Library Book

My school district has a professional development program called “Differentiated Supervision.” Simply stated, it means a teacher has the option of choosing a self-directed project over the standard annual observation and rating by an administrator. Last year I was able to use my experience authoring Images of America: Rock Springs Park as my differentiated project. I enjoyed sharing all aspects of the book writing experience with my students, including researching, editing and choosing photographs and postcards to clearly illustrate the story of the now defunct amusement park. One of my favorite lessons was showing the stack of revisions required to complete the project. I enjoyed pointing out that though they might get frustrated when a teacher returns a paper for revisions one time, I had that experience over and over again. I think it was also good for them to see the process from beginning to end, including seeing a copy of the published book in our school library.