Living Life Twice

     I have lost count of the number of times I have urged educators to mindfully share their literate lives with the students in their care.      The importance of being joyfully literate, as intially espoused by the late New Zealand educator, Don Holdaway, coupled with the critical nature of sharing our reading and writing lives with the students in our care, cannot be overstated.       When it comes to teaching, we must be in the stream with your students,. We can’t stand on the bank imploring them to swim faster! Our efforts must intially go into assisting them to remain afloat.       When we share aspects of our reading and writing selves, it adds extra depth to our humanity and strengthens the connection to what we are demanding of them. It makes us eminently more credible…      These remarks lead me to thinking about my personal situation as both reader and writer.       I re...

  Every learner- teacher or student needs to be conscious of their innate ability to learn and grow. The mindful awakening of awareness regarding the immediate world in which each learner operates unleashes the potential to develop further as learners, thinkers, readers and writers. The late Donald Graves wrote, 'The more I reveal a student's potential, the more I discover my own potential as a teacher.'  Graves believed such matter were inseparable. From this, the notion of  teachers sharing their individual learning stories within the classroom lays a sound foundation upon which both the teacher and the impressionable learner can raise expectations while sharing the learning journey. The sharing of learning stories provides the inexperienced learners with a model and a pathway to follow. When teachers are aware of what they have learned, the more likely they are to challenge and continue extending their personal knowledge. This frequently leads them to direct their ener...