Finding My Way, Teaching ELA

First book completed in 2011

Final book completed in 2011

I LOVE to read. Anyone who knows me, recognizes that and in the past I have kept records of the book I have completed so at the beginning of 2011, I decided to challenge myself to read a 111 books. To make it, a realistic goal I did not count picture books; even though I read hundreds of them, because I don’t believe it to be a suitable objective for an adult reader.

I made my goal BUT in the process found what has brought me pleasure since of I was a toddler now had become a task, a chore, a note on my checklist.

Words give me pleasure and as I read, I will stop and notice how an author turns a phrase or brings the reader into the narrative. I will daydream about the characters and what they must be feeling and how would I feel if I were part of their world. These enjoyments were forsaken in the quest to add numbers to my Goodreads tally.

As an ELA teacher I encourage my students to read daily, offering them time in our schedule for just this action. I have read books by admired professionals who propose that students should read a certain number of books. I pondered this issue and have finally made the decision, that based on my experience, I would rather, my learners read one book well than hastily move through a preset number to prove they enjoy reading.

Goals are good; they help motivate a person to get from point A to point B but for me, I will NEVER set another goal where reading for pleasure is concerned. It is the reading that is important not the completion.

Rita Williams-Garcia, Angela Johnson, Jacqueline Woodson, Nikki Grimes, Sharon Flake

NCTE, November 2011

Friday: November 18, 2011

Reading Old Stories and Writing New Stories: Ideas for the Classroom (Deborah Hopkinson, Kirby Larsen, Jim Murphy)

• The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. ~L.P. Hartley
• Deborah Hopkinson: Use primary photos and encourage students to ask questions. Use clues in the images to figure out what is going on. Good for visual learners.
• Writing to a Person From the Past – write a letter, begin by introducing yourself, What is familiar or the same about your life (you and I both…We both… Like you, I also…) what is unfamiliar, different about his or her life? (Nowadays, It might seem odd to you. In my day, we no longer…) End letter tell about some the person could never have seen (cell phone, computer, car, etc.) You never saw _______in your time. Let me tell you about it. If you came to visit me in my time we would… A cell phone is a ____ that _____. Let me explain what ______ is.
• Kirby Larsen: Creating New Stories of Old – mining family history-using primary sources to create new stories. Censored letters – show and have students put back in the missing pieces. Library of Congress (loc.gov), Genealogy sites (USGenWeb.com) can buy letters on eBay.
• www.merkki.com/letters_from_home.htm – use the letters to ask questions and look for items, which may not have changed (towns, businesses, etc.) Historical parks, sites have diaries of not so famous. Use websites with “memories, family stories, etc. to understand a particular time periods or events.) Locate post cards from the past, copy and have students write what would have been on them. Kirby@kirbylarson.com
• Jim Murphy: can find artifacts to encourage writing at auctions.
• Deanna Day: Quick write on a personal memory and then change it to fit a particular time period. What would change? Language, Food, Clothing, Transportation? Use life experiences and put in a different time period.

Narrating Lives: Using Graphic Novels The Power and Possibilities of Literature (Sid Jacobson, Josh Neufeld, G.B. Tran)

• Resource: Scott McLeod – Understanding Comics

Learning With Nonfiction, Writing It, Reading It, Loving It (David L. Harrison, Peggy Harkins, Mary Jo Fresch)

• Peggy Harkins: Reasons why children do not choose nonfiction: Nonfiction is not traditionally used for pleasure reading, Children associate nonfiction with school assignments, Many people think nonfiction is boring. (Tunnel, M.O. and Jacobs, J.S., 2008)
• Most people do not read or use fiction at their work (real life).
• Types of Biographies: Authentic, Fictionalized, Biographical Fiction
• Advantages of using Biographies: role models, historical insights, solutions to problems, writing models, fit across the curriculum
• Use a selection of biographies: to create a readers theater script, as storytelling in first person, or eyewitness third person, internal/external – use outline of body of a person and write things you observe on the outside of the body, inferences on the inside of the body. Templates can be found at http://www.harkinsbooks.com
• Mary Jo Fresch: Leveling the Playing Field, Using Nonfiction Picture Books: they explore complex topics suited for older readers, extend and enhance the content through the images, provide more accurate information due to their expertise, engage reluctant, resistant, or ELL reader.
• Middle School Physical Science Resource Center: reviewed middle school science textbooks and noted numerous errors in facts and none were scientifically accurate. http://www.science-house.org/middleschool/reviews/index.html.
• Support readers with an anticipation guide (might include statements of misconceptions), Vocabulary match-up game- divide students into three groups and give one group a word, one the definition, and the last one the origin. Then they have to find their partners and match up. Need to see a word 3-17 times to own it (use in your writing.) Text sets that appeal to multi-leveled readers to do further research.

