" (*cough* Mihali *cough*), most kids did really really well! The test itself was only seven questions. It started with one that they knew would be on there: What do you know about poetry and what have we learned about reading poetry? They then had a poem titled "Hear Me" that wrote about the ocean from the ocean's perspective. Students had to read and make sense of the poem, and then answer corresponding multiple choice questions. They then had to plan and write a text-based essay around the poet's message. Both the multiple choice questions and the essay were done on Chromebooks, which is the first time we've taken an ELA test on the computer. Since there's been such a shift in technology usage in schools, it's important that kids are comfortable using the Chromebooks. In fact, they'll be taking the (lovely and enjoyable) MCAS electronically this year. On Monday, we'll be going over the poem and questions, and students will be given the opportunity to revise their written responses.

I only have one picture this week, but it's one that makes me super happy. Our wonderful vice principal Mr. Marshall was gracious enough to come in and read us one of his original poems. What was the topic of the poem, you ask? Us!! Mr. Marshall has been regularly writing poetry since elementary school, and last year when we kicked off our poetry unit, he wrote a poem for my students. He came in and read it to us, and I decided right then and there that this would be a yearly tradition, whether he liked it or not ;). He wrote a whole new poem for this group of kids, and prior to the poetry test on Tuesday, he shared a little about his "poetry journey" and why he enjoys the genre so much. He then read us his poem and we discussed it. We're so fortunate to have such a respected adult figure come in and model a passion for poetry, and I love that so many students have been writing poetry outside of school and sharing it with me. Keep it coming, kids!