LendMe is an app that allows a classroom teacher to lend out books from the classroom library.  It’s simple: take a picture of the book; take a picture of the kid.  It records the date that the book was borrowed, the title and the name of the kid you lent it to.  The picture of the student is generally enough, and I don’t have to type in the name, but, as I’ve written earlier in my post, “The New Definition of Veteran Teacher,” another way to help put face to names isn’t such a bad idea.

Of course, now that I have the iPhone I wonder what the heck I was balking at.  I’ve never been so hyped for any piece of technology.  It even makes AT&T’s frequently dropped calls worth it.  Make of that as you will.

I will continue to review educational apps as I build up my own iPhone library.  In the meantime, I would love to know what you are all using as well.  

Hope your summer is going well.

-Tweenteacher

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: app, classroom library, iPhone

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OK, don’t tell my husband, but I have a fictional crush.  That is, I have a crush based on a fictitious character.  I think I’ve always had one, but the object of my literary love has always changed with my own chapter in life. (...)
Read the rest of Fictional Crushes (543 words)

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Post tags: achievement gap, blog, book review, classroom library, ELA, k-12, k12, middle school, TLN, tween, UCI, Writers Project

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It’s Step 1 of my Top Secret New Teacher Handbook.  Hope it creates some shortcuts, a machete even, through the education jungle.

-Tweenteacher

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Post tags: achievement gap, blog, classroom library, classroom management, collaboration, common language, critical thinking, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, Ed Tech, education, ELA, employment, free, fundraising, internet literacy, jobs, k-12, k12, Language Arts, learning, life long learners, merit pay, metacognition, middle school, NCLB, new teachers, peer teaching, performance pay, professional development, technology, test prep, Think Aloud, Title I, TLN, top 10, tween, UCI, Writers Project

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Post tags: classroom library, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, k-12, k12, middle school, theme, TLN, Writers Project, writing

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I believe a classroom library is the heartbeat of a teacher’s environment.  It is the window into their own personality, and it reflects the importance of literacy in the classroom.  I believe every teacher, no matter the subject taught, should have one.

 Access to books should be thought about with the same differentiated approach as any other lesson, assessment, or activity.  It seems to me that there are four kinds of library-learners:

1. THE BRASH BIBLIOPHILE:  These are students who are well versed in the language of book choice and seek out what they want, avidly asking questions or using learned or inherent strategies to find the book that will make them sigh into their bed with a flashlight in hand.  They will find their way to their local bookstore by any means necessary, and look through the stacks until their parents pull them away.  

(...)
Read the rest of The Importance of The Classroom Library (923 words)

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Post tags: assessments, blog, book review, classroom library, classroom management, education, ELA, Golden Lines, How To, k-12, k12, Language Arts, learning, middle school, new teachers, school funding, teaching, textbooks, Title I, TLN, tween, UCI, Writers Project, writing

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Yes, it seems The Sandman himself has gone and won the Newbery Award.  So congrats from Tweenteacher!  For a complete list of winners, click here.

I’ve been following Gaiman on Twitter for a little while and it’s great to track when and how he was given the news.  It was a literary narrative onto itself.  

So congratulations to The Graveyard Book and to the best-looking, leather-jacket wearing Newbery winner ever!

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blog, classroom library, gaiman, newbery, Title I, TLN, UCI, Writers Project

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I just finished The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins . It took me awhile to get a hold of it because the minute I brought it into my classroom library, there was a line a bazillion students long ahead of me. I had to pull strings and use my clout as the teacher in order to bully my way to the front of the line.(...)
Read the rest of Book Review: The Hunger Games (576 words)

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Post tags: blog, book review, Character Education, classroom library, ELA, k-12, k12, middle school

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So I just finished reading Neal Shusterman’s The Schwa Was Here.  I know, I know.  For all you librarians out there, you’re probably saying: “What?  It took you THIS long to read it?  Jeesh, what kind of tweenteacher are you?”  Well, somehow I missed it when it first hit the scene.(...)
Read the rest of Book Review (sorta): Thoughts on Neal Shusterman’s The Schwa Was Here (480 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blog, book review, classroom library, Curriculum, Ed Tech, education, ELA, k-12, k12, Language Arts, writing

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You know when you enjoy a book so much you begin to slow down towards the end just to make the sweetness last?  Well, Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book is one of those.  NG writes with a rhythm in his words that seduces you.  Coupled with an amazingly simple and brilliant plot, his latest foray into young adult horror will leave you holding your breath through the entire story until that final page allows for your exhale.  (...)
Read the rest of Book Review: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (797 words)

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Post tags: book review, classroom library, Curriculum, education, ELA, gaiman, Golden Lines, hooks, k-12, k12, Language Arts, learning, life long learners, middle school, Title I, tween, voice, Writers Project

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THE EXCITEMENT GRAPH(...)
Read the rest of The Excitement Graph: Plot and Word Choice (443 words)

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© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, achievement gap, assessments, blog, book review, classroom library, critical thinking, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, description, differentiation, Ed Tech, education, ELA, essay, fundraising, integration, k-12, k12, Language Arts, middle school, new teachers, peer teaching, professional development, tween, Writers Project

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]]> http://tweenteacher.com/2008/10/02/the-excitement-graph-plot-and-word-choice/feed/ 3 http://tweenteacher.com/2008/09/28/whats-my-role-in-this-debate/ http://tweenteacher.com/2008/09/28/whats-my-role-in-this-debate/#comments Sun, 28 Sep 2008 20:57:28 +0000 heather http://tweenteacher.com/?p=144

Dear Fellow Edubloggers,

Many of you have been blogging far longer than I have.  I have many of you on my Google Reader and I admire your wit, your writing, and would now love your advice.

