HeartBreak

^{Isaiah 5:1-7}

¹ I will sing for the one I love

a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
² He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.

³ “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
⁴ What more could have been done for my vineyard
than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes,
why did it yield only bad?
⁵ Now I will tell you
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall,
and it will be trampled.
⁶ I will make it a wasteland,
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it.”

⁷ The vineyard of the LORD Almighty
is the nation of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are the vines he delighted in.
And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;
for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

I planted the vineyard that was my relationship with my ex-boyfriend. I treated it so well, loved it and protected it, but it yielded only bad grapes.

What more could I have done for my vineyard?

Emergent Lit final

A poem I wrote for my final project for Emergent Lit. The two guidelines for our final project said 1. it needed the be creative and 2. it needed to demonstrate we understand the concepts from this year. Here is my creative project for the class, a poem.

Teaching Emergent Literacy

It isn’t easy to teach literacy.

No, it isn’t easy as you can see.

Just how can you teach those ABCs

Extremely quickly and extremely effectively?

Literacy is more than just letters you know!

It’s how to say them and where in spelling they go.

It’s interacting with words as we travel to and fro.

It’s reading, writing, speaking, and listening also.

Kids learn in many ways each year.

Phonological awareness is what they hear.

With children, they may fail at it they fear,

But once they master literacy, you will hear them cheer!

To help kids become literate there are many ways

You can teach many things in just a few days.

Give kids the option of many kinds of play:

Dramatic or block or active activities each day.

And whatever you do, don’t forget to read books—

Out loud, in small groups, or wherever you look.

Kids can read silently or in pairs in a special book nook.

Often, you can use circle time as an interesting hook.

Don’t forget to connect learning at school with learning at home, too.

Literacy is a skill students will want to pursue.

Though they might sometimes moan and complain they are blue,

Keep teaching, and one day, you’ll see a breakthrough!

As teachers, we must be our classroom’s guide.

And teach kids to take both success and failure in stride.

At the end of the year we’ll look back with pride

As we match educational goals and practices side by side.

It isn’t easy to teach literacy.

No, it isn’t easy as you can see.

But it’s about as rewarding as it can be

To give emergent learners the gift of literacy!

Dreams

I dream of educational equality and clean water.

Two huge projects, but with the right support and passionate people, I believe we can change the world!

Here are two videos about my two favorite organizations right now. I've joined the first organization and will begin teaching in my own classroom in the Fall! (You may need to copy and paste the link into your browser)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjtRmsdK4h8&feature=relmfu

The other organization is a wonderful one called Charity Water. Here is their most recent video explaining the water crisis and what we can do to change it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCHhwxvQqxg&feature=player_embedded

I want to get involved with Charity Water and begin bringing clean water to countries all over the world. To help in this cause, visit www.charitywater.org

100% of your donation goes directly to the field!