New Websites to Aid Instruction

Yesterday I sacrificed a Saturday to attend a mini-conference put on by the Louisville Writing Project, our local chapter of the Kentucky Writing Project and National Writing Project. It was really no sacrifice at all, because the presentations and conversations with like-minded teachers of writing were so inspiring and motivating, I feel completely refreshed and ready to plan and further innovate my instruction. (Getting up at 6:45 on a Saturday, no matter the reason, was still a bit of a struggle.) Because one of my areas of growth in the classroom is my use of technology, I found one presentation on "Tech-Savvy Gimmicks" to hold kids' attention of particular interest. The presenter was Elizabeth Gleeson, fellow seventh grade language arts teacher in Jefferson County and a recent participant in LWP's summer writers' workshop. Here're the goodies from her presentation and beyond:

Survey Monkey

This (free) website offers teachers the ability to create anonymous classroom surveys, which can be effective for gathering honest feed-back on instruction. Gleeson recommended creating a "teacher report card" to help teacher's gage students' opinions on a lesson or unit's effectiveness. Other uses she listed:

• peer-revision to identify patterns
• pre-assessments to gather baseline data
• student reflections (as well as "teacher report cards")
• student use for gathering data to support in persuasive writing
• cross-curricular application for use in math class to graph data
• parent surveys
• department surveys
• faculty surveys

Flocabulary

This is a powerful teaching tool (also free) for the urban classroom in which lessons on grammar, current events, and vocabulary are made accessible and engaging when put to a hip-hop beat. Gleeson recommended embedding music in PowerPoint or SMART Notebook software if accessible.

Go to "Free Teacher Downloads" to access the goods.

Half.com

Here's the answer to starting a classroom library from scratch: on Half.com, books are cheaper than they can be found on Amazon.com or walk-in used bookstores.

Write for Amazon.com

As a writing teacher who religiously adheres to the principles of the writers' workshop method, I am constantly looking for ways to get my students' work published. In the Times Magazine today, there was a short article on writing reviews for Amazon.com - of course! During the persuasive unit next year (which is sadly past for this school year, but I may be able to circle back to it toward the end of the year...), I plan to have my students choose products and write reviews for the real-world audience of Amazon.com patrons. The authenticity of the assignment, the use of technology and the choice of which CD, book, game system, or whatever they decide to review are sure to motivate my students to write and revise at their full potential.