Kevin Hodgson

Teachers Teaching Teachers #259 Getting Ready with Youth Voices 8.10.11

Youth Voices Hangout

On this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers we are joined by Kevin Hodgson, Charles Freij, Margaret Simon, Judy Jester, Ronnie Burt, Gail Desler, Chris Sloan, Adam Cohen, Dan Polleys. We talk about our plans for the fall and how using Youth Voices might fit with our work with our students.

(Sorry about the over-modulation on some of these voices. We'll improve sound quality in the future.)
Click Read more to see a copy of the chat that was happening during the webcast.

Teachers Teaching Teachers #226 - Diving deeper into currrent events with students fishing around for relevant topics - 11.10.10

This episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers was sparked by a post by Suzie Boss on her Edutopia blog:

When the Deepwater Horizon oil well exploded in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year, teachers across the country recognized an opportunity to bring real-world applications of math and science into their classrooms. Similarly, the rescue of 33 Chilean miners has triggered student discussions about everything from heroism to human biology.

In the wake of such dramatic events, some teachers are eager to do more than host current-events-style conversations. They want to use the news as a launching pad for in-depth student learning. But making that happen requires teachers and students to dive into topics for which there are no texts or guidebooks. What’s more, maintaining student interest can be challenging once the headlines start to fade and media attention shifts to tomorrow’s hot topic.

How do you plan for academically rigorous projects that are “ripped from the headlines”? Here are a few suggestions, along with some timely resources.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/real-world-projects-news-events-suzie-boss

On this episode, Paul Allison, Susan Ettenheim, and Chris Sloan spend the hour catching up with their friends:

This episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers was sparked by a post by Suzie Boss on her Edutopia blog:

When the Deepwater Horizon oil well exploded in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year, teachers across the country recognized an opportunity to bring real-world applications of math and science into their classrooms. Similarly, the rescue of 33 Chilean miners has triggered student discussions about everything from heroism to human biology.

In the wake of such dramatic events, some teachers are eager to do more than host current-events-style conversations. They want to use the news as a launching pad for in-depth student learning. But making that happen requires teachers and students to dive into topics for which there are no texts or guidebooks. What’s more, maintaining student interest can be challenging once the headlines start to fade and media attention shifts to tomorrow’s hot topic.

How do you plan for academically rigorous projects that are “ripped from the headlines”? Here are a few suggestions, along with some timely resources.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/real-world-projects-news-events-suzie-boss

On this episode, Paul Allison, Susan Ettenheim, and Chris Sloan spend the hour catching up with their friends:

Click Read more to see a copy of the chat that was happening during the webcast.

Teachers Teaching Teachers #199 - Bitstrips Creators and Writing Project Teachers Talking Comics - 05.05.10

On this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers, we enjoyed a lively conversation with two guys from the Toronto-based  interactive design team who created Bitstrips for Schools, Shahan Panth and Jacob Blackstock.  

We were also entertained by a couple of Writing Project teachers: Kevin Hodgson from Western Massachusetts and Larry Neuburger from the Ozarks in Missouri.

On this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers, we enjoyed a lively conversation with two guys from the Toronto-based  interactive design team who created Bitstrips for Schools, Shahan Panth and Jacob BlackstockJacobAtWork-Candid-300x221.png

We were also entertained by a couple of Writing Project teachers: Kevin Hodgson from Western Massachusetts and Larry Neuburger from the Ozarks in Missouri.

In September 2009, Bitstips launched a “new educational site, Bitstrips for Schools!

Soon after we launched Bitstrips.com, we found that teachers everywhere were using Bitstrips as a teaching tool, engaging their students with the exciting power of comic creation.  So, we decided to build a new version of Bitstrips, tailored specifically for teachers.  Bitstrips for Schools has all the awesome tools from Bitstrips, transplanted into a safe and secure environment, with additional administrative features that put the teacher in control.  Teachers can create a virtual classroom, where their students can become cartoon characters and then complete activities by making comics.  It’s an amazing way to promote literacy while having fun.

And, to start things off with a bang, we’ve licensed the service to the Ministry of Education for our home province of Ontario.  This means that all 5000 publicly funded schools now have access to Bitstrips – that’s over 2,000,000 students!  We can’t wait to see what they come up with.

So, go check out Bitstrips for Schools – learning with comics has never been so much fun!

 Earlier this spring, the National Writing Project invited their teachers to try Bitstripsfor free until the end of the summer.

Have you thought about using comic strips as a new way to engage your students? It seems like a perfect step along the continuum of multimedia use in composition, but the artwork aspect of it may be daunting. Enter: Bitstrips for Schools.

Kevin Hodgson wrote a review:

I am always interested in the various online, but protected, sites offering students and teachers a way to make webcomics. I use ToonDooSpaces with my students, and I love the variety of artwork and other options at ToonDoo, but I keep an eye out for other sites, too.welcome.jpg?w=500&h=183

Recently, the National Writing Project finagled a deal with Bitstrips to let NWP teachers give the Bitstrips for Schools a trial run, so I jumped right in (big surprise) and started up an account, established a “classroom” and began making a comic. Later, I created an “activity” that will show up in any student account that I create.

Perhaps you do comics with your students, or would like to consider the possibilities! We hope you enjoy this conversation!

Click Read more to see a copy of the chat that was happening during the webcast.

