More books!

I worked SO HARD on my latest donorschoose proposal... finally got it approved for the Almost Home grant, and a day after the grant shows up, it disappears again. What a bummer!

I can't complain too much, though, since my trip to the ALA annual conference was successful beyond my wildest imagination!

The Sunday list is incomplete, because the Hunk very reasonably pointed out that it'd be silly to take everything up to the hotel room when we were just going to have to take it back down the next morning anyway!

List behind the cut.

SUNDAY

- Atalanta - Fontes/Yeates
- Reimagining Equality - Anita HIll
- The Lightning Theif - Riordan/Venditti/Futaki/Villarrubia
- Blizzard of Glass - Sally Walker
- Saga of the Sioux - Dwight Zimmerman
- First Girl Scout - Ginger Wadsworth
- His Name Was Raoul Wallenberg - Louise Borden
- Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London - Andrea Warren
- Manga Man - Lyga/Doran
- Celebrate Independence Day - Deborah Heiligman
- The Chronicles of Harris Burdick
- Undercurrent Siren - Tricia Rayburn
- The Fire King - Paul Crilley
- Bye for Now - Kathleen Churchyard
- The Wizard of Dark Street - Shawn Odyssey
- Linger - Maggie Stiefvater
- Ashes - Ilsa Bick
- The Apothecary - Maile Meloy
- Akata Witch - Nnedi Okorafor
- Who Fears Death - Nnedi Okorafor
- Guardian of the Dead - Karen Healey
- Emory's Gift - W. Bruce Cameron
- G-Man: Learning to Fly - Chris Giarrusso
- G-Man: Cape Crisis - Chris Giarrusso
- Also Known As Rowan Pohi - Ralph Fletcher
- My Favorite Band Does Not Exist - Robert Jeschonek
- Wonderstruck - Brian Selznick
- Deathless - Catherynne Valente
- The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno - Ellen Bryson
- Loaded - Geist/McDonnell
- The Eleventh Plague - Jeff Hirsch
- Unthinkable - Shirley Duke
- Rally Round Green - Judy Christie
- Hurricane - Jewell Parker Rhodes
- Sacrifice - Burns/Metz
- Trapped - Marc Aronson
- Villain School: Good Curses Evil - Stephanie Sanders
- Black White, Other - Joan Lester
- The Betrayal - Helen Dunmore
- What It Is Like to Go to War - Karl Marlantes
- Turn of Mind - Alice LaPlante
- Basketball Junkie - Herren / Reynolds
- Divinity of Doubt - Vincent Bugliosi
- Suffer in Silence - David Reid
- The Stranger You Seek - Amanda Williams


Breakfast (Saturday)
- Sweet Venom - Tera Childs
- Vanishing Acts - Margolin / Rome
- A Beautiful Dark - Jocelyn Davies
- The Three Musketeers - Dumas / Helquist
- Guys Read: Thriller - Jon Scieszka, Ed.
- Dragons of Silk - Laurence Yep
- Wolf Storm - Dee Garretson
- Liesl & Po - Lauren Oliver
- Eve - Anna Carey
- The Girl of Fire and Thorns - Rae Carson
- The Power of Six - Pittacus Lore
- The Familiars: Secrets of the Crown - Epstein / Jacobson
- Lights on the Nile - Donna Jo Napoli
- Always Neverland - Zoe Barton
- The Princess Curse - Merrrie Haskell
- Cold Kiss - Amy Garvey
- Breadcrumbs - Anne Ursu
- The Goblin War - Hilari Bell
- The Last Musketeer - Stuart Gibbs
- The Family Hitchcock - Levin / Flackett
- The Sleeper's Moon - Jon Berkeley
- Wildwood - Meloy / Ellis
- The Magnificent 12: The Trap - Michael Grant

I did find out that I got multiple copies of some of the ARCs, so I'll be donating them to the school library and/or the public library (along with those that look like they wouldn't interest my students as much).

Continue...

The Haul - Day 2

Friday made me realize that I didn't want to try to haul everything around with me. The Hunk ferried me to and from my breakfast (booklist will be in a separate post) but then I drove back downtown and parked across the street from the convention center. This was very helpful, as it allowed me to ferry a haul over to the pickup and then head back to the exhibit hall with an empty bag!

