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Scooped by
Jim Lerman
April 27, 2012 12:19 AM
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By Clint Archer "As a child I was intrigued by how exciting my friend Josh’s life was. At every recess, he regaled his huddled audience with a riveting narrative of how he missed the bus and had to hitchhike without his mom finding out, or how his bicycle light failed him on a dark street at night and almost led to his early death. "Then, I realized that his stories were all everyday events that could have happened to anyone. The difference was that he crafted the story well. He set up the scene, introduced conflict, and brought the resolution with remarkable flare, and usually a twist of humor to boot."
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Scooped by
Jim Lerman
April 27, 2012 12:12 AM
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By Dan Schmidt "We give names to most everything around us: our pets, our kids, our cars, the products we use, the food we eat (it’s not ‘frozen dairy-like substance’, but Frosty), the games we play. And, as writers, we name our characters, too. In fact, next to the physical characteristics we try to describe, the names of our heroes, villains, band leaders, and shopkeepers are about the most important tool we have for identifying and tracking who is doing what. Good names help both writers and readers move through a story smoothly; bad names put us in a stagecoach on a washed out dirt road."
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Scooped by
Jim Lerman
April 26, 2012 11:21 PM
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PadGadget is looking for passionate and opinionated iPad users, who love to write. We want freelance writers that can cover breaking iPad-related news, talk about and review apps, and who are able to write original, clear, interesting and concise reports relevant to our audience.All positions are for independent freelance writers and the candidates need to be avid iPad owners. A couple years of writing experience would be a major plus. Cash compensation is dependent upon experience, and articles relevance/quality. Be prepared for a minimum commitment of at least one post per business day. If you’re interested, please contact us via the form below. Note that you will be asked to provide a resume, and at least two writing samples of relevant articles/stories. Also, if you happen to have links to published work currently available online, please include them in your message. We look forward to hearing from you! The PadGadget team
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Scooped by
Jim Lerman
April 26, 2012 6:49 PM
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Inspiring video. Excellent supporting resources. -JL AP English Literature students respond to reading about the American Dream by creating a non-profit organization that helps local citizens realize the American Dream. "After watching Sarah Brown Wessling’s video, Grant Writing as an English Lit Assignment, former student Blane Chesnut wrote: “I consider this project the most beneficial project I worked on in high school because it helped prepare me for college better than any other project… Thank you for the skills you taught me.”
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Scooped by
Jim Lerman
April 26, 2012 3:37 PM
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By Kayle Palmer Summary by SmartBrief on EdTech "The website Figment -- founded in 2010 by Jacob Lewis, a former editor of The New Yorker, and Dana Goodyear, a New Yorker staff writer -- provides a space for students to publish their original writing and receive feedback online. Philadelphia English teacher Meenoo Rami says the site is a "perfect platform" for her students. "It's important for students to know that their work is viewed by more than just their teacher. For my students, the idea that a larger audience is being exposed to their work is important to them," Rami said. "This gives them an authentic reason to write."
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Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from Digital Storytelling
April 25, 2012 8:41 AM
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These workshop notes show you how to go through the process of creating a photo-based digital story using iMovie 2011.
Via José Carlos
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Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from Into the Driver's Seat
April 20, 2012 12:14 PM
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Focus on writing, shut everything else out. -JL Description by Internet Scout Project In a media-rich environment with a wide range of entertainment on-demand, it can be hard to focus for more than a few minutes at a time. Focus Writer provides a simple, distraction-free writing environment. The program utilizes a hide-away interface that users access by moving their mouse to the edges of the screen, and it's quite helpful. This version is compatible with all operating systems, including Linux
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Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from Teaching Digital Writing
April 19, 2012 11:37 PM
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By Jennifer Ansbach "The students work, huddled in pairs, jotting down ideas in notebooks. The classroom buzzes with collaboration, punctuated by giggles and laughter. Students are excited to be writing as we start our annual celebration of Script Frenzy! "For the past five years, my 11th grade English students have written novels for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Both NaNoWriMo and Script Frenzy are the work of the Office of Letters and Light, whose mission is to provide programs that allow participants to "turn off their inner editor" and "write with abandon" as a way to bring everyone's innate creativity to fruition. Three years ago I introduced them to Script Frenzy to help students reconsider their ideas through a screenwriting lens."
