Monthly Archives: November 2008

Off to San Antonio but first …

Date
Posted by
Comments0

Along with many other folks, I am off to San Antonio tomorrow for the annual meeting of the National Writing Project. It’s going to be a bit of a whirlwind, as on Thursday, I have to go to a dinner celebration that honors a book project that I was part of, in which three of us from the Western Massachusetts Writing Project wrote about how an organization can prepare for unexpected change in leadership and be ready for the unexpected. Our monograph book — The Challenge of Change — was just published and the dinner is a nice way to gather writers and editors together after two years of work.

Then, on Friday, along with sitting in on at least one workshop, I am co-presenting a session on the Writing Processes of Digital Storytelling in which a NWP colleague and I will talk through ways to get kids writing as they begin planning a movie project. This session comes out of some work that we did as a partnership between NWP and Pearson. The website resource is still under development, but you can see some of the work that I did around the concept of claymation in the classroom.

And then, I fly back home on Saturday (after a dinner with some NWP tech friends on Friday night). Phew.

But first, how about Day in a Sentence? Boil down your week or your day into a single sentence and then use the comment link on this post to share out. I will do my best to gather all of the words and release them on Sunday, but it may be Monday or so before you see them.

Here is mine (I tinkered with an audio site called Vocaroo to podcast — you can try it, too — if you podcast your sentence, just include the Vocaroo link with your words):

I feel a bit like a mouse in the maze this week, as I help students working on stop-motion movies, Google maps, and other technology-related projects that have fully engaged them and given them hands-on creative work. (direct link to podcast)

Peace (in days),
Kevin

Digging Into Google Sites

Date
Posted by
Comments3

Maybe I am just lazy, but I am liking how easy it is to create websites with Google Sites. They really get the simplicity down for users. And my list of sites keeps growing, as I added a place for all of my book and graphic novels reviews that run elsewhere first but needed a home under one roof. I have used Google Page Creator, but that seems more and more clunky and I think Google is phasing it out (although I may be wrong about that).

Want to see some of the Google Sites I have created?

And here are a few that I have created for my classroom or with students in other programs:

So, why does Google do it? Their philosophy, from what I have read, is that the more people who are online, the more people who may click on their advertising links in their Google Search, and the more money they get. I understand all that and I can live with that, as long as my sites don’t become home to a barrage of advertising.

Do you use Google Sites? (And see her for information from Google on using its tools for the classroom)

Peace (in building footprints),
Kevin

You Days in a Haiku

Date
Posted by
Comments2

Some wonderful syllables came my way this week as we transformed Days in a Sentence into Days in a Haiku. Thanks to everyone who took the plunge. And here is a gift for all of you: a GeoGreeting, which spells out words based on images from Google Earth.

And now — your haikus:

Paul is seeking some company.

Found a hotel room
To NECC and DC I go
Split the cost with me?

Wow. sara actually had a student wonder about what is it like to teach (actually, I have a group of students planning a teach the teacher day(s) event and it has been interesting to listen to them talking about how a kid takes over the room).

twelve-year-old students…
“what’s it like to teach 6th grade?”
“like herding kittens.”

Ken gives us the gift of imagery. I imagine he thinks in poetic thoughts.

sun high in the blue
water sparks and squints past green
fields this is our land

Liza needs some respite. So do I. How come I doubt neither of us will be getting it anytime soon?

Crisp and cool fall air
Insane deadlines and too much work
I long for a break

Crazy busy people … all of us, right? Anne captures that in her haiku.

My week was crazily busy,
Simulating and fun,
Yet wearying and energy zapping.

Ahhh. Report card time? (We moved from trimesters to twice-year report cards, but I remember this time of filling out report cards all too well). Good luck, James.

Forever marking
Never finishing the job
Report card time’s hard

I love the sounds here in Eric’s poem.

Pitter, patter, rain
Overcast shrinking daylight.
Winter is coming.

Stacey feels as if she has gone overboard, but hey … it’s for the kids.

After school I went
to Attleboro and bought
too much for my kids.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Peace (in syllables),
Kevin

Bird’s Eye View of Rome

Date
Posted by
Comments0

My gosh … this is cool. Google Earth with an entire replica of Ancient Rome. Man, just think of the possibilities if you teach this unit. And, if you are ambitious (which my math teacher and I hope to be later this year), you can even use Google Sketch-Up to build your own 3D buildings and place them on your Google Earth.

Here is some info about the Google Earth Rome Project.

And here is a snazzy video:

Peace (in exploration),
Kevin