I was introduced to James Paul Gee‘s research on gaming in education several years ago at a National Writing Project Annual Meeting workshop. NWP colleague and mentor Peter Kittle referenced Gee’s work with the comment (something like) “As educators, we really need to be thinking about when kids are reading and writing when they don’t [...]

What do Truman Capote, Frances Farmer, Joyce Maynard, Bernard Malamud, Joyce Carol Oates, Sylvia Plath, and Robert Redford have in common?” Answer: They all received Scholastic Contest awards as teenagers for their creative work. So if you know budding young writers in grades 7-12, please checkout the California Writes site for information on how they [...]

The single most important part of telling a good story is asking throughout the entire process: ‘What is the story all about?’”  Bryan Shadden, KVIE I look forward to our regional (Sacramento)  SEVA Trainings for Teachers series. Saturday’s event was an opportunity to learn about Tips for Building a Documentary, a session lead by KVIE [...]

The highlight of my week was learning that I am an Edublogger Competition Winner! With that honor comes the opportunity to pass on to someone else a free, 12-month  Edublogs Supporter subscription. I’ve decided to turn this option into a competition within my school district. Although a number of teachers have added blogging to their [...]

This year I’ve decided to add Photo Story 3 to my workshop offerings.  I don’t know why I’ve waited so long to introduce teachers and students to this extremely user-friendly program.  For a number of reasons (and I’ll limit myself to five), it’s a great beginning step into filmmaking and the art of digital storytelling. [...]