Connecting Blogs through Quads

WELL DONE – SHOW MR MITCHELL SchoolRack » Create a FREE Teacher Website or Educational Blog! Heathfield CPS Blogs | Henniker Road, Bolton BL3 3TP - Tel: 01204 333 595 What is QuadBlogging? About ETR Community EdTechReview (ETR) is a community of and for everyone involved in education technology to connect and collaborate both online and offline to discover, learn, utilize and share about the best ways technology can improve learning, teaching, and leading in the 21st century. EdTechReview spreads awareness on education technology and its role in 21st century education through best research and practices of using technology in education, and by facilitating events, training, professional development, and consultation in its adoption and implementation.

Writing Tips by Henry Miller, Elmore Leonard, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman & George Orwell Image by Austin Kleon Here's one way to become a better writer. Listen to the advice of writers who earn their daily bread with their pens. Henry Miller (from Henry Miller on Writing) 1. George Orwell (From Why I Write) 1. Margaret Atwood (originally appeared in The Guardian) 1. Neil Gaiman (read his free short stories here) 1. William Safire (the author of the New York Times Magazine column "On Language") 1. Related Content: Ray Bradbury Gives 12 Pieces of Writing Advice to Young Authors (2001) John Steinbeck’s Six Tips for the Aspiring Writer and His Nobel Prize Speech Elmore Leonard’s Ultimate Guide for Would-Be Writers

Cricket – The Indian Premier League Wikis for Everyone - Wikispaces Mr. Lane's Class Quadblogging – a great idea for peer assessment | Bryony Taylor I’ve mentioned before on this blog that I think that blogging is one of the most exciting areas where technology is supporting teaching & learning. One of the best educational bloggers around, ‘Deputy Mitchell‘ (as he is known on Twitter) came up with the idea of ‘Quadblogging‘ when contacted by schools near him who weren’t getting nearly as much traffic to their class blogs as he was . Here is a description from the Quadblogging website: Imagine four schools that had a partnership/agreement that would mean that for a four week cycle, each school’s blog would be the focus for one week out of four. Each school in the Quad would spend some time visiting the blog of the school for that week, leave comments etc. This is a great idea for those schools who have a public blog where they showcase children’s work (the majority of which seem to be primary schools which is interesting). I was thinking, though, that this principle could also be applied within a large secondary school. Update: Related

The Best Websites For K-12 Writing Instruction/Reinforcement Here’s another one of my “Best of…” lists. This time it’s focused on websites to support writing instruction/reinforcement for grades K-12. You might also find these other writing-related “The Best…” lists useful: K-12 is a pretty wide-range, and there are some sites here that are obviously more geared towards either younger or older students. I used my usual criteria though, which is that they all need to be accessible to English Language Learners and to teachers who only know how to email and copy and paste a url address. I’m feeling a little conflicted about making this list. I believe the best way computers can help students become better writers is by their just using wordprocessing. Another reason I’m a bit conflicted is because I believe the best writing curriculum out there, by far, is the one offered by the WRITE Institute. (You can now purchase — for $20 each — the supplemental units the WRITE Institute creates and then reproduce them for a one-time classroom use. Related