Group items tagged

"This is the play-date generation. ... There was a time when children came home from school and just played randomly with their friends. Or hung around and got bored, and eventually that would lead you on to something. Kids don't get to do that now. Busy parents book them into things constantly-violin lessons, ballet lessons, swimming teams. The kids get the idea that someone will always be structuring their time for them."

A great article, worth 15 minutes.

"Is fiction good for us? We spend huge chunks of our lives immersed in novels, films, TV shows, and other forms of fiction. Some see this as a positive thing, arguing that made-up stories cultivate our mental and moral development. But others have argued that fiction is mentally and ethically corrosive. It's an ancient question: Does fiction build the morality of individuals and societies, or does it break it down?"

Chicago Shakespeare Theater has printable handbooks for many of Shakespeare's plays. "Each of our entirely original teacher handbooks includes active, engaging teaching activities, 400 years of critical thinking, synopses, and much more. Teaching activities-all aligned with the Common Core State Standards-are designed to draw upon some of the same practices and techniques that actors use in the rehearsal process to break open Shakespeare's challenging language."

i think a great way to use twitter is to go to twitter search - see what people are saying about a topic. i know i've used it in the last week to get up to date info on internet safety restrictions and how to break through some of the barriers keeping us from good educational web activities.

When is it cheating? When is it collaboration? This thoughtful article from Common Sense Media provides fine advice for parents (or teachers) on how to talk to kids about digital media and ethics.  

"college deans have reported receiving growing numbers of incoming freshmen they've dubbed "teacups" because they're so fragile that they break down anytime things don't go their way. "Well-intentioned parents have been metabolizing their anxiety for them their entire childhoods," Mogel said of these kids, "so they don't know how to deal with it when they grow up." "

Agreed: I spend a significant portion of my "parent" time trying to convince HS parents that their child's grade is something the child and I can handle....

Lunches for Learning is a nonprofit organization that exists to help break the cycle of poverty by providing nutrition and nutritional supplements to the children in rural, public elementary schools in the Republic of Honduras.

Folger Library's great flashmob idea for Will's Bday (data day?)

What do you think?

This is an interactive website based on the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books/games. The characters of Harry Potter have been thrown into The Hunger Games (as tributes or mentors) by Lord Voldemort. The player chooses one of the characters and must read each passage, then makes a decision for that character, which could result in becoming the Victor...or "Reenervate" to try again. If you have students who like Harry Potter or The Hunger Games, they will have fun on this website. New characters are unlocked daily & we plan on writing more stories - one with the characters rebelling against Lord Voldemort and breaking out of the arena. It is great practice for reading skills - some characters have longer passages, some shorter. Some have up to 144 different scenarios (that's 144 pages of text). The least amount of reading for a player is 19 pages. So think about your low readers - that may be more than they read in a week by just playing one character. The writers who have/are contributing to this non-profit project include teachers, high school students, college students, professional writers, graphic artists, musicians, librarians, and so many more. We're all fans of both series, of course. :) (For grades 7 and up) I have a free download of lesson ideas for using The Potter Games in your classroom here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Potter-Games-Using-Interactive-Fiction-to-Improve-Reading

great article for you (and your students) from Altucher on how to succeed