#E3CLS - Non Fiction Writing

 I attended the California League of Schools' first session of their conference "Embracing Equity & Excellence," a name lovingly stolen from presenter Douglas Reeves. If you ever get a chance to listen to Reeves speak, I can not encourage it enough.
Reeves brought some tough things into the conversation. I am currently following him on Twitter because he was so genuinely kind and respectful while pointing out uncomfortable truths. I want to learn how to do that, because I have no trouble pointing on the uncomfortable truth, and I want to learn how to do so more gracefully so I can be a better advocate for my students. 

I have a crazy excitement for these kinds of conversations, and I had to give myself a hammock time out after the session. Reeves brought up so many pieces of research, many things I had known and believed. 

I used to believe that students HAD to do homework at home because it would strengthen their neurons to access the information from an environment other than school. Now, I know that homework has no research behind it. There is no reason to force families and students to experience the failure of homework. 

"If you want better behaviors in school, have fewer failures." - Douglas Reeves

After taking some time in my hammock, working on tomorrow's lessons, and watching some YouTube, I decided it was time to figure out my ONE THING.

I used to write down everything at conferences, literally, everything. I never revisited it, but that was always okay because it was part of my processing routine. However, I became quickly overwhelmed and I've learned to focus on ONE THING.

Here is my ONE THING: 

My 2nd graders need to write non-fiction.




I am off to jump into THAT rabbit hole. 
Please share any resources! :)

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