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Combining Robotics With Poetry? Art and Engineering Can Co-Exist. Big Ideas Culture Teaching Strategies Sue Mellon By Barbara Ray At the beginning, people thought she was nuts. Sue Mellon, gifted support coordinator for Springdale Junior and Senior High/Colfax School in the Allegheny Valley School District, thought 7th and 8thgraders could develop a deeper understanding of poetry by playing around with robotics.

“Originally, people looked at me like I was crazy,” Mellon said. Now, two years later, Robotics Poetry is a staple of language arts classes at Springdale and a new grant has students preparing to be peer mentors. Poetry isn’t always easy for students. “Science, technology, engineering, math, art—that’s all really important. “A lot of kids aren’t crazy about poetry,” Mellon said. Stories like Mellon’s can be found all around the Allegheny School District these days as the area, already renowned for its groundbreaking work in STEM, takes on STEAM.

[RELATED READING: Girls and Math: Busting the Stereotype] “STEAM is not a new curriculum,” Yakman said. Free Apps to Support Vocabulary Acquisition by ELLs. One of my favorite aspects of integrating technology into instruction is the availability of resources to support students with different learning needs. Students who are struggling can benefit from the excitement and engagement offered by a tool like the iPad. Teachers of English-Language Learners (ELLs) can use technology to promote growth in their students. Developing a strong vocabulary is an important area of focus for ELLs who are building their reading comprehension. Educators use a variety of strategies to grow readers in their classroom, and there are many free iPad apps that support vocabulary acquisition. Kids' Vocab by MindSnacks This is one of my favorite literacy apps for all students, and it is a great tool for ELLs. English First High Flyers EF High Flyers is an easy-to-use game that helps students learn new vocabulary words starting with numbers and everyday objects.

Flashcardlet Futaba Have you had success using technology to support English-Language Learners? 50 Incredible Tattoos Inspired By Books. The American Novel. The Center for the Book | Library of Congress. The Library of Congress Center for the Book, which also administers the Poetry and Literature Center, promotes books and libraries, literacy and reading, and poetry and literature. Our programs include a diverse range of events, series, lectures, partnerships, prizes, contests and awards. Publications Sponsored by the Center View the Center for the Book Publications List for a selective listing of publications related to the Center for the Book, its mission and history, arranged by subject. Individual titles link directly to digital versions whenever they are available.

Links to supplementary materials and digital versions may also be found at the end of each entry. Related Sites on LOC.gov Center for the Book Information Events Author discussions, symposia and other events are an important part of the programming of the Center for the Book. See all events. Found Poetry: Retelling History through Poetry - Primary Source Set. Fantasy Flight Games. In Praise of the Hashtag. Illustration by Tom Gauld For this, of course, we can thank Twitter. Five years ago, Twitter’s users invented what’s now known as the hashtag: a pithy phrase, preceded by that hungry octothorpe, used to either label or comment on the preceding tweet. (Pretend this sentence is a tweet.

#thiswouldbethehashtag.) In the early days, hashtags were primarily functional — a way of categorizing tweets by topic so that members of the Twittersphere could follow conversations of interest to them by searching for a list of similarly tagged tweets. The first hashtag, proposed by the user Chris Messina, was intended to collate conversations about the tech conference BarCamp, so the hashtag was #barcamp. Other tags in the early days served as straightforward metadata, directing people to tweets about news, events and user interests: #sandiegofires, #roseparade, #education and so on. As a result, we’ve arrived at a strange moment for the hashtag. The hashtag ethos has also been adopted beyond Twitter. Persuasion Map.

Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson Demonstrating Understanding of Richard Wright's Rite of Passage Students use the elements of persuasion for a specific audience to demonstrate their understanding of Richard Wright's accessible and engaging coming-of-age novel, Rite of Passage. Grades 6 – 12 | Lesson Plan Persuade Me in Five Slides! Creating Persuasive Digital Stories After students write persuasive essays, use this lesson to challenge them to summarize their essays concisely by creating five-slide presentations. Grades 6 – 8 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson Developing Citizenship Through Rhetorical Analysis Students analyze rhetorical strategies in online editorials, building knowledge of strategies and awareness of local and national issues.

