Archive for 5/20/13

Put your credit card in the freezer before you read tonight's archive!  All about summer reading and PD plans, you will find yourself ordering book upon book upon book! We can't  be responsible for the number of books you find yourself ordering. :)

Link to archive.

Guest Post from @yabookbridges

SUMMER ISN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE

Every student and teacher from the beginning of SCHOOL has looked forward to the summer holidays. And while logically I know that adherence to the agrarian calendar is archaic and counter-productive to what I'm trying to accomplish as an educator, I think I look forward to the "summer break" more than my students. And, yes, I want to sleep in and spend time at the beach and take trips to visit friends and family but, the longer I teach, the more summer has become a time to catch up.

I catch up on my TBR pile. I catch up on those professional books I ordered and barely managed to skim, much less read thoroughly. I catch up on the newest technological trends. I catch up on the newest, hottest, YA releases so that I have new stock for my classroom library. And then, if I have time, I catch up on sleep.

So, this week's topics will be divided into four 15 minute segments about your personal reading and PPD (personal professional development) for the summer:

1. Which books are shouting at you from your TBR pile? 

2. Which professional books do you plan to tackle or revisit?

3. Which technological issues do you plan to explore or practice?

4. Which middle grade and YA summer releases are you anticipating?

Join me from 7-8pm ET on Monday 20 May 2013 to discuss these and related topics. And here's to summer!

Bio: Reagan Mauk (@yabookbridges) has been a middle grade and high school teacher for 13 years. Teaching 8th grade ELA in NC, she is actively involved in NCTE and ALAN, currently serving on the ALAN Censorship Committee. In 2012, she began yabookbridges.com to share her thoughts and classroom connections between YA, YA readers, and teaching practice. She has presented about writing and bridging classic literature with YA at regional and national conventions like NWP, NCTE, and ALAN.

Archive 5/13/13

Tonight's chat, hosted by 

@CELeadership, focused on literacy leadership. Check out the archive for some great ideas!

Link to archive.

Guest Post from @CELeadership

Literacy Leadership

Leadership takes many forms in schools.  Some school leaders have official supervisory positions, leading curriculum development, evaluating teachers and the like.  Others, though, lead from inside their classrooms as they craft lessons and develop new instructional methods.  Both types of leaders bear equal importance in supporting and inspiring teachers.  Whether a novice or a veteran, every educator benefits from effective leadership.  The Conference on English Leadership (CEL), a NCTE constituent group for literacy leaders, focuses its work on how all leaders can do this well.  

As the focus on literacy expands, so does the role of literacy leaders.  On Monday, May 13th, we will discuss how teacher leaders, literacy coaches and department supervisors can support and inspire teachers as they meet the daily challenges and celebrations in their English classrooms.

Possible questions and topics include:

1.  What are the most effective leadership strategies employed by your literacy leader to support your professional learning?

2.  In what ways does your literacy leader inspire you to take a risk in your teaching?

3.  In what form do you receive the best feedback from your literacy leader?  Why does it work for you?

4.  For teacher leaders and literacy coaches, how do you maintain the delicate balance of collegiality and authority?

5.  For department chairs, how do you differentiate your leadership style to meet the needs of teachers who have different needs and strengths?

6.  In what ways do literacy leaders support the work in other subject areas?

Please join us on Monday, May 13 from 7 - 8 pm ET to participate in this chat on leadership.   If you want more information about the Conference on English Leadership or our Annual Convention this fall in Boston, please go to www.ncte.org/cel.  We will be tweeting from @CELeadership

About the hosts:

Conference on English Leadership (@CELeadership) - The Conference on English Leadership, a NCTE constituent group, fosters an intimate professional community dedicated to building the leadership capacity of literacy educators.  We publish the English Leadership Quarterly journal four times a year and host an Annual Convention.  This year’s CEL Convention takes place in Boston from November 24 - 26, 2013.  This year’s theme is “Transformative Literacy Leadership and Learning.”  Our keynote speakers include Donalyn Miller (@donalynbooks), Troy Hicks (@hickstro), Eric Sheninger (@NMHS_Principal) and #engchat’s very own Meenoo Rami (@meenoorami).  Registration is only $165 (member) or $190 (non-member).  If you’d like to register, please go to www.ncte.org/cel.  Click “Register” and check W.15 on the form.  You do not need to attend NCTE’s convention to attend CEL’s (though we do recommend it!).  CEL also hosts #LitLead, a chat for literacy leaders, on the second Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm ET.

