Teaching That Sticks

The Case for Digital Portfolios

2011-04-06T21:19:00.000-04:00

Check out Throwing Away 6th Grade - OR - The Case for Online Portfolios.

I don't have a lot to add to what you'll see at this post. But in short:

I teach sixth grade.
My students generate a lot of products.
We have online digital portfolios.
I get it.

Am I doing as much as I can with them? No. But at least I'm headed in the right direction.

How about you?

Teachers' Domain: Digital Media Lessons Aligned with Core Standards

2011-04-03T10:10:00.002-04:00

Are you seeking to integrate technology and media into lesson plans, but don't want to spend hours at the computer or reinvent the wheel? Teachers' Domain offers you incredibly complete, well-paced lessons that incorporate the best of what is freely available from public broadcasting. From the Teachers' Domain site:

Teachers' Domain is a free digital media service for educational use from public broadcasting and its partners. You’ll find thousands of media resources, support materials, and tools for classroom lessons, individualized learning programs, and teacher professional learning communities.

Resources are well categorized, and searchable by topic and grade level. Once you've registered at the site (it's free), you'll see that all lessons are aligned with the Common Core State Standards (aka the National Standards) as well as state standards, when available.

I also appreciate that rather than search through hundreds of plans, I can drill down to the specific skill or topic I'd like to see, as shown in the screen capture below.

If you need some help navigating the site, working with video files, or planning instructional units, Teachers' Domain offers online courses and teaching strategies in a number of formats.

Visit Teachers' Domain and see for yourself how easy they've made media integration. Then continue to check back as more resources are added.

Why Continue to Invest in Technology?

2011-03-27T19:50:00.000-04:00

Tis the time of year when budgets are planned and votes are taken to approve said budgets. In most districts across my state of New Jersey, and probably across your state as well, jobs and programs will fall under the budget axe.

I know this is a hatchet, not an axe, but bear with me.

So when a parent or board member asks, "Why should we keep putting money into technology?" we should be prepared to answer.

I recently stood to defend technology at a board meeting in my own district. In order to remember what I needed to say, and in order for the audience to possible recall it later as well, I organized my thoughts into an ABCDE format. Note that it's short on statistics and buzz words; that's entirely intentional. Don't over-think this for yourself, or over-complicate it for your listeners.

Active Participation
When we were in school, the traditional model consisted of a talking head at the front of the class, and a sea of nodding heads filling the seats. Nodding either with dumb agreement, or with sleep. Either way, learning was typically a passive act.

With technology, and especially with on-to-one programs, all students are involved simultaneously. Technology throws learning back into students' laps. Technology allows students to control both the processes and products of learning. The teacher is just as necessary, but now fulfills a much different role. Excellent teachers create opportunities which allow work and dialogue to continue well after classroom hours.

Buy In
Everyone wants to know, "What's in it for me?" Students are no different. They embrace learning when it's more personally meaningful to them. The Internet allows students to connect what they're learning with the real world in real time. It helps them to realize that what they're learning is neither discrete nor isolated from the "real world."

Technology also allows students to become content creators. When I poled students at the beginning of the year and asked them if they had ever created content to post on the web, they were amazed at the possibility. That capability is now totally taken for granted; they are a part of the Internet.

Collaboration
Middle and high school students are social animals, thriving on peer relationships. We can harness this natural inclination in a healthy and productive way by using technology that allows students to work together. Whether we create team oriented problem solving scenarios or simply permit students to peer edit and comment upon classmates' work, we're demonstrating that the teacher isn't the only one in the classroom with the answers. Equally important, we're encouraging students to ask the questions and seek their own solutions.

Differentiation
A little-touted benefit of technology is its ability to differentiate instruction. For the most gifted learner, technology provides opportunity. For the struggling learner, technology offers opportunity. Within a single assignment, a teacher can offer and accept incredibly diverse responses, given the number of applications and programs with which students can express themselves.

Equal Access
Knowledge is Power. That expression is cliche only because it's been said for generations, and is absolutely true. Equal access to the world's information, via the Internet, overcomes socioeconomic variables, offering true freedom to pursue learning.

If my points are too simplistic for you, I apologize. But for me, this five point plan for discussing the benefits of technology is one I can rely upon. It's simple, yes, but absolutely proven in my classroom experiences with students.

Want more? Heather Wolpert-Gawron has put together responses to five common complaints voiced by technology naysayers. Says Wolpert-Gawron:

Frankly, there are many reasons to avoid providing technology as a more common and frequent tool in education. However, as stated in "Strictly Ballroom," one of my favorite movies, "a life lived in fear is a life half lived." Fear cannot shut us down from our mission: to educate students for their future.

How do you respond to those who say that tech spending should be cut in order to trim the budget?

Microsoft Word's Most Ignored Feature for Teachers

2011-03-19T13:50:00.000-04:00

Learning Essentials is a free application designed to enhance teachers' and students' use of Microsoft Word. Word owners can easily download the program, for free, for use at home or school.

Learning Essentials is a suite of templates, tools, and tutorials which integrates easily and assists teachers and students in creating reports, projects, and assessments. Students and teachers use existing Microsoft Office programs more productively with the aid of ready-made assignments and helpful shortcuts.

The best way to see the features of Learning Essentials is to download the demo (tour) at the Microsoft site. You'll get a tempting glimpse of what's included in both the Educator Tools and Student Tools.

Another way to get a look at some of the application's features is to check out the Creating Writing Assignments tutorial at GreatSource/iwrite, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's companion site to their excellent Write Source books. (Another hot resource to see there is the series of videos on How to Write a Research Report).

While there, also check out the tutorial titled How Can I Use Learning Essentials for Writing Instruction?

Then, when you're ready, download Learning Essentials and give it a go. Let me know what you think!

And check out the resources at GreatSource/iwrite as well! Tons of tutorials and awesome resources for young writers. If you're in the market for grammar or writing texts, definitely request a sample of one of their books. I'm not a fan of grammar, never was, but this well-organized and well-written series serves as a fantastic classroom resource for students engaged in meaningful reading and writing.

ChangeThis: Support and Spread Great Ideas

2011-03-05T22:43:00.002-05:00

Ever find yourself aimlessly surfing the Internet, looking for something to get you going? Most likely you're procrastinating, avoiding the very tasks that you know are important, or urgent, or both.

Go to ChangeThis. The mission of ChangeThis "to support and spread great ideas." And they accomplish this by sharing proposals and manifestos from some of today's top thinkers and leaders.

How To Be Creative by Hugh MacLeod at ChangeThis

Don't be intimidated by that. The ideas are presented in concise, attractively packaged pdf presentations, short enough to read on the fly, but involved enough to actually challenge your thinking. Think TED Talks on paper.

Some of my favorites:

How To Be Creative by Hugh MacLeod
25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself by Rajesh Setty
Brainwashed: Seven Ways to Reinvent Yourself by Seth Godin
Being Clutch, Or How Not To Choke Under Pressure by Paul Sullivan

So if your brain needs a kick in the pants, check this site out! See you in a few hours.

Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions

2011-02-20T10:10:00.000-05:00

I'm pleased to participate in Leeswammes's Literary Giveaway Blog Hop, which allows blog readers to visit many excellent blogs (see the list below) for the chance to win awesome books and other prizes. At my Teach with Picture Books blog I'm giving away a Caldecott Honor picture book (of course!) and a Newbery Honor Award chapter book.

For my readers here, I wanted to also hilight the sensational nonfiction title being ofered as a giveaway: Guy Kawasaki's Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions.
My guidelines, as always, are simple:

The giveaway is open to US residents only.
To enter, email me with the title of the book you hope to win in the subject line. Want to win all three? Send three separate emails.
You don't have to follow me to win, but it would be a nice gesture. Pity follows are happily accepted. Following my blog will increase your good karma, but not your chances of winning.
Contest will close at midnight EST on February 24th EST. I'll notify winners shortly thereafter.

For those who wish to glean ideas about teaching from books "out of the field," you'll love the soon-to-be-best-selling Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions, written by Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist of Apple, and generously provided by the man himself.

Reviews of this book say it all:

"Guy's book captures the importance - and the art - of believing in an idea that delivers something entirely unique to the customer. The power of a really good idea to transform the marketplace and individual customer experiences is huge, and this book offers a wealth of insights to help businesses and entrepreneurs tap into that potential."
-Sir Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group

"Kawasaki provides insights so valuable we all wish we'd had them first."
-Robert B. Cialdini, author of Influence: Science and Practice

"Guy has written the small-business manifesto. There is nothing more important for entrepreneurs than to enchant their customers, and Guy explains exactly how to do this."
-Jane Applegate, author of 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business

So many of the ideas presented for excellence in business via interpersonal relationships can be applied to the teaching profession:

creating and marketing yourself as a professional;
achieving trustworthiness;
designing excellent experiences or services;
engaging in productive relationships with colleagues and bosses;
overcoming resistance;

avoiding pitfalls and complacency.

Years ago when the bestselling Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die was first published (and before it made all the lists), I touted its ideas as totally applicable to teaching. I feel the same way about Enchantment, and I think you will, too. Also be sure to check out Guy Kawasaki's previous best sellers, The Art of the Start and Reality Check.

Good luck with the drawing, and be sure to visit these other awesome blogs for more chances to win:

Three Simple Yet Awesome Search Tools

2011-02-13T19:52:00.000-05:00

I know, I know, you already use Google and Dictionary.com to find what you need. But allow me just three minutes of your time to share three sites you're not using yet, but will soon come to love.

Yippy began as a search engine called Clusty (called that because it created clusters of information). While the name hasn't improved much, the site is still as awesome as ever.

What's great about Yippy is that when you enter a term, it attempts to narrow your term in what it calls "clouds" (while still featuring all the resulting sites that match, as seen below).

For example, if you enter "Lord of the Flies," you'll be offered a number of clouds, or clusters, of narrowed down sites including Lord of the Flies Novel, Study Guide, Symbolism, Reviews, Quotes, Lesson Plans, etc.

What's also nice is that Yippy doesn't present inappropriate content, nor will it search for it. I entered "Stone Fox" (meaning the chapter book, not a slang description of a gorgeous woman) into the search window, and Yippy replied: Sorry. Yippy does not allow content of that nature on its cloud. Please try another query. It wasn't until I tried "Stone Fox" and "Novel" that it returned results.

Another way to make Yippy even more functional for students is to have them use it in Wii mode. By replacing the "www" in www.yippy.com with "wii," you get a much cleaner, larger interface.

If you always use Google or Dictionary.com for word definitions, it's time to break that habit. One Look is a multifunctional dictionary that offers some cool permutations of the normal search task.

As you can see from the screenshot below, it's easy to expand searches to find more than simple definitions. A student writing a poem on the topic "blue" will find the second option helpful, while another student wishing to create a word bank of winter sports words would find the seventh option helpful.

I recently used One Look while creating a teacher's guide for Encyclopedia Mythologica: Dragons and Monsters, to be published by Candlewick Press in April of this year. While the book itself offered tons of ideas for lesson extensions, I still wanted to "prime the pump" of my imagination as I brainstormed ideas. I therefore entered the search term *:monster, which returned the following in the first 100 results:

More than enough ideas to get started! And each of course is hyper-linked to a definition.

Another dictionary tool I've come to love is Wordnik. Wordnik provides quick definitions, but also current examples of the word in use on the Internet. Here are some results for the word dragon:

And as they say on television, But wait; there's more! On that same results page you'll also find simple synonyms and antonyms, etymology, plus stats for the word's appearance in print since 1800.

Armed with these resources, I was able to generate more than enough ideas to complete the teacher's guide for Dragons and Monsters. While many of the ideas existed in some form in my head, searching them out in this way allowed me to fine tune what was otherwise just a collection of random thoughts.

How would you use these sites? Are there others you'd recommend instead? Leave a comment below. And if you're interested in Dragons and Monsters, I'll be featuring teaching ideas and related links on my Teach with Picture Books site in March, along with the chance to win one of two copies of the book. Can't wait until then? You might want to check out teaching extensions for the previous title in the trilogy: Encyclopedia Mythologica: Gods and Heroes.

How to Give an Ignite Talk

2011-02-10T23:04:00.002-05:00

Most of us have heard of the inspirational TED Talks.

Slightly less well-known are the Ignite Talks, which allow speakers only five minutes, and the accompanying slides to each talk advance automatically every five minutes.

One of my favorites is Matthew Inman, creator of The Oatmeal, speaking about How to Get 5 Million People to View Your Website:

Another favorite is Scott Berkun's Why and How to Give an Ignite Talk, which not only gives a cool insight into the Ignite format, but also provides a pretty compact lesson of effective storytelling:

For your next staff meeting or student presentation, give this format a shot. Perhaps just three minutes instead of five. Sometimes less is more.

Qwiki: The Information Experience

2011-01-31T22:46:00.003-05:00

Wow. This is what the Internet promised to be.

Qwiki is an information portal that aggregates text, photo, and video sources on almost any topic imaginable, and creates a near-instant multi-media synopsis on that subject.

Instead of listening to me babble about what you need to experience for yourself, go there now. Type in the name of your hometown and learn something you didn't know already, even if you lived there thirty years. Type in Where the Wild Things Are. Type in Holocaust. Type in Glee.

In Qwiki's own words:

Qwiki's goal is to forever improve the way people experience information.

Whether you’re planning a vacation on the web, evaluating restaurants on your phone, or helping with homework in front of the family Google TV, Qwiki is working to deliver information in a format that's quintessentially human – via storytelling instead of search.

We are the first to turn information into an experience. We believe that just because data is stored by machines doesn’t mean it should be presented as a machine-readable list. Let's try harder.

Think of asking your favorite teacher about Leonardo Da Vinci, or your most well-traveled friend about Buenos Aires: this is the experience Qwiki will eventually deliver, on demand, wherever you are in the world… on whatever device you’re using.
We've all seen science fiction films (or read novels) where computers are able to collect data on behalf of humans, and present the most important details. This is our goal at Qwiki – to advance information technology to the point it acts human.

Currently, Qwiki's technology has been applied to describe millions of popular topics - but soon we'll do much more. Our team needs your help in reaching our goal: join our alpha now to help test Qwiki and shape the future.

Very cool, and this is just alpha testing.

Too Good to Be True: Truth in Advertising

2011-01-23T21:58:00.000-05:00

At Alphaila, Dario D. has posted a fantastic photo comparison of fast food burgers (and tacos) versus their advertised ideals. I would have laughed, but unfortunately I've been face to face with these same atrocities.

What to do with this site? Use it in conjunction with my previous post As Seen on TV: Media Messages UnMasked from my Teach with Picture Books blog. That post discusses how advertising's main purpose is to persuade consumers; it persuades them to think a certain way, act a certain way, and buy a certain product. And it's not always 100% truthful.

If you teach persuasive writing or critical thinking, definitely give these resources a look.

Technology Integration, Somewhat Simplified

2011-01-22T20:47:00.002-05:00

If you're curious to see what an organized approach to integrating technology might look like, search no more. The awesome Arizona Technology Integration Matrix comes via a link shared by Kevin Jarrett on the Diigo Educators group.

Kevin explains that this resource is "Arizona's answer to Florida's outstanding tool of the same name. If you are interested in seeing what technology infused teaching looks like at a variety of integration and curricular levels, you will love this resource. Highly recommended."

Couldn't agree more. Go check it out. The introduction at the site tells you all you need to know. Compare it with the Florida Technology Integration Matrix; seems like Arizona simplified things a bit. (The screenshot below shows one row expanded; the grade level links lead to lessons and video segments of those lessons).

New Prompts from Make Beliefs Comix!

