Celebrity Sighting in Nagoya

Living it up here in Nagoya, Japan this weekend. The lovely Debbie Miller graciously agreed to do an EARCOS weekend workshop at the Nagoya International School, and many of us at ISB jumped at the chance. For me, it's a literacy dream come true as Debbie's philosophy and words have resonated with me for many years. My Reading With Meaning book is well-loved, dog-eared and has sticky notes coming out of all ends. Hence, the celebrity sighting title of this post. Debbie is so warm, so smart and so real-exactly like I expected her to be from reading her books. I feel so inspired.

A surprise for us was that a group of 2nd graders came to school to allow us to watch a modeled lesson on inferring. It was so cute to see the stage set up like a movie set, complete with anchor charts and sitting rug. And we were introduced to a great new title by Jeanette Winter, Nasreen's Secret School.

Trusting ourselves as teachers and trusting our students with their reading was the big idea of the weekend for me. Try something new with kids. Take a risk. If it doesn't work, it's ok. Sometimes it's good just to see what happens. I've got some ideas brewing, and I can't wait to see what happens...