English Companion Ning Group

"Web Tools in Action" A wicki where you can post how and why you use a web tool in your classroom. More about implementation than about the tool itself.

Great TED talk about the importance and power of storytelling to help us leap over cultural walls, embrace different experiences, feel what others feel.

Wow! PBL at its best.

augmented reality w/out coding for teachers

I'm on page 199 of 349 of Let the Great World Spin: "there's a high that you get when you're writing code. It's cool. It's easy to do. You forget your mom, your dad, everything. You've got the whole country onboard. This is America. You hit the frontier. You can go anywhere, Its about begin connected, access, gateways, like a whispering games where if you get one thing wrong you've got to go all the way back to the beginning."   quote from a teen hacker in the novel--it captures adolescence, hacking, learning, delight, beauty, everything: I want to remember this when I meet my new students in September

View Pure is a simple little tool that strips YouTube viewing of all of the distractions of related videos, comments, and promoted videos. To use View Pure just copy the link of a video into the "purifier," click purify, and your video will be displayed on a blank white background. You can also install the View Pure bookmarklet to accomplish the same goal.

Many good sound effects most free, the rest inexpensive. I can think of many applications including digital story telling. Thanks to "Technology Tidbits" for the link :)

First time I have seen the way reading changes when reading on a screen. I can use this info with my students, understand how critical reading is changing but not disintegrating

"lots of English and history applications. It'd be fun to write survival guides for self-destructive historical or literary figures- maybe Edgar Allen Poe or Custer."

Custard?

:) That's embarrassing! I guess I was hungry when I added that. General Custer not Custard.

Interesting variety of lectures hosted by Yale professors. Lectures are free of charge.

doctorow's take on why we need not just twitter and facebook and diigo but also older methods of socialmedia--blogging

this is the best analysis on why we need the varied forms of social media in the classroom--and in life

persuasive writing process

An outstanding take on Google Forms by David Wees. Great use of the format of creating multiple pages to make a choose-your-own-ending story. Will be sharing this one.