2011-01-03T19:56:00.000-05:00

Via the awesome Making Curriculum Pop ning, I learned that William Zimmerman has released 100+ free printables on his online comic strip site, MakeBeliefsComix. Some of you who have attended my workshops know I'm a big fan of the site, which I've included in my collection of Interactive Writing Sites.

Regarding the resources, Zimmerman says

As an author of interactive books to help young people find their writers' voices, I often am asked by educators and parents for help in reaching reluctant writers.

With this goal in mind, I have added more than 100 free PRINTABLES on my online comic strip site, MakeBeliefsComix.com. Now you can print out, at no cost, interactive pages from my comic books to use for writing, reading, drawing and telling stories.

This enhanced MakeBeliefs PRINTABLES feature is the latest addition to the four year-old online educational comics site where educators and students from 180 countries come to build their own comic strips and practice language, writing and reading skills. The new printable pages are taken from my popular Make Beliefs books and drawn by cartoonist Tom Bloom, who illustrated the best-selling Children's Letters to God.

Now, a teacher using the web site will be able to distribute graphic handouts to students in English-as-a-Second Language or literacy programs that ask for written or drawn responses to such imaginative questions as:

Make believe you possessed a magic flying carpet. Where would your travels take you?
Make believe you had a net to catch a favorite moment in your life. Which would it be?
Imagine you could talk to your favorite book character. Who would that be? What would you say?
Make believe that with the snap of your fingers you could change yourself. Who or what would you become?
Make believe you could create your own set of holidays. What would they celebrate?

These and other great resources are yours for the taking! Thanks again to Ryan Goble at Making Curriculum Pop ning for passing this along!

To Make a Long Story Short...

2011-01-02T09:47:00.001-05:00

I don't know about you, but I spend a lot of time and energy encouraging my students to produce not just quality but also quantity. One way I've found to do that is to let them compose online; this seems to exponentially increase how much they write.

But there's a time, too, for writing less.

Let's face it; getting a point across in as few words as possible is just as important as being able to write or talk at length. How many of us have endured a two hour staff meeting or workshop to hear only fifteen minutes of actual content (that could have been emailed)?

Below are some fab web sites that will test your students' ability to "cut to the chase." Some offer models for writing, while others can be used as interactive platforms for student writing.

One Sentence: True Stories, Told in One Sentence challenges writers to submit single sentence stories. "Insignificant stories, everyday stories, or turning-point-in-your-life stories, boiled down to their bare essentials" is what this site seeks. Readers vote stories up or down, and even unapproved stories are given the chance to be "rescued" by readers.

One sentence isn't enough? Try some Two Sentence Stories. Interesting that, for the most part, these don't tell much more than the One Sentence Stories.

Chances are that many of your students already know My Life is Average. Submitters post short stories (which are allegedly true) and readers can, again, vote. Some of these are pretty good, even if contrived.

One Word is simple. According to the site's equally simple instructions, "You’ll see one word at the top of the following screen. You have sixty seconds to write about it. Click ‘go’ and the page will load with the cursor in place. Don’t think. Just write." When you click the go button, you're presented with a blank text box and a timer bar at the page's bottom. Once your time runs out, the site allows you to complete your last sentence and then post. Once you're posted, you're able to scroll through other writers' creations (which is cool since, after all, you were all writing on the same word). Each day presents a new word, and you can also scroll back to previous prompts to read what's there. You can, of course, do your own version of this concept (even off-line), but some of your writers will dig sharing virtually with others.

Things get a lot more interesting when you're allotted Six Sentences. This is where true talent surfaces as writers flesh out characters, motives, events, and settings.

Looking for a text to further inspire you or your students in the search for brevity? Try Not Quite What I Was Planning. These Six Word Memoirs by Famous and Obscure Writers feature fantastic thoughts on life, captured in just six words. Stephen Colbert’s six-word memoir, for example, “Well, I thought it was funny,” can be read to mean different things when emphasis is placed on different words. If you search YouTube with this book's title, you'll find many videos where teachers have compiled students' sentences in response to this challenge; definitely a short, simple tech project there for the taking!

This last site is for those of us living within evacuation distance of NYC. Overheard in New York is a fun and revealing collection of brief dialogues overheard in the boroughs and recorded for all time. Some of these conversations are hilarious, while others are simply puzzling. Depending upon tone and timing, they can be read and understood in so many ways. Great for a dialogue about emphasis, context, and point of view. Warning: some are not school appropriate, so you may wish to browse the site to choose for yourself. (It seems this site has expanded to include Overheard Everywhere, which might be more useful to my readers in general).

So encourage students to write less, and see if they're not newly inspired.

Old Dog, New Trick

2010-12-29T15:28:00.002-05:00

Sad to admit, but the video below is my first complete PhotoStory project ever. It was part of a proposal for the Open Innovation Project which challenges teachers to answer the question, "How might a teacher who has a student(s) reading significantly below grade level build a foundation of literacy skills for ultimate reading success?" If you have a minute to spare, read more about that here and learn how to lend your support (it's painless, and only takes a few minutes!)

While I think the video came out well, it's funny that I helped students do this for two years and only now actually created one myself. Thanks goes to Mark Geary, whose article Making Book Trailers with Photo Story 3 reminded me just how easy the process was. The music comes from Kevin MacLeod's Incompetech site, which houses tons of free, original songs, generously offered for nonprofit projects.

If you haven't tackled digital storytelling or other interactive writing with your students yet, PhotoStory is a nice place to start.

Explore the World Through Soccer!

2010-05-23T09:34:00.000-04:00

At my Teacher with Picture Books site I recently posted about the upcoming FIFA World Cup and shared some awesome related titles such Nomad Press's innovative Soccer World Series, beginning with Soccer World: South Africa and Soccer World: Mexico.

I also shared some links for teachers and students, but since then 2Learn.ca has created an awesome World Cup site for kids, featuring collected links for students and teachers. If you're looking for a terrific end-of-the-year send off, this would be it! And if your school still runs during the World Cup, you'll have some terrific resources right at your fingertips.

For lots of free, awesome resources on a number of topics (besides soccer), be sure to visit the Nomad Press site. Read more about their titles and downloadable activities at a previous post here.

Visual Representations of Web Links Using TouchGraph

2010-05-11T18:10:00.001-04:00

TouchGraph is one of the cooler sites I've seen for exploring connections between web sites. When I wanted to see, for example, which sites linked to mine, I simply typed in the URL of my main blog (http://teachwithpicturebooks.blogspot.com/) and was instantly shown the sixty or so sites that link to it. The main screen shows this graphically, while the smaller screen to the left lists the sites by relevance, and also allows me to click each link in turn for a synopsis.

Topics, rather than specific sites, can also be entered. In a search for Ancient Egypt, for example, we're presented with a pretty tightly clustered collection of sites. These in turn can be spaced apart (using the Spacing slider in the top right), or individually clicked to expand further. Similar sites are grouped together. Sites that simply pay for higher search results typically won't show up unless they have the content to make them relevant.

I've used TouchGraph to check my own sites to see that they're not linking to, or being linked from, inappropriate sites. But I can absolutely see its value as a search tool for students, particularly when they know one site that has the type of information they're seeking. Entering that site name or URL here, versus the go-to Google search, seems to be a lot more productive.

Can You Fix Broken Teachers?

2010-05-04T10:18:00.000-04:00

Get rid of professional development.
Stop throwing good money after bad.
Once a bad teacher, always a bad teacher.

You don't agree? Perhaps I'm reading too much into a new Department of Education report called the Middle School Mathematics Professional Impact Study. The study concluded that intensive, state-of-the-art training to improve teaching skills doesn’t seem to lead to significant improvements in student achievement, even when the teachers who underwent the training changed some of their instructional methods.

Teachers in 12 medium to large schools underwent 68 hours of rigorous training that covered the teaching of such hard-to-grasp mathematical concepts. It spanned several months and included summer programs, follow-up sessions and some in-class coaching.

Is it possible that such a quick fix solution isn't the only way to go?

I'm a teacher of over 20 years, and I constantly tweak my instructional practice in response to workshops, professional readings, collegial relationships, and technological innovation. Does every change in my practice result in a corresponding improvement in student achievement?

I wish.

Perhaps, cumulatively, those changes, along with changes instituted over time by my peers, will increase achievement. But perhaps those changes in instruction need a greater period of time to be measured before they can be discounted.

So just as a precaution, why don't we keep training our teachers, just in case. I don't think we'd throw up our hands in surrender and give up on our students this easily, so maybe teachers deserve just as much time and opportunity to develop and grow.

Jam Studio: The Online Music Factory

2010-04-21T19:47:00.000-04:00

I am the least musically talented person on Earth. So my first clue as to the awesomeness of Jam Studio was that it helped me create a song that sounded, well, awesome.

Unlike other music sites that require a pretty good ear and a knack for mixing notes and chords and rhythms, Jam Studio does it for you. That's why I would absolutely recommend this site to any teacher wishing to integrate original music creation in their lessons. Trust me, if I can figure it out, you can. And the kids? Forget about it! Jam Studio is so intuitive, they'll be cranking out songs in no time!

Check out this video to see not only the ease of operation, but also the built in sophistication provided by the site's features. And by the way, the interface? No more complicated than what you see in the screenshot above.

Cool, right? And that "Favorite Artist" feature is simply genius!

Now, you're probably wondering (like me) how much the All Access Pass will cost per student. Here's the best news of all: on the bottom left menu bar of the site you'll find an icon labeled "In the Classroom." This link provides teachers with the opportunity to request a grant, allowing their students free full access to the site. The grant process took me all of thirty seconds, and I was instantly approved. All students at my school now have the ability to create music and have their mp3 files sent directly to their emails.

Jam Studio is an amazing site, and I suggest you go there now and check it out for yourself.

Online History Simulations

2010-04-10T09:14:00.000-04:00

Students get more excited about history when they actually experience some of its drama. Back in the day games like Oregon Trail were the absolute best when it came to computer simulations, so it's incredible to see how many free, online games have become available since then. Below is just a small sampling of what's available.

Move It

Move It challenges students to use trains, ships, and wagons to move goods across 1850s England, with limited time and money.

If you're studying transportation, economics, or even math, this is a cool site to explore. (Check out a previous post for some financial literacy simulations).

Building a Sod House

Building a sod house is just one of the many interactives available from the Smithsonian Institute (see the Use Technology section at bottom).

A great activity for classes studying the history of the Great Plains through either a novel or social studies.

Design a Room

Design a room for one of three different historical time periods.

Like Virtual Village below, this site can be used to create an original illustration for a story. After the student sets the scene, a simple application such as Greenshot can be used to clip it and save it.

Trench Mission

In this World War I simulation, guide your private through the trenches to deliver a crucial message to the commander, all the while avoiding the perils of trench life. I needed four tries to do it! I'm sure your students could do better!

Virtual Village

Okay, not nearly as sophisticated as the Sims-type games that are out there, Virtual Village still allows students to create a cool little village using a number of buildings and landscape elements. One of my students used it to create a village scene which she then copied and pasted as an illustration into an original short story.

Evacuation Game

If you were evacuating World War II era London, which items would you need? This is actually a pretty cool site to investigate in connection with not only WWII era novels, but also The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Tenement Museum

Students choose an identity and create a passport as they embark upon their journey to America in the early 1900s. Includes interactive portions as well as videos of reenactors who share information in the first person as immigrants. Many printable items and teacher resources are available.

Need more sites?

For some American Revolution interactives, check out the Crossroads of the Revolution post at my Teach with Picture Books site.

Also be sure to check out the four part Resources from Publishers series at that site.

Need other eras or topics in history? Simply go to your favorite search engine, type in the subject keywords, plus "student interactives."

Children's Drawings, Come to Life

2010-04-02T12:11:00.001-04:00

"What would a child's drawing look like if it were painted realistically?" That's the question artist David Devries asked himself, which in turned spawned The Monster Engine, equal parts book, exhibition, and Internet sensation.

In David's own words:

It began at the Jersey Shore in 1998, where my niece Jessica often filled my sketchbook with doodles. While I stared at them, I wondered if color, texture and shading could be applied for a 3D effect. As a painter, I made cartoons look three dimensional every day for the likes of Marvel and DC comics, so why couldn’t I apply those same techniques to a kid’s drawing? That was it... no research, no years of toil, just the curiosity of seeing Jessica’s drawings come to life.

As you can see, the effect is pretty cool!

So what's in this for teachers? I can imagine a similar activity as a neat cross-grades project, with a kindergartener drawing the original image, a fourth or fifth grader writer an accompanying story (perhaps as the kindergartener dictates it), and a high schooler creating the finished image.

For inspiration, check out David Devries' site, where he discusses the project, shows off more examples of his work, and offers a number of school presentation options. You can also get your hands on David's recently published The Monster Engine Book. That book, plus the video below, can serve as great models for getting your own project underway.

Thanks to Picture Books Anonymous for bringing this site to my attention!

Getting Boys to Read... Anything!

2010-03-29T15:52:00.000-04:00

I recently posted Ten CC's of Books for Boys over at my Teach with Picture Books blog. In that cleverly titled post I feature ten topics which will get boys reading: Caped Crusaders, Curious Critters, Corporeal Crud, etc. (See my cleverness?).

One of my Twitter friends, Kim Sivick (@ksivick), checked out that post and shared a link to a New York Times Op Ed piece by Nicholas Kristof. In the Boys Have Fallen Behind, Kristof points out that

...the Center on Education Policy, an independent research organization, confirms that boys have fallen behind in reading in every single state. It found, for example, that in elementary schools, about 79 percent of girls could read at a level deemed “proficient,” compared with 72 percent of boys. Similar gaps were found in middle school and high school. In every state, in each of the three school levels, girls did better on average than boys.

The Center's report is no shock to me; what shocks me is that the gap isn't larger!

Kristof also cites Richard Whitmire, whose book Why Boys Fail offers additional sad stats, who says, “The world has gotten more verbal. Boys haven’t.”

Kristof then confirms what I asserted in my Ten CC's post by saying

Some educators say that one remedy may be to encourage lowbrow, adventure or even gross-out books that disproportionately appeal to boys. (I confess that I was a huge fan of the Hardy Boys, and then used them to entice my own kids into becoming avid readers as well.)

Indeed, the more books make parents flinch, the more they seem to suck boys in. A Web site, guysread.com, offers useful lists of books to coax boys into reading, and they are helpfully sorted into categories like “ghosts,” “boxers, wrestlers, ultimate fighters,” and “at least one explosion.”

All in all, it seems that Kristof, like me, supports any and every avenue possible to get boys reading. Over time, of course, boys' tastes will mature and they'll move on to more refined topics.

That's all for now. I have to see what's new over at People of Walmart and Awkward Family Photos.

The Secret Life of Scientists

2010-03-20T21:53:00.000-04:00

Scientists are old, boring guys who discovered stuff. Some were women. Most of them are dead now, men and women both.

If you had asked me in high school what I knew about scientists, that would pretty much have summed it up. Science simply wasn't made real to me, and scientists were just those black and white images that appeared occasionally in textbook margins.

If only my teacher had a resource like the PBS/Nova web-exclusive series The Secret Life of Scientists. If you want a good idea of what the site has to offer, check out mechanical engineer Nate Ball. This guy is truly a rock star of science, and just one of the many real-life, three-dimensional scientists featured there. (Be sure to click on the video of how Nate helped develop the Ascender, an amazing self-powered device which is now in use by armed forces and rescue personnel).

In my Teach with Picture Books blog I often praise biographies for their ability to provide real-life role models for children. This site does the same thing for the older, more tech-savvy generation. Definitely worth integrating into your existing science or career curriculum.

