For Teachers: 13 Ways of Raising Your Hand in the Classroom
Friday, January 20th, 2012 Posted in Around the Web, Fun Clips, In the Classroom | No Comments »Teachers will like this. All teachers, every one. There will be universal "like" on this little clip. [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2YPBQCHV7E] You can find more of her charming, off-beat clips, here.
Essential Listening: “Middle School” as featured on THIS AMERICAN LIFE
Saturday, November 12th, 2011 Posted in Around the Web, In the Classroom | 2 Comments »It's been a busy month, with many school visits and almost no real writing. On Sunday, tomorrow, I'm heading to South Carolina, a trip that begins with three presentations in a middle school. So I thought I'd share my highest ...
Photo Dump: Three Days in Williamstown
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011 Posted in In the Classroom, School Visits | No Comments »I recently enjoyed a three-day visit to Williamstown, Massachusetts. I visited three schools: Lanesborough Elementary (where we forgot to take photos), Mount Greylock (grades 7-8), and Williamstown Elementary. It was particularly fun to interact with such a large range of ...
Pirate Crossword: Free Teaching Tool for “A Pirate’s Guide to First Grade”
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011 Posted in A Pirates Guide to First Grade, In the Classroom | No Comments »Forgive me, it's an unusual blog day here at the jamespreller.com factory. I've been unloading some stuff from a found file. Here's a nice companion for my book A Pirate's Guide to First Grade, illustrated by Greg Ruth. If you ...
VoiceThread: Another Teaching Tool
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011 Posted in In the Classroom | No Comments »Follow this link to see how one Media Specialist used VoiceThread to make my book, Hiccups for Elephant, illustrated by Hans Wilhelm, come alive for young readers through the use of puppets and children's own voices. Again, I apologize for the ...
Let Kids Read Comic Books . . . D’uh!
Wednesday, September 7th, 2011 Posted in In the Classroom, Mighty Casey, The Gender Gap in Reading | 2 Comments »Instead of "Let Kids Read Comic Books," I almost titled this entry, "Don't Be an Idiot." Because I can't believe this needs to be discussed anymore. Over at Imagination Soup, they ran a good piece with a solid message: "8 Reasons ...
Fan Mail Wednesday #121 (re: Teaching “Bystander,” and Some Thoughts on Bullying)
Friday, August 12th, 2011 Posted in Bystander, In the Classroom | No Comments »I've been in summer mode, the quiet season for teachers and librarians, and taking a break from my weekly Fan Mail Wednesday posts. But here's a happy letter that might be useful to some of you out there, edited ever-so-slightly ...
The Rights of the Reader
Monday, July 18th, 2011 Posted in In the Classroom, Readings, The Gender Gap in Reading | No Comments »"What we need to understand is that books weren't written so that young people could write essays about them, but so that they could read them if they really wanted to." -- Daniel Pennoc. - A note from my pal, Lewis Buzbee, ...
Author Skype Visits: Three Perspectives
Wednesday, June 1st, 2011 Posted in In the Classroom, School Visits, bullying | No Comments »Last week I posted about doing a couple of Skype visits, complete with follow-up comments from a teacher-librarian. Because Skyping is a relatively new (and powerful, and affordable) educational tool, I thought I'd recap my experiences in more detail. To that end, ...
School Visit Central: Fuel Me Up
Monday, March 14th, 2011 Posted in In the Classroom, School Visits | No Comments »I'm in the middle of school visit season, and it bears repeating: Authors don't do school visits; schools do author visits. By the time I arrive, 90% of the work is done. The students are either primed and ready, or not. The ...