I'm Back! Welcome to My New Blog!

After about a year off, I am happy to be back with all of you- back to posting, back to linking up, and back to following you.

When I left the classroom last school year and moved into the role of a Pre-K specialist, I no longer had a class to blog about. For awhile I posted about what I was doing as a Pre-K specialist, but ultimately I did not feel like the posts I was making were in line with the original format of the blog.

In August, I took a new position for the district and became the Professional Development Manager for the K-2 Curriculum & Instruction Department. Even though I was still working in a position outside of the classroom, I truly missed blogging and knew I needed to find a way back to it. A few months ago I began thinking about starting a new blog and what that might look like. I considered my work as a Professional Development Manager and how I could incorporate all of the things I was doing and learning into a new blog. Since most of the work I do is centered on literacy, I decided that needed to be my focus. Thus, "My Life in Literacy" was born. Since Chalk Talk remains such a huge piece of my life and is what I am known for, I decided that I needed to find a way to tie it into the new blog title. Feeling like I was simply picking up where I left off and moving on or moving forward, I decided to start the blog's title with "Chalking On."

So... what can you expect from "Chalking On: My Life in Literacy"?
I plan to post important bits of information, research, and strategies from books I am reading, chapter by chapter book studies, and new read-alouds I want you to know about and use with your students. As classroom teachers, I know you are very busy and do not always have the time to read up on the research and the "why" behind what you are doing, so my plan is to help you out. I'll do the reading, condense it down for you, and pass it one in small easy-to-read chunks through blog posts.

With that said, I want to say a special "thanks" to Megan from A Bird in Hand Designs for all of her hard work on my new blog design. I feel like she truly captured my love of books and my personality in the design. Thanks Megan!

So... welcome old friends and new ones. I am truly happy to be back with all of you!