PBS Activity Packs

2010-03-10T22:28:00.000-05:00

PBS, that trusted acronym that brought us Sesame Street, continues to provide cutting edge learning tools with their embeddable activity packs. If you're a teacher with your own web site, web page, blog, or other media platform, read on!

What's an activity pack?

According to the site, "An activity pack is a set of educational resources focused on a theme and packaged in a widget-format that you can embed in your own class or social media web page. Each pack includes links to PBS websites and a set of activities by grade level."

In other words, it's a stand-alone app that you can easily install to your site which provides both links and activities for reading and language arts, social studies, science and technology, health and fitness, and the arts. You can either paste the embed code directly into your site, or simply choose a push-button adding feature if your site social media site button is pictured on the array.

While at PBS also check out their new Media Infusion Blog. Cool stuff!

Save the Words!

2010-03-09T19:56:00.000-05:00

In a recent post (There's a Word for That) I discussed how English language is a dynamic language, with new additions daily.

It's only natural, then, as new words enter the language, old words will fade away, right? Not if Save the Words can help it!

Save the Words is a neat site dedicated to saving rare and lesser-known words from extinction.

The site offers Word-a-Day for those who love language, the option to Adopt-a-Word, and suggestions to Spread the Word (such as the tattoo idea pictured here).

Students will enjoy using words that sound made-up, even though they're 100% authentic. Most words here can also be parsed according to Greek and Latin roots, as well as common prefixes and suffixes (see the related post It's All Greek to Me).

Give the site a try! It's a terrific tool to encourage explorations into language!

Rock and Roll Science

2010-02-27T10:24:00.000-05:00

Apparently I am the last teacher on Earth to learn of They Might Be Giants, a really cool band whose song "Science is Real" is featured below. Lots of other great, more topic-related videos by that same group can be found on YouTube. (If you double-click the video below, it will open in the YouTube page, and additional vids by this group will appear to the right).

Good Enough!

2010-02-20T19:48:00.000-05:00

Good enough! I usually cringe at that expression, since it's typically an excuse for substandard work. But in the case of Alternative To, it's high praise!

Alternative To is a site where you can enter the name of any popular desktop program or mobile app, and the site search will return a list of free applications which are close alternatives.

For example, my daughter recently informed me that a trial version of Microsoft Office had expired on her computer and she wanted me to purchase the whole program. It is, after all, a great program (my attempt to avoid being sued).

Enter Alternative To. I typed Microsoft Word into the Search bar and was instantly presented with over a dozen alternatives. I instantly recognized the name Open Office. While Google Docs (another listed alternative) contains a lot of cool features and functionality, my daughter simply needed a platform that looked and acted like Word.

A little more exploration at the Open Office site (Alternative To provides direct downloads as well as links to source sites) revealed that in addition to word processing, the Open Office program also contained applications for presentations, spreadsheets, graphics, and more.

A one click download, a simple installation, and we were all set! Not only does Open Office look and act like Word, but it can actually save my daughter's work in Word formats.

So before you spend another penny of your hard earned money, I recommend you visit Alternative To. You might just find the perfect alternative for personal or school use.

Chess Rumble: Life Lessons from Chess

2010-02-15T15:52:00.000-05:00

The English language is peppered with chess idioms: stalemate (a position of impasse), gambit (a risky tactic, often involving a sacrifice), checkmate (a measured response, leaving your opponent with no way out), rank and file (literally, the rows and columns on a chess board; often used to name the "lesser players" in an organization), pawns in a game (bit players), and endgame (the final phase of an operation or story). Movies, television shows, theater, literature, and even video games widely use chess as a metaphor for human interactions. In The Lord Of The Rings, for example, Gandalf describes the coming war in chess terms:

The board is set, and the pieces are moving [...] But the Enemy has the move, and he is about to open his full game. And pawns are likely to see as much of it as any, Peregrin son of Paladin, soldier of Gondor. Sharpen your blade!
(source: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChessMotifs)

Chess as a metaphor for critical thinking and decision making is the central theme of Chess Rumble, written by G. Neri and illustrated by Jesse Joshua Watson. From the book jacket: "Inspired by inner-city school chess enrichment programs, Chess Rumble explores the ways this strategic game empowers young people with the skills they need to anticipate and calculate their moves through life." Told in free verse, this book has a rich, authentic voice and a truly plausible story line.

Here G. Neri and Jesse Joshua Watson reflect upon their respective roles as author and illustrator, and the phenomenon that is chess:

As an educator once faced with designing an academic curriculum for inner-city youth at a summer camp, I chose chess as a center piece for that program (center piece is also a chess derived idiom). Sixth and seventh graders who otherwise had difficulty following directions and sitting still would immerse themselves for hours in tabletop warfare.

In one memorable game, a student made a reckless attack which cost him a rook (a valuable piece, outranked only by the Queen). My counselor responded to the student's dismay by saying, "You made a move from anger. When I took your piece, your first thought was to get revenge. But if you had looked a move or two ahead, you would have seen a bettter way." That exchange was just one of many that came from our games. (In later years I even taught a chess course at church called The King is the Thing, which taught life lessons through chess).

Chess Rumble is a fabulous book for your classroom library or as a read-aloud. The authentic voice and plentiful black and white illustrations make it a stand out for the middle school group.

10 Places to Find and Share Lesson Plans Online

2010-02-11T12:45:00.002-05:00

The following is a guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Her previous guest post, 15 Free Resources for Young Readers, was a big hit, so I'm pleased to have her with us again.

Finding and sharing lesson plans online can help teachers save time and engage students in new ways. There are several sites that have been set up specifically for this purpose. Here are ten quality lesson plans sites for teachers to try throughout the school year.

Thinkfinity - More than 55,000 lesson plans from sites like ReadWriteThink, EDSITEment, Illuminations, and Xpeditions can be located through this digital learning platform. Lesson plans can be located by subject, grade level, and keyword.

Discovery Lesson Plans Library - This lesson plan library from Discovery Education offers hundreds of original lesson plans for K-12 students. New lesson plans are featured each week.

Teachers Network - Teachers Network provides lesson plans that have been designed by teachers for teachers. Site visitors can choose from lesson plans created by new teachers or veteran teachers.

Learning to Give - Learning to Give develops free lesson plans that focus on volunteerism and civic engagement. More than 1,400 lesson plans for K-12 students are available through the Learning to Give site.

The Learning Network - The Learning Network is a special site from The New York Times that makes it easy for teachers to find lesson plans and other teaching resources directly related to recent news headlines. Specific resources on The Learning Network include a blog, a daily news quiz, a lesson plan search engine, and a student opinion section.

The Educator's Reference Desk - The Educator's Reference Desk has a large collection of more than 2,000 lesson plans written by teachers all over the country. Users can search the collection to find lessons by subject, grade level, or keyword.

Shmoop - Shmoop provides engaging study guides for literature, history, civics, and music. The site also has a special section for teachers that explains how the guides can be incorporated into daily lessons.

We the Teachers - We the Teachers (WTT) combines social networking with aspects of teachers resource sites. Educators can use WTT to create and upload lesson plans or find lesson plans created by other teachers.

Teachade - This community of educators allows teachers to contribute their own lesson plans and search for resources that have been created by other teachers. Teachade also allows users to upload files and links from existing class resources.

Tapped In - Tapped In is an online community of K-16 teachers. The site encourages educators to plan learning projects with colleagues, mentor other teachers, and share classroom resources.

Thanks, Karen, for these terrific resources! Karen Schweitzer is the About.com Guide to Business School, and she also writes about online degree programs for OnlineDegreePrograms.org.

Black History Interactive

2010-02-07T17:46:00.001-05:00

History.com has a terrific interactive site featuring Black History Milestones (this link takes you to the page on Jackie Robinson breaking baseball's color barrier). Perfect if you're looking for a reliable yet accessible starting point for Black History Month!

You'll especially appreciate the slider which allows you to move from early events such as the introduction of slavery in the Americas to more recent events including the election of President Obama. The site includes archival images and video to supplement the article accompanying each milestone. Additional resources including maps and biographical profiles can be found on the site's Black History homepage.

Using Edmodo in the Classroom: Five Days Later

2010-02-05T21:47:00.000-05:00

I recently posted about Edmodo, comparing it to Ning for kids. The fact is, it looks and acts more like a Facebook/Twitter hybrid, but the fact that students can choose to post and interact in groups gives it a Ning feel as well.

Before I tell you how it went, here are the guidelines I provided to students via our class newsletter:

Do not reveal any personal information on Edmodo. No telephone numbers, addresses, or other students’ names. To check someone’s username, click on their class group (schoch12, schoch56, etc.).
Do not post photos or videos showing yourself or classmates.
Keep conversations on topic. There is a proper place (group) for almost anything you’d like to share.
Use appropriate language. If you’re not sure if a word or joke is okay, then it’s not.
Refrain from posts that tease, bully, annoy, spam, or gossip about any other member.
If someone posts an inappropriate remark, kindly ask them to edit or remove it.

These guidelines were in no way a surprise to students. They fully understood the reason for each. We then spent a good deal of time discussing how students would always use coded names to interact (initials, class periods, student number). All students were then required to join all fifteen groups, even if they thought they wouldn't interact in a group (the reason being: once students joined all groups, I changed the access codes).

Our discussion groups include Artwork, Cool Videos (curriculum related), Count Me In (surveys), Discuss Monthly Projects, Fun Stuff (videos and links unrelated to curriculum), My Status, Recommended Sites, Reminders, Stories and Poems, Sound Off (prompted discussions based upon class topics and themes), Vocabulary (lists and related links), What Are You Reading, and three groups designated by period numbers. In retrospect, Cool Videos was an entirely misleading group name (they kep throwing their random funny videos in there) and Vocab simply wasn't needed.

After five days, about fifteen (of sixty) students are the power users. Always on, interacting, and uploading content. An equal number has only logged on when required to respond to a prompt in the Sound Off section. The rest are somewhere in between.

So what's been learned? Surprisingly, a lot.

Technically, students learned how to:

follow and contribute to a threaded conversation, rather than firing off comments into the great abyss;
consider audience when choosing a group with which to share a given message, link, or video;
tag comments for friends to find;
use a filter to sort through collected postings to find what was needed; and
change avatars to match their personalities, while at the same time protecting their identities.

Socially, students learned to

think before posting, and edit remarks when peers disapproved;
refrain from certain conventions and language which, while acceptable with friends outside of the school setting, are considered inappropriate in school;
select hyperlinks and videos which would be enjoyable and appropriate for everyone in the group; and
disagree with ideas without attacking the students who posted them.

We did tweak the guidelines a bit. When one student posted a dozen videos in the first ten minutes, it was decided that each student should post just one at a time. When a student wants to share another, he/she would need to remove the first video. Students also agreed that music videos were too hard to monitor for appropriateness given that the lyrics were often unintelligible, so music videos were temporarily voted down. Temporarily, because other students argued (somewhat successfully) that show tunes and other songs were certainly appropriate, and actually uplifting. We agreed to return to that topic after a week or two.

Overall, students are very excited about this community, and they've been conscientious in its use. While our experiment is thus far successful, I would urge potential users to draft a parental consent form for Edmodo. While our district Internet policy covers the activity in a blanket statement, I think teachers should further protect themselves by getting explicit parental consent for students to participate, while at the same requiring students to agree to established guidelines for conduct.

Upcoming Workshops

2010-02-03T07:44:00.003-05:00

If you're in Central New Jersey in late February with absolutely nothing to do, you might consider joining me for my How to Teach a Novel Workshop.

This free workshop, sponsored by New Jersey ASCD, will be held from 4:00 to 5:30 at Bedminster School in Bedminster, NJ. More details are available via this brochure.

In addition to being free, the event will include refreshments and door prizes, plus credit hours to those who need them. Come join us for a great time! Can't make it? Be sure to check out my How to Teach a Novel blog.

Note: Donut pictured here is for illustrative purposes only. Your refreshment experience may vary.

ALL WORKSHOPS:

Most recently I presented at Techspo in Atlantic City, NJ. Techspo is an annual conference sponsored by the New Jersey Association of School Administrators. If you’re interested in integrating technology into your teaching as well as keeping up with the latest information and tools, this is a good conference to catch next year.

My remaining public events for this year include:

How to Teach a Novel Workshop
Sponsored by the New Jersey ASCD (Free of Charge!)
February 24, 2010
4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Bedminster Township School
Bedminster, New Jersey
More details available in this brochure.
(I’ll be presenting on How to Teach a Novel for teachers in grades 3-8).

Teacher Talk Radio
Facilitated by Jen Schneider, host of Teacher Talk Radio
March 3, 2010 (UPDATE: Rescheduled to April; details to follow).
8:00 - 8:30 p.m.
www.blogtalkradio.com/teachertalkradio
(You can also listen to the talk in the archives if you miss it live).

Integrating Technology Into Content Area Instruction
Sponsored by New Jersey ASCD
Secondary Level: March 9, 2010
Elementary Level: March 16, 2010
(I’ll be at the Elementary Level Day only).
9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
FEA Conference Center
Monroe Township, New Jersey
http://tinyurl.com/ITCAI
(I’ll be presenting on Interactive Reading and Writing Sites).

10th Annual from My Classroom to Yours Conference
Sponsored by Southern Regional Institute & ETTC
March 17, 2010
8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
Pomona, New Jersey
http://www.ettc.net/conference
(Still awaiting confirmation for this conference).

2010 NJMSA Statewide Annual Conference
Sponsored by the New Jersey Middle School Association
March 19, 2010
(see site for times)
Kean University
Union, NJ
http://www.njmsa.com/
(I’ll be presenting on How to Teach a Novel).

NELMS Annual Conference
Sponsored by the New England League of Middle Schools
April 8-10, 2010
(see site for times)
Providence, Rhode Island
http://www.nelms.org/calendar/annual/annual.html
(Still awaiting confirmation for this conference).

2010 Spring Conference: 21st Century Learning for ELLs
Sponsored by NJTESOL/NJBE
May 18, 19 2010
(see site for times)
DoubleTree and Garden State Exhibit Center
Somerset, New Jersey
http://www.njtesol-njbe.org/spring-conference/
(I’ll be presenting on Interactive Reading and Writing Tools).

Edmodo: Ning for Kids!

2010-01-30T15:26:00.002-05:00

While I personally love Nings (I belong to sixteen Nings and counting) and would enjoy for my students to be able to dialogue in such an environment, the fact is this: students under the age of 13 are expressly forbidden by the Ning Terms of Service (and federal law!) to participate in such a forum.

So I spent a good deal of time searching around the web and experimenting with other sites, The best one I found for the purpose of classroom social networking is a site I knew about all along: Edmodo. About a year ago Mashable called Edmodo "Twitter for Education," but with the release of Edmodo 3.0 in August 2009 the site looks and behaves more like Facebook, and is now even easier to set up and implement. (While it's free in its basic version, the company plans to launch for-pay premium add-ons as well as school packages in the future. Get in now!).

So in brief, Edmodo lets the teacher create a social networking site which is totally closed. Not only closed, but also ad-free. Students join with a teacher-provided access code, and can then, in turn, join individual groups (which the teach has created) using additional access codes. (For additional security, you can change all access codes once students are in; in this way, even if students share access codes later, they won't work. Period One students will thus not be able to let Period 5 students into their group).

So after each of my students logs in to my created community, they are then forwarded access codes to join discussion groups such as What I'm Reading Now, Cool Videos, Sound Off (discussions about classroom topics), My Stories, My Art Work, etc. I even included a Status Update discussion so that students can just "check in" and let their peers know what they're up to, even if it's unrelated to any classroom topic. (And in case you're wondering, no, they cannot contact, nor be contacted by, students or teachers in other Edmodo networks; it's all about the access codes).

