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…
In my corner of the world, I don’t bump up against too many teachers who are resistant to tech integration, particularly as it concerns the work of literature circles. I know kids who circle up around blogs rather than books, and I know teachers who build literature circle roles around the tech skills they want their students to practice. Everyone is getting started in some way, shape, or form it seems. I admire the willingness that many teachers…
Laura Nicosia, who I follow on Twitter and elsewhere, has tagged me for this fun little meme that has been winding its way around the web. Many of the bloggers I keep up with daily have shared seven things about themselves as well, and I’m enjoying learning more about the people I’ve come to rely upon so much over the last year. So, here we go with the rules: Link your original tagger and list…
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…
Whenever I recommend Twitter to teacher-friends or colleagues, the first thing I’m often asked is what educators tweet about in 140 characters or less. When I started using Twitter almost a year ago, I wondered the same thing. So I started paying attention and then eventually, I began capturing my observations along the way. Here’s how I notice educators making great use of this powerful tool: 1. Identifying and Retweeting Favorite Links and Resources: Many of the…
Hey! Go join Jim Burke’s new social network on ning! Many of the conversations that are taking place there have been taking place within the face-to-face communities that I’m a part of as well. So what are you waiting for? Head over there now. Meet some new people, get some new ideas, and share what you’re up to with those who care about it just as much. Here are a few stops to consider along the…
Many thanks to Susan Waters for the creation of this wiki, which has FINALLY enabled me to explain to my husband precisely what a personal learning network might be and why anyone would want to establish one. By relying on five specific tools: blogs, Twitter, Ning, RSS, and social bookmarks, professional development is no longer something “provided” to us by others as we sit quietly taking notes. Knowledge is something we can acquire anytime, anyplace, and anywhere…thanks to those who…
There is so much to be said for the beginner who is willing to share. Over the last month, various teachers have asked me to help them take their first steps toward blogging, using wikis, building a personal learning network on Twitter, annotating the findings from their formative assesment processes, and using the 6+1 Traits of Writing. Each time I’m asked to share what I know about any of these processes, I’m tempted to direct people toward the…
My daughter Laura has invited her younger sister Nina to team up with her in helping to make a difference during the holidays again this year. I will selfishly admit that I have been eagerly awaiting this second challenge since LAST year, because our family has an incredibly good time keeping up with all of the amazing things that people do. There is nothing like beginning and ending each day in December with messages from people…
Yesterday was a coaching day, and I had an awful lot of fun hanging out with sixth grade students for the better part of the morning. I began the day in Danielle Cobb’s classroom, who has begun differentiating reading instruction and making use of formative assessment. Danielle knows that her kids struggle to identify main idea as they read, and yesterday’s demo lesson aimed to address that. I’m sharing that lesson here for two reasons:…