Skip to main content

English Teacher's Companion Ning


If one of your new year's resolutions is to be a more reflective and FABULOUS English teacher, then join the English Companion ning right now. This ning (social website with a specific focus) was started by Jim Burke, prolific author (English Teacher's Companion, The Teacher's Daybook, Reading Reminders, Writing Reminders, Tools for Thought: Graphic Organizers in the Classroom, etc.) webmaster, and guru for secondary English teachers. English teachers can join groups, start discussions, participate in discussions, blog and meet other English teachers from around the country and around the world. Within less than one month of starting this ning, there are already 600+ educators learning from each other.
I think I joined two weeks ago, and everyday that I go on and read the discussions, join in, and hear mana'o from other educators, I learn and am inspired again. The passion for teaching is contagious. People have great forum topics and it is as beneficial for the newbies as for the veteran teachers. Take advantage of this free opportunity to get high quality professional development.

Comments

Anonymous said…
cool blog

Popular posts from this blog

Kino (an indigenous logic model): post 1 of 4

Passion I have. What I need is to practice my elevator speeches, those short informative program synopses that can be done in the time it takes to ride the elevator.  Of course it will take me 4 posts. Post 1: The honua: building on solid ground The Alana culture-based education course is graphically depicted by the above logic model. The honua (green box), the earth, represents the mo'ok ūauhau, the geneology of this program that informs and guides the building of this course. Dr. Shawn Kanaʻiaupuni and her team lay the foundation for culture-based education (CBE) modeling and immersion within the course. Dr. Walter Kahumoku and Keiki Kawaiʻaeʻa, in consultation with Dr. Bernice McCarthy (4Mat) bring to the geneology the work of moenahā, a curriculum planning concept based on the way kupuna taught. Makawalu, literally eight eyes, is a concept practiced by Kaʻimipono Kaiwi and her teachers at Kamehameha Kapālama to encourage multiple perspectives in the standards-b

Tech Tools to Support Formative Assessment in the Classroom

  Source:  Dyer, K. (Jan. 31, 2019). 75 digital tools and apps teachers can use to support formative assessment. NWEA blog . What is sacred: Normally, when I read an article that I am going to use for class, I highlight citations that are sacred, but this is a different type of article, so what I wanted to do was keep track of apps that I tried in class or am trying and use Dyer's own lens to talk about worth and value in my own classroom. I cannot do 75. I will do 5. Her criteria: S upports formative instructional strategies and ways to activate learners to be resources for themselves and peers Is free or awful close to it (under $10 per year, where possible) When possible, both students and teachers can take the activator role (sometimes teachers need to get things started) 1. Flipgrid  allows you, students, families to do a video response (from 15 seconds to now 10 minutes - I love a good upgrade). New in 2020 besides the added time - it used to be maxed at 5 minutes - is the a

Visual Synectics Strategy: Beyond the Icebreaker

To get professional conversations going, one strategy is the visual synectics strategy. The purpose is to select a visual and generate comparisons as a way to foster professional conversations within the table. Our visual options were: Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz , Peter Falk from Columbo , Michael Jordan, Winston Churchill, Oprah Winfrey. The cloze passage for the day was: Learning with other professional educators is like_______________ because_______________. Our tongue in cheek response: Learning with other professional educators is like Dorothy because sometimes we need to realize that we're just not in Kansas anymore, embrace the change, learn through the process, and only then can we find our way back home. Why is this strategy  better than an icebreaker? It's not busy work. It guides participants to start thinking as a professional. It's not personal. The word icebreaker connotes that there is ice to be broken. People