Unlike Twitter, Edmodo posts can be long! They can also include not only hypertext links, but also embedded videos and documents. Students can respond to teacher generated polls, and can be notified of important postings by teacher-generated alerts. Students can post to group discussions (The Outsiders), students in their class (Period 1), or individual members. But the teacher is able to see it all! In this way students know they're accountable for their actions.

What personal information is required of students? None. Usernames can be fictitious or coded, and avatars can be created or pasted images rather than actual pictures of their students. For those concerned with assessment, all I need to do is click on an individual student's avatar to see every posting he/she has written. If you feel a need to grade such an experience, you could even require a certain number of posts per week, in predetermined groups. I wouldn't.

I've created my Edmoto site and I'm really psyched for my students to give it a go this week. If they have additional ideas for discussion groups we'll add those as we go. I'll post again on Friday and let you know how it went.

Rethink Scholarship

2010-01-29T23:05:00.000-05:00

Very cool. Practice what you preach.

Rethink Scholarship at Langara 2010 Call for Entries from Rory O'Sullivan and Simon Bruyn on Vimeo.

For Lovers of Samorost

2010-01-23T23:14:00.000-05:00

If you're a fan of Samorost and Questionaut, then you'll dig the new three-part adventure created the The Polyphonic Spree (which seems to be some musical group, based upon the only help box that appears at the site, shown here to the right).

Like the other two sites, you're left to your own devices and patience as you try to "click around" the scenes in the proper sequence in order to cause events to unfold, and the story to be told.

And if that's not really your thing, thanks for visiting anyway. For your trouble, here's a cool new online basketball shooting game that even I can play well. You first practice and then shoot against other real live players online. You score higher for clean baskets and quicker shots. Nice reward for those students who finish their work early.

Playnormous Health Games

2010-01-20T18:47:00.002-05:00

Playnormous is a colorful, professionally designed, kid and teacher friendly site that features health games. Now if your first reaction was distaste or boredom, then this site was designed with you in mind. In the site's own words:

Playnormous isn't just for kids and their parents to learn about health the fun way. We've found that many teachers are using Playnormous as a learning tool for their students. Welcome to our site! We hope that you and your students will enjoy what we have to offer. Download our gameplay guides, classroom activities, worksheets, and student assessments.

So for the kids, cool online games that teach solid health and nutrition facts in a fun way. For teachers and parents, downloadable lesson plans and teaching guides. Playnormous also makes it super easy to add a button to your teacher website so that students can access their site from home.

If you teach health in any capacity at the elementary level, give this site a test drive!

For older students, check out NanoSwarm, where students wage war against a plague that threatens to destroy mankind, or Escape from Diab, a adventure/mystery to be solved through an exploration of nutrition.

A Field Trip to Remember

2010-01-16T12:17:00.000-05:00

When everyone else is blogging about tech, apps, and mashups, it seems strange that I'm blogging about a field trip. Not an online, virtual field trip, but an honest-to-goodness, real life field trip. Yes, Virginia, there is a real world beyond the key board!

My recommendation: Native Lands, a traveling program of Green Meadow Farms. Native Lands operates in much the same way as a traveling circus: the caravan arrives in a given location, sets up, and performs a number of times before moving on. But instead of one grand tent covering three rings, Native Lands operates in the great outdoors by setting up a number of stations. Each station is outfitted with sound systems and ample bleachers arranged in a U shape for spectators to take in the action.

But perhaps spectators is the wrong word, because teachers and students alike get to join in on the action: dancing and miming to harvest songs in the African Village, and playing Native American games by the Plains tipis. Other attractions include Animals of the Land and Birds of Prey. All of it educational, and all of it fun! Students can additionally feed a variety of animals at the petting zoo, shoot arrows at the archery range, and purchase food and souvenirs.

I've attended this event in fair weather and foul, and in every case (after a dozen years!) the performers entertain with equal energy and enthusiasm. Like Broadway professionals, they seem to realize that although this may be their 200th show, it is the first for most of their young visitors. And in every case, these same performers have make themselves available to students before and after the show to answer questions, explain their dress, and provide more information about their areas. (Event managers also routinely circulate, collecting feedback from teachers and parent chaperones).

The years that I couldn't attend with students, I've played hooky and taken my own daughters. I highly recommend you visit the site to see if Native Lands is visitingnear you. Definitely worth the trip!

Top 100 Learning Tools for 2009

2010-01-05T21:46:00.000-05:00

Tech speaker and expert Jane Hart has compiled an impressive Learning Tools Compendium at her Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies site, viewable as both a slide show (below) and list of links. Essential stuff!

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009

View more documents from Jane Hart.

Also check out her Learning Tools Directory; perfect for for creators/users of blogs, wikis, all things web.

Professional Development via YouTube

2010-01-02T09:30:00.001-05:00

Debbie Diller, author of Spaces and Places: Designing Classrooms for Literacy and Teaching with Intention, speaks about creating a classroom environment with learning in mind. A great introduction to the topic for novice and experienced teachers alike; be sure to check out her books for more information.

This book is just one of the over 100 videos available for teachers at the Stenhouse Publishers YouTube Channel. You can also check out Debbie Diller's blog for more inspiration.

Drawing Developmentally

2009-12-30T13:19:00.002-05:00

Susan Donley presents a really fascinating chart of drawing development in children at her Learning Design site. Betty Edwards (author of The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain) and Viktor Lowenfeld (author Creative and Mental Growth) chronicle the developmental abilities at children at various age levels (although your experience may vary).

If you're a fan of Daniel Pink and his book A Whole New Mind, both names should ring a bell. If you haven't read that title yet, I highly recommend you pick it up. (I've also done a workshop on teaching ideas from that book).

Parallels can be drawn to children's stages of cognition which roughly correspond with these same ages. When we ask in frustration, "What were they thinking?" this site kind of answers that.

Visual Bookmarking Using Sqworl

2009-12-25T17:44:00.000-05:00

If you're looking to share multiple links, you can always email a list of hyperlinks; however, that looks kind of crowded and lacks a visual element. You can also post those links on a website, provided you have one. But with Sqworl you can instantly create a one-page site which visually presents a snapshot of all chosen sites at a glance.

How could this be used in the classroom? Teachers can create a quick set of links for student reference or for use as a webquest. Students themselves can import web sites as they conduct research online. You could also use this application to create a personalized homepage (similar to Pageflakes), featuring those sites which you regularly visit for updates.

The video below shows how the site works, and may give you some ideas for its use.

Sqworl Screencast from Caleb Brown on Vimeo.

Twiducate: Social Network for Schools

2009-12-19T17:55:00.001-05:00

Most parents still have a lot of reservations (rightfully) about social networking.

Perhaps Twiducate is the right tool and venue for making it happen for your classroom. Has anyone out there tried it yet?

15 Free Resources for Young Readers

2009-12-16T21:46:00.005-05:00

This is a guest post by education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about online school for OnlineSchool.net.

Incorporating technology into the reading and learning process can motivate young people to read more. There are many different sites online that are designed to engage children and encourage a lifelong love for books. Here are 15 Free Resources nearly every young reader will enjoy.

Book Adventure - Book Adventure is a free reading program for reluctant readers. The program motivates kids by encouraging them to create their own book lists, participate in online activities, and earn points that can be traded in for prizes.

Big Universe - This award-winning website is an online community for k-8 readers and writers. Big Universe users can read, create, and share books online.

Read Print - Read Print is a free online library with more than 8,000 books, poems, and short stories. The site hosts the best-loved classics from thousands of different authors.

International Children's Digital Library - The ICDL is a multicultural library for kids. Offerings include hundreds of high-quality historical and contemporary books that can be read online.

Storynory - Storynory provides free audio stories for kids. A new story is published each week.

What Should I Read Next? - This free web application allows users to type in a book they like and receive suggestions on what to read next. Suggestions are pulled from a pool of nearly 70,000 reader favorites.

DogEared - This book blog from National Geographic Kids is written by kids for kids. Readers can find book reviews, get book recommendations, and submit books for consideration.

Kids' Review - Kids' Review is a UK site that offers book recommendations and book reviews for young readers. All of the reviews are written by kids and authenticated by teachers.

RIF Reading Planet - Provided by the non-profit organization Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), Reading Planet is a good place for young readers to find books to read. Users who sign up for a free membership can also write their own book reviews.

GoodReads - This social networking site for booklovers was not created specifically for kids, but it does offer children's literature recommendations. Young readers can also use the site to keep track of what they have read and share book reviews with friends.

BooksWellRead - Readers who use this site can create private book lists to keep track of what they have read. The site also offers a place to take book notes and get recommendations from other users.

BookGlutton - BookGlutton is a site where older children can read and discuss books at the same time. The site is perfect for anyone who wants to start an online book club.

Jen Robinson's Book Page - Devoted entirely to promoting children's literature, this blog provides book reviews, book recommendations, information on book events, and a weekly newsletter.

Growing Readers for Life! - Aimed at parents and teachers, this blog explores different ways to encourage reading among kids. The blog also has a companion newsletter with additional tips.

The Reading Tub - The Reading Tub is a non-profit organization that promotes reading and literacy among children through book reviews, recommendations, author interviews, newsletters, and a blog.

Thanks, Karen, for sharing these sites!

PBS Video Online

2009-12-12T10:28:00.005-05:00

I love using snippets of video in my lessons, and now PBS has organized many of their films online for instant, free access. Some are full length programs, while others are just segments; either way, there's lot to see.

This is also a great way to have students view videos at home, since many parents still (rightfully) fear Youtube.

Online Comic Creators

2009-12-06T19:03:00.002-05:00

A friend on Twitter shared this; a great collection of online comic creators which can be used as a creative response to reading or as a writing option. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, so check them out for yourslef before unleashing your students.

A couple of these would be great extensions for the Hero writing lessons I presented on my Teach with Picture Books blog some time ago.

Online Comic Creators

View more documents from S. Hendy.

Presentation and Workshop Documents

2009-12-05T21:17:00.003-05:00

From a friend on Twitter comes this link to Presentation and Workshop Documents, a great collection of original how-to's offered by John Larkin. His knowledge of Web 2.0 is quite extensive, and he has some terrific resources offered at this site.

If you're a proficient user of all things Web 2.0, perhaps this is a link you can pass on to your newbie friends.

Research Made Easy

2009-11-29T16:09:00.007-05:00

Okay, not easy, but much clearer! Kentucky Virtual Library's Research Rocket offers a student-friendly, step-by-step introduction to the research process.

While the screen shot to the right gives you a basic idea of the steps involved, what it doesn't show you is that each individual step provides its own easy to understand tutorial (see below).

For media center specialists or teachers introducing students to the research process, this is both a great introduction and a great stand-alone resource to which students can refer when going through the motions of information collection and organization.

(The picture to the left is the page a student would access if she clicked on the "Scan First" square of Step 4 on the map. As she reads over the information provided, she can also roll the mouse over the graphics, which provides additional visual cues).

And of course, there's always the option of using individual components of the whole process (such as the Scan/Survey module here) as reading comprehension skill builders in the elementary classroom.

Famous Failures

2009-11-22T18:49:00.003-05:00

From the excellent Learning in Maine blog, a look at Famous Failures. Not bad company to keep!

Class Tools

2009-11-11T22:08:00.006-05:00

Just this morning I had an excellent experience using an exciting interactive site called Class Tools which allows you to create games, activities, and diagrams in Flash (without knowing a thing about Flash!).

While covering an eighth grade social studies class, I informed students that they would be creating review games for an upcoming test. They were less than enthusiastic (and those of you who are familiar with the typical enthusiasm level of eighth graders will know that causing them to be even less excited was something of a real feat).

Hoping to rescue the moment, I asked if some of them would like to create a game online. Even this was met with grudging acceptance, but they agreed, perhaps considering it at least a momentary reprieve from creating another stale board game with markers and construction paper).

Well, in about twenty minutes time, I had some very excited eighth graders on my hands. Not only were they pleased with what they produced, but one exclaimed, "Wow, I actually know this stuff now that I had to type it in to create the game."

While I can't show you what they created, I'll show you one of the sample files from those posted on the site:

Click here for full screen version

As you can see, a Dustbin game requires you to sort words into their appropriate categories; this morning, for example, the students created a Dustbin about the Middle and Southern Colonies.

Another pair of students created an arcade game, which is playable in five formats (again, this links you to a sample at the site). I'd recommend you try several levels of the game option called Word Shoot.

In addition to the games functions, the site features several clever and adaptable utilities for creating other study aids. Teaching suggestions are provided for each, just in case you find yourself wondering, "Cool, but what can I actually do with this?"

Class Tools is well worth a look! Just one word of warning: be sure to save the game you've created before you play it! We learned that lesson the hard way.

Multiplicational

2009-11-01T10:30:00.004-05:00

You've probably seen this before, but it's new to me! While some math teachers might think it's gimmicky, I think a great exercise for students when confronted with any gimmick is to figure out how it works. And, does it always work?

Multiplicational. @ Yahoo! Video

Questionaut: Out of This World Game

2009-10-30T10:54:00.008-04:00

Tucked away in the BBC Bitesize KS2 Games section is a quirky little game called Questionaut. It has no flashy intro and no instructions, and that's precisely the way its creator intends it.

Questionaut begins with a placid enough scene: a strangely hairy, organic shape floats freely in space, accompanied by some funky synth music. A fish jumps in a pond, a creature sitting in a tree weaves a basket, and a small blue figure wearing pilot's cap and goggles dangles his foot over the pond. But nothing happens. So instinctively, the user moves the cursor about, looking for some clues. When placed over the basket, the cursor turns to the familiar pointer finger (this is about as much help as the user will get!) and from here the adventure begins.

Each level presents its own mysteries, which must first be solved with the cursor (what needs to be clicked first, then next?) and then through a series of general knowledge questions. Stage One, for example, (pictured below) asks questions related to reading, writing, and grammar. Others stages include questions on various math and science concepts. Each stage is populated by its own peculiar cast of characters and grooves to its own unique soundtrack.

Most animation and online gaming fans will immediately recognize that the creator of this addictive game is Czech developer/designer Jakub Dvorsky, best known for his popular online Flash game called Samorost. In Dvorsky's own words,

"Samorost" in Czech means a root or piece of wood which resembles a creature; but it is also a term for a person who doesn't care about the rest of the world. I think it's a nice Czech word which has various meanings.

A fitting name, since the goal of the game is to help a small white gnome through a puzzling series of tasks intended to divert a gigantic mass of floating driftwood from colliding with his home planet. Okay, so it's hard to describe, but very addicting to play.

Samorost became so popular that it now has a sequel in which the gnome embarks on a longer quest to rescue his kidnapped dog (chapter one can be played for free, while additional chapters can be played by purchasing the full version for a mere $5).

I'm not here to sell the game. I'm here to sell the idea that teachers should be including games like this in their curriculum, rather than dismissing them as "wastes of time." Dvorak's games require critical thinking skills and an ability to "fill in the gaps" between what is known and what is unknown. They also appeal to a student's natural curiosity and desire for play. And I think we can all agree, his games simply look and sound unlike anything we've seen out there before.

Let's all hope for more collaborations between Dvorak and online ed sites in the future.

What Student Writing Teaches Us: The Blog Tour

2009-06-29T20:17:00.017-04:00

Today I have the pleasure of hosting Mark Overmeyer's Blog Tour for his Stenhouse publication What Student Writing Teaches Us. This fabulous new book (see my full review in the post below) answers many of the questions teachers have about using formative assessments to improve student writing. I also challenged readers of this blog to send in questions for the author which might not have been addressed in the book.(For those of you who haven't checked it out yet, you'll find the full book online at the Stenhouse site).