Teachers Teaching Teachers #157 - 06.24.09 - (3 of 3) Teaching the New Writing - Kevin, Bryan, Marva, Troy, and Dawn mix it up!

On this podcast, our guest host, Kevin Hodgson helped to wrap up the third episode of a Teachers Teaching Teachers 3-part series that centerd on the book Kevin helped to edit (and contributed a chapter to) called Teaching the New Writing: Technology, Change and Assessment in the 21st Century Classroom.


Chapter authors Dawn Reed, high school teacher and teacher-consultant with the Red Cedar Writing Project; Troy Hicks, associate Professor and director of the Chippewa Writing Project; and Bryan Crandall, high school teacher and a teacher-consultant with the Louisville Writing Project, shared examples of their classroom practices to prompt a discussion about audience in writing using digital technology. The topics they discussed included high school students using multimodal ways of writing in a speech class and an example of what happens when you take the senior project “digital.”  In addition, Marva Solomon joined us to talk about her work with a small group of struggling elementary school writers. The title of her chapter is “True adventures of Students “Writing Online: Mummies, Vampires and schnauzers, Oh My!”


On this podcast, our guest host, Kevin Hodgson helped to wrap up the third episode of a Teachers Teaching Teachers 3-part series that centerd on the book Kevin helped to edit (and contributed a chapter to) called Teaching the New Writing: Technology, Change and Assessment in the 21st Century Classroom.

On June 10, TTT hosts Paul Allison and Susan Ettenheim interviewed the editors about the project, which looks at changes in the writing classroom through the lens of technology and assessment. (listen to the podcast of that show over at TTT#155). In the second show in this series, on June 17, TTT156, Paul turned the host reins over to Kevin as he chatted with some of the chapter writers about the concept of collaboration in the technology-infused classroom.

In this podcast, as Kevin once again graciously agreed to host the show, we looked at the concept of audience and technology is opening up new doors for publication and expanding audiences and what that does to writing in the classroom.

Chapter authors Dawn Reed, high school teacher and teacher-consultant with the Red Cedar Writing Project; Troy Hicks, associate Professor and director of the Chippewa Writing Project; and Bryan Crandall, high school teacher and a teacher-consultant with the Louisville Writing Project, shared examples of their classroom practices to prompt a discussion about audience in writing using digital technology. The topics they discussed included high school students using multimodal ways of writing in a speech class and an example of what happens when you take the senior project “digital.”  In addition, Marva Solomon joined us to talk about her work with a small group of struggling elementary school writers. The title of her chapter is “True adventures of Students “Writing Online: Mummies, Vampires and schnauzers, Oh My!”

Please enjoy the podcast, and add a comment with your story about how writing is changing in your classroom.

This podcast is the third of three Teachers Teaching Teachers shows in June that focused on this book. On TTT#155 (June 10) we had the editors of the book. Next for TTT#156 (June 17), we had authors from the different chapters of Teaching the New Writing on the show.

Click Read more to see a transcript of a chat that was happening during the webcast.

 

Teachers Teaching Teachers #156 - 06.17.09 - (2 of 3) Teaching the New Writing - Glen, Jeff, and Paul talk about collaboration

Glen Bledsoe, Jeff Schwartz, and Paul Allison will be interviewed by Kevin Hodgson on this podcast. We talked about collaboration and the tools we use to collaborate in the classroom.

Glen, Jeff, and Paul are chapter authors and Kevin is one of the editors of a recently published book Teaching the New Writing: Technology, Change, and Assessment in the 21st-Century Classroom.

Chapter authors Paul Allison, a high school teacher, technology liaison at the New York City Writing Project, and facilitator of TTT; Glen Bledsoe, an elementary teacher and teacher consultant at the Oregon Writing Project at the University of Oregon; and Jeff Schwartz, high school teacher and member of the Bread Loaf Teachers Network, will shared examples of their classroom practices.

Glen Bledsoe, Jeff Schwartz, and Paul Allison are interviewed by Kevin Hodgson on this podcast. We talked about collaboration and the tools we use to collaborate in the classroom.

Here’s how the National Writing Project described what we would be talking about on this show.

As educators move forward into the terrain of digital literacy and learning with their students, part of the challenge is balancing the innovation of new technology with the accountability of assessment.

The recently published book Teaching the New Writing: Technology, Change, and Assessment in the 21st-Century Classroom explores these balancing acts through case studies of elementary through university-level classrooms where teachers are integrating technology with writing and where the assessment of the digital work and student learning is being explored.

Chapter authors Paul Allison, a high school teacher, technology liaison at the New York City Writing Project, and facilitator of TTT; Glen Bledsoe, an elementary teacher and teacher consultant at the Oregon Writing Project at the University of Oregon; and Jeff Schwartz, high school teacher and member of the Bread Loaf Teachers Network, will share examples of their classroom practices to prompt a discussion about the collaborative nature of writing when using technology in the classroom.

Please enjoy the podcast, and add a comment with your story about how writing is changing in your classroom.

This podcast is the second of three Teachers Teaching Teachers shows this month that focused on this book. On TTT#155 (June 10) we interviewed the editors of this book. On TTT#157 (June 24), we had various authors from the different chapters of Teaching the New Writing on the show.

Click Read more to see a transcript of a chat that was happening during the webcast.

 

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