My current teaching contract commenced in 2004 and soon afterward social media, for me, sky rocketed. A short time later, most of my communicative life moved into what very few people at the time knew as “the cloud”. Facebook was still locked to the universities and Yahoo! was still a huge stock option for many [...]

Posted in blogs, curriculum, cybersalonaz, Education Reform, google, google calendar, google docs, laptop, nostalgia, policy, rhetoric, student2.0, teacher2.0, technology

Karen Cator Direction, Office of Education Technology US Dept of Ed on Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Tech #mec2011 Cator was introduced by John Huppenthal, Arizona Superintendent of Public Schools. National Education Technology Plan introduced in fall through Drupal, and they said it was a “draft” because this is a working document that is [...]

Posted in conferences, curriculum, cybersalonaz, Education Reform, presentations, school, technology, web2.0

Crude & Awkward: Educational Forms & Teacher 2.0 In a recent panel I chaired at National Council of Teachers of English entitled LEARNING LITERATE LIVES: 21ST CENTURY LITERACY SKILLS BEYOND INDIVIDUAL TECHNOLOGIES with Shelley Rodrigo, Chad Sansing, and William Kist, the discussion revolved around grass roots educational reform in terms of trying to move beyond [...]

Posted in curriculum, cybersalonaz, NCTE, online, presentations, school, student2.0, teacher2.0, technology, web2.0

At the beginning of the school year I took the section on mobile devices in my classroom and made a significant change. Originally it began with the change from “Cell phones, mp3 players, and other electronic devices are not allowed in the classroom to removing the word “not”. I told them to take out these [...]

Posted in AP Lang, Blackberry, books, curriculum, gadgets, iphone, literature, school, teacher2.0, technology

In terms of 21st century literacies, in the next ten years we will see Increased Global Interaction, hyper localism, extreme diversity and increased out of school learning. In terms of diversity, it’s not just race anymore. It’s play out in age, gender, and even extreme religious views on education. Dale Allender’s, the director of NCTE-West, [...]

Posted in conferences, curriculum, NCTE

Last year at this time, you, students, knew more. Part of this may’ve been your preparation in the past, but I feel like part of this is my fault. See, the last couple of years I had the curriculum all planned out and I really enjoyed my job. This year, things are different. Planning is [...]

Posted in AP Lang, APUSH, curriculum, reviews

This week I am at the AP Institute in Bellevue, WA. Last year I came to this same institute alone, because I’d heard it’s the best around. I agree. Last year it rocked, and my presenter was the Chief Reader for AP Language. The beginning of the week began a bit quieter until my friends [...]

Posted in AP Lang, conferences, curriculum, eng11, travel

About a month ago I got an email asking me if I was interested in heading to Claremont University outside of Ontario, CA for a conference on facilitating learning communities in higher education. I didn’t know where that university was, but the email said it was all expenses paid. I liked that. It also fell [...]

Posted in curriculum, student2.0

I have a new post over here on online communication in the 21st century. Check it out.

Posted in blogs, cis237, curriculum, eng101, student2.0, teacher2.0, technology