lsanderson

A few months ago, I wrote about Goodreads. (Check out the post here.) A fifth grade teacher was trying out this site with her students on a voluntary basis. Recently, she surveyed the students who opted to use this site instead of the traditional, paper reading log. Here are the results: 78% of the students [...]

Last post, I wrote about stop-action movies. This is a quick follow-up to share two movies that were completed with our May Challenge Crew. The Snow Man Chicken Little These movies are very simple attempts at a “how-to” narrative and a retelling of a story. For both movies, we used IPEVO Point 2 View USB [...]

It’s almost the end of the school year. Things are crazy, but at the same time, they can be a bit stale. Especially, after testing has come and gone, students often see that milestone as a sign to check out. Looking to continue to engage your students right down to the end? Give stop-action movies [...]

I feel like I’m bursting at the seams with new ideas and approaches to share with teachers, but there is never enough time during the school day to grab their attention. And a jam packed curriculum makes things a very hard sell these days. But I know that teachers want to learn. I know that they [...]

Many teachers, students and parents are not thrilled with reading logs. Why? Paper reading logs are flat. On the norm, they only show a list of book titles. Therefore, there is not a lot of investment. Students (often with the prodding of parents) fill out these sheets to fulfill an obligation. At the end of [...]

Many moons ago when I was a second grade teacher, I was involved in a grant that brought three computer projectors to my elementary school. Our focus was the traditional five paragraph essay and how projecting student work and our own mini-lessons was faster, more efficient and eye-catching to students. The tools, resources and technology [...]

Will Richardson’s article “Publishers, Participants All” in the February 2011 Educational Leadership really struck me this week. We all tell our students and children not to talk to strangers. Safety is paramount whether we’re on the street or online. However, if we really want to get students embedded in a global community of sharing, we [...]

As I stood in my kitchen on this snow day, I observed a flourishing new behavior in my 19 month old son: mimicking. I do not have school today, but this morning, I tried to steal work moments at my laptop set up on a counter. My husband was working from home due to the [...]

Normally, I like to highlight tech tools that are FREE. There are so many great services popping up on a daily basis during some weeks that we do not seem to have a shortage for integration into our studies. Honestly, it often is overwhelming… which one should we try now? The key is finding something [...]

Last week, I attended the MassCUE Conference where I had the honor of being a presenter on both days. One of my presentations was a sharing of our MassCUE Initiative 2010 Grant. As nerve wracking as it is to prepare and give a presentation, I always find them to be such a wonderful way to [...]