Tweet Tweet....No It's Not Twitter!

Twitter isn't the only thing that "tweets" on the internet. Today I discovered and played around with a fun collaborative storytelling site called StoryBird. www.storybird.com.

StoryBird promotes and facilitates collaborative storytelling. Back in the day when I taught third grade, every Friday we worked on collaborative storytelling. I provided a prompt (either a picture or story starter) then every student wrote one sentence on their paper. Papers were passed to the left and the next student added a sentence after reading what had been written. The process continued for 10 or more passes depending on the time of year. In the end, the collaborative story was returned to the orginator for editing. StoryBird takes my primative collaborative storytelling lesson and brings it to the 21st Century. Students (and even adults) have fun creating a story together - all the while practicing and reinforcing sequencing, inferencing, writing, critical thinking and much more.

Teachers can easily sign up for a free account and create a class within StoryBird. Once you've done that, StoryBird helps by prompting students when it's their turn to add to the story. You can partner students to collaborate on a story, do a whole class collaboration, or even model writing and storytelling using your Mobi. The opportunities are only limited by your imagination.

When I taught my rudimentary collaborative storytelling lesson, we ended each session by sharing our stories and providing feedback. StoryBird capitalizes on this need to share and get feedback. Created stories are posted and anyone who reads the story can provide a critique and feedback. What a wonderful strategy for sharing collaborative writing with parents and for helping students share feedback with each other.

Though StoryBird is a great internet find, the lesson I learned from discovering StoryBird is more powerful than any classroom activity. The lesson is that 21st Century Teaching doesn't mean abandoning lessons and strategies that we love and are proven effective. 21st Century Teaching means taking what's effective and repackaging it through the use of technology. The activities the students completed in my classroom in the 80's are the same as the activities completed by StoryBird classrooms. The goals are the same, the outcomes are the same...the only difference is that through technology we better capitalize on the needs of 21st Century learners.

Check out StoryBird....it's appropriate and fun for all ages.

Twitter, Blogs, and Facebook Oh My!

Do you ever feel like you have information overload? I know I do. Every day I get nearly 100 emails at work. Then there are my personal emails at home and Facebook updates from friends plus blogs and twitter feeds I follow...Seems like I need an extra hour or two just to keep up on all the communication. So, the question becomes, "How much is too much?"

For me, it's a matter of prioritizing. Yes, I twitter, but I only follow twitter feeds that give information I need, like @ParkHillRenner, @ParkHillTech and @ParkHillSchools. Yes, I follow blogs, but only those that I am willing to take the time to read. And, the good news is I don't have to read every post. As far as Facebook is concerned, I can take it or leave it. Some weeks I'll check in a couple times and other weeks not at all. It's a matter of controlling the technology and communication rather than letting it control me.

Though it feels like information overload, technology has opened up a world of quick and easy communication. Through twitter, blogs, websites and emails we can quickly communicate with our stakeholders while offering a variety of different types of communication. The hope is that one of these forms of communication will fit their style and meet their needs. Maybe they don't read blogs, but they might twitter. Or if twitter isn't their thing, maybe they enjoy email updates or browsing websites. The bottomline is we have a responsibilty to communicate with our stakeholders. That's why each of you are required to have a classroom newsletter or email. If you don't yet, why not? Technology has made communication easy. Find a tool that works for you and make communication a priority.

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Do you Twitter? We are announcing the Park Hill Renner twitter feed, a place for reminders about important school events. Veteran twitter users can follow us at @ParkHillRenner. Those unfamiliar with twitter can view the feed at http://twitter.com/parkhillrenner. You can sign up for a twitter account and receive Renner event updates via email, text messages and/or mobile app notifications. Renner’s twitter feed will not replace our conventional means of communication – email, SchoolReach and newsletters. The twitter feed is an alternative for those preferring to have event reminders sent directly to their phone or email. If you have questions about Renner’s twitter feed or difficulty accessing it, please contact our Technology Specialist, Andrea Berka, at berkaan@parkhill.k12.mo.us.

The Page 99 Test

It's probably no secret that I love to read. I love to read professionally and I love to read personally. I always have a book or two on my desk or night stand ready to be picked up. Fostering this lifelong love of reading is an important job of teachers. It is also important to help students to learn to assess and analyze their reading.

It's also probably no secret that I love to write, so when I heard about a website that let's me read and write, I got excited.

The website is www.page99test.com. When you or your students visit Page99Test you have a couple options. First you can read the ninety-ninth page of a book. (Be sure to pick your genre first so that you are reading student appropriate books.) After reading the ninety-ninth page, you decide whether or not you'd like to read more and write a short reason why or why not. After submitting your feedback you learn the book's title and author. What a great way to help students think deeper about what they enjoy reading and why. It's purposeful reading and purposeful writing all combined in one fun activity.

Page99Test also has a feature for aspiring authors or writing clubs to submit their writing and get feedback. Imagine students getting honest feedback from around the globe. It may inspire them to pursue writing more vigorously.

So, whether you plan to use it to find your own personal reading or as an activity for your students, check out www.page99test.com.

PS: Looking for some good books to read? Here are a couple of my recent recommendations: Drive by Daniel Pink; Sarah's Keys by Tatiana de Rosnay; The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen; or A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink. Of course, I also recommend anything by Malcolm Gladwell and if you haven't read Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen you must read it before the movie comes out this Spring.

Happy Reading.....and writing!