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Writing in the 21st Century
Writing in the 21st Century: A Report from the National Council of Teachers of English Kidspiration 3 from Atomic Learning tutorials Websites: Grammar Girl www.chompchomp.com (Grammar Bytes) http://etext.virginia.edu/ http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page http://edtechteacher.ning.com/ Students created Blog Policies
 * Resources**:

Mind mapping sites: MindMeister [|www.mywebspiration.com] [|www.bubbl.us]

Other sites: Game Classroom Spelling City [|www.makebeliefscomix.com] [] (easy and free way to set up a wiki) [] (to create a poll or survey) [|www.webenglishteacher.com] [|www.writingfix.com] (interactive prompts, lessons [|www.scholastic.com] (links to classroom activities, author interviews, etc.) [] (strong media literacy component) [] (academic search engine, deemphasizes commercial resources) [] (search Bing and Google at the same time) [] [|http://creativecommons.org] [] (record your voice and embed it) [] (create multi-media posters) [|www.wordle.net]

Blogs: RSS (Real Simple Syndication) "It's like having the newspaper or magazine delivered to your home instead of going to the the bookstore to buy it." Music FreePlay Music
 * The Cutest Blog on the Block
 * www.Blogger.com
 * Examples of Classroom Blogs
 * 2M Gems (a fine example of a primary classroom blog from Australia)
 * 1) Google Reader

Podcasting

How are Moodle pages being implemented? Third Grade - drafts are kept in a notebook so they aren't lost and students can see progress Second Grade - a "real" writing assignment each month.
 * Review from last year**

Writer's Notebook - everyone likes it and teachers see improvement in student writing.
 * What do faculty need to improve Moodle pages?**

Rubrics should be on the Moodle pages; are rubrics associated with each writing assignment/unit?
 * Assessment**:

First Grade: Faith assigned a "Dog" to each student, students received a graphic organizer, had to identify main idea (a challenge). Can we put together a digital copy of of graphic organizers (REMINDER - there are graphic organizers in Kidspiration and Inspiration.
 * Research**:

You all need to fill in this part - you all lost me.... What are the Enduring Understandings for Grammar What are the __Outcomes__ for grammar per grade and for our Division?
 * Grammar**

__First Grade -__ __Second Grade__ - Animal Unit, break into steps, one month project, starts with a trip to the Washington Zoo, students answer questions, use a graphic organizer = 4 paragraphs with each paragraph addressing questions answered in the graphic organizer, Projects: 4 paragraph essay, Tri-fold board, and diorama. Discussion about the number and type of resources __Third Grade__ - Fall / Native America research project, trip to Native America Museum in Washington. 1 or 2 sources. US States project with oral piece and FOOD! (YUM!); essay on a famous person from their assigned state project; American Heroine __Fourth Grade__ - Biography of Famous Maryland Women, use a template, product = bio poem and podcast, wax museum __Fifth Grade__ - Caravans, use of Google Wonder Wheel to help narrow a topic, Ellen talked about teaching girls to include links to resources. Fifth Grade speech, CONCERN: topic selection is hard and time consuming.
 * Where is Research in our curriculum?**

Future Goal - Teaching our kids to ask GOOD QUESTIONS.