Helen Barrett is sharing her commitment to life-long portfolios and building the argument for portfolios in our own personal lives, not just for our students. Recommended book: The Power of Portfolios by Elizabeth Hebert – Aimed at elementary level. Link to Helen’s PowerPoint for session. Realizing I had my camera with me, I logged onto [...]

Ernest Morrell is opening the session with 4 discussion questions: What will be demanded of students in terms of literacy in the 21st century In what ways is the nature of literacy changing? How should the discipline of English change in response to the changes in literacy? What are the ways that your students practice [...]

Kathy Yancy is the opening speaker for NCTE’s Institute for 21st Century Literacies. First task: Define literacy Second task: Define 21st century literacy Third task: Identify 10 key terms that define 21st literacy Fourth task: Put key terms onto chart paper in some form. Here’s what our group of 4 came up with (using Wordle.net) [...]

My two weeks at the Holocaust Seminar were amazing, just amazing. Because I need some time to reflect on the depth and breadth of what I learned, I’m planning to share the experience and resources a bit at a time, starting with the way I started most of my days: walking through Central Park’s Strawberry [...]

I’m heading out tonight for New York City , where I will spend the next two weeks at Columbia University participating in the 2008 Memorial Library Summer Seminar on Holocaust Education. I am already anticipating that these 14 days will be a life-changing experience. I realize that across time there are common threads between the [...]

Arnie Abrams is opening the session by stating that digital storytelling should be more about the writing – and the writing process – than about the technology. Benefits of digital storytelling: can be made interactive provides real audience works for the “YouTube generation” helps develop visual literacy helps to understand mass media requires presentation skills [...]

Can’t pass up a session with Hall Davidson! Hall is opening the session with a look at the stats on who allows/who forbids use of cell phones. It’s a long list on the “allow” side; a short one on the forbid side (Fidel Castro, the Talian, US school districts). The ability to immediately send a [...]