Take the MARVEL Challenge.
Showing posts with label MARVEL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MARVEL. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
MARVEL! Maine's Virtual Library
It is time to re-investigate the incredible resource Mainers have in MARVEL!What would be the best way to promote it, encouraging our citizens to discover the wealth of authoritative resources that is at our fingertips?
Questions: Have the local TV stations done any features on it? Has it been promoted in Maine's newspapers? Do schools have it listed on their websites?
Any other suggestions?
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Caravan
cara·van· (kar′ə van′) (noun) 1.a company of travelers, esp. of merchants or pilgrims traveling together for safety, as through a desert. 2. a number of vehicles traveling together. 3. a large covered vehicle for passengers, circus animals, gypsies, etc.; van. 4. Brit. a mobile home or trailer
The first thing that comes to mind when I hear the word caravan, other than the Dodge Caravan, is the vision of the travelers on the silk road with perhaps a few camels thrown in for good measure. Dangers lurk everywhere.
But at Oxford Hills Middle School, a team of teachers has a tradition of using the caravan theme as a way of exploring countries around the world. Yesterday and today I have been presenting new tools that help to empower students and teachers in their explorations. This includes tools that help to find, evaluate, organize, process and present information.
It works like this: I spend a couple days in the classroom of one of the teachers on the team. As the kids cycle through his classroom from other classes on the team, I get the opportunity to not only show them some of these powerful tools, but the teacher gets to see the presentation 5 times. I'll also attend a planning period with all teachers on the team to repeat the work one more time. Doing this repeatedly creates a critical mass of people on the team who are fluent in the tools and thus greatly improves the chances of it being seriously used for curriculum projects. A simple model for encouraging integration.
The agenda for sessions included:
1. How to make a PDF and attach it to an email.
2. The wonders of MARVEL - making use of it for the Caravan Project
3. The Powers of Noteshare - how to use it for the Caravan Project
4. Setting up back-up server access for students.
Great fun! The kids are so quick to pick it up . . . and are enthusiastic to start making use of it in their projects.
Making a PDF on a Mac
MARVEL - Maine's Virtual Library
Noteshare Resources
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Pigs at Fryeburg Fair
"Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives, but on balance life is suffering, and only the very young or the very foolish imagine otherwise." ~ George Orwell
What a beautiful day! My brother, Mike, and my sister, Susan, visiting from Bellingham, Washington, spent some time with me enjoying the Fryeburg Fair today. We casually toured the buildings and events. We did the the classic hot sausage and onion sandwich and washed it down with fresh lemonade.
But it was the pigs that caught my attention. It occurred to me that seeing pigs almost always connects me with two of my favorite books: Charlotte's Web by E.B. White and Animal Farm by George Orwell. Both stories have pigs as main characters, and both offer a great deal of wisdom on the human condition.
I highly recommend them for read-alouds. Good for just about any age, in my humble opinion.
Other than the many variations of the Three Pigs, anyone know of any other good pig books?
Charlotte's Web Resources
Animal Farm Resources
Don't forget MARVEL! Maine's Virtual Library. Check out NoveList and NoveList K-8 for information on Charlotte's Web and Animal Farm.
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