Grades 3 – 12 | Student Interactive | Organizing & Summarizing Compare & Contrast Map Essay Map Grades 1 – 6 | Calendar Activity | October 13 The Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden was dedicated on October 13, 1995. Persuasion Rubric Persuasion Map. Audio Books + eBooks for Free, Download books in mp3 & eReader formats for iPhone, Android, Kindle and more! Twitter fiction: 21 authors try their hand at 140-character novels.

Geoff Dyer I know I said that if I lived to 100 I'd not regret what happened last night. But I woke up this morning and a century had passed. Sorry. James Meek He said he was leaving her. Jackie Collins She smiled, he smiled back, it was lust at first sight, but then she discovered he was married, too bad it couldn't go anywhere. Ian Rankin I opened the door to our flat and you were standing there, cleaver raised. Blake Morrison Blonde, GSOH, 28.

David Lodge "Your money or your life! " AM Homes Sometimes we wonder why sorrow so heavy when happiness is like helium. Sophie Hannah I had land, money. Andrew O'Hagan Clyde stole a lychee and ate it in the shower. AL Kennedy It's good that you're busy. Jeffrey Archer "It's a miracle he survived," said the doctor. Anne Enright The internet ate my novel, but this is much more fun #careerchange #nolookingback oh but #worldsosilentnow Hey! Patrick Neate ur profile pic: happy – smiling & smoking. ur last post: "home! " Hari Kunzru I'm here w/ disk. SJ Watson OK. Welcome to NoRedInk! Dream Moods A-Z Dream Dictionary. Symbols are the language of dreams. A symbol can invoke a feeling or an idea and often has a much more profound and deeper meaning than any one word can convey. At the same time, these symbols can leave you confused and wondering what that dream was all about.

Acquiring the ability to interpret your dreams is a powerful tool. In analyzing your dreams, you can learn about your deep secrets and hidden feelings. Remember that no one is a better expert at interpreting your dreams than yourself. To guide you with your dreams interpretations, we have interpreted over 5900 keywords and symbols and over 20,000 different meanings in our ever expanding dream dictionary. Every detail, even the most minute element in your dream is important and must be considered when analyzing your dreams. Reading Strategies for Social Studies. Livebinder on Content Literacy. Object(ive) Writing: A Creative Exercise for the Composition Classroom. At the 2012 Conference on College Composition and Communication, three well-known writing scholars led a discussion on a writing exercise they'd assigned themselves. For 30 days, each wrote for an hour about a different everyday object. After CCCC, three of us -- all friends, teachers and writers -- were energized by the idea of this activity and decided to try it out.

Our Rules On each day for one month, each of us wrote for 30 minutes on one of the 30 objects we chose in advance -- each of us had selected 10. We could write about any object in any order and posted our writing on a public, communal blog. We didn't confine ourselves to any particular writing process or genre. Patrick's Ladle Laura's Retort The exercise proved to be powerful, helping us to engage one another in writing as we learned about each other, ourselves and the objects with which we interact every day. Reflections If we believe William Carlos Willams' famous dictum, "No ideas but in things! " Writing as Praxis.

Five paragraph essay debunked. Part I: Introduction--What inspired my argumentative response? For decades, too many high-school teachers have been instilling persuasive writing skills by teaching students the five-paragraph essay. You know it: Introduction with three reasons Reason #1 Reason #2 Reason #3 A summary of all three reasons It's bad writing. The five-paragraph essay is rudimentary, unengaging, and useless.

If I were using five paragraphs to convince you, based on the argument above, you wouldn't need to read any farther. Aristotle became one of the godfathers of rhetoric by creating structures for persuasive writing and speaking that--if taught to young people today--would transform writing instruction and facilitate the implementation of the Common Core, proving that students--when guided appropriately--can succeed with critical thinking in the 21st century. Part 2: Background--What preceded my argument and / or what needs to be clarified? Part 3: Confirmation--What supports my argument? I know. Books That Build Community - The Book Whisperer.