Books from Saturday behind the cut.

- Hope in Patience - Beth Fehlbaum
- Lost Memory of Skin - Russell Banks
- Zoe's Tale - John Scalzi
- Shop till You Drop - Elzine Viets
- Half-Price Homicide - Elaine Viets
- Galaxy Games: The Challengers - Greg Fishbone
- Blood Wounds - Susan Beth Pfeffer
- In Defense of Flogging - Peter Moskos
- They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky - Deng, Deng & Ajak
- Know the Past, Find the Future - Caro Llewellyn, Ed.
- Friends: Snake and Lizard - Cowley / Bishop
- The Phantom Limb - Sleator / Monticone
- Deviant - Adrian McKinty
- The Orphan of Awkward Falls - Keith Graves
- Dead by Midnight - Carolyn Hart
- Jane Austen: A Life Revealed - Catherine Reef
- Mighty Be Our Powers - Leymah Gbowee
- Why We Broke Up - Daniel Handler, Maria Kalman (art)
- Desert Angel - Charlie Price
- Pumped for Murder - Elaine Viets
- Miss Child Has Gone Wild! - Dan Gutman
- The Genius Files: Mission Unstoppable - Dan Gutman
- Chime - Franny Billingsley
- Feynman - Ottaviani & Myrick
- Tigerlily's Orchids - Ruth Rendell
- Sticky Fingers - Nancy Martin
- Hitler in the Crosshairs - John Woodbridge & Maurice Possley
- The Language of Flowers - Vanessa Diffenbaugh
- Betrayal of Trust - J.A. Jance
- The Gray Wolf Throne - Cinda Williams Chima
- The Mark of the Golden Dragon - L.A. Meyer
- Reaching Through Time - Lurlene McDaniel
- Next to Love - Ellen Feldman
- Bloodmoney - David Ignatius
- Empire State - Jason Shiga
- Push Has Come to Shove - Steve Perry
- Day of War - Cliff Graham
- Nobody's Child - Austin Boyd
- Ingenue - Jillian Larkin
- Tankborn - Karen Sandler
- Wolf Mark - Joseph Bruchac
- Mousenet - Prudence Breitrose
- The Adventures of Beanboy - Lisa Harkrader
- The Way We Fall - Megan Crewe
- Gladiator: Fight for Freedom - Simon Scarrow
- Dark Parties - Sara Grant
- When She Woke - Hillary Jordan
- The Truth about Truman School - Dori Hillestad Butler
- This Book Is Overdue! - Marilyn Johnson
- The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb - Melanie Benjamin
- Vanished - Sheela Chari
- Forever - Maggie Stiefvater
- Super Diaper Baby 2 - Beard / Hutchins
- Nowhere Girl - A.J. Paquette
- Wonkenstein - Obert Skye
- My Life as a Stuntboy - Janet Tashjian
- Purple Daze - Sherry Shahan
- The Assassin's Accomplice - Kate Clifford Larson
- Rebel Fire - Andrew Lane
- The Shattering - Karen Healey
- The Other Countess - Eve Edwards
- Shut Out - Kosy Keplinger
- Truth & Dare - Liz Miles, Ed.
- Ten Rules for Living with My Sister - Ann M. Martin
- Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick - Joe Schreiber
- The Summer I Learned to Fly - Dana Reinhardt
- Reel Life Starring Us - Lisa Greenwald
- The Hop - Sharelle Byars Moranville
- Circle of Secrets - Kimblerly Little
- Swear - Nina Malkin
- Angels' Blood - Nalini Singh
- Play of Passion - Nalini Singh
- Ashfall - Mike Mullin
- With the Might of Angels - Andrea Pinkney
- The Wedding Letters - Jason Wright
- Disturbance - Jan Burke
- Kiss of Snow - Nalini Singh
- Summer Rental - Mary Kay Andrews
- Misfit - Jon Skovron
- The Smoky Corridor - Chris Grabenstein
- Fetching - Kiera Stewart
- Domestic Violets - Matthew Norman
- My First Ladies - Nancy Clarke / Christie Matheson
- Under the Mesquite - Guadalupe McCall
- Witches! - Rosalyn Schanzer
- Jacob T. Marley - R. William Bennett
- Devil Sent the Rain - Tom Piazza
- Janitors - Tyler Whitesides
- Practical Jean - Trevor Cole
- The Taker - Alma Katsu
- Oink - Matt Whyman
- The Taste of Salt - Martha Southgate
- Lions of the West - Robert Morgan
- Ditched - Robin Mellom
- The Lincoln Secret - John McKinsey
- Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie - David Lubar
- Secret Daughter - Shilpi Gowda
- The Darlings in Love - Melissa Kantor
- Queen Dead - Stacey Kade
- Life Eternal - Yvonne Woon
- Velva Jean Learns to Fly - Jennifer Niven
- Shifting - Bethany Wiggins
- Jack: Secret Histories - F. Paul Wilson
- Between the Sea and Sky - Jaclyn Dolamore
- Personal Demons - Lisa Desrochers
- Tuesdays at the Castle - Jessica DAy George
- After Obsession - Jones/Wedel
- Stick - Andrew Smith
- Plane Jane - Robert Fischer
- Doglands - Tim Willocks
- The Summer Garden - Paullina Simons
- Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes - Jonathan Auxier

