Weekly Diigo Posts (weekly)

Brilliant 10: The Butterfly Pharmacist | Popular Science tags: butterfly monarch butterflies Facebook by the Numbers [INFOGRAPHIC] Awesome infographic re: Facebook tags: facebook INFOGRAPHIC socialmedia statistics data BBC News – 7 billion people and you: What’s your number? tags: population infographic bbc worldhistory Computer scientist cracks mysterious ‘Copiale Cipher’ Great topic for a possible research [...]

Twitter-size Reviews

I am so behind on reviews!  Between reading for school, reading fo r the Cybils, grading, planning, and running the dogs every day, there just isn’t enough time in the day!  So I am succumbed to the pressures of my towering to-be-reviewed pile.  Over the next few days I will be posting short, Twitter-sized reviews [...]

National Day on Writing Round-up

I am the luckiest teacher in the world.  I work with the most fantastic teachers and this year I’ve connected with some of the English teachers in other buildings in our district.  Michelle and Kelly are awesome and we are so on the same page when it comes to tech and promoting English in our [...]

#NCTE11, Here I Come!

The registration is paid, the hotel room is booked, and my presentation is ready!  I will be in Chicago for NCTE next month and I am very excited!  (No ALAN for me this year- Just wasn’t in the cards.  But when the convention moves to DC and Boston in a few years?  I’m in!) I [...]

Online Discussion in the “Real World”

At the beginning of this school year, I was thrilled to learn that our district would no longer be blocking social media websites like Twitter and Facebook.  I immediately took my class Facebook page live and activated my class Twitter account.  But before my freshman dove headfirst into the murky waters of social media, I [...]

Weekly Diigo Posts (weekly)

A complete guide to web, Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus privacy and security! : The Edublogger tags: digitalfootprint digital footprint internetsafety http://newmedialiteracies.org/blog/2008/11/10/NMLskills.pdf tags: literacy 21stcenturyskills information_literacy medialiteracy digital_literacy The Worst Word in the English Language is ‘Nice’ « PWxyz tags: english historyofenglish etymology African Voices New website from the Smithsonian that focuses on the history [...]

#WhyIWrite

I write because I have always written.  I write because it feels strange not to write.  I write because I want to write.   Why do you write?  Today is the National Day on Writing and thousands of people all over the world are participating in #whyIwrite.  The National Writing Project has compiled a list [...]

“Please, Call them “Commercials” — Not Trailers!”- A New Era for Book Ads

I am happy to share the following press release with you.  Daniel Nayeri is a fantastic author and I have enjoyed his books in the past.  This past May, I picked up a sample ARC of his newest endeavor- Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow: Four Novellas, a collection of four novellas.  I was [...]

Thank You, Steve Jobs.

The first computer I ever used was an Apple IIe.  At my aunt’s house, I logged onto AOL and discovered the internet.  At school, our new computer lab was soon full of similar Apple computers.  I remember indoor recess sessions at my elementary school spent playing Number Munchers and Oregon Trail.  The Apple computers were [...]

It’s Time for the Cybils!

I am very excited to announce that I will be a Round 1 Panelist for the Middle Grade Science-Fiction/Fantasy category for this year’s Cybil Awards!  I tend to focus on YA here on the blog, but I have a special place in my heart for MG science fiction and fantasy.  It’s what my youngest sister [...]