I was surprised at the in-depth responses Mark provided for the questions sent in. Check out the questions and Mark's answers below, and be sure to grab a copy of his book when it becomes available.

Next year I am planning on using the areas listed on our state writing rubric (ideas and content, organization, sentence fluency, word choice, and conventions) to be the main form of assessing most of my student writing, whether it is to assess just one of the areas (or subcategories within an area) or to look at student writing as a whole throughout the year. I thought of setting it up similar to the CAFE Menu for reading.I thought it would be helpful since we would build common language about writing and it would help students to evalauate their own writing and their peers better. It would also help me to see student progress over time. I am still trying to think through the process before school starts next year though. Do you think this will be effective or do you have any words of caution for the route I am going? (from Mrs. V)

You ask a great question - one I have thought about often as I teach writers of all ages...

I think your idea of using qualities such as ideas and content, organization, word choice, etc. to help students self assess is a good one, and not just because these categories are listed on your state writing rubric. I think this is a logical move on your part because strong writing does, in fact, contain these elements. Like you, I teach students to be aware of their progress in using these qualities or traits in their writing - and my state rubric also evaluates student success based on these factors.

One piece of advice I can provide that I hope will help you: Try to always think of writing instruction as "whole to part" first, not "part to whole."

Years ago, when I first used the traits you mention in my writing instruction, I based all of my mini-lessons on the qualities of writing, but I did not always provide a context. So, since I love word choice lessons, I spent two to three weeks on word choice. I also like to teach sentence fluency, so I typically followed the word choice work with fluency mini-lessons.

Were my students engaged?

Yes.

Did they improve as writers?

I am not convinced they did improve as much as they could have because I was teaching part to whole.

Now, I always provide a context for any mini-lesson about a particular writing trait. For example, if I am asking my students to write personal essays, we first study models of this genre, and then we begin generating ideas and writing drafts. Once we have begun the genre study, I can infuse mini-lessons about word choice, organization, and sentence fluency that are genre specific. Word choice is not the same in a poem as it is in an essay, or a persuasive letter, or a lab report. All traits are genre specific, and when we think of genre first, we are thinking "whole to part."

When I plan now for any type of writing, regardless of the length or complexity of the writing students will produce, I answer the following question: "What am I asking students to write?" (or, as Katie Wood Ray once phrased it when I heard her speak: "Ask yourself: What are we asking our student writers to make?")

When I focus my word choice, organization, and sentence fluency mini-lessons on specific genres, my work is much clearer, more "true" to real-world writing, and more focused on the "whole" rather than the "parts". And, in my experience, students become much stronger writers who are able to more easily self-assess their progress.

For more information about this type of instruction, read Katie Wood Ray's brilliant book Study Driven. I use it regularly as I plan for all ages of writers.

I hope this helps! Take care, and good luck! Enjoy the rest of your summer!

This question is related to student writing, but not so related to the topic of your book. But I would appreciate if you had any advice. I teach 6th grade Language Arts. Any suggestions for how to most effectively use five classroom computers for in-class writing? Too often I see my colleagues having their students using the computers simply as word processors (typing up final drafts). I'm hoping to make them a bigger part of our writing process. Suggestions or thoughts?
(from Colleen in New Hampshire)
Colleen:
Thank you for your question.

Here are a few ideas, and a resource I hope can help you with further suggestions. While technology is not always my strength, I am lucky enough to work in a district that provides a lot of staff development on technology and literacy. I take advantage of these courses and workshops whenever I can!Some thoughts:

Use the computer for different types of "final copies", such as podcasts. Podcasts are relatively simple (if I can do them, anyone can!) and they are best created in small groups anyway. Teachers I know who are most successful using podcasts discover which students in the class already have some expertise in creating them. These students can become tech experts as other students create their podcasts. Podcasts work well for genres such as personal essays, photo essays, and any type of research-based writing that can include photos and voice-overs.
Ask students to use the computers to participate in blogs or wikis as they respond to each other about the literature they are reading. Five students per day per class period can spend some time on the blog or wiki, and this can become part of the way your students respond to each other's thoughts and ideas. It's like an online discussion. You can also use blogs and wikis for students to respond to each other's writing.
If you ever use quick write exercises, consider using visual prompts on the computer screen for students to respond to. They can write for 5 to 10 minutes after looking at a photo or video clip to practice descriptive or narrative writing. If you try this, then each day, five different students can respond to the visual prompt. By the end of the week, everyone will have had a chance.

Sara Kajder has a wonderful book out about how to use computers effectively in the classroom. Sara's book is called Bringing the Outside In, and you should check out her website as well. If you ever have the chance to see her speak in person, by all means go. She taught me so much at IRA a few years ago.

I hope this helps! Take care, and good luck!
Mark: I read through the book and got some great ideas. I'd like to know what other books and sites you would personally recommend to a new Reading/LA teacher who will be teaching average ability students in grades 5-7. (from Karen)
Karen:
Thank you - I am glad you found the book helpful.
Here are some books that I highly recommend, annotated briefly:

Study Driven by Katie Wood Ray. I cannot recommend this book more highly for helping you to create solid, genre based units of study. In Chapter One, the first description of a fifth grade classroom studying commentary made me rethink everything I do with all students. Katie Wood Ray not only helps us to raise the bar for all our students, she helps us find interesting genres for students to study. I have read this book twice per year for the past three years for courses I teach, and each time I read it, I find new nuggets of wisdom.
The No-Nonsense Guide to Teaching Writing by Judy Davis and Sharon Hill is full of great ideas for setting up and maintaining a writing workshop, and includes a curriculum map for the year. I have used it many times as a resource, and I especially like their suggestions about writer's notebooks and teaching poetry. Bruce Morgan's book Writing Through the Tween Years will support your work if you are interested in learning more about using mentor texts and student interest to drive your writing instruction. You also need to know about Kelly Gallagher's excellent Teaching Adolescent Writers. He takes on many of the same topics as Bruce Morgan and Davis / Hill, but he provides more concrete suggestions about grading, developing mini-lessons and helping students to self edit. If you have some structures already set up in the writing workshop and want a troubleshooting guide about conferences, reluctant writers, helping students edit, and other topics, my first book is called When Writing Workshop Isn't Working: Answers to Ten Tough Questions, Grades 2-5. (I always hesitate to recommend my own books when I am asked this question, but many teachers in upper elementary and middle school have told me my book helped them refine their workshops...)
If you want resources on teaching grammar in context, look no further than Jeff Anderson's Mechanically Inclined: Building Grammar, Usage, and Style into Writer's Workshop and Everyday Editing. These two books finally help us answer the question about how to embed skill instruction in the writing classroom without resorting to error-correction exercises and worksheets. They deserve a place on every language arts teacher's shelf!
For reading instruction, I must recommend Cris Tovani's classic I Read It, but I Don't Get It. Though she works with struggling and reluctant adolescent readers, I used this book when I taught gifted fifth and sixth graders with great results. Cris's book helped me to understand how important it is for all readers to establish a clear purpose for reading, and she also helped me see that all readers need to know when meaning is breaking down. When meaning breaks down, we have to know it first, and then change our strategy - and she provides practical, classroom-tested suggestions. I use Cris's techniques with all ranges of readers, from struggling to on-grade level to gifted.

Happy reading! Enjoy the rest of your summer!

All best -
Mark
I know that the old adage says, "Write what you know." I also accept that students will write more enthusiastically about topics that have meaning to them personally. But how can we wean them off of such egocentric writing into areas which may not relate to them personally? (from E-man)
E-man:
This is a great question, and one I have pondered for at least 20 years.

"Write what you know" seems like a simple adage, but it does not provide simple answers to the problems we may encounter as writing teachers.

As a teacher of writing, when I focus solely on topic choice, some writers improve, and others don't. I will fully admit that maybe I am doing something wrong in my instruction, but I am just speaking from many years of experience when I say topic choice alone does not necessarily make for great writing experiences for all students.

The more I work with students, the more convinced I am that "write what you know" fits best within a genre study.

So now, I work within what I call a "framed choice" while we study a specific genre.

For example, when I return to school in the fall, I am going to support primary students as they write poetry, intermediate students as they write personal essays,, and high school students as they write restaurant or music reviews.

The choices they make will "live" inside these specific genres, and I find this provides more opportunities for success because when we study the same genre as a class, we can all become more clear about how to be successful in this genre.

The book that has influenced me greatly in my work with genre studies is Katie Wood Ray's Study Driven. I cannot tell you how much it has transformed my thinking with all the writers I work with, from kindergarten to graduate school. The best part is that I see a lot more energy from all these writers as well, and their self assessment of their own work has convinced me that genre studies are the way to go. Many, many writers have told me that they start to think of many new topic ideas when they become clear about how genres work.

My advice if you are working with fourth graders through high school is to NOT begin the year with personal narratives. Try out a completely different genre - maybe begin the year with personal essay (for a mentor text, see the last piece in Charles R. Smith's book Rimshots where he talks about his influences) or commentary (see multiple suggestions for how to use commentary in the classroom in the first chapter of Katie Wood Ray's book Study Driven). In my experience for the last five years, new genres bring out new topics, and new excitement.
Wow! Thanks for taking the time to reply in such detail, Mark! I especially appreciate the book suggestions, since I'm always looking for proven practices from my colleagues in the field.
Thanks to all who sent in questions, and let's keep up the dialogue! There's a lot we can learn from each other.

What Student Writing Teaches Us

2009-06-05T22:01:00.009-04:00

When conducting my How to Teach a Novel workshop, I’m frequently asked how to best assess reading. I’ve recently noticed, however, that participants ask just as many questions about assessing student writing.

For that reason alone, I’m pleased to participate in the Blog Tour for Mark Overmeyer and his Stenhouse publication What Student Writing Teaches Us. This extremely practical yet highly informed book answers many of the questions I’ve asked myself over the past 20 years, or heard from my colleagues in teacher workshops.

Prior to Mark’s visit here on June 29th, I encourage you to check out the full book online at the Stenhouse site. As you read, jot down your thoughts and questions for the author and then send them my way. We’ll pose these questions to Mark when he visits this blog on June 29th. Don’t hold back! Don’t be shy! This is your chance to pick the brain of a guru who has spent countless hours in classroom, observing and interacting with teachers and students passionately engaged in the writing process.

Jeff Anderson remarks in the Foreword:

The focus of Mark’s book is the most important and often least talked about
facet of assessment: formative assessment. Formative assessment is,
specifically, assessment for learning versus assessment of learning.

When I’ve mentioned formative assessment in various training situations, I’ve been met with furrowed brows and tilted heads; the fact is, formative assessment is not nearly as well known nor as widely practiced as it should be. This book will prove a remedy for that void. In simplest terms, this book answers the complex question “How do we move from trying to evaluate every piece of writing to using writing as a basis for our teaching?” (p. xv)

Again, take the opportunity to read the whole book online. For those who’d like some highlights, however, here are just a few of the notes I jotted down as I read:

Chapter 1: Defining Assessment in the Writing Workshop

Three keys to success: modeling, clear expectations, and meaningful practice toward a standard.
High-stakes testing has too often caused us to equate assessment with a final grade or score.
Formative assessment should be used to adjust what students are doing and, perhaps more importantly, how they’re being taught.
Although formative assessment may change our teaching, it is in no way arbitrary; it is still guided by our expectations, knowledge of proven strategies, and standards.
Good assessment not only improves learning, it encourages students to believe in themselves as writers.

Chapter 2: Formative Assessment in Action: Setting the Stage for Success

Teachers who become automatons (my word) in service to their teaching guides will not see opportunities to improve students’ skills.
Good standards (IRA, NCTE) are not reductive and can be effective tools for planning.
In order to better meet students’ needs, we can change the variables of time, topic choice, and talk.
Limited topic choice may actually help some students.
Framed writing, too often considered “the bad guy,” can be a good thing if it offers multiple possibilities for story development.
In an exemplary writing class, kids will have the opportunities and the know-how to choose their own writing tools.
The origin of every successful class experience is the teacher’s purposeful planning, keeping all learners in mind.
Through an inquiry-based approach, the learners can assess their own learning as well as that of their peers. Teachers do not need to grade 100 papers each night to see this learning for themselves.

Chapter 3: Feedback as Formative Assessment

Rubrics have some liabilities (not news to me).
Rubrics are too often used simply as grading tools rather than learning tools.
Students and teachers can develop more user-friendly rubrics which will encourage growth as writers (and Mark shows us how).
Poetry, by its seemingly unstructured nature, is difficult to assess using rubrics (difficult, but not impossible).
Frequent conversations about assessment create a common language in the classroom.
Listening is perhaps more important than talking in student conferences.
Anecdotal notes can be even more telling than rubrics.

Chapter 4: Self-Assessment

Elementary and middle school classroom nee to be more like primary classrooms, where the writing process is truly a workshop.
Students should not simply set goals, but be taught how to choose methods to meet those goals.
Different students will find solutions to their writing needs through different resources.
Students can learn how to ask for the type of support they need.

Chapter 5: Grades

Grades based totally upon what students can accomplish with total independence are not accurate measures of students’ abilities.
Teachers must take the time to gather data in several ways.
Students who consistently under perform can be coached to greater success (and Mark explains how).
Creating multiple situations where students test quietly with no support is NOT test prep.
Grading does not need to be difficult or all-encompassing; students should clearly understand how the process works.
Dialogues with students about their writing can reveal much more than the writing itself about student skills.
Simple changes to present practice can create a balance in grading.

Chapter 6: Keeping Records, Keeping Track

Read student work with an eye for what to “admire.”
Positive approaches to assessment should replace energy-draining “error hunting.”
Looking for things to admire in student work will help teachers to better plan for writing conferences and mini-lessons. (Mark discusses other reasons for this more positive approach. He also shares a record sheet for writing samples which guides his assessment while helping him to note mini-lesson needs).

Every chapter is supported with real-life dialogues, bulleted summary lists, suggested forms and charts, and teaching models which can be easily replicated. For veteran and novice teachers alike, I highly recommend this book!

While at the Stenhouse site, be sure to check out the contest for teachers at the bottom of the page. For your quick, 500 word response to a prompt you can win an autographed copy of What Student Writing Teaches Us when it becomes available in mid-July.

You can also check out my previous posts on Stenhouse titles at my How to Teach a Novel blog and my Teach with Picture Books blog (if using Internet Explorer, you may need to reload the page for this blog to appear properly).

How to Teach Reading and Language Arts

2009-06-04T06:42:00.005-04:00

In response to one frequent reader of my Teach with Picture Books blog, I have created a lens over at Squidoo (How to Teach Reading and Language Arts) that aggregates the feeds from my three blogs into one place. So now it's easy to see the last four posts of each of those sites in one location. For all the graphics and certainly the video clips, you'll need to click on individual posts, but at least now you've got a single vantage point to check out my latest resources and rants.

While there you'll also find the lenses (static sites) that support each of those blogs. These static sites contain links and information which you'll never see on the blogs, so be sure to stop by and visit those as well. Teaching with Picture Books features 13 reasons why upper elementary and middle school teachers should be using picture books in the classroom (a great resource if you're trying to convince teachers, colleagues, or your boss of the importance of picture books), How to Teach a Novel features ten steps to doing it well (notice I didn't say ten easy steps), and Teaching that Sticks provides an overview of the best-selling Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die (which inspired that workshop and the blog that you're reading right now).

How to Teach Reading and Language Arts will change almost daily, so stop by often to see what's being served up.

