About Me

My name is Beth Bowden. 2010-2011 was my tenth year teaching.  I honestly can't believe it.  Here is a short history of my career...

2001 - 2007: I was at at K-2 school.  I taught 2nd grade all 6 years.  I really feel like that gave me the chance to really develop my skills in a critical area: teaching reading.  I was able to become familiar with the curriculum and expectations. I tried out different strategies and methods before settling into a good routine.  I was able to easily transfer that knowledge to my future situations.

2007 - 2009: I taught 3rd grade at a K-6 school.  The first year we grouped across the grade level for reading.  This was new for me and was the first challenge I'd faced in several years.  I wasn't able to use my knowledge about teaching reading in the same way... instead of having 4 or 5 groups, I had one huge group of low level kids.  There wasn't time to do small groups (and it wasn't part of the school culture either.)  The second year things changed and I kept my kids all day long.  I did more traditional reading groups and saw great results with EOG scores.

2009 - Present: I am teaching 4th grade at a different K-6 school.  I just finished my 2nd year in a grade level - and it feels great to know I'll be teaching the same grade again in the fall.  There is such a change that happens when you approach your 3rd year in a  teaching situation.  You know (or should know) the curriculum, the kids abilities, the expectations.  You have better ideas about what works and what doesn't. I've already got Science and Social Studies plans for the entire year - because this year I got smart.  I'll share more about that later.

I'm currently teaching AIG students.  Any given year, I'll have 6 to 12 kids that are identified as Academically-Intellectually Gifted in Reading, Math, or both.  The rest of my class (up to 25 kids or so) is your typical, general ed kid.  Throw in a few ELL students and possibly an EC (Spec. Ed) student and you're living in my classroom.

The 2010-2011 school year was a really interesting one for me.  I have NEVER had a group quite like this one.  There were 13 AIG kids (out of 23.)  My boy/girl ratio was 9 to14.  What was interesting about this group, as a whole, was their pick-up and retention of information.  I could throw a concept out, give a brief explanation or demo, and let them run with it.  Much of my job this year felt like facilitating and uncovering what they already knew... and I LOVED it.  It was so fun to see what they could do!

I'm excited to find new ways to incorporate technology into my classroom.  I thrilled to be developing a personal learning network of like minded teachers - there are some super teachers in my school, but it gets a little old to see eye rolling and hear, "Oh, Bowden's at it again!" when I share some website or tech tool.  At least if you feel that way, I won't see your eyes roll or hear your grumbles!

New Ideas

So obviously this isn't a classroom blog anymore.  That has a long answer and a short answer.  The short answer is that my school district now provides a wiki and a blog for each classroom.  So now I'm left with a site that needs a purpose!

I've decided to use this site to develop my own PLN - personal learning network.  I've created a new Twitter account (separate from my personal one) and I'm even thinking about creating a Facebook page for my new class of 4th graders (and their parents.)

I'm not sure how much overlap I want from my professional life at school to my professional life online.  After all, this isn't going to be a space for parents to communicate with me about their student.  It is going to be a place for me to record ideas and reflections...

Oh well, like many other things, I'll figure it out as I go along!  I'm good at that.  After all, isn't a teacher's middle name, "Flexible?"

Come back soon - I'm working on an "about me" post, a post with my summer goals, and a post with my beginning plans for next school year!

New Resolution

I've been moved to 4th grade this year.  I've been spending some time chasing myself but I finally feel organized.  I'm changing the purpose of this blog just a bit.  I'm making it more a reflection blog for myself as a teacher.  I'll leave the games links, but kids won't be accessing this as much as in the past.  They all have blogs and email through Gaggle and so do I.  That is far easier for keeping in touch with them.

Here are 2 questions for reflection.... I've been thinking about this a lot lately.

What is the best thing about being a teacher this year?

What has been the hardest thing about being a teacher this year?

I'll post my answers in a few days, when I finally come to a conclusion.

Until then, keep reading and working hard!

Neat new website

I have found a cool website to practice spelling words!
Spelling City.com Mrs. Bowden's lists
This link will take you directly to word lists I have entered in the system.
Spelling City.com
This link will take you to the main site.

This is a cool free site. Enjoy playing the games - and learning new words. :)

I'll try to get word lists up ASAP.

Back to the regularly scheduled program

Welcome back!

I hope you have had a good 5 day break. I know I did! I rested, ate, shopped, slept, and ate some more. Isn't that the great thing about Thanksgiving?

Remember that school is back in session tomorrow. We are counting down 3 weeks until Christmas break begins! Here are some things to remember for this week:

1. Science Fair part #2 is due on Wednesday.
2. Christmas Trees are due on Friday.
3. There will be regular homework - Spelling and Math - this week.

Have a great night's sleep and I'll see you tomorrow bright and early!