Just finished up #titletalk chat over on twitter. I'm going to try to get the books from Saturday's breakfast typed up yet tonight. Tomorrow morning we'll need to get up pretty early again because I'd like to check out when I leave to go to the exhibits. (It'd also be a good idea to review my list of which booths are closing at what times.)

Once again I'm tired, but once again it's a good kind of tired. I feel like I've accomplished quite a bit! I don't know if I'm going to be up for the aquarium... it may just be time to head home and get what little rest we can! We'll be back on the road on Thursday, heading to Homossassa Springs!

Continue...

The Haul - Day 1

So yesterday the Exhibit Hall was open late and then we went out to eat and didn't get back until, like, midnight and then today I had the Harper Collins breakfast which started at 7:15. WHEW. I still have books out in the truck - the Hunk SO kindly brought in my haul from the breakfast AND two bags this evening.

Today I drove to the convention center and paid $10 to park across the street. It was SOOO worth it - I was able to load up with books, then lug everything over to the truck, and empty my bag before heading back for more! IT WAS GREAT.

List of books from yesterday behind the cut.

- After Obsession - Carrie Jones & Steve E. Wedel
- Between - Jessica Warman
- How to Save a Life - Sara Zarr
- The Quest of the WArrior Sheep - Christine & Christopher Russell
- Fury - Elizabeth Miles
- From Bad to Cursed - Katie Alender
- Vanished - Sheela Chari
- Why We Broke Up - Daniel Handler (art by Maira Kalman)
- Running the Rift - Naomi Benaron
- YA Paranormal Sampler
- Torn - Margaret Peterson Haddix
- The Comet's Curse - Dom Testa
- Speak No Evil - Marilyn Kaye
- Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 - Richard Paul Evans
- Street Freak - Jared Dillian
- Every You, Every Me - David Levithan
- Daughter of Smoke & Bone - Laini Taylor
- The Lost Songs - Caroline B. Cooney
- Pure - Julianna Baggott
- Tempest - Julie Cross
- You Against Me - Jenny Downham
- Ellis Island - Kate Kerrigan
- Tiger's Voyage - Colleen Houck
- Envy - Gregg Olsen
- Sweetly - Jackson Pearce
- A Walk Across the Sun - Corban Addison
- Gossip Girl, Psycho Killer (sneak peek) - Cecily von Ziegesar
- Daniel X: Game Over - James Patterson, Ned Rust
- Bunheads - Sophie Flack
- The Ridge - Michael Koryta
- Stars - Mary Lyn Ray and Marla Frazee
- The Ghost of Greenwich Village - Lorna Graham
- Going Underground - Susan Vaught
- Sanctus - Simon Toyne
- Hello Goodbye - Emily Chenoweth
- Secret Daughter - Shilpi Somaya Gowda
- Quiet - Susan Cain
- The Lost Angel - Javier Sierra
- I Didn't Ask to be Born (But I'm Glad I Was) - Bill Cosby
- The Mistress's Revenge - Tamar Cohen
- Dead By Midnight - Carolyn Hart

My feet are in PAIN right now, but I'm still looking forward to tomorrow!

Image thanks to http://www.orgs.bucknell.edu/a-phi-o

Continue...

