V.R.Burton’s Blog

PLN posts

• Google Hangouts May 6, 2012
    I try to participate in a regular Google+ hangout.  We discuss .. our work looks like, what we want our work to look like, important current events, etc.  If you have not participated in a Google+ hangout you should try it.  Find a teacher who you is interesting to talk to, necessary to collaborate More > […]
  Ms. B.
• Meshing our Curriculum with Common Core May 6, 2012
  I have been reading, planning and revising my lesson plans and curriculum material for the past few years because I kept hearing “The Common Core Standards are coming!!! The Common Core Standards are coming!!! The Common Core Standards are coming!!!”   Well guess what? The adoption of the Common Core Standards is here, kind of. More > […]
  Ms. B.
• Students Tweet for Credit May 6, 2012
  Last week I asked my class to create Tweets regarding the story that we were reading in class, Pretty Ugly by Paul  .  Here is a screenshot of Tweets from my class Twitter account.   I captured their tweets using Tweetdoc.  It created PDFs of the Twitter hashtags that I asked them to use.  Here More > […]
  Ms. B.
• Using Twitter for good and not evil April 29, 2012
  I am once again sticking my neck out…..  I want my students to harness the power of Twitter and tweet out updates on a regular basis.  I have developed several hashtags for them to use: Hashtags to use #BS121 – General class update information #Plot121 – Updates and remarks about plot elements from readings #Voc121 More > […]
  Ms. B.
• Why are GOOD QUESTIONS so hard to ask? April 24, 2012
  The answer is because GOOD QUESTIONS do not have one definitive answer.  Knowing the answer is the teacher’s job.  Isn’t it? In this day and age, most of us will agree that we do our students an injustice if we are not training them to latch on to an issue that compels them to seek More > […]
  Ms. B.
• My magical moment April 24, 2012
  My magical moment came when Al, who RARELY completed work for me spent a week working on a photomovie about New Orleans.  I gave them a template to follow that required them to plug in adjectives and nouns to describe New Orleans before and after Hurricane Katrina.   Al worked on it for 2 days More > […]
  Ms. B.
• My Me Manifesto April 24, 2012
  I am working my way through Shelly Terrell’s #30GoalsEdu http://teacherbootcamp.edublogs.org/30-goals-2012/.  Each week there are a few goals to reflect upon.  Goal 1 is to create a Me Manifesto that identifies what you want to accomplish in your class.   For me that is easy – technology integration and the publication of student work.  I want my More > […]
  Ms. B.
• Reading NetSmart by Rheingold April 23, 2012
    I have had the pleasure of scheduling Wednesday nights to work with Paul Allison, Youthvoices.net, and others in a discussion about Howard Rheingold‘s book, http://www.rheingold.com/netsmart, in a Google+ hangout. Paul has organized a book group on Teachers Teaching Teachers http://edtechtalk.com  and they meet Wednesdays at 9:00 PM Eastern.  Next Wednesda […]
  Ms. B.
• RAFTing – a writing strategy to demonstrate understanding April 23, 2012
  The RAFT writing technique requires students to focus on the Role, Audience, Format and Topic of their writing assignment.  I use the RAFT technique to have students look at a situation from the perspective of a story character and compose a blog/journal post as that character.  I can see whether or not they really understand the character More > […]
  Ms. B.
• 4/2 I shared…. April 8, 2012
  I recently had a conversation with Paul Allison about wanting kids to post meaningful educational quotes and resources on their Twitter and Facebook sites.  This conversation grew from an article I read from a Twitter feed:  ”How do we leverage the backchanneling that students already do?” http://t.co/0sEtlS8M   After reading the article we both agree that a […]
  Ms. B.