Tonight I heard a great story on Marketplace about using Peer Pressure to affect social change. The interviewee, Tina Rosenberg, explained how some groups, rather than focusing only on education used, essentially, Personal Learning Networks to promote social change. She sums it up below: “…by connecting them to other people, by having them be a…
When the story of Natalie Monroe, the “Teacher Blogger” broke earlier this year, it rustled a lot of feathers. There were those that stood in firm support of her 1st Amendment rights, there were those that called for her to be fired immediately, and there were those that denounced the idea that teachers should be…
Congratulations to Amy, whose comment in my Super-Powered Word Study contest had the most votes! She has won a copy of Super-Powered Word Study to use with her students. Congrats, Amy!
Recently, I was lucky enough to get my hands on this fantastic book, Super-Powered Word Study. What I love about the book is its focus on research-based strategies. This is not a simple ‘comics will make kids want to read’ book. The authors James Bucky Carter and Erik A Evensen have created a systematic approach…
My 6th graders are in the middle of building wikis about a topic of their choice. It has been a journey of learning how to evaluate sites, how to locate information, how to bookmark sites using Diigo and take notes with the highlighting feature. They have learned how to create a wiki and plan out…
Why??? I moved to Philadelphia in August 2002 with a lot of energy and no idea what I was doing here. Nearly 9 years later I have built a career, bought a house and am proud to call Philadelphia home. I think that there are amazing things happening in this city and it is an…
As my 4th graders begin their research projects we have been discussing and experimenting with keywords. Today they put together a list of questions about their topic (a famous African American) to prepare for starting their research. I gave them a choice of how they listed the questions. I modeled the list method and the…
One my recent obsessions this school year is figuring out the best assessment strategies and methods of reporting student progress. While I have not even covered the tip of the iceberg when it comes to mastering how I assess my students and provide them with timely, meaningful feedback, I have been struggling this year with…
photo courtesy of Clover_1 on Flickr I have been thinking a lot recently about video gaming and what we can learn from it as educators. This is not a new concept or a new discussion. I’ve been seeing things happen in my classroom that really make me think there’s something to this idea. My recent…
I’ll admit it. I’m overwhelmed these days. I feel that I am a Jane of all trades and a Master of none. I work hard all day ensuring that I am the best teacher I can be, and then I come home to be the best girlfriend I can be while also maintaining blogs, an…