ASD English Department

Great article about the future of education in the eyes of George Lucas. (Thanks for sharing Phil)

"Analyzing Texts: Overview of a Lesson Series"  These are a series of videos of a 5th grade class to demonstrate incorporating the Common Core Standards using Non-Fiction

A way kids/teachers could make money from their writing...more info at the site A new initiative from Amazon called Kindle Worlds, introduced yesterday, is offering fanfic authors a cut of the sales when their works are published through the program. Amazon's first partner in this project is Alloy Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros TV Group, which is providing the licenses to the franchises Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, and The Vampire Diaries. (All three are book series that have been turned into TV shows.) Amazon promises that more licensed worlds are on the way, from "movies, comics, music, and games" as well as books and TV shows

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.

A simple way to leave voice feedback in Google Docs.  Awesome tool for anyone who is in World Languages as well as for teachers who want to provide lots of feedback without typing.

a drive app for recording comments directly into google docs - potential time save for grading!

gamified vocab builder

This is Skype's attempt to get classroom's collaborating around the world.  Some people are looking for teachers to help them with specific lessons (i.e. Spanish teacher)  Please take a look through the Skype Lessons link for more details.

 International Debate Education Association (IDEA) 

I like this guy's videos  - check out the PBS Idea Channel

Here's how it works: Teachers choose or produce the beginning to a story, then challenge students to continue writing the story. Each student submits the next chapter, and then they vote on which entry is the best. (Students can't vote for their own submission, and they don't know whose chapter they're voting for.) The winning chapter is then added to the story, and the process continues. Co-created by a teacher and the CEO of a technology company, BoomWriter is a free, easy-to-use group writing website that challenges students to produce their best work-and makes them published authors at the end of the process. Students earn BoomDollars for voting and for having their entries chosen, and they can use this currency to buy accessories for their site avatar. The teacher determines the total number of chapters to be completed, and when the story is finished, it's published as a book that students and their families can own. Students are captivated by this unique approach to writing, and it's extremely easy for teachers to incorporate into their curriculum.