Be! Aggressive!

So I'm sitting outside of Hall I-1 at the Ernest Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. We got here a couple of hours ago and there really wasn't much of a line to get a badge. (Yay!) So of course the first thing I did was find a place to sit down so that I could map out my plan of attack. ;)

This may be my first ALA conference, but I like to think I'm something of a conference vet. It also helped that I only got an Exhibit Hall badge; goodness knows I couldn't afford to go to the sessions! So all I needed to look at was the list of exhibitors. All I have to go on right now is the advertisements in the booklet, so there may be some things I'm missing. Still -- I've got what I've got and I may as well use it. I've mapped out my initial route and I found the doors closest to the booth I want to get to first. Now it's just a matter of waiting...

They've just opened the doors! EEE! We still have 40 minutes until we're allowed to actually go into the hall. I'm seriously about to start bouncing off the walls, though.

Not a lot else to say at this point. I'm sitting here with two nice librarians from Texas and trying not to be too book-nerdy. (It's challenging!)

Image thanks to ehow.com

Continue...

Session F

Making Research Relevant – Multigenre research papers

There's a wiki up where you can see the presentation, as well as several others from the conference:

What does multigenre mean? we're expanding our definition of a research project to include alternate or additional types of artifacts; they can get into higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy with synthesis and evaluation

it's a collection of different pieces written in a variety of genres that illustrate a perspective informed by research. They sound simple, but when you look at examples, you can see the depth of thinking and understanding shown in seemingly "simple" genres.

MGRs allow students who don't do well in a particular format to show understanding in other ways, while still pushing to improve in their areas of weakness.

Why should we do it? (My question: why NOT?) It gives students more choice, allows for more freedom and creativity, and helps them to understand the similarities and differences between genres. Part of the project is that students explain why they chose a particular genre for that particular piece. It gives an opportunity for new and alternate perspectives. It includes traditional writing as well as the alternative genres.

We're going a LOT into why we should do this, and I guess that's valid for those who need to promote it back at school, but I want to hear more about HOW to do this.

Aha!

1. Work with the librarian to develop the resources necessary for the students to get the information they need.
2. The librarian can provide mini-lessons about research strategies, evaluating sources, and using information in an ethical manner. (Theoretically! Of course it depends on who your librarian IS.)
3. Encourage students to use many different types of sources, so long as they're authoritative!
4. Organize the task carefully; provide instruction and practice before jumping in!
5. Provide "enough" time – give students a bit of "wiggle room." (How do you know how much is "enough?")
6. Give concrete examples of alternate genres and completed papers. This will help students understand what's possible.
7. Have a timeline with a series of steps so that students know where they should be in the process at all times. They will need some help staying on track.

"Repetend" – a repeating or continuing element in the project? I don't really get this – it's a theme, repeated phrase, or "something" that gives the project as a whole continuity.

Ideas for alternate genres:
- Pageflakes
- Blogging
- Delicious
- Class commons?
- Class wiki

I noticed that all of these are online, which IMO seems as limiting as the traditional paper.

Evaluate what resources you have, and survey the students beforehand to see what they feel comfortable with and what they know they need help with.

The presenter's going over the documents – worksheets, rubrics, instruction forms, etc – that are available on the wiki. It's incredibly thorough. There are also sample projects and she's going to upload more of them as she gets permission from the students.

This sort of project allows students the freedom to do research that is more authentic – five-year-old books aren't the best resources these days – as well as personally relevant. Rather than something they suffer through, this can be something that helps them see research in a new way, something that they remember for years after they graduate.

Continue...

Session E

Standards-Based Education

Yikes! I started talking with one of the vendors about how much I haaaate Julius Caesar and now I'm coming in to this session LATE. Gah. I hate that. So now I don't have a handout. Fortunately there were seats in the back! ;D

Step 1: Identify desired results - What do I want my students to know and be able to do? This is reminding me a LOT of UbD.

Step 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence - How will I know whether my students have acquired the requisite knowledge, skills, and understandings?

Step 3: Plan Learning Experiences - Yep, this is "backward design." He clicked past the slide too quick. :(

And he's continuing to talk about what is and is not an essential question... so I'm ducking out. We also still have two teachers from our department in the session.