Writing With Mentor Texts to Imagine the Possibilities (Lynne Dorfman, Rose Cappelli, Mark Overmeyer)

• Lynne Dorfman: Establishing a Writing Identify: The Personal Dimension, Writing, like life itself, is a voyage of discovery. ~Henry Miller
• Important to know who we are as writers.
• Begin with the topics you want to write about, i.e. Heart Map, Fingerprint the Author -color code the items that are in the writing, i.e. yellow alliteration, blue proper nouns. Hand Map – put emotions/character traits on the fingers of an outline of a hand and then add one line that goes with that emotion.
• Need a target audience to find your voice.
• Rose Cappelli – Using a Mentor Text to Move Students Forward in Narrative Writing: Use of Mentor Texts – pieces of literature that you can return to and reread for different purposes, are to be studies and imitated, help students make powerful connections to own lives, help students take risks and try to new strategies, should be books that students can relate to and can read independently or with support.
• When students are taught to see how writing is done, this way opens up to them the possibilities for how to make their writing good writing ~Katy Wood Ray, Wondrous Words.
• Mark Overmeyer: Using Mentor Texts to Move Students Forward as Writers of Informational Texts – Expert books – students write on a subject in which, they believe they are experts, no research needed. Personal narratives are driven by ideas not events (i.e. Rollercoasters made me brave not the day I rode a roller coaster.) Good mentor text for Middle School – Charles R. Smith (multiple genre in the book.)

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Getting Reluctant Readers to Turn the Page (Liz Carr)

• Liz Carr: I ___ solemnly promise, when reading a book for fun that it will be for fun. If I read the first page and don’t like it, I will put the book down and walk away. If I read the first paragraph and don’t like it, I will put the book down and walk away. If I read half the book and don’t like it, I will put the book down and walk away. Life is too short for books I don’t like.
• When I ___ HAVE to read a book for class, I will look for what my brain can do with it. I will look for flaws. I will look for connections, I will look for stuff that is just plain weird, I will get out of my own way! I like it and I hate it are equally insulting if I can’t show why. I will back up my opinions.
• As teachers, read, read, read, have books talks/recommendations, connections, introduce students to authors.
• Places for book recommendations: Daria Plumb-http://www.getmereading.com, ALAN, YALSA, VOYA
• Book Talks: Make connections to known books/author, leave them hanging, 2-3 minutes MAX, Shelfari or Goodreads
• Connection Questions: What is the last book that wasn’t painful for you? What do you do when you’re not in school? What is your favorite thing in the world? What’s your biggest pet peeve?
• Tell anecdotes about the authors of the books, you have in your class.
• John Coy: writer of the 4 for 4 series aimed toward intermediate/middle school boys, “reluctant readers is a synonym for boys,” boys today are reading more than ever before because of social networking, gaming, etc. Don’t relate this to reading. Don’t like to read what adults say they should be reading. Jane Yolen: “We don’t have enough books that represent the genuine interest of boys.” Men need to step up and serve as leaders of readers, so perception of read changes. 5^th Grade students helped revise “Eyes on the Goal” by helping author with what was authentic for kids. Students won’t choose books; need an adult to recommend or steer them toward books they might like. “ATV Racing”
• Tommy Greenwald: author, “Charlie Joe Jackson” Have students create a title and the first sentence of a book they would like to read.
• Janet Tashjian: author, “My Life as a Book,” “My Life as a Stuntboy,”  “The Gospel According to Larry,” Recommends “Calvin and Hobbes” for reluctant readers, After reading a book, have reader pitch it as a movie project and cast the characters defending why. “Visualizing and Verbalizing for Language Comprehension and Thinking”

Teaching The Hero’s Journey: Understanding Our Past (Dana Huff, Glenda Funk, Ami Szerencse)

• Dana Huff: “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” “The Power of Myth” by Joseph Campbell, an interview with Bill Moyers
• How is the pattern of the monomyth demonstrated by various cultures around the world in various time periods? How do archetypes inform our understanding of literature and the world? How are the hero, his/her quest, and his/her ideals still valid and useful in today’s world? How has the monomyth been influential in shaping subsequent literature and film?
• Goals: Students will become well versed in literary theories of the monomyth and the heroic quest, Students will interpret and apply the monomyth to the various works of literature and film.
• Student activities: http://www.huffenglish.com/webquests/campbell.html – scavenger hunt, do presentations on Departure/Separation, Initiation, Return, Video with types/examples of the Hero’s Journey on website and Slideshare, (Use clips from Star Wars, The Hobbit, The Hunger Games/The Theseus Myth, The Matrix), Create your own monomyth as a picture book, Analyze a new text that has not been studied, Create a game
• Glenda Funk and Ami Szerencse: Class Lines: Writing Beyond the Borders (Prezi) Collaborated on a Hero’s Journey project through Ning, “Story of Stuff: How Things Work” –Youtube (http://classlines.ning.com) http://www.evolvingenglishteacher.blogspot.com

Beyond Race: The Universality of Story (Sharon Draper, Sharon Flake, Nikki Grimes, Angela Johnson, Rita Williams-Garcia, Jacqueline Woodson)

• Sharon Draper: Books are for all children not just a particular subgroup; her audience is the students who “show up” in your classroom. It’s the issues that make the difference, color of the character not important. Being different means many things (new student in the classroom, only one who wears glasses, mother in jail, etc.) unsure in your world, which is particular to adolescence. Don’t limit yourself, open door for all of us
• Sharon Flake: Bang and Red Badge of Courage have similar themes: marching into manhood, death, and dialect despite different races, time periods, and conflicts. Accept the character’s way of speaking as it represents who they are rather than be concerned about “proper English.”
• Nikki Grimes: Planet Middle School – new book, writers write about human topics NOT a black, white or Latino topic. Shouldn’t worry about students not relating to a character because they are of a different race. Students connect to a book because they like to read, like poetry, like to laugh, like drama, love a good read, and are all kinds of kids. May look different on the outside but we are all pretty much the same on the inside.
• Angela Johnson: Transcendence – began with her grandmother (an 80lb farm woman who threw a horse down and read Shakespeare) represented beyond the perceptions of what a grandmother should be, writes for people v. specific groups,
• Rita Williams-Garcia: “Make me no boxes.” ~George Balanchine, When I am myself, I am my natural self not an “other.” Characters are whoever they might be. Self and identify not limited to race.
• Jacqueline Woodson: Whiteness is assumed unless otherwise qualified. Barrier needs to be broken. We are trying to make the world safe for all kids. Literature shares “the other stories, a place for all of us.”

