January Reads: The Centurions of 2011

To my own amazement, given that my university semester started recently, I read 14 books in January.

The First Escape (Doppleganger #1) by G. P. Taylor
The Water Wars by Cameron Stratcher
If I Stay by Gayle Foreman**
Shantorian (Trackers #2) by Patrick Carman
Gossamer by Lois Lowry
How We Think by John Dewey
Readicide by Kelly Gallagher
Watchmen by Alan Moore
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
The Maze of Bones (39 Clues #1) by Rick Riordan
One False Note (39 Clues #2) by Gordon Korman
Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer
Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony by Eion Colfer
Literacy and Learning by Deborah Brandt
Teachers as Cultural Workers: Letters to those who dare teach by Paolo Freire

**Even though I liked 13 Reasons Why better (which no one I talk to seems to agree with me on), If I Stay was probably my favorite read of January.

This Week in Links

I just tweeted:

And I think I will. I know I get so bogged down in classwork that I forget about my Google Reader for weeks at a time. Trying to go through all of those posts is a daunting task. And figuring out what I'm going to read all the way through is even more daunting (this is why titles are important).
What I think I'll try to do every so often is share (and catalogue) the links that I find interesting or useful. I did this once before, but I know I need to get into the swing of semester schedule. Routine is helpful.  So here we go.

Awesome Stories
I've used this site before, but forgot about it. It's a great place for primary sources for all sorts of subjects. In the past, I've used it for history type lessons, but there's so much more information that just that which is related to history. Awesome stories also offers videos and still images. And as far as I've been able to tell, it's all free.

One Word
I've seen this one before too, and it's another that I've forgotten about. On The Pursuit of Technology Integration Happiness, Michael Zimmer offers a few uses for this website.  Check out his post on One Word here.
Zimmer has also created some content specific posts with resources. I'm going to post here a link to his English/Language Arts resources, that way I don't have to pick and choose the links I'd like to include here. Oh, and Zimmer, thanks for being awesome.

Corkboard.me

Corkboard.me is an alternative to Wallwisher and Stixy. Of the three, Stixy is the most versatile, but I think Corkboard.me is the most user friendly, especially when using with students who are luddites when it comes to technology used for education.

The last link I want to leave you with is one to the blog The Concrete Classroom.  Here, the author talks about our "Digital Natives," but with an interesting analogy. It's a short read, so take a look.
I have now cleaned out my Google Reader for this week. *whew.* Now on to finish the reading that I'm trying to get done.

Create a Facebook Profile

Back in January, David (@techforschools) over at Tomorrow's tech in today's schools posted about creating Facebook profiles as a way to show understanding of concepts across the curriculum. In his post, he included a PowerPoint template to be used as a starting point for this project. As soon as I saw this, I knew it had to be my final exam for this semester. So my students will be creating two Facebook profiles, one for their novel, and one for their novel's protagonist.

In order to help my students prepare for their final, I created planning handouts that they'll fill out as they go. I've included them here.

Create a Facebook Profile-Novel

Create a Facebook Profile-Character

To Ning or not to Ning

Since I started working on my proposal for the French Award, I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to create blogs for my students that are protected--I know a number of teachers ask for outside comments on their students' blogs... I'm not there yet. I wanted to create self-contained community that included students from all four of my classes. The would be able to interact with each other and create a community of readers with common goals.

So I looked at Edublogs, Blogger, WikiSpaces, Wetpaint and PBworks and couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.

And then I checked one of my Nings and rediscovered that there are blogs built into this system. What this means is that I may not use Edmodo next year, which makes me sad. But in one interface, I have discussion boards, blogs, mail, a calendar, video (if my district will allow streaming) and photos. And it's organized in such a way that finding material will be a whole lot easier than before.

So I created a Ning called Reading Room 211 and have been playing with it. I mentioned it to my 4th hour students and they're a little miffed that they had me this year because next year sounds like more fun. One student even commented that he's jealous of his brother because his brother will probably get to do all the fun movie-making next year.

I wanted to get through the semester and use only one website, but I think I'm going to maintain a wiki and leave it open to the public. I've had problems with students downloading copies of assignments from Edmodo (I'll post the same PDF on Edmodo and on our wiki and it can only be opened from the wiki--no idea why). I'll keep a copy of the syllabus, assignments, and agendas there so they are viewable anytime by parents. Both the wiki and the ning will have the same title, so they should be fairly easy for my digital natives (who are really scared of new technology and being wrong) to remember.

Things I should consider about using a ning next year? Any thought is appreciated. I'm working on rules and guidelines now.

Blogging? We have a Wiki

It's Saturday morning, and I finally have time this week to sit down and roll through my RSS feeds and the Twitter posts I've favorited. A Slideshare presentation, "11 advantages of using a blog for teaching" caught my interest right away. I like how Calberg compares blogs and wikis. There are advantages to both, I think, but it's difficult to incorporate everything.

11 advantages of using a blog for teaching

View more presentations from Frank Calberg Services.

Right now I'm in a place with my teaching where I want to do more than my students can handle. We've been using Edmodo since the beginning of the semester, and I just introduced a wiki into the mix. There are some students who already move effortlessly between the two--Friday's lesson involved pulling questions off the wiki and posting answers on Edmodo--but there are many who are having a very hard time with it. 

Ever since I learned the eChalk, the website host for my school district, had a setup for blogs, I've wanted to use them. And the more I read about other teachers and how they're using blogs, I just think: "Ooh, I want to do that." All in good time, right? 

I set up my wiki in such a way that each student has his/her own page on the wiki, where they keep track of the books they're reading, the books they've read, and their thoughts on those book. Other students (and the more savvy ones have already started doing this) can view their peers' pages, make comments, and get book recommendations.

For my audience right now, 8th graders with limited experience and bravery with technology and trying new things, the wiki is working well. It's changed the way I present independent work since I hate making copies. It's also easier now to give students make-up work. They got to the wiki, either to the page with the weekly agenda, or the page with daily assignments, and can complete them on a sheet of paper, or print the PDF and go from there.

Now, to get the kids who have a number of absences and no internet at home (which is most of my students) to make getting those assignments a priority.

Why I Love Twitter (short post)

When I began as a Twitter, my updates were protected, and I only followed people who I already knew (and they were all from either HS or the NMLA conference). A couple of weeks ago, I unlocked my tweets, posted something about #ncte, which I wanted to attend but didn't, and my online professional development opened up 100 fold. I feel like I have a network of teachers that I'm following and are following me, all determined to share as much as they can on edtech, strategies, and the art of teaching.

The experience of participating in Twitter has broadened the world of my students as well. Through Edmodo, we are currently connecting with a class of students with @chadsansing in another part of the country. Funny how many of my students had to look at a map before they realized that their new peers are farther away from where we are than my hometown.

Educators, if you haven't tapped into this resource, you need to, and Mom, I'll set you up when I get home later this month.