When I think about best practice, I remember my great-great cousin Colista. Mrs. Colista Morgan was the beloved teacher for generations of students, including my mother, in Greenwood City, Maine. She taught in a one-room school house and obviously understood the value of differentiation, the worth of integration and the importance of content literacy, long before they became a popular terms. In my multi-age classroom, my own modern day version of that one-room schoolhouse, I strive to continue in Colista's tradition and hopefully channel half of her expertise, patience and love of teaching. As a community we were fortunate to read Colista's weekly column in the local paper, the Advertiser Democrat. Tucked in among the many local columns about the mundane happenings of neighbors and friends was a work of art. Her writing was beautiful and poetic. It included observations of the world around her neat log cabin that sat nestled among maples and pines directly across from Hicks Pond. Her column included science, history and literature and was a true reflection of her skill. I have slim volume of her writing at school. I plan on reading to my students and discussing Colista with them in light of our recent conversation about content literacy. Tena
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