Let’s Read: Literacy Approaches in These Early Days of Common Core Standards (Lindsay Oakes, Hilleary Drake, Liz Hollingsworth)

• Any assessment can be criterion based or norm referenced as well as formal or summative.
• Pizza parties and pep rallies don’t raise test scores, student reading scores go up when students KNOW how to read, don’t need luck when you’ve got skill.
• Teaching testing as a genre, rather than teaching to a test (how to take, read, manage time)
• Great Genre Race – use ten genres in different colors, challenged students to read 1000 books in a year. Make a paper chain. Encourage book discussion and served as tangible evidence of the student as a reader.

Practicing What We Preach, Improving Student Writing by Modeling Our Own (Jim Burke, Kelly Gallagher, Penny Kittle)

• Penny Kittle: need a place to collect thinking (notebooks, index cards, etc.), gather ideas and images – place to discover ideas, try things and sometimes fails, and place to show students where thinking begins. Tom Romano – the Rude Truth, A Relationship With Literature (English Journal), the writing process is filled with distractions, write and then go back and reread to find places to work with (highlighting/colored markers)
• Kelly Gallagher: need teachers to model the writing process, no such things a writing process – these are steps in writing that change from writer to writer. Students need two kinds of models: 1) a teacher who revises (write, allow students to ask questions, write down and then revise in a different color to highlight the revisions. 2) Mentor texts: look at how it is said not what is said. “NPR: This I Believe” as a source of mentor texts, Move past the “one and done” writing mentality. What you do when you revise: replace, add, delete and reorder. (RADAR) Read, analyze, emulate.
• Jim Burke: writing is the most public performance of our intelligence, “If there are not tears for the writer, then there will be none for the reader.” ~Robert Frost Focus line – kind of like a thesis statement (Donald Murray) Give students lists of words to choose for their writing increases the quality of vocabulary use, Use different colors for parts of the writing.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Who Would Ever Think An Ant Could Be So Important? Teaching for Social Responsibility Through Literature and Inquiry (Leslie Rector, Steven Wolk)

• Shared texts that are inaccessible accessible (can do books above children’s reading level, models fluency, releases students from focusing on decoding, teachers can model think-alouds, helps get through texts faster)
• Need an inquiry question to guide the anchor book. What is my responsibility to the environment around me? (City of Ember) Supporting book, One Well, How Much Water is Around Us – Rochelle Strauss – students recorded how much water they used. “Did Your Shopping List Kill a Songbird” op ed NY Times
• Hey, Little Ant by Phillip and Hannah Hoose – allegory on abuse of power

Inquiry Circles: Combining Comprehension, Collaboration, and Inquiry (Debbie King, Michele Timble, Sara Ahmed Katie Muhtaris, Kristin Ziemke)

• Debbie King: Principles of Inquiry Circles: choice of topics, digging deeply, heterogeneous/interest based groups, student led, use of comprehension/research strategies, multiple resources, active use of knowledge- sharing, publication, products, or taking action.
• Types of Inquiry: mini-inquiries, curricular inquiries, literature circle inquiries, open inquiries
• Stages of Inquiry: Immerse – invites curiosity, Investigate-searching for info, Coalesce- synthesize info, Go Public -share learning
• Types of Lessons: Comprehension – read with a question in mind, Collaboration – using a work plan, Inquiry – choosing topics
• Michele Timble: Leading a Curious Life: live like a researcher, ask questions, capture and track questions, seek answers
• Modeling our inquiry – i.e.What happened to the workers in Japan’s nuclear power plant? Researchable questions – Now. Later. A Lifetime of Wondering.Research Notebooks: a borrowed tool from writer’s workshop, a place to jot questions and make plans, kids leave tracks from the mini lessons, validation for all questions big and small.
• Sara Ahmed: Choosing materials – print materials, web materials, videos, and images -New York Times Up Front, Brainpo
• Interviewing as a resource: home to school connection – builds accountable talk, lets them in the loop about what is going on at school, builds a culturally responsible classwork, builds active listening skills, authentic reliable research
• Modeling: grab a colleague or expert, show students you’re prepared, and simulate an interview.
• Interviewer – listens carefully and ask if they can record the interview, uses prepped question list, take jots, ask follow up questions for digging deeper, thanks the interviewee before or after when it over, writes as much as they can
• Interviewee – agrees to the interview and understand the topic, feels safe and comfortable, does most of the talking, has a comfort item like drink, candy, or food
• Kristin Ziemke: Strategies for active reading – monitor comprehension, activate and connect background knowledge, ask questions, infer and visualize meaning, determine importance, comprehension continuum – http://stephanieharvey.com/content/comprehension-continuum
• Modeling/Think-alouds/Coding – Leave tracks of your thinking
• Katie Muhtaris: Literature Circle Inquiry – generate questions, enhance/extend experience, inquire topics of choice, research with an authentic purpose, explore artistic and technological tools, build foundations that last

As an educator, professional development for me is continuous. Traditionally it is usually held at a school, surrounded by peers, involving a topic selected by an administrator.