911 Writer's Block

2009-06-03T19:19:00.003-04:00

Are you or your students experiencing writer's block? 911 Writers Block is a cool little site that allows you to push a button for instant assistance! Need a Setting? an Ending? a way to Kill a Character? You'll find all of these and more. Once you finish goofing around with the push button phone and reading some of the prompts shown there, be sure to click on the tabs at the top of the site to see what else WeBook has to offer.

NeoK12: Educational Videos and Lessons

2009-06-01T23:19:00.003-04:00

EduTechieGal has unearthed another web gem over at her site. NeoK12 is a site which has compiled and categorized (thank you!) hundreds of educational videos for grades K-12. The site is labeled as 100% Kid Safe, as all video submission are reviewed and approved prior to posting. Definitely worth a look! You can also help build that site into a more valuable resource by referring videos which you presently use or have created yourself.

And if you still haven't checked out EduTechieGal, she's got over one hundred tools for teaching posted on her site. She gives you just enough of a riff to explain it, and the rest is up to you.

You Can Handle Them All

2009-05-29T20:27:00.007-04:00

Classroom management is key to effective instruction. You can't even begin to worry about making your teaching sticky if you don't first have an environment which is respectful, safe, and orderly. For novices and veterans alike, one of the best classroom management websites available can be found at http://www.disciplinehelp.com/. This website, maintained by The Master Teacher, lists 117 problem behaviors, structured by

behavior (attitudes and actions of the child),

effects (ways in which this behavior affects home and school),

actions (to be taken by the adult in dealing with this child), and

mistakes (common errors which may actually perpetuate the problem).

A behavior labeled The Smart Aleck, for example, is defined by these characteristics:

Makes "funny" comments that actually go far beyond humor. And the cutting effect is intentional.

Often rude, and usually disrespectful. Different from the smartmouth; the smart aleck's misbehavior includes both word and deed.

Has been overindulged by adults.

Tries to act superior to others.

Attempts to cover an inferiority complex with this type of behavior.

Denies, and hides from facing, the feeling of inferiority. Is fooling him/herself-and possibly others.
(and so on, for a total of eleven descriptors).

So, does that define your problem behavior? If not, the site offers related behaviors: The Class Clown, The Defier, The Distracter, The Loudmouth, The Show-Off, or The Smartmouth. Yes, these are separately defined behaviors! Step one, then, is making sure that you zero in on the appropriate behavior.

So let's suppose that The Smart Aleck is the proper label. You'd then be able to view the Effects of this behavior. The Effects list helps you realize that that the feelings you're experiencing are a natural outcome of this behavior and not simply you "overreacting." The Effects list can also help you dialogue with the student and parents about the behavior's effect upon others.

Now comes time to take Action. In the words of the site: "Identify causes of misbehavior. Pinpoint student needs being revealed. Employ specific methods, procedures, and techniques at school and at home for getting the child to modify or change his/her behavior."

Perhaps most useful of all is Mistakes, a list of those misjudgments which may "perpetuate or intensify the problem." It's so tempting to respond in turn, yet rarely productive (or mature).

Looking for preemptive strategies and structures to use in the classroom? I highly recommend Setting Limits in the Classroom: How to Move Beyond the Dance of Discipline by Robert J. Mackenzie. If it had been the first book on the topic that I purchased as a new teacher, I would not have purchased any others. He later came out with another title, Setting Limits with Your Strong-Willed Child : Eliminating Conflict by Establishing Clear, Firm, and Respectful Boundaries which offers solution for more difficult students.

When you visit You Can Handle Them All, be sure to first read the sidebar to the right. It begins: "We are labeling behaviors, not children!" A good sentiment to keep in mind when approaching your discipline problems.

Organizing Thinking

2009-05-27T06:40:00.006-04:00

Often in our attempts to do what is best for students, we often forget to simply help them do what is best for themselves. Graphic organizers are an effective tool that allow students to think for themselves, or to organize information when reading novels or texts.

I know, graphic organizers are nothing new. But take a look at what else is out there. There's certainly more than Venn diagrams and Cornell notes. A great first place to look is Freeology.com where you'll find over fifty organizers in pdf format.

From that site:

Why do they work?
Random facts are quickly lost. However, the brain's ability to store pictures is unlimited. And since the brain likes to chunk information, the graphic organizer complements the way the brain naturally works.

When do they work?
Graphic organizers will be beneficial to students whenever they are given new information. They can be used to sequence, brainstorm and organize. During reading and listening students should be encouraged to graphically organize new information.

Need a few more? I doubt it, but here are a few that I've used as well.

ABC's of the Writing Process Links to many graphic organizers.

Enchanted Learning Organizers Printable hand-outs.

Free Printable Graphic Organizers Frequently updated list of organizers.

Graphic Organizer Creator Create timelines, concept webs, Venns, and more for free at this site.

Graphic Organizers HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Extensive excellent list from Region 15 school district in Connecticut.

Graphic Organizers (Links) Links to many types of organizers.

Graphic Organizers for Kids Kid friendly.

Graphic Orgs for Literacy Graphic Organizers for Literature

LATCH Organization LATCH acronym stands for 5 ways to organize ideas.

MOSAIC Listserve Awesome list of organizers in pdf or Word format.

Skills Continuum Different organizers with guiding Qs.

Tools for Reading, Writing, & Thinking What it says.

Various GOs Listed by category.

Venn Diagram Interactive Create a Venn Diagram online.

WriteDesign On-Line Some graphic organizers with reasons for using.

ReSnooze: Another Way to Organize Your Life

2009-05-23T09:00:00.001-04:00

I know there are many methods to remind yourself of events and deadlines but Resnooze seems like a cool way to take some of that burden off of you. Resnooze is an online app that will regularly remind you of dates to remember, at whatever frequency you choose.

For example, I might use Resnooze to schedule

regular parent contacts
distributed assessments and writing samples
visits to websites which are updated, but not as frequently as blogs
interim reports and end-of-marking-period grades
regular family events (doctor and dentist visits, pet meds, etc.)

Demo Girl (I guess she's a really hip, digital-age superhero) provides a nice synopsis of this application (if the embedded video below doesn't run, click here).

YAuthor: Create Course Content Online

2009-05-16T20:59:00.004-04:00

yAuthor is an on-line authoring tool that allows users to create professionally looking interactive content easily. For the teacher, this might mean independent learning modules, self-paced reading selections, tutorials, quizzes, or flipbooks.

This application is fairly new, but the present site features a tour, several demos, and some publicly viewable projects. The interface is extremely easy to use, and allows the teacher to choose among several page formats and quizzing styles (multiple choice, cloze, matching, fill-in-the-blank). Modules instantly provide users with feedback (requiring that they return to wrong answers for correction) and final scores on a page-by-page basis.

One of the better examples at the site is an assessment module on the Civil War. It shows several page formats and quizzing options.

The site is free and looks to be constantly improving with more advanced features. Get in now while the memberships are free!

How to Teach a Novel: The Blog

2009-05-13T21:53:00.005-04:00

Since some of this blog's readers are upper elementary and middle school teachers (special shout out to my homeschoolers), I thought you'd like to know that I've launched a new blog over at Wordpress.

How to Teach a Novel is aimed at teachers in grades 3-12 who use authentic literature in the classroom. This blog will attempt to bring you related web sites, effective and efficient practices, and current and relevant articles related to the art and science of teaching the novel.

You might first want to check out my older, static site over at Squidoo which bears the same name. The How to Teach a Novel "lens" (Squidoo's unique name for personal sites) presents a step-by-step approach for the teacher who holds a novel in hand but lacks the resources to teach it. It's the online companion to a popular workshop I've presented several times over the past couple years. (As for the presumptuous titles? They make it easier to find the sites when searching Google).

I'm a longtime fan of novels, I love teaching them, and I feel that there's a right and a wrong way to go about it. I'd love to hear about your experiences as well. Drop me a line and share your favorite sites and books, best practices, and your success and horror stories. We're in this thing together!

An Idea Whose Time Has Come

2009-05-10T10:06:00.005-04:00

Victor Hugo once said something to the effect of, "An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come." Teachers are constantly torn between embracing new technologies, which come fast and furiously, and clinging to their traditional methods.

Back in the olden days of 1990 I presented a group project for my Masters in Instruction and Curriculum. Our lesson plan included the use of the Green Acres theme song as an anticipatory set to a unit on rural versus urban lifestyles. The professor was satisfied with the project overall but asked, "Keith, how would the average teacher be able to get the opening song for Green Acres?"

I had stayed up until 1:00 AM and copied it (most likely illegally) from an old rerun, but I answered, "In a couple years they should be able to get it from an electronic library. You know, sign out television shows the same way that people sign out books." (I wasn't being prophetic; I had probably read somewhere that such a capability was just over the horizon). The professor laughed, as did a couple students in the audience, so I added, "Or they can stay up until one in the morning to copy it off an old rerun."

The fact is, many teachers now drown in the tidal wave of new technology. That's why I'm so grateful for sites like Recess Duty, EduTechieGal, and Free Technology for Teachers which give us our tech immersion just one ankle-deep wave at a time. I can handle that.

How about you? Are you feeling overwhelmed? How do you keep up with the latest tech products and applications? What professional development opportunities does your school offer on a regular basis for the average classroom teacher to keep informed about tech advances? Which delivery system has your school or district found most useful in educating teachers in this area? Are there other technology-for-teacher sites that you can recommend? Leave a comment or drop me a line.

Motivating Readers with Movie Scripts

2009-05-09T09:30:00.001-04:00

I am guilty of many things, one of them being the use of some nontraditional materials to get kids reading in the classroom. It's no secret that I totally dig picture books for all grade levels, and I also feel that appropriate graphic novels can serve young readers.

Another way to motivate reluctant readers is through the use of movie scripts. For many students, scripts are both engaging and nonthreatening, since the overall plot lines are already familiar (and don't be surprised if students know whole scenes by heart as well). The Internet Movie Script Database features dozens of scripts from current movies and television shows, categorized by genre and fully searchable. These can be read right online, with no download or additional software needed. Simply Scripts has a larger assortment of scripts, from movies, television, radio, stage, and more. Several other sources are available through Google, but I've found these two to be most reliable.

These scripts can be used in other ways as well:

Students attempting to write scripts can use these as models for conventional formatting.

Teachers working on proper use of quotations can assign a portion of a script to be rewritten as traditional dialogue.

Oral expression can be examined through multiple readings of sections, emphasizing different words and varying rate and pitch. For example, how many emotions can be expressed by rereadings of the simple question, "Really?"

Students can discuss the use of flash forwards and flashbacks as vehicles for advancing the plot.

Speakers of English as a second language can practice reading portions, comparing their diction with that of the on-screen actors. (I suppose you'll have to be careful which scripts you choose for this purpose. Having a classroom full of Nathan Lanes or Robert DeNiros is probably not a desired outcome of instruction).

Some disclaimers:

Movies rated R appear here as well, so proper guidance on this site is needed.

I am not a lawyer and I don't play one on TV, but my guess is that printing off entire scripts from this source or any other is probably not legal and should be avoidedSnippets of the scripts might be okay, but don't take my word on that.

Although the scripts I viewed seemed true to the movie versions, it's possible that some vary from the final theatrical releases.

These script sites exist to sell movies, books, DVDS, etc. For that reason, some schools are likely to block them! I recommend you search about a bit and you may be able to find the desired script on an unblocked site.

Have some other uses for online scripts? Email me or leave a comment below.

Wisc-Online: Cool Learning Tools

2009-05-06T07:01:00.001-04:00

Wisc-Online is the repository for thousands of "learning objects," short, focused slide shows and animations, often accompanied by interactive questions and reviews. These are varied by subject and grade level, and just perfect for whole-group interactive whiteboard or individual review.

You know I like it because I usually steer clear of sites that require sign-ups (even if they're free), but Wisc-Online is totally worth the trouble!

I Made Something, Look!

2009-04-29T18:15:00.000-04:00

Josh Selig, president and founder of New York’s Little Airplane Productions, shares on the need for professionals to take some creative time for themselves. Sorry, teachers, but writing lesson plans, mapping curriculum, and grading papers do not count as creative time, no matter how good you are at those tasks and how much you enjoy them (and I know we all enjoy them). Check out Josh's insightful blog at Planet Preschool.

Trackstar: Staking Your Claim on the Internet

2009-04-24T17:14:00.004-04:00

In terms of the Internet, Trackstar is old school. Many teachers, however, haven’t had the chance to see it in action. Basically, Trackstar is a collected set of websites framed by a table of contents which is always visible. As each site is selected, the heading above the site viewer changes to include the teacher’s notes about the site being viewed, as well as questions about its content.

Now that I’ve thoroughly confused you, check out a couple examples that make it very clear. Stayin' Alive: How Plants and Animals Adapt to Air Pollution is a well constructed track with clear instructions and a variety of sites. In addition to the frames format of that previous link, you also have the option to see your links and notes in text form.

An example of how this application can be used for professional development purposes can be seen in Teaching Writers Right. Presenters or teachers forming collegial study group will find that this is an efficient way to organize sites and documents for group viewing.

Is Trackstar difficult to use? Not at all, since you don’t need to create your own tracks; you’re welcome to use the hundreds that have been created over the years. The homepage allows you to search by topic, author, or top tracks. Just be sure to check that all links are still working, and that the related heading content and questions are appropriate for your student group.

If you do wish to create your own, the process is simple, with ample prompts and sequenced steps.

Using Trackstar, teachers can

present students with online learning tasks within a controlled scope of sites;

assign individualized online tasks, differentiated by both web sites viewed and annotations added;

incorporate current events using the Trackstar’s monthly themes or the Track of the Day;

create modules that can be independently completed by students as homework or extra credit;

structure lessons which can easily be carried out by a substitute teacher or a cross-grade learning partner;

supply parents and students with a “virtual study guide” for upcoming tests;

store, categorize, and tag their own favorite sites for future use (all sites for one unit can be found in one location;

share their “best of” sites with virtual colleagues; and

collaborate with colleagues to compile sites and comments in using a “wiki” format.

Edu TechieGal

2009-04-20T23:05:00.005-04:00

Edu TechieGal (I think I got the caps and spacing correct on that) is a once-a-week dose of cool tech tools for teachers. Now, I know that there are dozens of tech blogs out there (feel free to email me your favorites), but I found Edu TechieGal to be extremely simple, focused, and truly geared toward classroom users, at all grade levels. Plus, she doesn't go into too much detail about the sites; gives you just enough to whet your appetite, pats you on the head and says, "All, right now, off you go."

Some of my favorites from her site: Literactive, a colorful and friendly little site for the preschool and kindergarten crowd, Be Funky, a super-simple photo effects site, Tenement Museum (pictured on the right), a really cool interactive immigrant experience site (where the heck was this when my daughter and I were doing that Ellis Island project two months ago?), and Word Ahead, a collection of vocabulary video flashcards, perfect for students hoping to cram vocab in preparation for SATs and other standardized tests.

So check out her site, give her a word of encouragement, and definitely forward some links to other tech sites of interest to teachers.

No Singing Around the Fire at this Camp

2009-04-19T16:18:00.003-04:00

As I long-time lover of summer camping, I was curious to learn more about Camp Okutta, which features a minefield, a firing range, and a grenade pit. No, it's not a camp for the Army, Marines, or Rangers. It is, in fact, a camp for kids, as the site videos will clearly show you.

When you start to wonder, as I did, what kind of parents would allow their kids to attend such a place, click on the link which reads, "Where is Camp Okutta?"

As we teach about Holocaust Remembrance Days this week, sites like Camp Okutta can help us point out to students that atrocities of war are unfortunately not simply a thing of the past, to be studied, but an ongoing area of concern.

The Privileged Status of Story

2009-04-17T00:30:00.005-04:00

"I have read that the mind treats stories differently than other types of
information. It seems obvious that people like listening to stories, but it’s
not obvious how to use that in the classroom. Is it really true that stories are
somehow "special" and, if so, how can teachers capitalize on that fact?"

