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The time to advocate for NWP is now! We need all teachers and site leaders to call their two senators on Monday, November 29. Please ask them to VOTE NO on Coburn amendment #4697 to S. 510 that would ban all congressionally directed spending in FY2011, FY2012 and FY2013. We expect a vote to be held on this amendment on Monday, November 29, 2010. Read about what's at stake: "Earmark Ban Would Result in Catastrophic Cuts for Children" (Huffington Post)

English-language learners

audio recorders to have student-teachers read sets of vocabulary words, then she creates matching PowerPoint presentations with the words and burns them onto DVDs

2nd through 4th graders over 16 weeks as they used webcams to see themselves reading and then he identified their mistakes.

This is not meant in any way to be punitive. We realize that in some areas of the country it will be tough to get your depositors to the stated benchmarks due to unemployment, and poverty. But we must stress that there are no excuses. We believe in you as bankers and we believe in depositors' innate ability to grow their bank accounts.

What if, indeed. After studying the matter, Ms. Davidson concluded, “Online blogs directed at peers exhibit fewer typographical and factual errors, less plagiarism, and generally better, more elegant and persuasive prose than classroom assignments by the same writers.”

Ms. Davidson cites the elite Socratic system of questions and answers, the agrarian method of problem-solving and the apprenticeship program of imitating a master. It’s possible that any of these educational approaches

A classroom suited to today’s students should deemphasize solitary piecework. It should facilitate the kind of collaboration that helps individuals compensate for their blindnesses, instead of cultivating them. That classroom needs new ways of measuring progress, tailored to digital times — rather than to the industrial age or to some artsy utopia where everyone gets an Awesome for effort.

How can we best use limited resources to support learning and familiarize students with technology?

get creative with lesson structure

Take advantage of any time that your students have access to a computer lab with multiple computers.

So a few years ago, I started slipping my classes short writing assignments alongside the required papers. Once, I asked them, “Come up with two lines of copy to sell something you’re wearing now on eBay.” The mix of commerce and fashion stirred interest, and despite having 30 students in each class, I could give everyone serious individual attention. For another project, I asked them to describe the essence of the chalkboard in one or two sentences. One student wrote, “A chalkboard is a lot like memory: often jumbled, unorganized and sloppy. Even after it’s erased, there are traces of everything that’s been written on it.”

My ideal composition class would include assignments like “Write coherent and original comments for five YouTube videos, quickly telling us why surprised kittens or unconventional wedding dances resonate with millions,” and “Write Amazon reviews, including a bit of summary, insight and analysis, for three canonical works we read this semester (points off for gratuitous modern argot and emoticons).”

And short isn’t necessarily a shortcut. When you have only a sentence or two, there’s nowhere to hide.

it seems clear that Project-based learning (PBL) groups—I'm thinking literature circles--should be an excellent vehicle for their learning in a large classroom (next year 30+ sizes)

no obvious shape or thickness.

"haptic dissonance"