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15 Tools to Inspire Middle School Writers

this tool integrates with Clever, the tool that we already use to sync class rosters to Haiku... meaning implementation would be pretty painlesss "We currently support middle school students studying English. We cover all of the grammatical concepts from the Common Core State Standards for grades 1-8. We intend to expand our coverage to high school students, college students, ESL students, SAT / ACT students, and foreign language students."

An interesting article about the push for nonfiction in LA curriculum. 

comics about various grammar topics, a warning that some comics on this site are not totally school appropriate - but the content it good!  They also have quizzes

A great article from the NMSA's Middle School Journal on digital storytelling.

more at the article.... The Common Core standards don't just suggest novel technology use as a way to "engage students," but rather requires learners to make complex decisions about how, when, and why to use technology-something educators must do as well. In the past, tech use-whether limited or gratuitous-has been more a matter of preference or available resources than a must-do requirement. With the Common Core, such use is now a matter of law. Takeaways for Teachers: For teachers, the takeaway is simple: technology is no longer a feel-good way to develop buzz and honor authenticity, but rather a matter of academic merit and fidelity-which is awesome for several reasons: -No longer must progressive educators defend the reasoning behind twitter, YouTube, iPads, or blogging in their classroom. -Teachers will now have access to district, state, and federal resources to more meaningfully integrate technology. This means funding, training, school and district programs, and formal and informal professional development. -Social media professional learning networks (PLN) from linkedin to twitter, facebook to even pinterest, can be dominated by education technology discussion rather than broader concerns of how people learn, likely because those educators tending towards technology are on these digital networks to begin with. Now that said technology integration is required, it has the chance to bring the "old guard" of educators (perhaps kicking and screaming) into the world of #edtech. -This should also mean better resources for all teachers in the future. Digital "stuff" is easier to share than yellowing worksheets in an old file cabinet. As more learning becomes digital, sharing should increase as a result.

Becky's blog summarizes many young adult novels and categorizes them by genre and interest.

Thanks, Jackie. Becky's Blog has a great reference to a Classic book reading project I plan to use.