I read a lot of education blogs (actually, I just read a lot of blogs period).  You can see some of them in this post I wrote last year about being a PD Junkie.  It’s embarrassing, really.

So, I decided that I’d help my peeps out (do people say “peeps” anymore?) by curating my favorite finds from my Feedly list every Friday.  And yes, that alliteration was on purpose.  Okay, not at first, but it sounds good. 😉

Here are my five favorite reads this week.  They’re not all from education blogs specifically, but I think they’re all valuable. (Bonus: my 6th favorite find is a cookie recipe!)

• Create a Startup Culture in Your Classroom– by Jennifer Williams via Edutopia.org

With everyone being all “let’s innovate in our classroom”, this posts talks about how teachers can tap into the thinking of Startups to redesign their classrooms.  I love this article because it lays out the aspects of startups that will best help teachers be innovators.  This is definitely worth a few minutes to read!

• F.A.Q.– by Megan Kortlandt via Movingwriters.org

Ohmygoshy’all, I LOVE movingwriters.org.  Seriously.  You will see many posts in future Friday Faves from this site.  Anyway, this particular post addresses the author’s struggle to create “a culture of ownership and authenticity”, which is even harder considering this year she has her kids for 10 weeks at a time.  Her writing is humorous and real.  Her concerns and struggles are the same that many of us face.  I love her responses to the two FAQ questions; I will be tucking this article away to refer to next year.

• Why the Country with Best Schools is Rethinking Subjects– by Jessica Stillman via Inc.com

I love Inc.  It is such a valuable resource for teachers even though it is mostly focused on business not education.  Honestly, I feel smarter after I read an Inc. article. 😉 In this article, Stillman discusses how Finland is doing away with subjects (gosh, can I go teach there?!?!) to integrate disciplines into the study of real-world topics.  This sounds like my administrator’s vision for our school; unfortunately, I think it will be awhile before America can get away with something like this. “What Finnish youth need more than before are more integrated knowledge and skills about real world issues.” Amen.

• Student Nonfiction Articles and Responses– by Lauralee Moss via languageartsclassroom.com

Lauralee addresses common issues students have when responding to nonfiction, and some tips to overcome these issues.  I think these ideas could easily work in tandem with Article of the Week.  I see my kids writing a lot of summary at first, which is frustrating (as I tell them, I READ the article, stop telling me all about it).  I like the idea of helping them develop a more mature tone as well.  And, as she points out, these are definitely skills they’re going to need in college or post-high school in general.

• Knowledge Builds on Knowledge– by Dave Stuart Jr. via Davestuartjr.com

If you don’t read Dave’s blog, you’re missing out! He’s one of my go-to gurus for almost anything education related.  In this post he sort of thinks through the importance of building a base of knowledge in order to get kids to the deeper thinking that we want them to be capable of.  I love the example about vocabulary and this quote: “Knowing the word enabled me to know more about the word. Without the knowledge, I wouldn’t have gained the knowledge.”  Check out this post (and everything else on his blog–set aside some time, you might be there awhile!)

• Bonus: These cookies from eatliverun.comlook amazing!!! And I just bought some zucchini (also, I never spell zucchini right. Like, ever)!  I would bake them right now, but we have a house showing in a couple hours, so I probably shouldn’t make a giant mess (despite how yummy they’d smell when potential buyers entered!).

Happy Friday, friends!