A few people that I know are in the process of populating their shiny new RSS feeds this week. I spent some time updating my links toward the bottom of the left sidebar recently, so take a peek at some of my favorite edublogs, and please suggest others that I might want to add! I’m exploring some new reads here. Why not consider encouraging students to create and keep up with their own feeds this…
What is good writing? What does it mean to “be” a writer?
In a conversation earlier this morning, I found myself struggling to articulate a vision statement that I’ve been cooking up in my head for quite some time now. And then someone really wonderful suggested that I worry less about the statement and more about the vision for now. She asked that I consider drawing, gathering photographs or clippings, or collecting other artifacts that might reflect this vision that is still taking shape. She suggested that…
Meredith Stewart recently began a conversation on the English Companion Ning about setting meaningful professional goals, and this thought of hers really struck me: “Based on the goals that I have seen from others, it seems the trend is to write very nebulous or very easily achievable goals. I would like at least one of my goals to be something at which it’d be possible to fail.” This is a compelling consideration, isn’t it? Goals…
Know what I’ve been rediscovering over the last few days? Developing a useful analytic rubric that produces valid information is challenging. Really. Challenging. I’m going to guess that anyone who has been charged with the task of designing such rubric knows the level of frustration thinking to which I refer. In fact, I’m realizing that I probably grapple with rubric writing more than any other type of writing I do. I also know that I’m…
It’s going to be 70 degrees in Western New York today. Do you know what that means? Summer is arriving! And do you know what the arrival of summer means? Open registration for the WNY Young Writers’ Studio! Fellows of the WNY Young Writers Studio come together to discover the dispositions, processes, and craft of writers. Our work is guided by our curiosities around what it means to “be a writer” and what good writing…
I’m off to meet with several teachers today and this evening who are eager to begin classroom blogging. I’ve bookmarked some valuable resources for those who are interested in doing the same. What would you add to this list? Jennifer Carrier Dorman shares what I’ve found to be the most comprehensive set of resources for supporting educational blogging on her wiki. Joy Simpson shares different types of blog posts here. She’s also working through a…
“Responding to students’ papers is like composing, like looking at the mess of my experience and ideas and trying to tease some patterns and order out of it. When I’m responding, really responding to a student’s mess of a paper, I’m thinking like a writer: figuring out what I have to say about the paper, and what the audience (the writer) likely will think/feel/do if I say it like this. Or if I say it…
As some of you know, a group of local educators began collaborating several months ago, hopeful that we would be able to coordinate a regional TeachMeet. Last night, we were able to put the final touches on our pre-planning, and we’re excited to let you know that registration is now open for this free, teacher-led event. Here are the essentials: When: Saturday, May 30th 10am-2pm Where: Genesee Community College, Batavia Campus–in the cafe Who: Educators…
Several years ago, Georgia Heard was visiting our area. I was one of a handful of teachers who found themselves graced with the opportunity to spend an afternoon with her at Canisius College. I’m reliving that experience this week as I reread Writing Toward Home: Tales and Lessons to Find Your Way. It’s one of my favorite books about writing…right up there with Bird by Bird and Writing Down the Bones. This week, I’m discovering…