Via Pippa Davies @PippaDavies , Karen LaBonte
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Scooped by
Jim Lerman
April 13, 2012 1:27 PM
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By Greg Graham Article in Education Week Teacher Summary by ASCD SmartBrief "The effectiveness of group work in the classroom may depend largely on the dynamic of the individual groups, and may be more effective when students first work alone then come together to share ideas, writes former high-school writing teacher Greg Graham, a teacher consultant with the National Writing Project. Graham writes that teachers should dedicate classroom time to solitary writing, during which students develop personal awareness, critical thinking and intellectual curiosity." I don't know that I entirely agree with Graham, but I think his piece is well-articulated and raises some important question. I have found that having students write their ideas initially and then discuss them in groups is a good way to get them to rehearse their ideas alone. Then they articulate and share them in a protected public environment (small group) before proceeding to polish their work. -JL
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Scooped by
Jim Lerman
April 13, 2012 8:09 AM
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By Saurah Baughman "I often read about the importance of spicing writing up with dialogue or description: a little show-don’t-tell language, a heated argument relayed with fast-paced exclamation points, a vivid image, an exchange whose subtext reveals more than the words themselves. “Absolutely!” I always say. “I need to include more of that in my writing.” The only question is—when? How can I gauge when to give way to rich description, and when to let my characters speak for themselves? "Certainly part of the decision depends on balance. If we rely only on dialogue or description, challenging ourselves to develop the other at some point will surely benefit our writing. But assuming we strive to incorporate both in appropriate measures, are there any indicators available to help us see in which instances one might serve more purpose than the other?"
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Scooped by
Jim Lerman
April 12, 2012 2:21 PM
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"An aspiring writer choosing a college is a lot like a child trying to make a decision in a candy store. Cliched simile aside, the amount of colleges with utterly brilliant writing programs, both at the graduate and undergraduate level, is astounding. That being said, everyone has a different set of preferences for a writing class, and writing programs can vary quite significantly, making that meticulous search for the right school highly rewarding in the end. As with any college search, you should take into account school location, class size for your concentration, and faculty, among other factors, to ensure the right decision for your future. And, of course, always keep in mind what style or genre of writing you wish to pursue."
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Scooped by
Jim Lerman
April 9, 2012 10:51 PM
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By Christine Chan Thorough analysis of the top writing apps for iOS devices. -JL "Yes, there are a lot of options out there. But if you are going to do a lot of writing (be it essays, long articles, blog posts, stories, notes, etc.), then you need to find something that works for you. Personally, I’ve learned to ditch the heavy word processors (like Microsoft Word and Apple’s Pages) and just go plain text – this helps me focus on the actual writing, and not worry about other unnecessary fluff and UI elements (and sometimes the most important thing you want to focus on is getting the words out). Plain text also seems to be the preferred method for most people that write for the Web. "I have tried pretty much all of these minimalistic writing apps out there (that are universal for both iPhones and iPads), and I have a few favorites that just stick with me, and that is what my comparison is going to be based on. Of course, your view may differ, but for the sake of this article, I am going to compare my favorites, which I would consider to be some of the best writing apps you can find in the App Store."
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Scooped by
Jim Lerman
April 3, 2012 4:38 PM
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Rachel Small, a 5th grade teacher in New Hamphsire, chronicles her struggles with mandated, rubric-driven, writing responses to fiction and how they contribute, in her view, to limiting (rather than expanding) students' writing. She offers some alternatives that she believes open students up to writing more authentically, for a real audience. -JL
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Scooped by
Jim Lerman
April 27, 2012 12:15 AM
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By Joe Bunting "How to Start Your Novel "I used to think you should start a novel on page one with a bang, that you should throw the reader straight into conflict. I heard agents and publishers want novels full of conflict, novels that immediately hook them, and I thought, I can do that. So I cut out all my world building and characterization and focused on the central plot from the very beginning... "Novels should begin with character and world building. You need to introduce the reader and let them explore your world a little before you can introduce the conflict of the main plot."
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Scooped by
Jim Lerman
April 26, 2012 11:59 PM
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By Ruth Ayers "One of the teachers I’m working alongside is really focused on honing her conferring skills. So we are hunkering down beside students and listening intently to their work. She leads the conference and I listen. We’ve been considering the two parts of a conference. In a nutshell, these parts are: Part One: Figure out what the student is doing as a writer. Part Two: Help him or her do it better."
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Scooped by
Jim Lerman
April 26, 2012 7:00 PM
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Course Title: Instructional Ideas and Technology Tools for Online Success Description: Motivating students and creating community within blended and online learning environments is crucial to academic achievement and success. This open course will provide both theoretical concepts and practical tools for instructors to improve motivation, retention, and engagement within blended and online courses. Course Objectives:
Identify and apply relevant motivational strategies and instructional techniques Construct thinking skill options for different types of learners and subjects Design and share innovative thinking skill activities as well as unique cooperative learning Map and apply instructional models and ideas to online learning tools Course Duration: April 30th- June 4th ( A total of 5 weeks) Enrollment is now open.