Now I'm in Teaching Writing

We're talking about audience appeal. One idea: advertising analysis. Who is the target of this ad? What is the promise? This teaches them not only to be good writers, but also to be an attentive audience.

Take them from images to words – what words could you use to create this image in someone's mind?

Sentence variety: it's more than just telling them that they need variety. Read examples of monotonous writing, and contrast that with works with varied sentence structure.

Voice: the idea that the author is a real person and really cares. The tough things is – what if they don’t?!! Sounds like it was written by a person, not a computer. Makes the reader feel connected to the writer & feel like the writer is an interesting person you might want to meet. Voice != attitude ;)

Give students lots of little on-demand writing prompts?? Writing On Demand – Presenter says that it's an excellent book. Ditto Prompt Analysis. Ask themselves questions to analyze the prompt. Some employers ask for you to write how you think the company will grow or how you can be of use to the company – they want to see how well you write, because good writing is evidence of good thinking.

Every state has help for teaching writing; Kentucky is a suggestion. Look online to see what's available.

Questions about grading – discussed the use of rubrics, but we're short on time so it's just brief.

Continue...

Rats!

In the room I'm at now, the wireless is a little wonky. Session C I went to a session about ways to offer students choice. We came up with some great possibilities for portfolios and how to grade them without getting overwhelmed! One of the concerns we had is if you're doing all these different things, how do you keep the students focused on their work? Management becomes more difficult when you don't have everyone doing the same thing at the same time in the same way.

We also talked about connecting the assessments, and thus the lessons, to GPS. I mentioned my GPS mini-unit and went to the UbD wiki and OH NO! all I have up for that unit is the handouts. Oh dear. I really do have a rationale and stuff. I need to update that.

I also need to get more yearbook pages uploaded. YIKES!!

Continue...

Session B

So I'm here at GCTE, liveblogging! yay!

Dana Huff is talking about how the world is "flattening" due to developments in communications technology, and how that creates more competition for our students as they leave school and become workers.

Many of us have Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) in our school. But there are only so many teachers in our school. Where do you go when you're the only person with a particular interest, or when you've exhausted the resources your school? The internet gives opportunities to connect and share with new people!

Blogging is great for
- sharing opinions, news, commentary
- journaling, researching, describing, observing
- generating ideas, reflecting, starting discussions

Over on her blog, Dana does a weekly reflection that I really like; mine isn't nearly as organized! She looks over what works and what she'd like to change for next time, and because there's an audience, there are people who respond to what she's posting, and give her NEW ideas based on what they've said. Even if it's not something you agree with, someone else's comment can set your thoughts going in a new direction you wouldn't've found on your own.

Wikis are different from blogs.
- more like a webpage
- less linear
- great for getting a lot of people involved.

Because the format isn't linear, it's easier to change what's currently posted. Blogs are more about staying current by adding NEW material; the old stuff gets archived.

Blog or Wiki?
- One writer/small group? or large group of writers?
- Sharing ideas and opinions, reflection? or collaboration, editing, sharing
- close community? or wide community?
- steady updates? or final project?

RSS
- "Really Simple Syndication" - think like getting syndicated comics in your local paper. RSS sends updates of your favorite pages to a "local paper" like Google Reader or another RSS reader. Typically it'll send a mini-blurb of the update, so you can pick and choose which ones you want to click on to read the whole post.

Twitter
- People share things on twitter that are shorter & may not warrant a whole blog post.
- Great for link-sharing and asking/answering questions!
- Quite often you get replies REALLY QUICKLY.
- In many cases, people who keep a very professional blog will be more personal on Twitter, helping you get to know them.

Ning
I'm still unclear on how this is different from a wiki, except possibly the additional features the software offers. It's a social networking site, like Facebook, but the person starting it shapes the format. It combines a lot of the features of different social sites, because it has internal groups, blogs, bulletin board forums, and even chat.
- NCTE
- English Companion
- Literacy Lighthouse

Facebook
We often see Facebook as a huge time suck. But it's a great way to connect with people professionally as well as personally. It's neat because it does a lot of the networking FOR you - it checks the friends of your friends and says "do you know this person?"
- Be careful about friending students
- Use groups to limit what some of your friends can see
- Be aware of what your friends are posting on your wall (you can delete these; they're not cached! yay!)
- Create a POSITIVE online presence; model this for your students!!

