April 2010 Blog Posts (106)

This year, I formatted my language arts class based on a modified Four Blocks Literacy Model in attempts to create a balanced literacy program that meets the diverse needs of all my students. Although the true four blocks model takes place in a single block class session, I am forced to teach my blocks throughout the week within 52 minute class periods. In a typical week…

I have an area on a wall in my classroom I call the "Parking Lot." It's a place where students can "park" their ideas, concerns, or questions about my language arts class. Here are some of the student responses from my 8th graders currently in the lot:

• Can we arrange our desks in a big circle?…

An update to last April’s post about free web-based IWBs.

Last April, I wrote a post about a few Online Interactive Whiteboards that I had checked out. That post remains one of my most popular posts, so obviously this is a topic of interest to a lot of people.

I figured it was time for an update, to check out new tools, and to see if there…

web 2

The videos we watched for Computers in the Classroom showed me that today's students feel disconnected from and isolated within their own learning. I think as administrators and teachers become bogged down in "teaching to the test" in order to maintain passing rates or to score high on those tests, students become lost in a curriculum that is uneventful and meaningless.

Teachers and instructors need to find ways to engage their students. They need to make learning more…

Chapter 8 addresses the use of technology and social media tools to solve social dilemmas. Given my field, the title caught my eye, especially the section entitled, "Self Help We Don't Approve Of." It goes on to described an online bulletin board set up by a teen magazine to talk about subjects important to teen girls. Eventually the magazine shut down the bulletin board because a group of girls were swapping tips on being anorexic. Although the bulletin board was successful and useful to…

The following quote can be found on page 99 in Shirky's book:

"Conversation is king. Content is just something to talk about. The conversation that forms around shared photos, videos, weblog posts, and the like is often about how to do it better next time---how to be a better photographer or a better writer or a better programmer. The goal of getting better at something is different from the goal of being good at it; there is a pleasure in improving your abilities even if that…

Merit Pay Gone Wrong

This week's #edchat, "How should successful & innovative teaching and teachers be rewarded?" was incredibly appropriate in light of Florida's controversial Senate Bill 6 this week that faced strong opposition and even…