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Grade/Subject: 9-12 Language Arts Description: Students will research the American Dream, what it means to different people and cultures, how it changes, and how it manifests itself in politics, religion, education or entertainment. In addition, students will define their own American Dreams and explore obstacles and adjustments they might need to make. Benefits: The student will apply pre-reading skills and comprehension strategies, while extending independent reading, and will organize and synthesize information that will be used to plan, create, organize and present an age appropriate media product. Students will also become more aware of the way culture changes across the decades. Possible Pitfalls: Finding an authentic audience could be an issue. However, some front work could solve that problem.

Create a digital poster or movie using collected images and documents from the National Archives. All of the images are there for you to search, save a collection, read brief descriptions about each image, and use your collection to create a movie. Great if you teach social studies, have students read historical fiction or teach science history.

"The premise is simple; we pick a book to read aloud to our students during a set 6-week period and during that time we try to make as many global connections as possible. Each teacher decides how much time they would like to dedicate and how involved they would like to be. Some people choose to connect with just one class, while others go for as many as possible. The scope and depth of the project is up to you. In the past we have used Twitter, Skype, Edmodo, our wiki, email, regular mail, Kidblog, and any other tools we can think of to make these connections. Teachers get a community of other educators to do a global project with, hopefully inspiring them to continue these connections through the year."

Fab read. I've only highlighted a few paragraphs... then it goes into concrete ways to improve tech integration using the example of the iPad. ---- "n: Just bringing new technology in your classroom and working it into day-to-day routines isn't enough. The iPads arrived two days before my students, and I quickly made plans to integrate them into our curriculum. Despite my high hopes, the next two months were less than successful. A casual observer would have witnessed a sea of students glued to glistening tablets, but the effects were superficial. The iPads were not helping my students make substantial progress toward self-efficacy, academic achievement, or social-emotional growth. Around the end of September, I took a step back-it was time to evaluate and reflect on what was happening. I asked myself: "What have we been doing so far with this technology?" Students used math apps instead of math card games. They'd made slideshow presentations for isolated units. They'd done some research on the Internet. In short, things were going ... OK. Nothing to write home about. Not what I would consider "worthy" of a $20,000 grant. Clearly it was time for a change. The problem, I began to realize, was my own understanding of how the iPads should be utilized in the classroom. I had seen them as a supplement to my pre-existing curriculum, trying to fit them into the structure of what I'd always done. This was the wrong approach: To truly change how my classroom worked, I needed a technology-based redefinition of my practice."

Fab read. I've only highlighted a few paragraphs... then it goes into concrete ways to improve tech integration using the example of the iPad.

Have students write book reviews and publish their reviews for others to read. "Vicki Davis 07 Oct 13 03:30:18 I noticed that Wikispaces included Dogo books under a new "Education" category in the widget menu. (This looks like a television on the edit bar when you click to Edit a wiki.) So, Dogobooks is a place where kids are writing book reviews about everything. Very cool. You can see the most popular books and ti also has book clubs and other ways for kids to connect. This is a very cool site for helping kids love learning and may also augment Accelerated Reader programs nicely."

Readability is a web and mobile app that zaps clutter and saves web articles in a comfortable reading view.

Readability is a web and mobile app that zaps clutter and saves web articles in a comfortable reading view.

Interesting read.

"If you're not yet on Twitter, read this post to find out some reasons why you should be. Confused about the Twitter language? Hopefully this brief explanation will help."

I thought that you all would enjoy reading this blog post. It made me really think about how I teach in my classroom. I felt that these concepts really support the 21st Century skills that we are teaching. 

A site that allows users to create a collection of digital items for various purposes. Reading - character in a book, author study Social Studies - items to illustrate historical event and/or person Science - scientist biography or evidence to support scientific claims Math - collect examples of geometry in daily life

The students then created a digital book that included their memoir as well as their personal philosophy that they wrote in World History. Ultimately, the project culminated in an exhibition where the students presented their digital books to an audience of family, friends, peers and community members. Each student individually presented his or her book and read an excerpt of the memoir. For many students it was the first time they had such "high stakes" in a project and they simultaneously had to work on elements of public speaking along with the project development.

Direactly from the website: "The NWP Digital Is website is a collection of ideas, reflections, and stories about what it means to teach writing in our digital, interconnected world. Read, discuss, and share ideas about teaching writing today."

This may be an interesting disscusion point for you and your language teachers...

This is my resource for the February meeting. While it is not from the original list, it is directly related to my content and could be used with Common Core as students are asked form and defend opinions about the future of journalism. It also has them evaluate whether or not sources are reliable, which I cover, and includes coverage of the First Amendment, which I try to cover, but usually run out of time.

Parent guides for supporting Common Core Standards for ELA, individualized for each grade level, K-HS (cick on left sidebar for math)

This website is an amazing collection of global wildlife migration for several different species within different animal kingdoms. I really like how many resources there are for each area of study. Teacher resources are provided to integrate with reading and writing as well as the social science areas. I became particularly interested in the Gray Whales Migration because it has many terms 4th graders need to know. It also dicusses the migration of whales in their science book. I think it would be neat to share what we learn with others as we move through the project and monitor the migration of the whales. Places that are along the coast may actual get to see and report a sighting. We can share through our class blog and perhaps find other classes to skype with. One pitfall I see is the amount of time that could potential go into this project. But, it would be worth it.

Shauna's class did it http://blogs.goaj.org/mrshamman/2013/04/11/journey-north-mystery-class/

Simple backchannel site with no ads. Students can ask/answer questions and make comments while observing a presentation or video. 

This is really neat! Have you used it yet?

"Field trips" using Google Earth to show locations in well-known literature, all grades. Awesome for teaching about setting.