Delicious and Diigo
Delicious lets you bookmark a site, and share the link and a description with others who've chosen to subscribe to your bookmarks.

Diigo lets you put "sticky notes" on the web! You can also do bookmarking and link-sharing as well.

!! Now you can use Project Gutenberg and annotate the text! WOW!

You can also use public/private/group settings so that only your 'friends' can read your stickynotes, or so that certain groups can read certain notes or not others.

Important cautions

- Anonymity - Sometimes it gives people license to complain more than they would if their names were attached. If they really, really want to, people who know you WILL find you, or people who know your alias WILL find out who you are.
- Access - Do what's reasonable for you. If you have reliable access from school, count your blessings! See what you can find out about grants.
- Spam - Yuck! annoying. Most blogging software has spam filters; they're fairly easy to use.
- Blocking and filters - Schools block a LOT of content that maybe doesn't need to be. (Dana's pretty passionate about this, so go read what SHE says!) There are lots of ways around most of the blockers. Still, be aware of your school's expectations, and be the professional you claim to be!
- Trolls - People who post mean stuff anonymously. I don't have much of a problem with this, because if someone is unreasonably nasty, it tends to be pretty obvious. And if someone has reason for being nasty, well, then, we need to come to an understanding.

Great quote: "If you let the trolls keep you offline, it's like letting the terrorists win!"

Dana also created a wiki for the seminar, so stop by and join the conversation!

Continue...

Uhoh! Now I Gotta CHOOSE?

Okay, so over at the GCTE website there's an overview of the conference coming up in February. I'm super-psyched about going, which is why I'm writing a blogpost instead of finishing the grading for this term or doing my planning for next term. Also because I just don't feel like it right now and this is as good an excuse as any ;)

The conference runs Thursday evening through Saturday noonish, with the bulk of the sessions on Friday (two in the morning, three in the afternoon). There's a list of sessions up at the site, except that it doesn't list anything at all for the F sessions on Saturday. Plus it's likely to change between now and then anyway.

The school is going to pay for our registration fees and our subs. We're responsible for food, lodging, and gas. Friday's lunch is provided (though we have to sit through a speech; we may choose to go out to eat instead), and Friday evening there's a "Low Country Boil." We're also looking at renting a house, so we might be able to fix meals there.

Last year's wine and cheese reception was ... interesting. The cheese was YUMMY, but ... the wine was more than a little weird. I mean, if I was there with a bunch of strangers, that'd be one thing. I'd drink as much or as little as I felt like, and NBD, yanno?

See, I don't enjoy wine all that much (beer is even worse), but hell, I'll admit it: I like being drunk! When I'm in a nonthreatening situation and I'm not worried about needing my cognitive or fine-motor faculties, it's great.

But when I'm around colleagues, all of a sudden it's like: what do my actions say about me and how is this going to affect my working environment? Maybe I'll mix up some Crown & Coke and do a bit of pre-partying! ;)

At any rate, I've already started thinking about which sessions I want to be sure to attend - follow the 'continue' link to see my color-coded list!


Concurrent Sessions A

- GALILEO: A Perfect Fit for English and Language Arts
- Secrets of the Black Box what IS this?? must find out!
- Content Literacy: Getting Your Students to Understand, Apply, and Love Your Subject as You Do
- Figure It Out!: The Questions a Writer Must Answer Before Writing
- Reading, Writing, Studying and Experiencing Joy
- Summary Writing: An Array of Strategies
- Engaging the Disengaged
- Pushing Beyond One Draft: Revision Strategies for Writers
- Storytelling for Dummies
- Books that Heal: Thematic Units that Use Critical Thinking and Literary Analysis Skills
- YA Lit 2.0: How Web 2.0 Is Reaching Teen Readers


