As a middle school history and technology teacher, I found a huge disconnect between what my student were expected to do as readers and what they could do. I don’t mean that they were lazy. If anything my 5th graders were going above and beyond what I was asking them to do, so what happened? …
This is the best article that I’ve seen that details the rich literacy experiences that kids experience when they play video games. Many teachers have suspected that gaming engages students and asks them to interact and problem solve, but as Levasseur points out there are specific literacy skills of problem-solving and process learning that will …
In the true spirit of collaboration, National Writing Project members have agreed to share the materials they have created! What a great place to start if you need new ideas! Thanks!
I’ll never tire of reading (and writing) about the struggle to have a student-centered classroom. My shift to a student-centred classroom has been a roller coaster ride, but well worth the work and effort The standardization movement is making this transformation process even harder for teachers. Rather than reward shifted or flipped classrooms administrators are …
As high schooler, I was taught that websites were not a good resource when writing a research paper. That was 10 years ago and I still hear teachers arguing that same point: I have tended to be wary of students using websites in research. My experience has been that students who rely heavily on websites …
One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn’t belong. I’m afraid it’s schools: Yet the truth remains that most of our classrooms remain rooted firmly in the 20th century. Many, perhaps most, of our teachers do not use 21st century tools. There are various reasons for this. They …
More and more sites and blogs are talking about the Apple announcement that will concern education on January 19. The only statement from Apple is that the announcement will be about education and textbooks. While I anxiously await for the announcement, I tend to agree with Ian Quillen who suggests: The bigger question, according to Mashable, is …
If you have ever been a middle school teacher on lunch duty, you realize that some absolutely absurd information gets shared, but it’s a phenomena that aspiring blogs and affiliate marketers would benefit from exploring. What gets shared and why? This framework describes the three criteria that must be met before someone will spread an …
The plethora of digital media is impacting many different avenues and professions including newspapers: The market values analog readers more highly than digital ones because the market is right. Seeing this, several people have started looking for ways to exit that market. One of the most widely circulated of these ideas is David Swenson and …
There are many middle schoolers who are being told to be quiet in class, to sit still in class and to not be distracted by all their technology. For 6 hours a day, they are often unengaged and disconnected. Then they go home. They pull out their iPods, turn their phone off of vibrate, check …
