EBTL2

I give homework too, Kerry. for some of the same reasons that you do. I think the issue of homework is often simplified in the media (I don't think elementary kids need much-certainly not all of these "creative" projects that kids can't do without Mom and/Dad helping them and believe me, I've often been angry at my children's teachers for the fifty math problems when ten would have sufficed!), But I get also tired of all of these "kids need the time to unwind and play" arguments that seem to come out of affluent parent's mouths. Many (not all!) kids when they are not in school (especially in our community!) have lives that make me exhausted. Kids are on millions of teams and seem to spend lots of their lives in structured activities. When I ask kids if they enjoy these activities, many (not all) seem very unenthusiastic about them. So I don't think they are doing a lot of "unwinding: or play. I have never done anything in my life that was worthwhile that didn't involve of lot of hard and sometimes routine work. I don't want to see young kids stressed and burned out-but I think the debate over homework sometimes is so intense because it is a diversion from the larger issue how we are raising our children today which is more nuanced and painful debate.

I like to think of Homework as "enrichment." What could be more interesting than an inspiring or provocative or beautiful lecture, reading, podcast, data set, etc., to inform the subject matter being taught in class. History has so much to teach us and we are unbelievably privileged to live in a time where information is plentiful and accessible in whatever format appeals to us. I had the best experience this summer reading Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies on my iPad. Being able to tap on a word for a definition (hello etymology!!) and Googling English royalty and the schism between the Catholic church, Henry VIII, and Thomas Cromwell role, i.e., the rise of the middle class, was a total blast. And completely self-directed. Who owns the learning, yup.

People are using QR codes to differentiate learning or create stations within your class. I can see applications for kindergarten on up to use this tool. The article mentions Viualead as tool to create unique looking QR codes. My ADD is kicking in and now I have to find out about Visualead!

I love the idea of using it for stations! My head is spinning already. Maybe I will use it for an activity on the Protestant Reformation with my 9th graders next week. One station for each of the Reformation movements after Luther: Anglican, Calvinist, Anabaptist, etc. The code could lead the kids to primary sources on the web. Thanks for the new idea Robyn.

Jan, thanks for posting this. Very informative. I took a look at the apps listed and I'd say our ipads at Birch (and the other schools) have apps from each category. You are ready to farm!

Very cute. Does this we're taking the plunge an updating without letting other crash test it first?

Thanks for the article. There is some helpful advice. I think I'll wait to update my devices. I'm not in a hurry, and the new operating system seems to be getting mixed reviews.

Jan, thank you for sharing this resource. We are just starting with Writers' Workshop this year, and I'm on the hunt for good mentor texts that I can share with the students, and have available in the "writing center" for them to look at as they write. Even though many were listed as K-5, I find that picture books can be especially helpful at the upper grade levels when introducing a new or difficult concepts. For example, the Amelia Bedelia books are great for idioms. I'm also interested in checking out "You Can Write Awesome Stories" and "Think for Yourself: Avoiding Plagiarism." I may be able to use that last one in collaboration with the resource Robyn posted about copy writing. At the writing institute this summer, the middle school teachers were given a book titled "When I Was Your Age." It's great - personal narratives about being young written by well-known authors. We read one to the kids on Friday called "All-Ball" by Mary Pope Osborne. It was a good way to show how writers sometimes write about personal/meaningful objects and the stories that those objects tell. Some of the stories might be old for elementary, but there are some you may want to check out.

Hi Julie and Jan, I've also been searching for mentor texts for the writing working and I'd like to recommend a book called "Less is More" by Kimberly Hill Campbell. It is subtitled "Teaching Literature with Short Texts." It is filled with ideas for mentor texts. She has a section on picture book with life lessons (she recommends "Officer Buckle and Gloria" which I remember fondly from my own children) and satisfying endings (Cynthia Rylant "When the Relative Came"). Many of her recommendations come from the book "When I Was Your Age" which we were given this summer. (Julie just mentioned it too!) For instance, she recommends Norma Fox Mazer's selection for writing narrative leads and Jane Yolen's selection for writing about a specific place.

Hi Jan, Thank you so much for posting this site for mentor text suggestions. Searching for ones that witll engage as well as help the students can be challenging. I recently ordered, for my newly created classroom writing center, "Jobs if you like reading and writing" by Charlotte Guillain with the Common Core mantra of career readiness in mind. Seventh graders do not always connect classroom writing instruction to its real world implications. I am hoping this text will help them see where good writing can lead them in the future.