Kids on the Cusp / Summer Activities
by Mary Tarashuk Β· Published 08/20/2014 Β· Last modified 11/18/2019
Mary Tarashuk shares gems from her history curriculum treasure hunt, all discovered while surfing on the Web during her beach vacation. Her online pirate crew added to her store of resources for the year ahead and helped her strengthen her internet sea legs.
We can thank the Common Core for making βclose readingβ a buzz phrase. We can thank educators for building the bare concept into strategies that help students more fully understand the texts they encounter. Our Resource Roundup offers some of the what, why and how.
In principal Matt Renwickβs school, digital portfolios are comprehensive collections of student work that teachers and their students curate and reflect upon on a regular basis. Here, Renwick offers a close-up look at the portfolio process.
Advertising: itβs everywhere. As media literacy educators work to engage students in conversations about commercial marketing, we have to consider the close reading of print and video ads. Frank Baker provides starting points and resources for teachers.
Embracing Technology / Kids on the Cusp
by Mary Tarashuk Β· Published 07/16/2014 Β· Last modified 11/16/2019
This summer middle grades teacher Mary Tarashuk is diving into the deep end of the technology pool, accepting a challenging online leadership role. Yet sheβs determined to protect the beach time she needs for family and reflection on the school year ahead.
The new book Motivation to Learn doesnβt just talk about the theories behind motivating learners. Using a fresh metaphor (river rafting), it gives new & veteran teachers βconcrete strategies for creating a classroom culture that maximizes student engagement,β says reviewer Tasha Kirby.
While most students understand how to operate smart phones, they understand far less about what they see on their digital devices. Learning visual literacy in school is a vital skill today, says Frank W. Baker.
In this helpful how-to article Judith Wencel, founder of SUCCESS in the Middle, distills 20 years of experience effectively recruiting and preparing community tutors and mentors β dispelling the myth that βnobody will volunteer in middle schools.β
Book Reviews / Personal Learning Networks
by MiddleWeb Β· Published 05/16/2014 Β· Last modified 05/19/2014
Organized and user friendly, Professional Learning in the Digital Age by Kristen Swanson provides educator cases, face-to-face protocols, research snippets and to-do lists to help teachers move through the process of developing their PLN, says reviewer Nicole Miller.
The topic of dictionaries came up in assorted conversations in the past few weeks, reminding Kevin Hodgson both of the power of those esteemed books of words as symbols of thought and scholarship, and the ways in which technology is completely altering the ease and means of how we find information when we need it.