Too bad that as teachers we are not given the opportunity to have choice and for me that choice is allowing me to choose what kind of PD I need. I love to attend conferences. I get a lot out of traveling and meeting people from all over the world. I also enjoy Webinars.

Webinars are PD sessions, often offered free that are virtual presentations. Today, I spent almost over two and half hours with SimpleK12.com. The topics ranged from Google to Skype, each presenter sharing authentic ways of integrating technology into the learning and instructional curriculum. Presenters offered ideas using many free tools and eResources. No dressing up and leaving home, opportunities to ask anonymous questions, laundry and other house keeping got done in between sessions. What a wonderful way to learn!!!! The following are my notes.

K12 Webinar Series – July 20, 2011 #sk12

Google Tools For Visual and Spatial Learners

www.simplek12.com/tlc/classroom

www.simplek12.com/tlc/google

GoogleArtProject.com

Google Sky – .com/sky

Google Image Swirl – part of Google Labs

Google Squared

Google News Timeline

Google Fast Flip

Google Trends

Wixify Your Webquests

@educateMEMrsN

Webquest  is inquiry-oriented, higher-level thinking, student centered, interactive, web-based (Teacher limits the searching for sites)

www.wix.com/carolnelson/Webquest-example

webquest.org

A website builder has more options such as clipart, ease of hyperlinking, templates etc, Presenter uses Wix- www.wix.com (fun, flashy, free)

Using Dropbox

Presented by Jerry Swiatek @jswiatek

Use to create a paperless classroom

Archives all the #edchat

http://bit.ly/dropboxinclassroom – includes info on Dropbox as well as utilities to use with it.

2 GB of free storage, if you refer people receive 240mg per referral

Will sync with the web, phone and any other computers; students can turn in work from home

#edcamp – edcampcitrus.com

Easy 21st Century Projects Ideas for Core Curriculum-Grace Dunlap

Language Arts: Students choose a literary character or author and create a social networking profile page. Use www.MyFakeWall.com

Science: Study and Survive Volcanic Eruptions – gather info from Internet on volcanos, create a timeline for a particular volcanic eruptions. Use Tiki-Toki: www.tiki-toki.com to create a free web-based timeline. Can add video and audio to the timeline.

Social Studies: Create Marco Polo’s Online Auction Site – research Marco Polo’s travels. Set up an online auction site for him to sell some of his travel finds. Can use MS Word, PPt but can also use Free Web tool – www, picnick.com Online Photo Editing program- easy to use with most editing functions and can add text.

Can save to image format, email, or print.

Math: Deliver a Viral Video About Functions – share information and create content. Create an Internet Video about a function family but needs to motivate. Use www.screencast-o-matic.com to tape the desktop screen for up to 15 minutes. Free tool, can save the video. Upgrade is $12.00 a year.

Resource: simplek12.com/tlc/learn

Spark Creativity and Innovation: Help Students Create and Share Original Multimedia Works Online

Renny Fong – @TimeOutDad

Web 2.0 – create content instead of just using, save work and go back to work on it.

Kerpoof – owned by Disney, web-based, interactive, create original artwork, share work in safe environment, teachers can manage student accounts.

Most of site materials are free to educators.

Breaking Down the Four Walls of Your Classroom With Skype

Presented by Jerry Swiatek @jswiatek

http://bit.ly/skypeinclassroom

Skype.com – free download for free calls to other Skype users

Shows students there is more to the world outside their classroom, bring in experts, connect with other classrooms, distance learning

In Skype – go to extras for plugins to extend the experience of Skype – video tape the session, crete a whiteboard for collaborating, etc.

My Final Session with Suzie Boss from Edutopia

Reflections on ISTE11

• The ISTE staff spent an inordinate amount of time to give us a thought provoking, entertaining, conference filled with amazing presenters – A HUGE THANK YOU!
• I really enjoy speakers who understand the difference between lecture and BYOB/Workshops. If you pay extra or sign up for a ticket you want to have time to play or create for use in the future. This is not the format for hearing about the speakers’ philosophies or a long drawn out how-to on tools.
• Alan November is a dynamic speaker. I had never heard him speak. Look forward to hearing from him in the future.
• I was intrigued by the number of people who brought laptops and iPads AND used them both.
• Stopping in the middle of a crowded hallway to share a thought with your friend is rude. Please move to the side or a corner.
• We can’t live without our mobile phones. Take a look at a long line when waiting for a session.
• Door monitors must lack power in their private lives and enjoy enforcing it in this venue.
• Easy Spirit shoes make all of the difference – no sore feet like last year.
• The buzz words – collaborate, empathy, global, share. I MUST integrate these ideas into my curriculum much more.
• My Macbook Air made connections and did things that the iPads all around me couldn’t. I think I will stick with it – it’s not much heavier.
• Twitter is such an authentic tool for bringing the outside world into the classroom. I wish my district would open it up for use.
• I have a lot of work to do in July to integrate all of the new ideas into my classroom.