Last week, I posted a review of the Stephanie Meyer Twilight series.  If you’ve read the review, you’ll see I was (to say the least) not a fan.  The point of my post was to encourage parents and teachers to read what the kids are reading so that they can be a part of their dialogue.  And, while I clearly didn’t like the book, I really like talking to people about all the new tween and teen literature out there and their opinions of them.  (Hence, the crowds of kids in my room at lunch, each there to check out new books in my awesome classroom library, or just simply there to hang out and talk lit.) 

Anyway, my posted review clearly hit a cord.  Generally I try to respond to everyone who comments on my website (pretty easy when you could count your daily hits on one hand), but the response to this review has been a little intimidating and, frankly, freaky.  (...)
Read the rest of What’s my role in this debate? (268 words)

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Post tags: blog, book review, carnival of education, Character Education, classroom library, description, dialogue, Ed Tech, education policy, ELA, k-12, k12, life long learners, teaching, Title I

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]]> http://tweenteacher.com/2008/09/28/whats-my-role-in-this-debate/feed/ 7 http://tweenteacher.com/2008/09/26/book-review-breaking-dawn-cliff-notes-of-the-stephanie-meyers-series/ http://tweenteacher.com/2008/09/26/book-review-breaking-dawn-cliff-notes-of-the-stephanie-meyers-series/#comments Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:53:34 +0000 heather http://tweenteacher.com/?p=137

Look, I’m a big believer in reading what the kids are reading, so I picked up the first in this crapfest of a series.  I was a big Anne Rice fan during my middle school years, so clearly I’m not against trashy, vampire romances.  For some reason, vampires are sexy.  But Stephanie Meyer makes Anne Rice look like Shakespeare.   I committed to reading the series so that I could then intelligently discuss them with my students.

For one thing, the books are poorly written.  Where’s the craft?  For instance, I always give my students choice when looking for Golden Lines to mimic in order to learn grammar and sentence structure.  ”Go into your independent reading book and find an example of Adjectives-out-of-order or an Appositive or an Absolute.” They couldn’t find a thing.  I didn’t tell them this.  They told me.    

For another thing, the message of the books is icky.  Wake up teachers and parents, these characters and their unemotional, dysfunctional relationships have been adopted as role models for our tweens.  But don’t take the book out of their hands.  Read it yourself, be a part of the discussion, and cast yourself as a voice in their head when they are thinking about things in the quiet of their alone time. Discussion over Censorship.

It’s easy.  It’s plucky.  It’s sexy.  I get it.  But they require responsibility in their reading. 

So for those teachers or parents who want the Cliff Notes version of this series, here it is so you don’t have to go through the torture that I did.  Not important, you say?  Well this series, supported in large part by tween girls, has outsold J.K. Rowling’s little juggernaut, proving the age-old adage that vampires and virgins do sell after all.

Here goes:

Book one, Twilight: outsider girl falls in love with cold, unemotional, tortured, vegetarian vamp who won’t tell her the truth about anything, including his feelings towards her.  Think Ethan Hawke in Reality Bites but with a great car and without the tobacco problem. Girl decides that she’s plain and vamps are beautiful and she wants to be one.  Her father (with the depth of Homer Simpson), meanwhile, is totally unattached to reality, doesn’t notice there’s a vampire sleeping in her room each night.  She almost dies.(...)
Read the rest of Book Review: Breaking Dawn (Cliff Notes of the Stephanie Meyer’s series) (560 words)

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© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 208 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blog, book review, carnival of education, classroom library, ELA, k-12, k12, Language Arts, middle school, tween

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]]> http://tweenteacher.com/2008/09/26/book-review-breaking-dawn-cliff-notes-of-the-stephanie-meyers-series/feed/ 208 http://tweenteacher.com/2008/07/02/the-carnival-178-is-in-town/ http://tweenteacher.com/2008/07/02/the-carnival-178-is-in-town/#comments Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:49:35 +0000 heather http://tweenteacher.com/?p=102 An (aspiring) Educator is hosting this week’s Carnival of Education #178.  I’ve tweaked my How to Take Control of Your Teaching list and although it’s still in an evolving state, you can read it here.  Enjoy the Carnival and the post.

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Post tags: 2008, achievement gap, assessments, blog, book review, btsa, budget, Careers, carnival of education, character, Character Education, classroom library, collaboration, computers, concrete, contract, CORE, credential, critical thinking, CUE, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, Ed Tech, education policy, ELA, electives, essay, essay starters, jobs, k-12, k12, Language Arts, life long learners, merit pay, metacognition, middle school, NCLB, new teachers, online, peer teaching, performance pay, PI, podcasting, powerpoint, professional development, Proficiency, school accountability, school funding, speeches, standardized testing, technology, tenure, Title I, TLN, top 10, union, voice, websites, Writers Project, writing

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]]> http://tweenteacher.com/2008/07/02/the-carnival-178-is-in-town/feed/ 0 http://tweenteacher.com/2008/07/01/book-review-the-looking-glass-wars/ http://tweenteacher.com/2008/07/01/book-review-the-looking-glass-wars/#comments Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:12:36 +0000 heather http://tweenteacher.com/?p=92 I went into Frank Beddor’s The Looking Glass Wars with some trepidation.  I’ve never been one for the Alice in Wonderland universe.  I find playing cards quite personality-less and grinning cats are somewhat less than charming.  But it’s more then that.  Even as a child, I could not enjoy books with children in peril, no adult protection, and lost in realms where there were no rules outlining how they could survive themselves. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is another book that freaked me out.  When I initially read Holes, that too was lost on me (I’ve since come around to the glory of that one, however).(...)
Read the rest of Book Review: The Looking Glass Wars (335 words)

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Post tags: book review, classroom library, education, ELA, k-12, k12, teaching

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