Concurrent Sessions B

- TEST*IT: Teachers Experiencing Technology Integration for Technical Communication
- Reaching Teachers Where They Live: Building Community Inside and Outside the Classroom
- Advanced Microsoft PowerPoint in Your English Classroom
- Get Out of Grammar Jail: An Interactive Reader’s Theatre for Middle and High School Students
- New Ways to Engage and Develop Writers with a Focus on the GPS
- Students at Work: Increasing Literacy in Content Classrooms
- Who Has Time to Read Anymore? Georgia Teachers Discuss Their Personal Reading
- Only My Mom Likes My Digital Project: Helping Students Focus on Audience Impact over Authorship
- Poverty, Peace, Power, and Action: Critical Literacy Invitations in a First Grade Classroom
- We’re All in this Together!
- From Pre-Service Teacher to Trusted Adult: Using YAL Book Clubs to Negotiate Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
- Using Blogs and Wikis for Professional Development - ok, I know Dana's presentation is going to rock, but I already do this, PLUS it's a sure thing she'll put the information on her blog! ;D OTOH… it might be safer for me to go to this so that other teachers in my department DON'T – otherwise I might get outed! Yikes!


Concurrent Sessions C

- Facebook, Twitter, Wiki, Blog: Web 2.0 and the Writing Process
- Engaging Learners by Creating a Writing Community Based on the KMWP Model
- Did Someone Say “Give Kids a Choice”?: Nurturing Student-Centeredness Despite Standards and High Stakes Testing
- We Will Never Forget: Multimodal Approaches in Urban Classrooms to Holocaust Literature
- Preparing Students for College Composition
- Picturing America: Exploring Our Nation’s Stories Through Art
- Viva Le Resistance: Masculinities and Reading Resistance - oo, I should have Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys by that point! yey!
- Successful Students in ELA: Advice from Middle and High School ESOL Students
Grammar Calendar
- Integration of Middle School Literature Concepts to Students with Special Needs
- Digging Deep into Differentiated Instruction
- Metaphors of Composition: Singing Tenor in the Vehicular Classroom - okay, total HUH? here


Concurrent Sessions D

- Meeting the Needs of the 21st Century Learner through Multi-Media Literacy
- Riding the Waves of Titanic: A Multimedia Approach to Expanding Literacies again with the HUH?
- Free Money in Hard Times: How to Write a Grant and Get Stuff You Need - books please!!
- Troubling the Portfolio: Holding Students Accountable Using Standards-Based Portfolios
- When I Grow Up...Helping Students Explore Future Career Options and Develop Research Skills
- Writing as Art: Visually Representing the Writing Process
- Shakespeare Set Free: A Short Course from Folger Shakespeare Library - also depends what plays they're using; they did one last year that we went to… we'll see.
- Using Dialogue Journals as a Tool to Increase Student Writing Motivation and Achievement
- The Role of Multicultural Literature in Literacy Development
- Tools for Effective Writing in a Co-taught Middle Grades Classroom
- Culture Convergance: Pop Culture, YA Novels and Adolescent Girls
- Ride the Waves of New Literacies By Using Technology in Performance Assessments and Lessons
- Writing Scary Stories Collaboratively Using Plot Summary
- Podcasting: A Tool for Revision
- Preparing Students for the Future: Critical Thinking + Media Literacy = 21st Century Skills
- Reading, Teaching, and Writing Memoir in the Studio Classroom
- Hearing, Seeing, Reading Strategies for Promoting Reading Skills for the Educational - Development of Learners in Anambra State, Nigeria
- Preservice Teachers Examine Technology as a Strategy for Teaching the Language Arts
- Interacting with a Variety of Mentor Texts - I'm hoping they will provide a variety of mentor texts – I could use more! esp short ones!
- Semester-Long Theme Based Writing Making Research Relevant: Multigenre Research Papers


Concurrent Sessions E

- Teaching Students to Write Using Inspiration
- Research Pathfinders 2.0: Information Streams for Student Research
- Creating a Model for Standards-Based Classrooms
- Examining Technology as Text in the English Classroom
- The Demands of On Demand Writing: Teaching Students Effective Writing Skills for Testing
- Preparing for the Gifted Program Audit: Developing Curriculum for Gifted English Classes—One System’s Approach
- If You Teach Them, They Will Learn - WTF? what about the converse: "if they didn't learn, you didn't teach them"?? Grh.
- Making It Real: Variations on Literacies in College World Literature Classes
- Scaling the Essay Mountain with WritetoLearn
- I Can Teach You...Something: Josh, Digital Storytelling, & Proficiency
- Seeing Your Name in Print: How to Get Published in GCTE’s Connections

Hold the phone - is there NOTHING on here about graphic novels?! Woah. Uncool.