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Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from :: The 4th Era ::
April 26, 2012 4:09 PM
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"Join your colleagues at the 9th Annual Sloan Consortium Blended Learning Conference and Workshop, Perfecting the Blend, as we problem-solve, exchange ideas, and explore effective strategies about blended learning. The conference provides the opportunity for instructors and faculty members, instructional designers, student advisors, administrative leaders, and researchers to share best practices, strategic considerations, models of practice, and challenges revealed through our experiences in practice and research." This conference occurred on April 23 and 24, 2012. This page contains a listing of all the presentations, with links to them. Nearly all of the presentations have slide decks available to the public and many provide additional materials as well. No videos are available. Although the focus of the conference was higher education, many of the presentations and presenters focused on K-12 also. If you are interested in blended learning, these is sure to be something of interest for you here. -JL
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Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from Into the Driver's Seat
April 25, 2012 9:02 AM
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10 thoughtful ways on how to use Skype, 5 companion tools to use with Skype, links to online Skype communities, global Skype projects, and directories of Skpe users, and a link to a Skype tutorial for teacher beginners. The video depicts 6th graders from Cosgrove Middle School, in Spencerport, NY, having a Skype video conversation with author Barbara Mahler ("Hole in the Sky"). Nice collection. -JL
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Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from :: The 4th Era ::
April 23, 2012 9:51 AM
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"Computers are fast when it comes to grading test essays, but they can be fooled... "Les Perelman, a director of writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says no. "Mr. Perelman enjoys studying algorithms from E.T.S. research papers when he is not teaching undergraduates. This has taught him to think like e-Rater. "While his research is limited, because E.T.S. is the only organization that has permitted him to test its product, he says the automated reader can be easily gamed, is vulnerable to test prep, sets a very limited and rigid standard for what good writing is, and will pressure teachers to dumb down writing instruction."
Via Jim Lerman
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Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from Teaching Digital Writing
April 19, 2012 11:42 PM
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By Amy Gillespie and Steve Graham "The list of recommendations presented below is based on scientific studies of students in grades 4–12. The strategies for teaching writing are listed according to the magnitude of their effects. Practices with the strongest effects are listed first.... All of the strategies are potentially useful, and we encourage teachers to use a combination of strategies to best meet the needs of their students."
Via Karen LaBonte
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Scooped by
Jim Lerman
April 14, 2012 11:31 PM
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By Joel Lee "Are you late to the social networking party? No worries. It took me a long time to get into the whole social networking thing, but I’m glad I did. It’s definitely been a beneficial experience. "Although Facebook continues to defend its position as the most popular social networking platform, you shouldn’t focus all of your attention there. As they say, don’t keep all your eggs in one basket. Where else can you go? Twitter! Twitter is a great resource for social networking, but especially so for writers. By taking advantage of hashtags, you can separate the useless and boring tweets from the ones that are interesting and pertinent."
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Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from :: The 4th Era ::
April 13, 2012 1:14 PM
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How to search a Scoop.it site using Google
Surely Scoop.it is hard at work developing a way for readers and curators to search within its sites, but the tool just isn't ready yet. In the meantime, I wanted to share a workaround so folks who want to search within a Scoop.it site can do so. The way to do this is to go to Google search and type the prefix "site:" in front of the url of the desired site to be searched. Then skip a space and enter the search term(s). For example, if I wanted to search one of my Scoop.it sites, Into the Driver's Seat, for entries containing information about the Flipped Classroom, the search string would look like this: site:http://www.scoop.it/t/into-the-driver-s-seat Flipped Classroom Note that there is no space between the colon after "site" and the url, but there is a space after the url and the search term(s). In my experience, it does not seem to matter if the first letter of the search term words is a capital. If you have additional suggestions for how to search a specific Scoop.it site, please hit the sharing icon (dialogue bubble), below, and comment. Hope this is helpful. -JL
Via Jim Lerman
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Rescooped by
Jim Lerman
from Into the Driver's Seat
April 13, 2012 8:07 AM
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By Jane Johnson "Your smartphone or tablet might not seem well-suited for writing—and by itself, it isn’t—but the right app can make all the difference. These tools can make your device a 24-hour secretary to keep you organized and record your ideas as they come."
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Scooped by
Jim Lerman
April 10, 2012 8:00 AM
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By Maria Popova Don't miss the video on the website! -JL "1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted. 2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for. 3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water. 4. Every sentence must do one of two things-reveal character or advance the action. 5. Start as close to the end as possible. 6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them-in order that the reader may see what they are made of. 7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia. 8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages."
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Scooped by
Jim Lerman
April 9, 2012 10:26 AM
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Nominees for the Oscars of the magazine world were announced this week. Properly known as the National Magazine Awards, these honor the best stories published in the past year. Winners will be crowned in early May, but there's no reason not to start enjoying the stories immediately.
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