Literature Circle Blog

Here's a way to take the traditional "literature circle" to a new level . . . develop it in a blog!

Check out this group of 7th graders from Auckland, New Zealand, who are very nicely completing their assigned tasks in their literature circle roles and then posting their work on a blog where it comes together in a creative, organized, always available online project.

http://goodnightmistertom.blogspot.com/

The are reading Good Night Mister Tom, preparing creative posts, and learning about blogging all wrapped up into a 21 century skills great project!

For my classroom, I'd love to have a "virtual book club" where my students and another class from anywhere in the world could read the same book and then share their views . . . all in a blog.

Here's a comment that I wrote on the Good Night Mister Tom Blog.

About Del.icio.us

Gone are the days of favorites in folders only available on your desktop at home. Now there's del.icio.us, a social bookmarking site that allows you to collect and organize your favorite websites, "tag" them with numerous names, and share them with others who may have the same "liking" as you.

Check out this cool video which explains the whole concept in easy-to-undertand terms:

thecommoncraftshow

Then hop over to del.icio.us, register, and begin your del.icio.us experience!

The Wonderful World of Web 2.0

Business Technology students are currently researching a "technology" from it's infancy stages to where it has evolved today and everything in between. Topics range from music players (remember 45 rpm records) to storage devices (how about 8 1/2" floppy disks) to phones (wow how they have evolved). I'm working right along side the students putting together a presentation on Web 2.0 tools.

So what's Web 2.0? you ask? It's the next generation of web applications and tools that focuses on sharing, collaborating, and social networks. It's changing how people utilize the Internet and the web. Rather than being "content consumers," anyone can be a "content producer." From blogs, to wikis, to photo sharing, to podcasts, to bookmarking, to file sharing, tagging, networking, mapping, mashups, and music and more . . . wowee!

Here's the 2007 Web 2.0 Awards in 41 categories . . . very nicely presented. Spend some time, check it out, control your own web experience, become a "content producer." This is what the new generation of the web is all about.

Have You iGoogled Today?

If you haven't checked out igoogle yet, you must. It's Google's personalized homepage that bring tons of cool stuff (and counting)--that you choose--right to your fingertips. The themes are a hoot, like the seasonal scape that features a frog and a ladybug who spend a beautiful day in the summer sun playing croquet, eating a picnic lunch, having a water battle, enjoying a slip-and-slide, a game of badminton, and roasted marshmallows over a campfire. Then the critters roll out their sleeping bags for a peaceful night under the stars but not before telling their ghost stories as the fire dims. Intrigued??? It doesn't stop there. The gadgets are endless. What are gadgets? you ask? They're small applications that bring together a lot of information that is relevent to you. Here's a sampling: things to ponder, friendship quote of the day, smiley of the moment, weather, jokes, internet slang translater, beauty tips, word of the day, news, news, and more news, how to of the day, fitness tips, brainteaster, dictionary, comics, the moon phases, games, games, and more games, world clocks, art of the day, lyrics search, recipe of the day, deep thoughts, digital alarm clock, cleaning tip of the day, body fat calculator, test your eyes . . . and this is just a small sampling. When you begin to choose your gadgets from the scads available, Google will suggest others along the same lines plus you can see how many people are currently using the gadget and read reviews. 'Nuf said for now . . . go set up your iGoogle . . . it'll keep you coming back for more.

Week One Rewind

As everyone settled into new schedules, ringing bells, and 17 additional minutes, the first week of school at MHS went off without a hitch. Much information, data, knowledge, statistics, facts, and figures were imparted within the classrooms of MHS this first week . . . which leads to this “Week One Rewind” blog post--a chance to review, reflect, and reprocess the concepts that were discussed in Room 228 during the first week. Read on to review, reflect, and reprocess . . . a quiz will follow!

The difference between the “Internet” and an “intranet” is more than just one letter. Like Interstate 80, aka I-80, which runs from Teaneck, NJ, to San Francisco, CA, and is the second-longest interstate highway after I-90, the “Internet” is an electronic network providing access to millions of resources worldwide. Intrastate 209, originally one of the most rural US highways to traverse Pennsylvania, began as an intrastate highway, running from Milford, PA (north), to Clarks Ferry, PA (south). So . . . an intranet is an inter-connected network within one organization that uses Web technologies for the sharing of information internally, not worldwide.

PDF is Portable Document Format—an electronic document that is read with Adobe Acrobat (free download). Advantages of PDF include preserving of fonts, images, and layout of the document no matter what application was used to create it and the ability to read the file on any computer without any conflict. PDF’s cannot be altered or edited which is also considered an advantage.

File management is controlling the creation, deletion, access, location, and use of files, data, and programs. A good “rule of thumb” is to create an electronic folder when you accumulate five or more files dealing with the same subject. Using appropriate filenames is also a good file management technique which can help you be more organized in saving and finding files. And . . . every month you should either purge or archive files that are no longer imminently needed.

Aaaah, the fine art of “multitasking,” a term that became a buzzword with technological inventions and the Windows “task” bar, cell phones, IMing, texting, MP3, Bluetooth . . . etc, etc, is best defined as executing many processes at the same time. Gone are the days of simply talking on the one “land line” “rotary” “short corded” phone located in the kitchen of your household or watching one of three channels on the one TV located in the family room—at different times, of course.

A template, or a pattern used to create documents, can really be a time-saver . . . and we all need more time. Use the template concept when you know you’ll be using the same pre-designed format many times.

That's week one's computer concepts . . . wow, we covered a lot of territory. Can't wait for week two ;-) Good luck on the quiz.

Practice Random Acts of Reading

The school year is now imminent. Inside the walls of MHS the floors are shiny clean, the chalk/whiteboard trays are dust-free, desks are neatly organized, and staff has been in-serviced. On Monday morning, some 800 students will grace the halls again, ready to kick-off another year of algebraic equations, parlez vous-ing francais, batting birdies in a badminton game, and reading "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Aaaah reading . . . the purpose of this post. We were told at one of our in-service meetings that our students are lagging a little behind in the PSSA reading scores, and with the NCLB bar being raised this school year, we need to rise to the challenge. How you ask? Well . . . all teachers are going to put major emphasis on reading skills and activities. Boy am I glad I attended a Governor’s Institute this July on READING, writing, speaking, and listening—aka RWSL—an intense week learning numerous reading strategies. I’m ready for the challenge!!!

So the theme for my classroom this year is “Practice Random Acts of Reading.” And this blog is just a little piece of that. Notice the subheading above . . . “everyone is a reader—everyone is a writer.” Oh, students of mine, and anyone else who cares to join in, be ready to embrace, to learn, to practice, to refine, to continue or to find a love of reading. “It is well to read everything of something, and something of everything.” ~ Lord Henry P. Brougham

Here’s a random reading act for today. . .

What is a Parable? -- a short narrative that illustrates a moral, philosophical or spiritual lesson.

Read this one and feel free to comment.

Parable of the Pencil

Have an extraordinary school year!!

Let's Go Global

I'm a Today Show fan. I'm especially entertained and enlightened by the annual "Where in the World is Matt Lauer" trek. It always makes me think globally as he wanders into some very obscure, historical, and unknown places. Places you don't really ever think about until you've had a good lesson from Matt. Let's use this blog post to learn something new about our world. Search the Internet, pick a city, a place, a geographical location, a river, a jungle, a desert . . . you get it . . . and provide information . . . fact, fiction, history, folktale, statistics . . . you get it . . .in your comment. I anxiously await your findings!