Curriculum Dev. Update

Lee Anne, I got an update from you earlier today, but I bet I'm not alone in wondering what's been going on....can you and the others who attended fill the rest of us in--briefly, blogger-style?

Plagiarism

To make a long story short-my sweet, innocent freshmen were becoming friends with Sparky and Shmoopie.  Ahhh, teachable moments.  I found these two resources, spent a whole period in the lab using them, and they took the quiz.  I told them the quiz will travel with their writing folder for three years, so they can never say they don't know what plagiarism is.  They seemed to like the tutorials-very kid friendly-many sound effects!  All together it takes about 40 minutes.

http://library.acadiau.ca/tutorials/plagiarism/

http://tutorials.sjlibrary.org/tutorial/plagiarism/ (Click on non users-PDF quiz at end.  I had them take quiz and use tutorial when they were unsure of answer.  I didn't "grade.")

Some things to anticipate

http://text-patterns.thenewatlantis.com/2011/04/teaching-from-kindle.html

I was looking for apps and ran across this blog.
Skim down to the responses....there's a long one that addresses the issues this guy has with teaching from an unannotated Kindle text. Good to see future bumps and possible solutions before we get there.

New AP Courses to Emphasize Critical Thinking and Research - College Bound - Education Week

New AP Courses to Emphasize Critical Thinking and Research - College Bound - Education Week

passing on Karen's link hahahaha because I can

the captstone research project sounds like our senior seminar

Mobile!

I can blog on the go!!!

More sophs than expected want AP...some solid students.

Technology Tips

Anyone have any ideas/suggestions about using the Kindle or other devices in class?  I was trying to find apps for the Fire, but I keep running into iPad apps which are not available for the Fire.  I think we can use this post, or set up a place on the blog to add websites and apps!

I did sign up for Animoto-you or your students can create videos.  Use the link that we received via email and set up a teacher account.  You will then be able to create videos without a time limit of 30 seconds.  I think the kids can log on to your account or something, and then they are not limited by time either.  I think I will require kids to use it when making a movie trailer for a book that have read.

On another note, I have required to my seniors to create a project in Prezi.  I really like Prezi, and I have used it in the classroom.  It is hard at first but easier once you play around with it.  I am not sure how the students "like" it, but they sure have been on task!  A feat for 12th graders in March!!

Make-up Writing Tests

There will be a make-up writing test for students wanting to take Honors English next year.  The date is Wednesday, March 14th at 7:15 am in room 413.  Remind your students!

Mrs. Hill will provide her rising 10th graders with an in-class prompt at some point next week...just in case any kids are wondering.