Pure Manaʻo

The Kanaka Maoli (native Hawaiians) were the most literate nation in the world when they were allowed to read and write in their own language. For this once oral culture, writing was magic. It was a way to share their manaʻo (thoughts) and moʻolelo (stories) beyond their own communities. The Hawaiian people in the 21st century are no longer the worldʻs leaders in literacy. This presentation talks about an edtech way to encourage our struggling learners (Hawaiian or otherwise) to once again see the magic in writing and identify themselves as readers and writers. Created with Haiku Deck , presentation software that inspires

Kevin Hodgson shares his mana'o on literacy and writing. Now that Hawai'i schools are out for summer and as the workshops and writing projects start next week, take some time to read his post , reflect on your year and think about the essentials and big ideas in your own curriculum. I lā maikaʻi!

Adolescent literacy.org is a resource for parents and educators of kids in grades 4-12. It's a free e-newsletter and it's got a nice balance of writing and reading resources as well as blogs, multimedia videos with experts and YA authors as well as literacy strategies. Right now I'm watching a video by Dr. Steve Graham of Vanderbilt University. It's long, so it would be a great shot of PD for spring break. Not only does he talk about why he was interested in writing, he also says that the best preparation for writing teachers is to go through writing project. He also talks about self-regulated strategy development, peer revising, collaborative writing and grammar instruction. He gives specific examples from the classroom, answers some common teacher questions and explains why what we do is so important.