Simple Ideas for Powerful Sharing – Wesley Fryer, University of Central Oklahoma, Dean Shareski, Instructional Coach, Canada

• Resources – http://playingwithmedia.com/pages/workshop
• Brushes – http://www.brushesapp.com/ allows you to see the process after you are done
• Shareski – Sharing the Moral Imperative – 2010 Pre-conference Keynote K12 Online Conference – http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=610
• A New Culture of Learning, Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change by Douglas
• One way to share, Posterous - https://posterous.com/ Students can submit to a cube, teacher moderates, and then publishes. Free
• Cloud based audio sharing platforms – Audiobooth, Cinch, and iPadio
• Sharing online is not an addition to your work but is the point of the work. ~Medina
• iRig Microphone for iOS devices
• Kodak Playtouch Video Camera – allows you to attach an external mic
• Pixelpipe- video sharing with a link to Youtube, ttuviper-sandbox@yahoo.com, pw – sandbox

Serve an All-You-Can-Learn Buffet: Digital Age Differentiation – Catherine Laguna, Quakertown Community School District with Robin Ellis

• Resources – http://allyoucanlearn.wikispaces.com/
• Note taking resource – http://wiffiti.com/
• The All You Can Learn Buffet: Get to know your guests (Create an all about me project.), plan the menu (Organize resources), set the table (Ways to lay out resources), whet their appetite (get hooked and interested), be prepared for second helpings (what if you finish early?), did everyone get enough to learn (formative assessment), save room for dessert. http://www.slideshare.net/claguna/all-you-canlearnbuffet1-8395203
• Get to know your guests: Students choose the tool to create a way to introduce themselves to their desk mates and let you know about them.
• Plan the menu: Symbaloo, Wiki, Diigo – help to organize resources and give ideas for finishing early.
• Setting the table: wiki, scriblink (online whiteboard), scribblar – online white board that can be locked, make sure tools are out or you won’t use them,
• Whet their appetite: Engage their curiosity, might use a picture/song to guess what lesson will be about, provide choice, encourage creativity (i.e. podcasts), http://www.lth3.k12.il.us/rhampton/mi/LessonPlanIdeas.htm, make it social (backchanneling)
• Second helpings: Extension activities, update their notes on whichever platform they use, play an interactive game, devise extension questions/activities, Picnik – http://www.picnik.com/ photo editing
• Enough to learn: creative choice projects, individual white boards, games, quizzes – testmoz, Google forms, Edomodo assignment, blog post, interview
• Dessert: Put an element of fun into the class so that students want to keep learning – culminating activity (dress up, share with another classroom

Ripped from the Headlines: Real Events Yield Relevant Projects – Suzie Boss, Edutopia

• What makes a headline worthy – age appropriate, able to integrate/connect to the curricular standards, messy problem, no right answer, relevance, high interest, ongoing issue or consequences
• Connect online – Edutopia groups, Elluminate, Twitter, Wiki, Flickr, Delicous, share – online publishing, multimedia content
• A Project Example: Learning Communities – “Voice on the Gulf,” Paul Allison, http://voicesonthegulf.com/, Project that was inspired by Katrina and the Gulf Oil Spill
• Real events allow opportunities for teaching empathy by using social media with the “survivors” of the situation but don’t be an ambulance chaser.
• http://www.gocomics.com
• PBL helps students learn the process of working in groups effectively to plan and run a project. These are life skills.
• Should focus on the process of learning, not the content. This makes for much richer projects
• How do we distinguish empathy from PC regurgitated answers from our students? Need the stories and photos.
• Don’t have to use national headlines, can look closer to home for important issues.

The Renown Kathy Schrock!

What a wonderful day!!!! I was inspired and learned so much from the following presenters. If only everyday of a conference could be so great!!!!

Beyond Words: Using Infographics to Help Kids Grapple with Complexity -Jane Krauss, Consultant with Diana Laufenberg, Reinventing Project-Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-World Projects in the Digital Age

• Resources – https://sites.google.com/site/iste2011infographics/home
• Example of a simple infographic – http://mattboudreaux.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/beatles-hairstyles-over-the-years/
• The First Infographic – http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Minard.png, Napoleon’s campaign in Russia
• David McCandless – visual information pours in and may be a relief, it is the language of the eye, then add the language of the mind to gather meaning, “It feels like we’re all suffering from information overload or data glut. And the good news is there might be an easy solution to that, and that’s using our eyes more. So, visualizing information, so that we can see the patterns and connections that matter and then designing that information so it makes more sense, or it tells a story, or allows us to focus only on the information that’s important. Failing that, visualized information can just look really cool.”
• The Evolution of Privacy on Facebook – http://www.mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/
• Types of Information for infographics – diagrams, timelines, word clouds, maps, tables, flow charts and webs, graphs,
• What can an infographic communicate? data correlation, change over time, process, complexity (Mountains out of Molehills by McCandless – http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/mountains-out-of-molehills/), scale,
• Example of infographic use in a SS classroom – http://scienceleadership.org/blog/Green_Card_Application_Process_Flow_Chart
• Many Eyes (http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/) – generates data sets and ways to visualize them.

