Kim Lally Engage, Ignite, Empower
I am currently a 3rd grade classroom teacher. I am dedicated to engaging students in lessons that ignite their curiosity, creativity, and desire to learn.
I believe this is what can empower students to live their best lives!
23/07/2021
My summer reading also included Marc Brackett's book Permission To Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotional Intelligence to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive. He explains emotional intelligence, and its importance to everyone's lives, in a way that is easily understandable. Dr. Brackett's strategies and techniques for improving our own emotional intelligence and our students' are practical, as well as powerful! I also participated in his free 10-hour workshop on emotional intelligence. I now feel a bit more equipped to help my students experience a safe and secure transition back into school. I highly recommend both of these resources.
www.coursera.org/learn/manageing-emotions-uncertainty-stress
23/07/2021
One of my summer pleasures was to spend lots of time reading. I decided to read genres that I don’t normally gravitate towards, and I’m so glad I did. The Firefly Code is a science fiction story that speaks to the value of friendship. Who knew science fiction could tug at your heart! Starfish is a realistic fiction story written in verse. This story speaks to the power of self-love, self-acceptance, and the powerful way one can stand up to a bully-even when it’s a family member. Finally, The Girl That Could Not Dream is a fantasy that speaks to friendship, courage, and the power of our minds.
Who Knew?
I have always loved researching and writing lessons that would engage and excite students about learning. I wanted those lessons to connect literacy with the content areas, so I could incorporate inquiry-based, hands-on activities to make all concepts come alive for students. At the same time, I too, wanted to have fun each day.
When we were suddenly catapulted into remote learning in the spring of 2020, I thought my days of writing lessons that activate my students’ creative thinking and curiosity were over. I thought science experiments, dressing up as different characters, art projects and challenging my students to persevere through rigorous material were over. Wrong!
I was so fortunate to find a free YouTube workshop on how to “Create Digital Learning Paths for Remote Learning” in my email, a day or two after the schools shut down. Overwhelmed and in a state of shock, I did not look at the videos for about ten days. Once I finally did click the link to those videos, my world changed. I found that I was able to create amazing lessons that my students loved through digital learning paths. I couldn’t wait to work on these projects each day.
I knew not everyone felt the same, so I decided to use my passion of creating learning paths to help teachers. My goal and mission is to create digital literacy lessons that teachers can use immediately with their students. I aim to create digital literacy lessons that are rigorous and that ignite students’ curiosity and creative thinking, as well as empower them to continue to be life-long learners. I have only just begun this journey, but with help from the talented Krista Lally we will create products that engage, ignite, and empower both students and teachers.