The fellows of my learning community have been revisiting our commitment to disseminating the expertise that we share and cultivate within our group. This week, conversations have begun around the purpose of publication, the process itself, and whether or not the work that is shared within blog posts and in other online venues can be as credible as the stuff of peer-reviewed publications. In most cases, I’ll admit, I don’t think it can be. That…
Six-Word Memoir book preview from SMITHmag on Vimeo. My six words? Could work well for book-reporting!
Laura, Jenny Luca, and I have been really happy to see our membership growing at Working Together 2 Make a Difference. As a newbie to ning administration, I could use a bit of feedback from others though. We’re eager to encourage membership and make this space valuable to those who join, but I don’t think that any of us wants to have more of a presence in this space than any other member. We truly…
Are you using Glogster? It’s a favorite with the teachers and students I work with, and it’s easy to see why. This funky little tool has the potential to engage kids in about a million different ways, and while it was created for the general public, there are treasures to be found by scrolling through the school glogs. It’s also a piece of cake to use. Think about how the following examples might inspire your own…
A meme is usually framed as a series of questions that are replicated and then transmitted virally–most often, through blogs. The questions posed within a meme may focus on anything of interest to a particular community. Following a meme as it winds its way through the web can be a lot of fun, and in the process, readers often find themselves connecting with new bloggers and their collective perspective. Why would teachers ask students to create memes? Newbie…
Happy Holidays everyone! I was up early this morning, browsing through my reader and stumbling upon posts that have a common theme: it’s no surprise that this year, many people are eager to give gifts that cost little in terms of cash they may not have or trash that clutters up the planet. I’m thinking about the slew of new possibilities available to all of us, thanks to the web, and I spent yesterday sharing some of these…
I spent yesterday with the high school English Department at Depew Union Free School District. These folks invited me in to help them approach formative assessment as a process that leads to instructional improvement rather than a product that leads to grades. They’ve begun exploring the 6+1 Traits of Writing, considering what their middle school colleagues have been up to, and looking to new tools for support. Wordle was a big hit yesterday. I introduced…
I spent Monday exploring the concept of nonlinguistic representation with a group of middle school teachers I’ve known for years. We began the day discussing whether or not schools were killing creativity, and then we tore into piles of Legos, Play-Doh, and magazines in an effort to share out our greatest hopes for our students. I’ll admit: I was nervous about asking secondary-level teachers to use these materials, but I shouldn’t…
Classroom teachers all over Western New York are heading home this afternoon to catch their collective breath for the first time in many days. I’ve been out of the classroom for several years now, but September still feels like the true beginning of the new year to me. I’m still filled with the same sense of excited anticipation, and I’m still looking forward to trying new things and seeing what can be learned in the…
Last night, we hosted a long-overdue barbeque, and when my friend Monika called to ask if she could bring a guest along, of course I said she was more than welcome to. I’m so glad that I did! While the girls played basketball and my husband played chef, I got to hang out with this woman, who just happens to be a coordinator of the National Writing Project. Most recently, she helped to plan and organize their…