Heather Rocco (@heatherrocco) - Heather Rocco is the Supervisor for English Language Arts, Grades 6 - 12  for the School District of the Chathams in Chatham, New Jersey.  She has been an English department supervisor for ten years and an active CEL member for just as long.  This year, she serves on CEL’s Executive Council as the Program Chair for Boston.  She also runs the twitter feed for @CELeadership and manages the monthly #LitLead chat.  She has presented about literacy leadership issues at many national and regional conferences such as NCTE, CEL, ASCD and NJPSA.      

Archive for 5/6/13

Tonight's #engchat, focusing on new digital tools for vocabulary learning and word mastery, was full of good ideas from @VocabularyCom. Be sure to check out the archive!!




Link to archive.

*Apologies for the late archive tonight.  Technical difficulties! On that note, it looks like Tweetchat will no longer play nice with Twitter in the upcoming weeks.  Any suggestions for archiving as we move forward?

Guest Post from Ben Zimmer and Georgia Scurletis

Word Play: Gamifying Vocabulary Instruction


Vocabulary doesn't live in stale flashcards and static workbooks. Vocabulary is all around us, in the texts we encounter every day. Twenty-first-century vocabulary instruction needs to break out of tired old models and provide interactive experiences that allow students to meet words where they live.
Online gaming is an ideal vehicle for rethinking vocabulary teaching: gamification can adapt to students’ individual needs and encourage independent word learning through attaining personal achievements. Online instruction also encourages students to expand their word knowledge beyond staid dictionary definitions and into the realm of real-world examples, from classic literature to breaking news.

Potential Questions and Topics

1. How can online vocabulary learning provide differentiated instruction, adapting to individual students' needs and learning styles?
2. How can data-driven methods of text collection be integrated into online learning, to best take advantage of the world of words around us?
3. How can the techniques of gamification draw students into the fun of learning new vocabulary, motivating them to become independent word learners?
4. How does vocabulary learning provide scaffolding for reading comprehension of complex texts?
5. How can online dictionary resources meet students on their own terrain as “digital natives”?

Please join us for an #Engchat on Monday, May 6 from 7-8pm EST, focusing on new digital tools for vocabulary learning and word mastery. We will be tweeting from @VocabularyCom.

About the hosts:

Georgia Scurletis is Director of Curriculum Development for Vocabulary.com and the Visual Thesaurus. Before coming to Thinkmap, she spent 18 years as a curriculum writer and classroom teacher. Georgia has written curriculum materials for a variety of Web sites (WGBH, The New York Times Learning Network, Edsitement) and various school districts. While teaching high school English in Brooklyn, she was a recipient of the New York State English Council's Educators of Excellence Award, the Brooklyn High Schools' Recognition Award, and The New York Times' Teachers Who Make a Difference Award.

Ben Zimmer is the executive producer of Vocabulary.com and the Visual Thesaurus. He is the language columnist for The Boston Globe and the former "On Language" columnist for The New York Times. He has worked as editor for American dictionaries at Oxford University Press and as a consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary. In addition to his regular "Word Routes" column on Vocabulary.com and the Visual Thesaurus, he contributes to the group weblog Language Log. He is also the chair of the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society.

Archive for 4/29/13

Tonight's chat was a combined #engsschat with our friends at #sschat.  Check out the archive for some great ideas for taking learning outside the classroom!

Link to archive.