Empathy: The 21st Century Skill – Alan November, November Learning – http://www.novemberlearning.com/

• When teaching new tools, assessment is the weakest part.
• Demonstration with book trailers on “Number the Stars,” Connecticut teachers enjoyed the trailers but Denmark teachers were angered. The issue of symbols is important, be careful of what images are used because images tell a story and may not be the story you want told,
• To remedy, go to Root Zone Database – for country codes, then go to Google – site:dk “number the stars” to get their point of view. When using books or issues/problems that take place in other countries, make sure to represent that point of view by inputting the country code to get in country resources.
• Asked CEO of largest bank in the world HSBS, What is the most important skill that separates top talent? Empathy – hold lots of different views at the same time. US citizens tend to be poor in this area believing that if it is done different, it is wrong. Personal Quality – passion
• Globalize the curriculum – does any country touch what you teach? any global connections?
• In US economy, 9% of GNP is trade with other countries. Germany 40%
• A kindergarten classroom use Skype to grandparents, which included some from non-US countries. An Irish grandmother taped a local book and sent the book and recording to the students.
• Use Twitter to get global contacts for information and add value to the curriculum, look for hashtags that will yield the information you want. Possible to find someone with Skype to get first hand interviews. (Building a global network.) Can add passion if we have authentic conversations.
• Find a school in England teaching the American Revolution – site: sch.uk “American Revolution”
• Eli Pariser, TED talk, google in the bubble “Beware online “filter bubbles” People are getting a narrower and narrower perspective based on personal beliefs. Biased point of view based on prior experiences.

The Enlightening Alan November

SIGILT Forum and Annual Meeting: I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Innovation! – Chris Lehmann, Science Leadership Academy and a sampling of his  amazing students

• Process includes – Inquiry, Research, Collaboration, Presentation, Reflection
• Technology should be like oxygen, necessary but invisible.
• Students feel empowered when they have control over how they learn material and how they show that they have learned it.
• Technology helps to make school a “second home,” by using social networking and communication tools to stay in touch 24/7.
• Fresh Philadelphia – nonprofit begun by an SLA student. – http://www.scienceleadership.org/blog/SLA_Students_Starting_their_own_Businesses
• Pizza is a great motivator – way to collaborate and build vision.
• Need creative/motivational test prep rather than a test-driven curriculum.
• Make school about the way we live now – not what you will do in the future.
• It’s not failure BUT trial and error.
• Respect yourself, respect others, and respect this class as a place of learning.
• Rubric addresses project Design, Knowledge, Application, Presentation, and Process – http://www.scienceleadership.org/pages/Curriculum
• Marcie Hull – http://ecram3.blogspot.com/, https://profiles.google.com/ecram3/posts

#tweet w/#twitter

Engage Students as Writers through Digital Tools by Kevin Amboe – Tech Integration Specialist, Surrey, British Columbia – kevinamboe@gmail.com

• “If our students are not reading and composing with various electronic technologies, then they are illiterate. They are not just unprepared for the future; they are illiterate right now, in our current time and context”. ~J. David Bolter
• “Engage me or enrage me.” ~Marc Prensky
• Digital Images: http://www.compfight.com, use pictures to model various examples of perspective (mathematical, point of view, etc.)
• Making Photographs: Vincent LaForet – renown photographer – making (taking photos with intention) and taking photographs are different concepts. http://db.tt/ZE7mxIN, USB Digital Microscope (Proscope, AirMicro)
• Story Boarding/Graphic Novel: Comic Life - can print out and color or work digitally, could use one page to create directions, one page info, etc, Can use for a summary assessment by adding photos to the text, Toon Do, Pixton “Don’t storyboard, look for the emotional flow, plot out story like a wave, then do a peer pitch – sell the story – peaks, problem-solution. ~Jason Ohler, https://public.me.com/amboe, iste2011
• Peer Editing: word processors can make the writing process more collaborative when using peer editing or peer-mediated work, color code the inserts so that the work is not changed, i.e. one color for questions, another for insert of ideas.
• Book Making: use hand produced images, digitally reproduced images or digitally made images, the book becomes a physical record, shows publishing, and may be at the students’ reading level and interest. iPhoto – make the book and save as a .pdf file to print.
• Blogs, Wikis: Are powerful tools when they have a purpose and life of their own. https://dflit.wikispaces.com, https://dothemath.wikispaces.com, embedding sounds and images make it more powerful
• Podcasts: http://mps.wes.schoolfusion.us/
• Mindmapping: Brainstorming/Prewriting, Drafting, Inspiration – use Rapid Fire, limit to three icons, and then change to Outline View, then transfers into a word doc to begin drafting
• Bernie Dodge – What questions are we asking for answers? WebQuest Taskonomy – http://webquest.sdsu.edu/taskonomy.html
• Google Earth as Writing Tool: push thinking outside the box, Google Lit Trips – “Hana’s Suitcase,” “Underground to Canada”

Educational Activism: How Would Superman Use Social Media Tools -Yvonne Marie Andres, Global SchoolNet

• Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” Isaac Asimov
• Educational Activism Reasons Why – connected economies, information pollution (too much, unfiltered), workforce development (critical skills), collaborating for our future (possible, preferable, preventable.)
• Resources: The World is Flat 3.0 (connectedness & globalization), Wisdom of the Crowds (many vs. few, finding the right crowd), Race to Nowhere (achievement at what cost?), Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain (neuroplasticity), The Singularity is Near (non-biological intelligence)
• Cyberfair – global school network – projects about community (8-high school), Doors to Diplomacy – global issues, compete for scholarships
• Collaborative Learning – collective wisdom, co-created content, collaborative project management, virtual fieldtrips, global exhibitions, global competitions, wikis & flexbooks (contributed textbooks), blended learning spaces – face-to-face, virtual. Sakai
• Global School Network offers a registry of projects that can be screened by your needs or register your own project. http://www.globalschoolnet.org/
• Wix.com – easy website creator

