For many years, I have been a fan of Thinkfinity, especially ReadWriteThink. And, while I have generally stopped posting messages about new web-based products and services from the many, many emails that I get each month, this one caught my attention: The Verizon Foundation have partnered with nationally recognized leaders in educational disciplines including literacy, [...]

Recently, a conversation on our department’s listserve sparked me to offer a rare response. Most of what you need to know about the conversation on the list is embedded in my comments below, and I would welcome ideas for how you help students use technology during class in productive, ethical, and responsible ways. — Colleagues, [...]

This morning, I am pleased to be a part of Littleton Public Schools’ Adolescent Literacy Institute, and I am able to participate in Harvey “Smokey” Daniels’ keynote, “Best Practice Across the Curriculum.” Here are some notes from his session: Goals for today Define “Best Practice” Consider the missing link: student collaboration Watch video of kids [...]

Another semester has zoomed past and, before these thoughts escape me, and I begin a series of summer workshops and our CRWP summer institute, I am going to try to capture a few of the lessons learned in relation to digital writing and digital teaching. Good lessons seem to come in threes, so here goes: [...]

Alfie Kohn, an outspoken critic of traditional schooling and standardized testing, spoke at CMU on Wednesday, March 17, 2010. Here are some notes I captured from his talk, “Overhauling the Transmission Model: An overview of traditional versus progressive teaching” You may know if you have been a student or teacher that learning is not simply [...]

After a wonderful week in Philly and while reflecting on my experiences at the NWP Annual Meeting, “Digital Is” Conference, and NCTE Convention, I was fortunate enough to engage with a Michigan colleague who, as a part of her master’s program, is doing an inquiry project on establishing her own digital writing workshop. She had [...]

As the holidays begin, another conference season comes to a close. For the past week, Sara and I have been in Philadelphia at the National Writing Project‘s “Digital Is…” pre-conference, the NWP Annual Meeting, and the National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention. As it is each year, we enjoy spending time with colleagues [...]

Notes from “Erasing Copyright Confusion” at NCTE 2009 Joyce Valenza, Renee Hobbs, Kristin Hokanson, and Michael RobbGrieco Center for Social Media Renee Hobbs, Temple — What is the purpose of copyright? Protect intellectual property Ownership, profit Authors’ right In fact, the purpose of copyright is to promote creativity, innovation, and the spread of knowledge Owners [...]

The Social Media Portfolio: Using Technology to Promote Meta-cognitive Skill Development At NWP’s Digital Is Rafi Santo, Amana Kaskazi, and Shonell Richmond Global Kids 20 Years in existence and focusing on significant global issues Issues: Local to global and global to local understanding Leadership: Skills necessary to affect change Technology: How does new media contribute [...]

Danielle Nicole DeVoss asks us to think about what digital was then and is now… Digital is… Networked — we compose in networked spaces Collaborative — people are able to connect and create through these networks (LolCats) Multimodal — typography, kinetic type, digital stories Re-Mediated — taking a media object and recreating it so it [...]