A meme is usually framed as a series of questions that are replicated and then transmitted virally–most often, through blogs. The questions posed within a meme may focus on anything of interest to a particular community. Following a meme as it winds its way through the web can be a lot of fun, and in the process, readers often find themselves connecting with new bloggers and their collective perspective. Why would teachers ask students to create memes? Newbie…
I spent yesterday with the high school English Department at Depew Union Free School District. These folks invited me in to help them approach formative assessment as a process that leads to instructional improvement rather than a product that leads to grades. They’ve begun exploring the 6+1 Traits of Writing, considering what their middle school colleagues have been up to, and looking to new tools for support. Wordle was a big hit yesterday. I introduced…
Photo Credit: King Cloud Mike recently shared ways in which different educators are using Wordle. Jenn directed my attention to TextArc and TagCrowd Diana Dell shared WordSift. artViper is another option. Wondering if there are other tools out there and additional ways to use them?
I’ve been using Wordle to begin conversations around standards this year, and I have to admit, it’s kinda neat to pull these posters out and watch teachers get excited about the New York State Core Curriculum. It’s amazing what can happen when you switch up the visual, isn’t it? The Wordle above represents the speaking standards and performance indicators for grade eleven, and today, I got to spend a bit of time talking possibilities with…
Happy Holidays everyone! I was up early this morning, browsing through my reader and stumbling upon posts that have a common theme: it’s no surprise that this year, many people are eager to give gifts that cost little in terms of cash they may not have or trash that clutters up the planet. I’m thinking about the slew of new possibilities available to all of us, thanks to the web, and I spent yesterday sharing some of these…
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet a fabulous group of seventh grade writers. Joe Cena teaches at Depew Middle School, and he invited me in to work with his students around word choice. These kids are embarking on a performance task which began with wordless picture books, is evolving into short story writing, and will eventually result in the publication of final products that challenge their use of FlickR and Moviemaker. This is the group’s first classroom exposure to…