#teach w/#tweet – @brueckj23, @crafty184, @jonbecker

• Resources: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1ouNxxJtc7_v0KRhhLR8ADAQ6GLi11rMLUOwHV3nw6lg, http://twitpic.com/5hrhw3, http://Bit.ly/AKR2323, http://bit.ly/bei-tweet for the Twitter Intro course, user – bei.guest, pass – innovate, group discussions #twt11
• twitter = virtual water cooler
• http://www.tweetdeck.com/twitter/cynthiasarver/~t52UV – backchannel etiquette
• Elementary Ideas – Set up twitter account for classroom, create classroom hastag, invite parents to join to communicate and ask for data, for example – ask for weather data and chart on a Google spreadsheet
• Dragon Dictation – free speech to text app that feature Twitter integration, AudioBoo – free podcasting app that features Twitter integration, Ustream.tv – free video streaming app that features Twitter integration
• Higher Ed Ideas – revolves around a course hashtag, use Tweetdeck to have columns when looking at tweets, create a hashtag for common interests
• Read Twitter in Google Reader – http://gtweetapp.appspot.com/
• Popular Education Twitter Hashtags – http://novemberlearning.com/resources/handouts/popular-education-hashtags-on-twitter/
• Building a PLN w/Twitter – http://cybraryman.com/plnstars.html

Comic Integration: Add Some POW to Your Classroom – Maryann Molishus, Council Rock School District

• Resources – http://molishus.wikispaces.com/Comics+in+the+Classroom
• Comics can be used as an ice breaker, for example, what did you do last summer?
• “Understanding Comics, the Invisible Art” – Scott McCloud

Convention Center in Philadelphia

The conference sessions do not officially begin until Monday but there are many things to keep one busy on the weekend. I chose to spend today in 3 hour workshops.

Using Technology With Classroom Instruction That Works, Howard Pitler, Senior Director of Curriculum and Instruction at McRel, 2nd Edition of “Classroom Instruction That Works”coming out in January, http://www.mcrel.org/technology

• The nine strategies of Classroom Instruction That Works are actually categories. The strategies are part of the categories.
• https://sites.google.com/site/iste2011mcrel/ – Resources for this workshop and many great links to technology sites to support McRel categories/strategies.
• Plurk (http://www.plurk.com/) like Twitter but allows threaded discussions
• When employing instructional strategies always ask – “How do we know it works?”
• In educational research .4 is a high for effect.
• Polleverywhere – is free for about 35-40 responses
• Setting Objectives: is the process of establishing a direction for learning, is a skill that successful people have mastered to help them realize both short term/long term goals, make sure objective is stated in writing and begins with “we” – not met unless everyone is involved, students should have opportunity to personalize the objective – “I want to know…” One way is to break down objective into subcategories, do a KWL and then add the students questions to the categories, students creates contract I know, I want to know, I will show this by.
• Social Bookmarking – better way to disseminate information to colleagues and students rather than email or list links. Also better way for students to find information rather than Google Search.
• Rubistar – helps students to understand at the onset of a instruction what is expected. Free, offers many different templates, and the ability to create your own.
• Common Core app available to articulate the standards – http://www.masteryconnect.com/
• Track Changes (Word or Google Docs) allows you to demonstrate how to summarize using four rules (refer to workshop resources/summarizing)
• BrainPop app for iPad
• Lesson Structure for Notetaking/Summarizing
• Advanced organizer on penguins with Inspiration – five areas.
• Watch video
• Take notes (personal preference) on five areas
• Collaborate to construct five sentences – one per each area
• Show video again. Modify thinking as necessary.
• Create Combination Notes – template at resource link

Tuning Up the H.E.A.T.: Designing Rigor and Relevance into Learning Tasks – Bernajean Porter, consultant Porter Consulting

• http://coachingheat.wikispaces.com/- resources for workshop including handouts
• Students responding to what the teachers asks is NOT rigor.
• “Technology accelerates something.”
• Double loop learning – reflecting, responding, etc.
• Gladiator Teacher – “Here’s the assignment, go forth, and good luck.”
• Teaching the tool isolated from strategies does not = integration of the tool.
• The highest technology is “questions.” Problem-based learning
• Goal not to make a movie anymore but to make an impact – “Attention has now become the most precious nonrenewable resource on the earth.” Tony Hayes
• The biggest factor in engagement is curiosity.
• 38:1 is the ratio of teacher questions to student questions and about 85% are closed questions.
• Raising the percentage of open ended questions increases test scores significantly.
• Questioning website – http://fno.org/indexb.html
• Without strong questioning skills, you are just a passenger on someone else’s tour bus. You may be on the highway, but someone else is driving. Jamie McKenzie
• Idea for project – If you were a publishing market director, design a book-trailer that would SELL, SELL, SELL a book that needs to be read? Example of a good book trailer – The Graveyard Book” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_UUVwTaemk
• Story is how people organize data.
• Tools are not higher order – the task is
• Bibme.org – for citation
• radcab – look for credible, reliable searches – http://www.radcab.com/
• Voicethread – use to debate asynchronously

This was my first year to have a schedule that included only 8th Grade ELA students. It didn’t hit me until last Monday, that things would be different. Eighth grade students leave for the summer and don’t return. It made their last day a bit more sentimental and from the hugs I got in return, I think they felt the same way.

I had the challenges and successes of the average teacher in this 21st century classroom. My class list favored boys therefore I like to say that I had students who “kept me on my toes.” While frustrating sometimes, I think I learned much more. Motivation, a sense of community, a hands-on approach, these things were equally important to teaching the standards.

