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lots of examples & ideas of tech-rich writing

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...

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."

"Google Drive has recently announced the addition of add-ons to its features. These are third party extensions that you can install on your Drive to enhance its performance.I have been trying out some of these add-ons and decided to feature three of them here. The add-ons I selected are ideal for helping students improve their  writing."

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.

I've had students do this on a voluntary basis the past few years. They love it, especially the screenwriting one in April.

Storybird reverses the process of visual storytelling by starting with the image and "unlocking" the story inside. Choose an artist or a theme, get inspired, and start writing.

This is so exciting!

Love this idea of a 100 word challenge

global collab The Project Launched at the 2013 Global Education conference, "Out My Window" was born from a quest to have students gain global perspective. "Out My Window" classrooms share their world. Inspired by the five themes of geography, students reveal cultural awareness and understanding through original poetry and photography. The Process 1. Take a photo "out your window". 2. Write a poem incorporating the 5 themes of geography - place, location, human environment interaction, region, and movement. Look below for poetry and 5 themes resources 3. Edit your photo to your liking. Look below for editing tips. -We suggest overlaying the text onto the image like the example shown, but you can also add it separately if you'd like. 4. Share! Sharing 1. Create a Flickr account if you don't already have one. The Flickr #outmywindow group is public and by submitting you agree to the group norms 2. Once you have logged into Flickr and been added to the #outmywindow group, you can start uploading your finished product! 3. Be sure to use our Twitter hashtag - #omw1415 to continue sharing your work!

Students will research, write, edit, revise, support, and publish their news stories and editorial opinion pieces-while learning, practicing, and mastering 21st century content standards, learning objectives, learning skills, and technology tools.Students will be publishing them in a 21st century, globally-themed newspaper format. This newspaper can be shared with not only the school but the community. This is a lesson for 4th grade, but I think it could be adapted for 3rd grade up.

Project FeederWatch is a winter-long survey of birds that visit feeders at backyards, nature centers, schools, community areas, and other locales in North America. FeederWatchers periodically count the birds they see at their feeders from November through early April and send their counts to Project FeederWatch. FeederWatch data help scientists track broadscale movements of winter bird populations and long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance. This project gives an authentic reason to learn how to record data using graphs and charts, research, and writing. All of this can be done using technology. Since areas all around North America are involved, it ties into the global community. Teachers within a school or district could work together to promote collaboration. The biggest pitfall would be finding a location that would be appropriate to place the feeder.

Create your own "Choose Your Own Adventure" story

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

Grants available!

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/

A free book you can make which makes it possible upload up to 3 PDFs each with up to 15 pages, that is embed-able on websites.

This looks like a great project for kids! You can apply so many standards...

This is a great aggregator of curriculum and can be useful in so many ways. The use of Popplet and Sqworl is a great enhancement. Awesome!

Description from the site: "Most of us are aware of the issues of pollution and global warming. But what can we do about it? Participation in this project will not only help you figure out what your contribution has been to these issues, it will also help you figure out what you can do about them and how you can help others figure out what they can do, and so on." I chose this particular project because it relates to a project my J2 kids are doing now. They have chosen issues like global warming or domestic violence and are researching and using media to educate their peers. They are writing editorials and using Facebook and creating Web sites. They are VERY into it. This is a similar thing with a built-in audience. A potential pitfall is that it might be somewhat limited. It's not a very long project and might be better as part of something bigger.

This site looks amazing! It connects with us by indicating the Targeted Audience giving the beginning and end dates. What a fabulous resource.

Discusses having to redefine "literacy" since Internet has changed what that means... and students need to learn new literacy because that's the reality of this day and age... It's the reality of preparing them for college and career (year 13). Furthermore, it's built into the standards.