Reflections from National Writing Project, ancillary discussions

Sometimes at a conference, some of the most interesting conversations happen in the spaces in-between the official sessions. I made a few mental notes about some of the informal discussions that I was part of at the National Writing Project Annual Meeting last week — in hallways, near the snack area, after sessions, etc. — […]

Reflections from National Writing Project, day three

I spent almost all of my day with the NWP Makes! Session, in which NWP teamed up with MAKE Magazine to think about hands-on learning and the informational writing that can be partnered with artistic discovery. We spent much of the morning “doing” — working at tables on arts activities that included sock puppets, bottle […]

The NWP(eeee) Dance Party(eeee) Theme Song

This morning, as I was planning out my NWP Makes! Session a bit more for next Saturday at the National Writing Project Annual Meeting, it dawned on me that a dance party stopmotion movie is what my group should create during our hour long working time (and then, they will document what we have done […]

Imaginary Extinct Creatures

The parent-teacher organization at our school is very active and very supportive of the work of teachers. This comes through on many levels. One way that the PTO raises money for its work is with an annual Apple Pie Craft Fair, and each classroom is encouraged to do a small craft with their classes for […]

The 2010 National Writing Project Annual Meeting

It’s that time of year again — the time when I leave my classroom for a few days to join all of my wonderful National Writing Project colleagues for our Annual Meeting. In about 10 days, we head to Orlando, Florida (same place as NCTE) and convene together to learn, discuss and debate the many […]

A K12Online Reflection (so far): Student Voices

I just started to take some time this morning to view a few presentations at the K12 Online Conference (free!) and first, I watched an “education” story by a student named Colby and then a presentation about a music class where kids are composing and creating all the time. A few weeks ago, I did […]

Starting the Year with Names in Motion

Names in Motion 2010 (1) from Mr. Hodgson on Vimeo. I like to start the first day of school with some fun technology and last year, I had my sixth graders jump headfirst into Pivot Stickfigure to make a movie that included letters in their name. I love that when parents ask “what did you […]

Mulling over my ideas about Tech

Later today, I am going to Skype into a class of prospective teachers at Creighton University in Omaha that is being taught by a fellow tech traveler, Mike M. I feel honored that I am even being asked and I am trying to think of a message that I can send to these folks as […]

So simple, even a 5 year old ….

My little guy (five years old) asked yesterday if  “I could make a movie” with the clay he has been working with. I’ve had clay all over the place for the past week or so and he has been making little characters and stuff, and then storing them in a box that he created. It’s […]

Keep those video files organized

I honestly try not to take too much technology knowledge for granted with my students. But yesterday, as we moved deeper into our figurative language stopmotion animation project, I realized that a very small percentage of my students knew how to create a very basis  element of Windows: a folder. Each day, as they shoot […]