In no particular order these are the things I found to be true.

• Sometimes it’s OK to allow students to chew gum; it helps to dispel energy.
• Everyone LOVES “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton.
• Trying to make grammar interesting is a challenge.
• Pandora and Rhapsody are fairly inexpensive ways to bring all kinds of music into your classroom.
• Even though you teach in a lab filled with eMacs, its fine to own and write in a paper journal.
• Goodreads is a wonderful way to share a love of reading, what you are reading, and meet new friends.
• 8th Graders LOVE to be read to. You MUST be an interesting reader though.
• What looks like play may be actually wonderful work – see blog entry
• I need the summer to read all the professional literature I have accumulated to try to undo the mistakes I made this year.

Off to my bed to read….

A Wonderful Way to End a Conference, A Visit to Hogswart!

Get Plugged Into Reading! Innovative Web 2.0 Strategies You Can Use to Connect Readers to Literature Online: Cynthia Liu, Lindsey Levitt, Kate Messner, Olugbemisola Ruday-Perkovich

• Kate Messner – Using Skype, offers free Skype visits to any class who has read her books on her lunch hour for twenty minutes or in the evening for author night celebrations, published authors are not necessarily great writers but are great revisers, Maintains a list of authors who Skype on her website http://www.katemessner.com Username is katemessner on Skype. She often does Q&A sessions on Skype, share writing and revision process,; also a way to humanize the life of an author. Students usually get ready for the Skype visit as with a real-world visit, creating artwork from the book, responding photos with writing prompts, etc. @katemessner
• MrSchuReads – Collaboration with teachers/librarians, begin by planning with Google Docs, based the project on a book and create activities that both schools do, used Animoto to synthesize the final product,  each class created a bulletin board about the other, shared podcasts, collaborate with Edmodo to talk about books and each school, Tik-a-Tok to create books. (Call Recorder will record video and audio (Skype) and edit with Quicktime.)
• Lindsey Leavitt: “Social Networking: How to tweet, friend, like & follow in the classroom & beyond,” http://www.lindsayleavitt.com , @lindsay_leavitt, Create a classroom Twitter page with a locked account, Use Twitter as a springboard to other ways of communication. Follow authors/educators/libraries/classrooms, happy coincidences – find people through requests, mini book reports -140 characters, connect with other schools and libraries, Tweet Chat – real time chat, yalitchat, pbchat, edchat, kidlitchat, – many archive for later reading, #Hastag allows for an alternative to live chat, Facebook – Book/Fan pages – students can “Like” these pages, Classroom pages, every time Facebook changes, check privacy options,  alternative for schools who filter out Facebook is Edmodo – http://www.edmodo.com, Combine mediums – networked book group, sister classroom, author celebration, mentor programs, classroom network, author could do a guest blog for classroom
• Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich: wikis – low tech, easy to set up, never ending story – ongoing process of revision, process/product shared by all users, wikispaces, wikipedia, mashpedia, readwriteconnect.wikispaces.com, great for collaborations between classrooms, Voicethread – great for storytelling or reflection, example at digitalwritingworkshop.wikispaces.com, tnadolescentliteracy.wikispaces.com

It was a worthy conference. I learned many new things. Looking forward to next year in Chicago!

Sneaking a Picture With R. L. Stine

Scholastic “My Favorite Teacher” IRA Breakfast

• Speakers – Sharon M. Draper, David Ezra Stein (Winner of this year’s Caldecott Honor for “Interrupting Chicken,” Walter Wick, R.L. Stine, and Tony DiTerlizzi
• Reminded us that teacher have an impact but sometimes this can be negative. For some artist, that refusal to acknowledge their special gifts gave them the determination to persist.
• Perhaps though it would be best to remember DiTerlizzi’s art teacher, “You can do this. I believe in you.” as a better motto for working with our students.

Bridging the Gap, Between School and Popular Culture: Utilizing Periodicals and Nonfiction Texts About Comics, Manga, and Graphic Novels to Teach Research Related Skills: Kelly McNeal, Melda N. Yildiz

• Graphic novels, manga, and comics motivate reluctant readers
• Use to develop real world literacy skills – comprehension of nonfiction text, summarizing, synthesizing information, develop thesis statements (a strong argument in a concise way), and oral communication skills
• “Act like a team even if you don’t feel like a team.”
• Alpha boxes: graphic organizer, squares representing the letters of the alphabet. As you read a nonfictional piece, place facts that begin with certain letters in that box. Use the organizer to summarize the informational piece. (Hoyt, Linda. Revisit, Reflect, Retell. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1999)
• Persuasion Map (Houghten Mifflin), a graphic organizer to synthesize the research from the articles – Goal (1) – Reasons (3) – Fact/Example (9 – 3 for each reason)
• Poster Session Rubric – Readwritethink.org
• What a great workshop – we spent most of the time working and going through each step of a collaborative research process which could be used for many different topics.

Building Literacy With Free Open Educational Resources: Karen Fasimpaur

• http://www.k12opened.com/IRA2011
• Poll Everywhere – free resources to do an ABC type of formative assessment
• OER good for differentiating instruction rather than basing instruction off of a textbook.
• Teachers need high quality resources that are legal to reproduce or transform.
• Open license is allowed to be shared without request.
• Helps to teach the new literacies.
• OER source of content for teachers/students to build from legally, suitable for remixing for differentiation, increases equity and is free.