In the Know

Everything educational and literary that inspires and challenges me.

[hogwarty-houses]

Hogwarts Houses during Lockdown

Gryffindor: Starts their day at 8:00, runs around the yard, makes breakfast, flips through some tv programs, checks time, 8:10.

Ravenclaw: Says they're finally going to have time to finish their reading list. Doesn't read and feels guilty about it.

Hufflepuff: Video calls everyone to make sure they're safe, then watches netflix. When that gets old, they break out the board games.

Slytherin: Sleeps.

-

Hope everyone's doing okay.

Be safe, stay home.

🌻

[scarznstars]

why am i literally a combination of all of these

[zanycollectivelibrarian]

Yes, this seals it, I’m Ravenclaw.

[edtechpentameter]

Learn to Read by Reading Texts?

Amazon Rapids might sound like a new product to do something very exciting like record your heart rate while skydiving. Or maybe like a network of drones that will overnight a parcel to your raft. Dramatic as the name is, in reality, it is the brand of a new ebook format, geared at children of the 7 - 12 set, where stories are told in SMS dialogue. Characters text-chat their way through the plot, bubble for bubble, one static profile pic against another.

The novelty of the product is not just that the ebook form is  altered, but that a new genre – part drama, part choose your own adventure book, part comic book, part eavesdropped conversation – has been invented to add to the arsenal of reading-adjacent activities designed to transform reluctant readers into bookworms.

A new genre? This does not sound bad! Novelties that encourage reading practice can be great stopgaps until reluctant readers have the skill and patience to attack more advanced texts. People who barked about comic books as illiteracy-breeding garbage have been shown up by Marjane Satrapi, Art Speigel, Chris Ware and many others. So I hate to be the early barker, but it this text-convo as reading thing catches on, I see some things that are seriously demoralizing about the format.

First off, unlike the speakers in other all-dialogue types of writing, like comic books and play scripts, the characters are disembodied, or at least not active. Kids are not meant to imagine them anywhere, doing anything besides typing absorbedly into the phone. The other thing that separates the characters of these text stories from  characters in literature at large is their necessary lack of interiority. Do the characters stop to reflect? Do they have a moment to pause the chatter, step away from the phone and be present with themselves and their thoughts? To step out of the endless feedback loop of texting and social media? It seems like this is a problem shared with the characters and the text-happy readers alike. To normalize phatic-chatting, environment-oblivious behavior is not helpful to anyone pedagogically.

Maybe at this point Amazon Rapids is just meant to be a harmless little bit of edutainment for parents to give their children, but when a technology geared at reading reinforcement is developed by a giant like Amazon, the district-wide clients / investments / purchases are not far behind. Sure kids are enthusiastic about reading text messages, and sure a text dialogue written by educators might be able to deliver a whole bunch of meaty vocabulary words, but just because you have a vehicle that offers a little enrichment does not guarantee that the sum total isn’t awfully depleting.

[zanycollectivelibrarian]

My students have genius hour once a week. I would love to see them take something like this to the next level. Are my hopes too high? I do have two boys working on creating an app that exercises the brain.

[cinnaluna]

The last time I danced, fire erupted into riots. Few could handle the Radical Witch “Not yet, at least.” The revolution of hideously deformed creatures showed me taken and expressionless faces. And they were So Beautiful. Just through the pain of transformation, My wisdom grew.

[zanycollectivelibrarian]

We tried blackout poetry with Nearpod last year and some of my kids just didn’t get it. I think it’s worth another shot. 

[thewritershandbook]

[zanycollectivelibrarian]

Another writing prompt! A bit dark.... Reminds me of “Dark They Were and Golden Eyed” by Ray Bradbury.

[creativepromptsforwriting]

Prompt #356

A little while ago the sirens would have scared her but now all she could feel was relief.

[zanycollectivelibrarian]

I love writing prompts! I want to put this one up and see what images it conjures in my students. 

[typedbookquotes]

[zanycollectivelibrarian]

Robert Frost, one of my all time favorites. 

[clockworkbibliophile]

🎃✨

[zanycollectivelibrarian]

This picture just makes me want to be there!

[zanycollectivelibrarian]

Free Technology for Educators

What Teachers Need to Know about SAMR Model ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

[zanycollectivelibrarian]

Crash Course in English Literature

[zanycollectivelibrarian]

[zanycollectivelibrarian]

Journal of the American Association of School Librarians

[zanycollectivelibrarian]

Quiver 3D Augmented Reality coloring apps: print, color and see your drawing in beautifully hand-animated 3D worlds

Fun activities to explore where art meets technology. 

[zanycollectivelibrarian]

Book Reviews - Kids Books | Common Sense Media

Read age-appropriate book reviews for kids and parents written by our experts.

Book reviews for ages 11-15. Who can we reach with a book?

[zanycollectivelibrarian]

Common Sense Education

Teaching strategies and digital citizenship tools for educators.

[zanycollectivelibrarian]

Future Ready Schools - Preparing Students for Success

A movement of thousands of district leaders who are accelerating the transformation of schools through the effective use of digital learning strategies.

This isn’t your grandma’s library!