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March 1, 2014 - 8:30am - 2:30pm

Join us for EdCamp Phoenix West, a FREE educator-driven day of conversation and collaboration. 

To incorporate authentic literacy, be sure to answer these questions when you design and implement a project:Does the project include an authentic written product that someone outside the school context would create?Does the project include a written product that meets a real need?Does the project set students up to generate their own questions to frame their investigation into the Driving Question?Does the project enable students to find answers to their questions?Does the project include critique, ideally by an expert or the product recipient?Does the project allow students to present their work to the intended recipient?If you can answer “yes” to these questions, you’ve got it: a fully authentic literary experience for your students.

For example, in the Small Acts of Courage project at King Middle School in Portland, Maine, students researched and wrote about local stories of the Civil Rights Movement. In response to the Driving Question, “What was Maine’s contribution the Civil Rights Movement?“, they created a book for a public audience which included people who participated locally in the struggle for civil rights.

Learn more about this topic in BIE’s “Webinar Wednesday” on Authentic Literacy, which may be found on BIE's YouTube Channel.

Show us your best! We know you’ve created some amazing content with SoftChalk this year because each day we see lessons that WOW us on CONNECT. SoftChalk’s annual Lesson Challenge is our way to recognize your innovative teaching, lesson design skills and hard work! If you have lessons or eCourses that you’re proud of—submit them to the 2012 SoftChalk Lesson Challenge now! A $500 cash award will be awarded to each lesson challenge winner.

Via Skype or blogging, teachers will be teamed up from January to June 2013 and encouraged to "connect" their classrooms together.

The Big 6 provides a framework to systematically find, use, apply, and evaluate information for specific tasks.

Information Literacy The ability to assess the validity and usefulness of information has always been a critical skill. Given the ease of publishing information on the Internet, and our increasing reliance on Web based resources these skills are even more important. These resources are designed to help students develop the ability to evaluate information.

Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply and Questions to AskThis UC Berkeley site offers a useful four-part process for evaluating Web pages, including examining the URL, the perimeter of the page, indicators of quality, and what others say

Inherent Skills: Global Empathy Questioning Problem Solving Creativity and Innovative Thinking Self-direction

Explicit Skills: Critical Thinking Global Communication Collaboration Information Literacy Information Management Media/Technology Literac

“Maximizing the Common Core involves a change in creativity, critical thinking, and a fundamental shift in relationships. It is where the role of the teacher becomes more essential than ever, as students develop their capacity to question, discover, connect, collaborate and contribute on a global scale, and where they are empowered by an increase in direction and management of their own learning.”