What do I write about in my blog?

The most challenging thing I did today was...

Yesterday I faced one of my greatest fears as a future teacher during my Tuesday Experience: classroom management. Yesterday at Morley they were celebrating Edward Williams Morley's birthday, so through out the day at different times students were able to get up say happy birthday and spray silly string in the air. While both the teacher and I were in the classroom it never got out control, however when the teacher had to step out the students started to get a little crazy. I thought that I was never going to get the class to regain control and the teacher would come in to a mad house. To get the students attention and bring the class back in the teacher I am with says "Excuse Me" and if she gets to a third 'excuse me' there is a penalty, she says she rarely gets to a third 'excuse me'. When she left me alone I was afraid the students wouldn't take my "Excuse Me" as serious as their teacher, never the less in my most authoritative tone I said "Excuse me" and the students stopped and looked at me. I felt a sense of accomplishment in that moment. From there I had them finish what they were working on and the teacher came back to a quiet class. I was walking on air for the rest of the day.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?
Any suggestions for future classroom management techniques?

The Girl with the Brown Crayon

Paley's literacy instruction inspires me to...

When reading Vivian Paley's Girl with the Brown Crayon I made a text to self connection. Last year I was lucky enough to spend a school year with a second grade class and do many reading activities with them. The second grader's were loved the David books by David Shannon (No David!, David Gets in Trouble, David Goes to School...etc.) much like Paley's students loved the books by Leo Lionni. When reading how Reeny connects the characters the books the author it reminded me off how the second graders related David to their younger siblings and people they knew. It never fails to amaze me how children and adults can form such strong connections to what they read.
What really inspired me about Paley's instruction was how she appreciated Reeny's interest and did more books by the author to see how she and her other classmates would respond to them. I also like how she had the poster project, allowing the students to be creative, and open discussions about what they liked and didn't like in the stories they were reading. It was also interesting to read about Reeny's text to self connection with the character of Fredrick. Paley has really inspired me to really dive into children's literature.

Writing Workshop

During my first day at Tuesday Experience the teacher asked me what were my strengths, and for me it has always been English. She thought this was great and put me in charge of a writing workshop. The theme of this writing workshop is 'Memorable Day'. For the students writing assignment they would ideally brainstorm and write an account of a memorable day they had. In general however, the students have a hard time composing autobiographical works. She suggested to me that I should visit the school library and find books that would help inspire students how to write about a memorable day. So here are my questions for people reading this blog:
Can any one think of good children's books that have the theme of a 'Memorable Day'?
How would you help students struggle with writing about this topic?
How would you define a memorial day to a student?
If you could do a writing work shop what would you do it about?