Pure Manaʻo

and why we must provide the tools for our digital natives. Nwp Digital Is De Voss View more documents from devossda .

As an English teacher, there are two professional organizations that have made an enormous difference in my career. The first is NWP (the National Writing Project) and the other is the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English). Both annual conventions happen simultaneously in the same location, so next year is in Orlando. If we want the public to treat teachers as professionals, I think we must treat ourselves as professionals and get involved in the professional organizations in our area, not just as a member, but as a presenter, and as a committee member. Here's a video made by NCTE to celebrate their centennial.

I forgot how much I love the Muppets. We can't forget the educational brilliance of Sesame Street and the Muppets!

Stephanie Shepherd led us through a FABULOUS technology workshop on blogging and podcasting and had the teachers set up their own blogs. Yeah! To check out all the resources Stephanie provided, here's a sharetab of her links as well as some of our own blogs. http://sharetabs.com/?tahoeshepherds So why should we use blogs and podcasts/vodcasts in our classrooms? ▪ Offers another sense modality (aural) for students to express themselves and absorb or manipulate information ▪Increased student motivation ▪Teachers or students can record audio about homework assignments, assignments, feedback, announcements, etc. thus the classroom is extended and enriched ▪Many students already have audio players, so it taps into an existing technology. ▪Blogging is highly effective way to help students to become better writers. Research has long shown that students write more, write in greater detail, and take greater care with spelling, grammar, and punctuation, when they are writing to a...