The answer to this question is well worth a read for any teacher desiring to put the power of story into their daily instruction. Cognitive scientist Daniel T. Willingham addresses the topic of story in his excellent article The Privileged Status of Story, one of his many Ask the Cognitive Scientist columns at the AFT's American Educator.

Daniel first defines story using four features commonly agreed upon by professional storytellers (playwrights, screenwriters, and novelists). These features (sometimes called the 4 Cs) are Causality, Conflict, Complications, and Character. Even if a teacher chooses not to tell "stories" in the traditional sense, employing just one of these features can have a profound impact on every lesson, helping to create learning that is interesting, memorable, and easier to comprehend. (Are you hearing some of our sticky ideas?).

Although his role is to point out the theory and research behind the well-deserved status of story, Willingham writes like a practitioner, offering suggestions which are practical and simple to implement. For you fans of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, this article is a concise, highly accessible how-to guide for putting story to work in your instruction.

How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

2009-04-14T21:02:00.006-04:00

Sir Ken Robinson, best known for his TED talk of last year (see second video below), is on the web again, this time talking about his new book The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. For those of us who have heard or used the expression "in his element," we understand phrase to mean that he is "doing what he is best at," or "doing what he was born to do."

That's The Element in a nutshell: a bold proclamation that people can do best what they actually enjoy and are good at (no news there), but that too often they are turned from the pursuit of what will ultimately fulfill them by the dictates of others, the "realities" of making a living, and (you guessed it) schools that limit their choices and dreams. Not saying he's wrong, mind you, but we all knew that was coming. And that's probably bad.

A favorite part:

Finding a purpose in the work we do or they way that we spend our time which resonates deeply with who we think we are, is an essential part of knowing who we are. In a way, if you don’t know what you can do, then you don’t really know what you might be.

Our own lives are not linear. Think not of linear metaphors for human growth and development, but organic metaphors… that our lives evolve around the responses we have to the opportunities that meet us. We, in turn, reciprocate with them. We still run our education systems as if life is linear. We run them as if it’s mechanistic. This is one of the reasons so many things get phased out of education, because people say, "Well, you’ll never get a job if you do this." Things are dropped off the end because they don’t meet the linear assumption.

If you've got the time, this is well worth a look.

Sticky Teaching in Action

2009-04-12T09:03:00.002-04:00

I love to see a good "sticky lesson" in action. Check out this clip from Mr. Langhorst's 8th grade in Liberty, Missouri. See how many of the six elements of "stickiness" you can see spot (see the Teaching that Sticks sister site for a quick primer from Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.

I love this approach! In my third and fourth grades, where I've taught the Revolutionary War as well, I've taken a slightly different approach. Students were presented with a letter from the school board, announcing that due to last year's low test scores several drastic measures would be put into place: extended school hours, summer school for all students below a 3.5 average, school on Saturdays, and no more Physical Education. Students became quite upset that neither they not their parents were in attendance at this meeting, and that they were being punished for last year's bad scores (purely fictitious as well). Seeing how distraught my students were, I graciously allowed them to draft letters to the testing coordinator (Mr. Itzall LaSham) expressing their feelings. Without fail, students created the most articulate, persuasive writing of their lives! When read aloud, the letters of protest were impassioned and convincing.

But then I wondered aloud, "I'm not sure if we should have done this. Perhaps Mr. LaSham will get upset, and call your parents. Are you guys really willing to take that risk?" Out come the erasers, but not for all. Most students are so adamant in their beliefs that they refuse to erase their names, no matter what the consequences!

It's usually at this point, although sometimes much earlier, that some student will exclaim, "This is exactly what happened to the colonists! We're being forced to live by rules that we didn't help to make." And eventually, of course, I do let students in on the secret: The letter is fictitious, and so is the testing director (Mr. It's All a Sham). We then discuss the similarity between their letters and the Declaration of Independence. Both documents express extreme dissatisfaction, but the latter is further expressing outright rebellion. Should the colonists lose this war, the bold Declaration will serve as King George's hanging list.

In nearly twenty years of implementing this lesson, students have been faithful to not share it with their siblings or friends, and each year's new class faithfully falls for the trick: hook, line, and sinker. But the real payoff is that years later, when students return from high school and college to visit, they'll ask, "Did you do the letter yet?" and they'll vividly recall every aspect of the lesson, including its point.

Now that's a lesson that sticks.

(If you're a social studies teacher, check out Eric Langhorst's blog for more great resources and insights. Thanks to John over at Teacher Toys for the link suggestions).

How NOT to Teach a Novel

2009-04-11T10:16:00.011-04:00

Some teachers, with all the best intentions, treat novels like pinatas, beating them with sticks until every last piece of sweet candy falls out. Those of you who caught my How to Teach a Novel session at the New England League of Middle Schools (NELMS) Conference know I use that metaphor frequently. For good reason, trust me.

As Kelly Gallagher points out in his recent book Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Readig and What You Can Do About It, teachers underteach books; that is, they assign chapters in extremely difficult books for independent reading, and students either choose not to read the selection, or they read it with little understanding. On the other end of the spectrum, however, are those teachers who overteach novels; they are not satisfied until the pages have been wrung out like dish rags, emptied of every teachable vocabulary word, allusion, metaphor, and simile.

In my How to Teach a Novel sessions I certainly point out that every novel should be read and reread with pencil in hand, in order to decide, "What's worth our attention?" or, more practically, "What's worth teaching?" (see How to Teach a Novel for a synopsis of this topic). That doesn't mean, however, that the teacher needs to teach it all!

Imagine that you're listening to the Motown classic My Girl on the radio. How frustrating would it be if every twenty seconds the DJ interrupted the song to examine its language, or to "enlighten you" with some historical background which places the song or group into a historical context?

I've got sunshine, on a cloudy day

(Does the singer literally have sunshine? Is this an oxymoron alone, or is it meant to, in some way, be metaphorical?)

When it's cold outside, I've got the month of May

(Who knows the origin of the name Motown? Right, it's related to the fact that Gordon Berry established his record label in Detroit, which is also known as the Motor City. But who can tell me the nickname Berry gave to Motown Records itself? Why don't we continue to pause the song while our listeners look that up?)

I guess you'd say, "What can make me feel this way?"

(Note the use of sentence variety here, and the way in which the singer directly addresses his audience. Is he expecting an answer? What do we call a question in which the speaker does not expect to receive an answer?)

I think you get the idea. When it comes to teaching novels, I wish everyone did.

Academic Genocide

2009-04-06T18:57:00.003-04:00

In my role as blogger I realize there's an expectation for me to crank out some original content every few days. Hey, no problem, I'm up to it. But when another writer can express my feelings on a topic with equal passion and greater craft, then I will gladly surrender the stage. Enter Steve Peha, whom many of you met a few weeks ago through his Teaching That Makes Sense site. Steve recently fired off an editorial about what he terms "academic genocide." Strong words, but perhaps sadly and frustratingly accurate. It's what happens when teaching is oversimplified. Give it a read; I'd like to hear your reaction! Feel free to email me since I know the comment process is at times daunting!

The Secret to Descriptive Writing

2009-04-02T23:38:00.010-04:00

Either I’ve encountered a conspiracy to confound teachers of writing, or I’ve discovered an “obvious secret” of descriptive writing. It appears that verbs are, indeed, “what’s happening.”

I heard about the power of compelling verbs first from Ralph Fletcher in his recent visit to the Garden State. He explained that well-intentioned teachers encourage their students to use numerous adjectives to create interesting prose, which leads to detail-saturated writing which drags under its own weight. Simply unnecessary. In Ralph’s own words, “Nouns make the pictures, verbs make the pictures move.”

Flash forward to the New York State Reading Association’s Annual Conference held this past week in Saratoga Springs, New York (one of the best conferences I’ve ever attended). During the Author’s Progressive Dinner I had the pleasure of sitting with Steven Swinburne, creator of several wonderful nonfiction picture books including Lots and Lots of Zebra Stripes: Patterns in Nature and Turtle Tide: The Ways Of Sea Turtles. As he spoke with his guests about the creative process, he mentioned the importance of verb selection. When I asked why he had mentioned verbs rather than any other part of speech, he quickly replied, “The correct verbs are essential. Verbs are the motor which drives the sentence.” Now I’m thinking that I’m on to something.

The following day I enjoyed a conversation with Steven Krasner, author of Play Ball Like the Hall Of Famers: The Inside Scoop From 19 Baseball Greats and Play Ball Like the Pros: Tips for Kids from 20 Big League Stars . Through his Nudging the Imagination workshop, Steve explained, he creates stories with students on-the-spot in order to model the writing process. “A huge key,” he explained, “is helping them to find the verbs to really move the story.” Opening one of his picture books, he pointed out he crafted the precise, vivid verbs of the final draft during the revision process, replacing common verbs which served only as place holders in the early stages.

If three very different writers can agree on the importance of verb choice, then I think there are some lessons to be learned by teachers of young writers:

Encourage students to examine verb choice in novels, poems, and informational texts. I have even rewritten text selections using “common verbs” which students were then challenged to replace with more precise or colorful verbs.

Have students consider verb choices in their own writing, and work to find action words that are more exact.

Teach children how to use a print thesaurus or online reference source (such as the Merriam Webster dictionary) for assistance in locating more exact expressions.

Ralph Fletcher: A Way with Words

2009-03-28T08:46:00.004-04:00

A few nights ago I had the genuine pleasure of hearing Ralph Fletcher speak on Helping Young Writers Develop Writers’ Craft at an event sponsored by the Tri-County Reading Council here in New Jersey. For those who may not know him, Ralph Fletcher is a writer of picture books, novels, and poetry. He is also a teacher of teachers, having created such excellent writing instruction books as Craft Lessons: Teaching Writing K-8 and Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide.

What I personally took away from his talk is that we, as teachers, make writing far too complicated. We fail to keep it simple, and as a reult students see it as a complicated task they they are ill-equipped to tackle. We perhaps attempt to accomplish too much in any given writing lesson, which makes the average student reluctant to write (How can I possibly get all that stuff right?) and the average teacher reluctant to teach (How can I possibly choose from among all those skills that students must demonstrate?).

Throughout his presentation, Ralph shared many examples of student writing which were equal parts skillful, humorous, and charming. Some pieces made us laugh out loud; another piece, when shared, caused a colleague at my table to remark, “If one of my students wrote that, I would not be able to hold back the tears.” These authentic, concrete examples reminded us, in Ralph’s own words, that “story comes first,” and that we, as readers, need time to respond in a natural way to students’ writing.

Interspersed between picture book readings and student examples were the “nuggets of wisdom” we had all come to hear. How shocked we were to learn that we already knew them! As writers, as teachers, we already knew what he had to share. But in our attempts to follow the curriculum, meet the standards, and pound every nail, we had forgotten the simpler things.

Ralph had three straightforward (read: simple), yet powerful, ideas to share on the topic of Craft Elements.

His first: Take advantage of micro-texts.

The readers of this blog know how I feel about picture books and the unique role they play in modeling colorful, yet concise, writing. As I posted at the sister site (which provides support for picture books in the middle grades):

When we ask our students to "write a story," we rarely mean a story with chapters. Why, then, should we have students read only those types of books? Picture books provide succinct models for student writing. Nonfiction picture books also exemplify brevity versus exposition in presenting the facts that the reader needs.

Ralph illustrated that very idea by pointing out that in first grade, children write what they are reading: few words with many pictures. This changes as they move up in grades, however, until by fourth grade students are reading novels that they couldn't ever hope to write, given their existing skills. In other words, (mine, not his), children who have little or no access to micro-texts are being denied accurate, realistic models for their own writing.

As an example, Ralph shared his wonderful picture book Grandpa Never Lies. He then recounted a classroom lesson he had observed about that very book, and how the teacher had used the analogy of a snowball rolling downhill, growing ever larger as it progressed. The recurring line of the book acted in much the same way, growing with importance each time it was repeated.

Such a concept is easy to study in the context of a picture book; so much harder to extrapolate from the noise and confusion of a novel.

Ralph’s second observation: Use literature that kids already know. (By the way, I dig Ralph because he uses the word kids. Too many teacher bristle at that!).

Is it okay to reread books? Absolutely! According to Ralph, “Really deep connections come from rereading books.”

And if students say, “But we read that book last year,” your response can be, “Great! Then this time we can read it the way that writers read.” That, in turn, leads to new, fertile ground for understanding: How do writers read differently from readers?

And lastly: Note what your student writers are already doing.

Yes, we can spend time marveling over what professional authors have produced, but are we taking time to recognize our own students as writers? Are we acknowledging their efforts? Do they feel that, as humble students, they have the credentials to call themselves writers? Are we, in Ralph Fletcher’s words, “putting kids into the game” and allowing them to be in the “circle of authorship?”

Celebrate the successes you see, no matter how small. Use students’ work to model strengths, but never to illustrate deficits.

It is so tempting, he says, to try to teach everything (voice, leads, character development, etc.). This leads to teachers “mentioning” elements of writing rather than actually teaching them. One of the most important skills that we miss, due to our efforts to “teach it all,” is that of having children critically reread their own writing. How can they improve their writing if they never take time to reflect upon it? It is so much more beneficial to take your time, focus on just a few aspects of writing, and teach those well.

In closing, Ralph reminded his audience that when looking at student writing, it’s important to “respond as a human being first and a teacher second.”

I’m glad he said that. Sometimes I forget. Even though I already knew it.

So check out Ralph’s work, both for your students and for yourself. Craft Lessons is my favorite (I bought my third copy tonight, since colleagues have “borrowed” my previous two), A Writing Kind Of Day: Poems for Young Poetsis hugely popular in my class during Poetry Month in April, Marshfield Dreams: When I Was a Kid is an autobiography with authentic voice, and Grandpa Never Lies is on my “Gotta Have” list after hearing it tonight. (These and several others are featured in the slide show in the right margin of this page).

Also check out Ralph Fletcher’s homepage, which features tips for teachers and young writers, plus additional information about the author and his work.

How to Create Blog Interactivity with Apture

2009-03-21T15:59:00.009-04:00

Just recently I discovered Apture, a nifty add-in that truly makes my humble little blog a better experience for visitors. I love it because it's so sticky: simple to install, unexpected for first time viewers, and concrete in its elaboration of words, phrases and concepts.

So what is it, exactly? Apture provides inconspicuous little icons (like the one you just read past) which (when paused upon with the cursor) will provide additional content (in this case, a brief blurb on the word Apture). Of course, if the reader doesn't want the additional media, he or she can blissfully read past the icons. And regardless of whether or not the reader wishes to hear the Beatles classic Hey, Jude when I reference it, the application resides in the text unobtrusively.

So if you're a blogger, definitely check out this application. It may just give you a reaction as enthusiastic as Meg Ryan's in When Harry Met Sally. And, as always, email me if you'd like to share your own ideas!

Where the Wild Things Are: The Movie

2009-03-20T00:47:00.008-04:00

The latest children's classic to be headed to the big screen is Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. Am I alone in thinking that some things should simply be left in their pure, original form?

As a teacher I fully understand the argument that some classic works must be adapted in order to resonate with modern audiences. Critics may claim that Shakespeare, for example, must be reinterpreted (or reimagined) in order to be understood and appreciated by today's youth.

That is why I particularly enjoy a performance such as Kenneth Branagh's in Henry V (see below). The words are unchanged but their meaning made clear by the acting, the editing, and the accompanying score.