Okay. Red are the ones I really really want to go to myself; purple are ones I'd like to go to, particularly if there's several others going to a red session & I'd feel redundant; blue are the ones I want to make sure SOMEBODY goes to & I'll go to if nobody else feels like it.

There's seven of us going to the conference, so it should be pretty easy to make sure we get everything covered, even though the other teachers will likely have different lists from me. Hopefully there'll be some overlap.

Image thanks to http://www.secure-power.com/images/confused.jpg

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So. Lame.

Dear Mr. ____

I really liked your book.

I have not seen it in the bookstores around here (at least, not before I asked about it). I find this appalling.

Dragon*Con would be a wonderful opportunity for you to promote your books. And also it's mad fun. You really really ought to attend.

Please?

Okay everybody. Obviously, I need help. ;p (Edit: This is MY letter. Yes, I know it is stinky. It is so, so stinky. That's why I need help. I'm certainly not sending it out like this!)

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Hell, hell, hell!

I meant to send at least one of those pondering-grading-policy posts in to the Education Carnival last night and I up and forgot. Tuesdays I'm ALWAYS at school late because it is Cheap Pizza Night at Papa John's and thus the most affordable evening to have journalism work parties.

Well... poop.

PS: I still haven't figured out what I'm going to say to The Author. I'll post my draft in a little while... maybe you can give me some help??

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Nerves

So I have an email I want to write. I found the address of an author whose first book (at least, the first released for a general audience) was absolutely phenomenal. This person is not (yet) so wildly famous as to have gone into hiding.

Still.

I don't want to sound like a total dork.

As hiding under the desk will not help in the least, I shall go off to think about things awhile. SIGH. Maybe that email will get written before Christmas...

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Alternative thoughts

While we were at Dragon*Con (wow - it's a whole week ago, now!) there was a talk show on the local public television channel with some representatives from KIPP schools about how wonderful the whole Knowledge Is Power Program (I had to look that up) is. Over at kipp.org, it says that such schools are "free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public schools."

First: the "free." KIPP schools have a longer school day, longer school week (four hours on Saturdays) AND a longer school year. That means a higher per-student cost. The website has a "Support KIPP" page that gives a list of donors. So apparently they've got some talented grantwriters; this is something that typical public schools could emulate. Interestingly, they say both that: "KIPP students are in school learning 60 percent more than average public school students, typically from 7:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on weekdays, every other Saturday, and for three weeks during the summer" and that "KIPP teachers typically earn 15 to 20 percent more in salary than traditional public school teachers for this extra time."

On the "bring KIPP to your area" page, the site mentions looking for communities who "have demonstrated the commitment and resources to support a number of KIPP schools within that community over time." This does not sound, to me, like "high quality public education for ALL children" (which is the caption below three little pictures at the top of each page).

Second: open enrollment. Anyone can apply; however, the schools have a limited number of spaces. Whether this applies to general enrollment or only to out-of-district applicants is not clear. Additionally, the fact that there is an application means that only students or families who CHOOSE to go to that school will possibly be enrolled there. KIPP administrators do not have to attempt to educate every student who lives in a particular area. Finally, while there is no information about disenrollment on the site (at least not that I could find), I have heard that KIPP will expel students who act out or do not maintain a strong work ethic. Thus, KIPP's failures are punted back to the district's other public schools, while the district does not have the option of puntint its failures over to KIPP.

Third: college preparatory. Most of the KIPP schools are middle schools; I really like their alumni program, which gives additional support to KIPP students in high school (if they do not continue in a KIPP high school).

Conclusion: KIPP schools do not serve all students. They accept students who have a high work ethic and strong family and community support. As a result, even though their students may not be currently successful, they have a fairly high potential for success. KIPP is able to serve these students very well. This shows the effectiveness of education that focuses on students who WANT to be educated.

I'd like to look at KIPP's teacher retention rates; it may actually confirm my thought that positive results are more likely to keep excellent teachers in the profession than anything else, since in looking at pay-for-time, KIPP teachers are LESS well-paid than teachers in regular public schools. The job's attraction is clearly billed as a greater possibility to make a difference.

Questions that remain: Is it wasteful to spend money on educating young people if they do not want to be educated? What should be done about them? What alternatives to traditional programs might be more effective?

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