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Literacy, Technology, Policy, Etc....A Blog

Teaching literacy with technology in an era of educational innovation. By Jen Roberts @JenRoberts1

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Showing posts from 2011

Posts

The Final Minutes of NaNoWriMo 2011

December 01, 2011

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Negotiating NCTE 2011

November 20, 2011

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Digital Pedagogy

October 21, 2011

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Writing Mentors

October 13, 2011

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Going to Google - GTA Seattle July 2011

August 20, 2011

Google Certified Teacher Google Teacher Academy GTA GTAWA

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Google Teacher Academy Update

Google Certified Teacher Google Teacher Academy GTAWA Seattle

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I got in to the Google Teacher Academy!

Google Certified Teacher Google Teacher Academy GTA Seattle Twitter

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The Summer of Ed Tech

Ed Tech Google Certified Teacher Google Docs internet Learning Professional Development SDAWP Summer

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The Paperless American Lit Final

American Literature Assessment Final Google Presentations Paperless students

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Using ActivEngage With Students

ActivEngage Promethean students Teaching video

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The future's so bright... Senior Exhibition

Future Senior Exhibition Seniors

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Docs for English Teachers

Education Google Docs Teachers Teaching

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Why my students are like really big rocks

Rocks SAT students

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Goodreads in the Classroom

Education Apps Goodreads Independent Reading Reading students Web 2.0

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A little figurative language

January 25, 2011

Figurative language hyperbole idiom metaphor personification simile Teaching

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Finding Like Minds: The triumph of social networking for teachers

January 15, 2011

facebook Google Docs Goolge Forms NCTE NING Social Networking Twitter

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Click to order #PowerUpEd

My book with Diana Neebe

Popular Posts

Turning SAMR into TECH: What models are good for

SAMR, developed by Ruben Puentedura, is one model for examining the evolution of tech integration in classrooms. It focuses on the type of work students are doing and how much that work deviates from traditional classroom practices. In a sense, it measures the future against the past. This four minute video is great if you would like to hear him explain it in his own words.

I like the SAMR model and I think it does what models are supposed to do, it get us talking and thinking about the work going on in our classrooms. This graphic shows the progression of a teacher's thinking with a bit of humor too.

As a model though, I think SAMR has some issues we need to talk and think about more. This is my list of concerns.

For further exploration:

It privileges the modification and redefinition stages such that good teaching without tech is marginalized. Even after five years of 1:1 I still have a few fabulous lessons that just work better on paper. They are worth keeping even if they do n…

Book Check Out Form: My classroom library solution

I love teaching with technology, but as an English teacher I also love books. Seeing my students read, get hooked on reading, and grow as readers are among my greatest joys as an educator. Maintaining a large and diverse classroom library is a huge part of making my students into life long readers. Loosing books is an inevitable part of working with kids and books. Recently I heard Penny Kittle say, "If you aren't loosing 15% of your classroom library every year than you probably don't have the right books in it." (She attributed it to someone else but I can't recall who.)

I teach 9th graders. I want them to read daily, try on a book before they borrow it, and have as many books out at a time as they need. I used to use a clipboard with a log. Students wrote down the title, author and date they borrowed the book. When they returned it they added the date returned. But often there was a line of 5-6 students waiting to write on the log, and many more just gave up …

Five Things I Know About Close Reading

Most people reading this probably got here because the title of this post includes the phrase "Close Reading." Even more than Common Core, "close reading" is the phrase I hear most often in literacy instructional circles, but what does close reading mean and why are we all talking about it?

First of all, the phrase "close reading" is not actually in the CCSS. From my (admittedly inexpert) survey, I don't find it there. My grade level reading standards don't mention it in literature or informational text. The closest wording I found is in the anchor standards, which say,
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.1Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. From the idiomatic direction to "read closely," we have progressed to a pedagogical strategy of "Close Reading." I'm not suggesting student…

Group Creator: Group Students Fast, but Not Random

I want to have my students work in groups and with partners as often as possible, but the process of making their groups or choosing their partners took me a long time. I kept looking for a digital solution that would speed up the process for me, but I could never find one with the features I wanted. Then I figured out how to make a group creator that works for me and I'm also sharing it with you.

My Group Creator runs in a Google Spreadsheet. (Don't panic, it comes with directions.) After you add your class roster and sort by a score you put in, you can click on the different tabs across the bottom to see the different groups students should be in. The tabs include both homogeneous and heterogeneous groups of six, groups of four, and partners.

Directions Page Roster Page
On the roster tab replace the sample names with your own students. Then add a score that you can use to rank your students, a recent quiz grade or test score works fine, or just give each student a number b…

How do you get to know your students?

In the past week, several novice teachers have asked me this question. It's a good question to ask and it is especially important in the first few weeks of school, but getting to know your students is a year long process. Some of them you will know a lot about very quickly, others will surprise you with important information in May. Getting to know your students isn't a step in the teaching process; it is a mindset professional educators adopt that keeps them open to the clues, tidbits, and details that help them know their students strengths, needs, and interests.

I'm sure there are exhaustive lists of "get to know you" activities on the internet. These are just some of the things I have been using for the past few years that work for me.

I learn their names as quickly as possible.
This is probably pretty obvious. I have some tricks for it, but it can still take me a week or more to get them all in my head. Name learning tricks:

I greet them all at the door and a…

Get the Group Creator (It's Free)

GCT becomes GCI

Formerly Known as Google Certified Teacher

About Me

My Classroom Blog
Power Up: Making the Shift to 1:1 Teaching and Learning
My Visual CV
Google For Education Profile
About.me
Classroom Charts Blog

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9th English Classroom Blog
Americal Lit Classroom Blog
TheJenRoberts Report
Writing Response Group Resources

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Docs Story Builder
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Paper Rater- Evaluates Writing
Text Fixer -Removes Line Breaks

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