Oprah's staff at Harpo Studio kicked off her show's 24th season with a "flash mob" dance to the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling". The video of this performance is sorta irrelevant but you should see it anyway because it's fun:"I Gotta Feeling"

On a more relevant note, the students and staff of the Ocoee Middle School in Florida did a parody of the original "flash mob" dance called "Gotta Keep Reading". Check it out. You'll love it... and maybe your kids will too.

I did!

This is a PERFECT illustration to support the sermon I often preach about KNOWING enough pop culture to engage our students in ways that make sense to THEM, not just US.  Not necessarily LOVING it, just KNOWING it.

Enjoy:  GOTTA KEEP READING

Cynthia L. Moore

Yesterday's New York Times featured an article entitled "Building a Better Teacher" by Elizabeth Green. The article is long but I thought it was well worth the time spent reading it.

SOME of the ideas explored in this piece reinforce much of my learning over the years as well as the "Pebble Creek Labs Philosophy". Check it out here and see what you think: "Building a Better Teacher"

Here are some of my favorite quotes:

"The smarter path to boosting student performance... is to improve the quality of the teachers who are already teaching"

"what looked like natural-born genius was often deliberate technique in disguise"

“Teaching depends on what other people think...not what you think"

And my absolute favorite:

"A teacher’s control... should be “an exercise in purpose, not in power.”

Even without reading the article, there is a lot to be discussed from these quotes alone!

I'm just sayin'...

Cynthia L. Moore

The release of “Precious”, the Lee Daniels’ directed movie based on the novel PUSH by Sapphire, has reignited dialogue and debate about the inclusion of the title on the list of Pebble Creek recommendations for classroom libraries.

It is difficult to find an English teacher who does not have a strong opinion about the validity and appropriateness of a book like PUSH and other YA titles like it.

The three prevailing arguments I hear most from teachers who have decided PUSH is inappropriate and unworthy are: objections to the profane language, objections to the use of “non-standard” English to relay the story and objections to Sapphire’s merciless honesty regarding sexual abuse.

I have done a fairly decent job of listening objectively to other people’s thoughts about the book and I certainly cannot deny that I have heard some points that have caused me to reconsider my position. However, my response to the above mentioned objections has remained relatively consistent.