For those who love the "band of brothers" theme but feel that the original is inaccessible to today's audience? Well, take the theme and run with it. Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg chose Band of Brothers as the title for their excellent HBO miniseries on the 101st Airborne; the speech itself appears prominently (and respectfully) in Danny DeVito's Renaissance Man, and certainly a derivation of its themes appear in Mel Gibson's speech to his men before the Battle of Stirling in Braveheart. In none of those films is the message dumbed down.

Okay, that's Shakespeare. So do we really need a movie to make this classic children's book accessible to modern audiences? No. So I'm guessing that it's simply meant as a film interpretation. And perhaps as a teacher I'm supposed to happy, since it might encourage more children to get out and read. But considering that the book, after several decades, is still in the top 200 at Amazon, I don't think our children are having difficulty comprehending it.

My earnest desire is to be proved wrong. I really hope this movie does justice to the book's art, simplicity, and motifs. Please don't blow it.

Interactive Writing Sites

2009-03-12T23:47:00.007-04:00

A visitor tried out Wordle after reading about it here and said her kids loved it! Stacey wanted to know if I could recommend similar sites that might encourage her kids to get more psyched about writing.

Glad you asked. I recently finished compiling some Interactive Writing Tools that my students just love!

The collection is by no means complete; for example, I have since heard from Martin Jorgensen, creator of Lightning Bug, who informed me that he has recently launched The Digital Narrative, which looks like a pretty awesome blog/resource compilation. I've spent only an hour there and barely scratched the surface!

So check out those sites, enjoy them with your students, and please email me any other recommendations that you might have.

Playing with Blocks: Not Just for Kids

2009-03-08T23:28:00.001-04:00

From TED talks:

MIT grad student David Merrill demos Siftables -- cookie-sized, computerized tiles you can stack and shuffle in your hands. These future-toys can do math, play music, and talk to their friends, too. Is this the next thing in hands-on learning?

Teaching That Makes Sense

2009-03-06T21:29:00.004-05:00

Teaching That Makes Sense, founded by Steve Peha, is an impressive web site full of well-organized, original resources on reading and writing.

They're all in pdf format and they're all free.

Is this guy insane? It would be easy to understand his generosity if the stuff was mediocre. But Steve has put together hundreds of pages of strategies, structures, checklists, and posters for teachers that are high quality, practical, and immediately usable.

Getting started in Reader's or Writer's Workshop? Looking for authentic student writing samples? Seeking sound ideas for writing across the curriculum? Need a writing lesson to use tomorrow? It's all there. And if that's not enough, Steve and his crew are continually adding articles on the teaching profession that are truly worth a read.

And it's sticky stuff, because the ideas are concrete (yet not closed-ended) and simple (yet not dumbed down).

So visit the site. Read the articles. Download the pdfs. Before Steve comes to his senses.

UPDATE 03/09/09: Apparently they loosened Steve's straight jacket long enough for him to peck out a response to my post:

Hey, Keith! Love your blog. And your kind words about our work are really
appreciated. Here's a link to our newest strategy guide (not yet on the site) if
you're interested: www.ttms.org/ttms_strategy_guide.pdf. We've also got a new
book on reading that we'll be giving away, too. Is this guy crazy? Perhaps. But
I really just want teachers to have access to good materials.

Thanks for stopping by, Steve! We appreciate your efforts.

Presenting: A Two Way Street

2009-03-05T07:49:00.004-05:00

In his most recent blog, marketer extraordinaire and all-around-knowledgeable guy Seth Godin points out that emotional give and take is a key for successful presenters. Check out his thoughts on respect for the audience.

It's All Greek to Me

2009-03-05T07:24:00.007-05:00

While most educators would agree that the best method for vocabulary acquisition is the act of reading itself, there's something to be said for word root study, especially Greek and Latin roots.

This became clear to me years ago when we were studying decimals. I made the casual observation that deci- typically means "one-tenth of" and mentioned the word decimeter as an example. Michael raised his hand and asked, "So is the word decimate somehow related to that?" Being the confident, all-knowing teacher that I was in my third year teaching, I answered, "No," and dismissed the class to lunch.

As I munched on my chicken salad sandwich, and regained strength of both body and mind, I realized that I had missed an opportunity. Following the lunch period, I encouraged Michael to look up the word in the dictionary.

The word decimate in present use means ‘to destroy a large part’ of something, but its origin sheds light upon a somewhat drastic means of behavioral intervention. According to the Merriam -Webster New Book of Word Histories,

A technique used by the Roman army to keep mutinous units in line was to select one-tenth of the men by lot and execute them, thereby encouraging the remaining nine-tenths to follow orders. The Latin verb for this presumably effective form of punishment was decimare, literally, ‘to take a tenth of,’ which was derived from decimus, meaning ‘tenth.’ (pp. 133-4)

Since that time I've been an ardent believer that vocabulary instruction can greatly benefit from word study (etymology). Etymology can, in fact, shed some light upon the world in which we presently live.

The Greek origin of the word ostracize, for example, cements its meaning into the memory:

Ostraka were shards of broken pots re-used as voting 'ballots' cast by the
Athenian assembly, who would each choose a politician they wished to have
'ostracized', or exiled for ten years. If any one name received a majority and a
total of 6,000 or more votes, that man would have to leave Athens.

At the time the hit television series Survivor premiered, it was hailed for its originality. Turns out that its premise was actually thousands of years old!

Below you'll find some links where you and your students can check out word origins for yourself.

Etymologically Speaking... Word origins appearing alphabetically.

Funwords.com For word origins, click where it says "Expand your vocabulary."

Greek and Latin Roots Information and activities for understanding Greek and Latin roots.

Meanings and Origins of Phrases Searchable database.

Online Etymology Dictionary An A-Z searchable collection of word origins.

Word Detective Origins plus other cool word-related facts.

Word Origin Game Given a word, select its origin or meaning from three choices.

Word Spy Web site is devoted to lexpionage, the sleuthing of new words and phrases. NOTE: Some adult themes here!

I Want to Teach Forever: 52 Teachers, 52 Lessons

2009-03-05T07:12:00.002-05:00

At 52 Teachers, 52 Lessons, Mr. D has started a project called "52 Teachers, 52 Lessons." Once a week for a year, Teach Forever will share an essential lesson submitted by teachers, for teachers. 52 different "mini-lessons" will answer the question:

"What is the most important advice you can give to other teachers?"

Yours truly was featured on March 2nd, with some Advice for New and Student Teachers.

Stop by the site to hear some great advice, or weigh in yourself on the topic.

The World According to Ben Hillman

2009-03-01T08:36:00.004-05:00

Slam dunks are no problem for this guy.
Polar bears are the largest carnivores on Earth. And when they stand on their hind legs, they’re the tallest. The biggest polar bear anyone ever saw stood at astounding 12 feet tall (3.7 m.). That’s two feet higher than the rim of a basketball net.

from How Big Is It?
by Ben Hillman

Ben Hillman has created four wonderful books which illustrate the magnitude of real life objects by comparing them with everyday phenomena. How Big Is It?, How Strong Is It?, How Fast Is It?, and How Weird Is It? have quickly become nonfiction must-reads for the upper primary and intermediate school set.

As shown above from How Big Is It?, the largest polar bear on record is a whopping 12 feet! Yes, students will be surprised to hear that a polar bear is taller than their classroom ceiling, but the surprising juxtapositions created by Ben Hillman's composite illustrations drive home each book's concepts in a really powerful, fun way.

Have some reluctant readers? They will devour these books! The text is as wonderful as the pictures, and is in no way dumbed down for the young audience for which it is intended. In speaking about the Akula (Shark) Submarine, for example, Hillman writes

This leviathan of the deep is one of the most dangerous submarines imaginable –
a giant submersible weapon of mass destruction.

Many of the contextual clues needed for comprehension are provided by the illustrations. Some words, however, are not made clear by the pictures alone, and the reader's curiosity will promote an interest in word study.

As seen in this description of our polar bear from How Big Is It?, the text, like the illustrations, uses similes, metaphors, and hard data to create memorable juxtapositions,

For short distances, a polar bear can charge along at 25 miles per hour (40
km/h) – almost as fast as the fastest Olympic sprinter.

From How Strong Is It?, a description of human hair's amazing strength:

The average human hair can support 2 to 3.5 ounces without breaking. That doesn't sound like much, but the average human head has more than 100,000 hairs.
And blondes have more than most. About 140,000 hairs per blonde... So how many princes can Rapunzel handle? Do the math. Her two golden braids can hold at the
very least 17,500 pounds of princes!

All four books are a blast! They make excellent nonfiction read-alouds due to their brevity and brilliance, and the individual topics need not be read in any particular order. How Strong Is It?, for example, features twenty-two two-page spreads, with a full color picture on the left (running onto the right page), and an article-length text appearing on the right.

Visit the author's site for an up-close preview of these books. Students especially enjoy the cool roll-over feature used to illustrate the sample pages provided.

Looking for questions and extension activities to use in the classroom? You can find those at my Teach with Picture Books site (along with suggestions for other excellent picture book read-alouds).

Lasting Impressions

2009-02-26T06:58:00.005-05:00

The following story appeared widely a few years ago. While probably apocryphal, it nonetheless provides an example of an unexpected yet simple solution:

According to a radio report, a middle school in Oregon was faced with a unique problem. A number of girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror, leaving dozens of little lip prints.

Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the cutodian. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the crew that had to clean the mirrors every night. To demonstrate how difficult it was to clean the mirrors, she asked the cutodian to clean one of the mirrors.

He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it into the toilet and then cleaned the mirror. Since then there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

Why Do Some Ideas Survive While Others Die?

2009-02-25T20:26:00.009-05:00

One reader made the excellent suggestion that I summarize the six keys to "stickiness" discussed in Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Dieand then actually use those six keys as tags for my posts. That idea sounds just crazy enough to work!

In a nutshell, Chip and Dan Heath say that an idea is memorable if it is Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and told with a good Story. The authors admit that the resulting acronym SUCCES is a bit corny, but memorable nonetheless. As teachers, we need to build our lessons upon these six basic criteria.

But rather than discuss these critical traits individually, let me provide an example that utilizes them all.

The Charles Atlas bobybuilding ads which first appeared in the backs of pulp comic magazines sold millions of Atlas products. Why? Because they promised to turn a zero into a hero. And more importantly, they were incredibly memorable and persuasive.

First and foremost, the ads were simple. In most versions, half of the page features the tale of the 97 pound weakling who becomes a man, told in comic book format. Charles Atlas and collaborator Charles Roman knew that their young readers would immediately connect with the hybrid language of the comic strip. On top of that, the ad promised these miraculous results in just 15 minutes a day!

The unexpectedness of the 97 pound weakling's defeat of his nemesis is not unexpected at all, if one is familiar with Joseph Campbell's Hero Myth. But for our pimple faced comic collector, the mere daydream of such an act would be enough to funnel precious dimes and quarters into an envelope in hopes of a similar triumph over foes (real and imaginary).

How do we know Atlas can help us? Well, just look at him! The results are incredibly concrete and his claims, by every measure, are credible. He doesn't seem to even want our money, because he's offering the book for FREE!

And the story, of course, appears in those simply drawn frames. (As a reader of the comics, I will shamelessly admit to you that I spent as much time reading that ad as I did the super hero adventures which preceded it). It's rewarding to learn that the 97 pound weakling "story" is cited by Atlas himself to be chiefly autobiographical and true (see Charles Atlas Body and Soul).

Some 80 years and six million sales later, Joseph Gustaitis, writing in the September 1986 issue of American History Illustrated, explained the ad's real success. He stated that the original ad campaign created by Charles Roman had resounding success because Atlas "did not pitch health or larger arms, he sold manhood. When you signed on with Atlas, you did not enlist for fitness alone, you bought courage, self-reliance, and sex-appeal--and you got the goods to deliver them." In other words, along with the promise of the physical benefits were the emotional.

So if this one simple ad can so easily incorporate all six elements of "stickiness," then imagine what is possible with one well-designed lesson.

Have you taught a really sticky lesson? Please email me and let me know!

Picture This!

2009-02-22T20:19:00.005-05:00

I've finally launched my picture book blog called Teach with Picture Books which will feature a new picture book every other day. Picture books are a fantastic tool for teachers at all grade levels, from pre-K through high school. The right picture book can activate student schemas, set a purpose for learning, build background information, illustrate discrete literary features, provide models for writing, and create a common literary culture in the classroom.

In addition to the featured picture book and its summary, teachers will find related themes, links, and cross-curricular extensions for each book. I absolutely welcome book sugestions for review, as well as guest reviewers!

Are You Teaching with This Much Passion?

2009-02-21T21:27:00.006-05:00

Rock and Roll Kindergarten sounds like a follow-up to Jack Black's School of Rockbut it's actually a web site created by kindergarten teacher Kurt Schwengel. This site begs the question, "Are you teaching with this much passion?" And for old veterans like me, "Did you ever?"

Whether you're a kindergarten teacher or a 12th grade AP Physics teacher, check out the man in action and be inspired.

The Principal's Office on truTV

2009-02-19T20:59:00.004-05:00

Problem students are funny when they're someone else's kids.

Teaching That Sticks

The Case for Digital Portfolios

Teachers' Domain: Digital Media Lessons Aligned with Core Standards

Why Continue to Invest in Technology?

Microsoft Word's Most Ignored Feature for Teachers

ChangeThis: Support and Spread Great Ideas

Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions

Three Simple Yet Awesome Search Tools

How to Give an Ignite Talk

Qwiki: The Information Experience

Too Good to Be True: Truth in Advertising

Technology Integration, Somewhat Simplified

New Prompts from Make Beliefs Comix!

To Make a Long Story Short...

Old Dog, New Trick

Explore the World Through Soccer!

Visual Representations of Web Links Using TouchGraph

Can You Fix Broken Teachers?

Jam Studio: The Online Music Factory

Online History Simulations

Children's Drawings, Come to Life

Getting Boys to Read... Anything!

The Secret Life of Scientists

PBS Activity Packs

Save the Words!

Rock and Roll Science

Good Enough!

Chess Rumble: Life Lessons from Chess

10 Places to Find and Share Lesson Plans Online

Black History Interactive

Using Edmodo in the Classroom: Five Days Later

Upcoming Workshops

Edmodo: Ning for Kids!

Rethink Scholarship

For Lovers of Samorost

Playnormous Health Games

A Field Trip to Remember

Top 100 Learning Tools for 2009

Professional Development via YouTube

Drawing Developmentally

Visual Bookmarking Using Sqworl

Twiducate: Social Network for Schools

15 Free Resources for Young Readers

PBS Video Online

Online Comic Creators

Presentation and Workshop Documents

Research Made Easy

Famous Failures

Class Tools

Multiplicational

Questionaut: Out of This World Game

What Student Writing Teaches Us: The Blog Tour

What Student Writing Teaches Us

How to Teach Reading and Language Arts

911 Writer's Block

NeoK12: Educational Videos and Lessons

You Can Handle Them All

Organizing Thinking

ReSnooze: Another Way to Organize Your Life

YAuthor: Create Course Content Online

How to Teach a Novel: The Blog

An Idea Whose Time Has Come

Motivating Readers with Movie Scripts

Wisc-Online: Cool Learning Tools

I Made Something, Look!

Top Ten YouTube Videos for the Classroom

Trackstar: Staking Your Claim on the Internet

Edu TechieGal

No Singing Around the Fire at this Camp

The Privileged Status of Story

How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

Sticky Teaching in Action

How NOT to Teach a Novel

Academic Genocide

The Secret to Descriptive Writing

Ralph Fletcher: A Way with Words

How to Create Blog Interactivity with Apture

Where the Wild Things Are: The Movie

Interactive Writing Sites

Playing with Blocks: Not Just for Kids