I'm out for the year

Last blog of the year. Whew--new year resolution: be better at blogging. I'll seriously try for once a week and really hope for once every other week!

December is a crazy time for us in RWT because we have year-end goals and stats we need to meet., and somehow we are always well above our goals until about Oct, and suddenly we have a lot of catching up and finishing up to do through Nov. I think we fall behind during that time because we start envisioning our work plan for next year and get a little wrapped too up in new projects.

What falls behind, you ask? Well, Lesson Plans for one. We added a load in the first few quarters, but new ones trickled down in Q3, so we had to rush to get the latest ones up in December. We have some going live tonight.

Our latest interactive, too. I had hoped to have K-W-L Creator up and out in Nov at the latest, but alas, it went live just this week! This one was my interactive, design through to posting, so I hope you like it and enjoy it and find it useful. Interesting learning process, and I look forward to putting what I learned to good use next year as we look for new interactives and--dare I say it?--mobile apps!

And some projects, well, we just don't get them out in time! We are so very close to have the new Cube Collection read to post, but we had a few hiccups and glitches and design slow-downs, and we won't make it. Though I am confident enough that I will share it with you, and if you want to take it for a test drive, feel free! And give us some feedback.

So here it is Cube Collection Beta!

As you can see, it is an update on our old Bio-Cube and Mystery Cube with the addition of the Story Cube and the Create-Your-Own Cube, a much-asked-for upgrade now made possible with the Work Saver. This was a fun revision to work on, and I'm excited to see it go live and be used. I think teachers and students are going to love it, and that is the most important part.

So that is a little look at some of the projects I did this year. I would be remiss if I didn't highlight the interactive efforts of my team members: Becky got the stellar Resume Generator out a few months ago, and soon after that, Bridget's Puzzle Me Words game got released.

As a whole, I don't even know how many lessons, strategy guides, printouts, and videos were added--a lot, I know that much!

What's coming for next year? All kinds of fun stuff. We're gearing up for IRA Convention in April/May...but I won't tell you what we have in store yet. Two sessions, I'll tell you that. RWT is sponsoring two sessions and the convention, but we have a plan for something even more fun. But I'll hold off on spilling the beans.

Yeah, I think I'll wait for January to fill you in on what RWT is looking to do in 2012. But needless to say, it's going to be awesome!

Have a Merry Chirstmas, a Happy Holiday, and a Great Winter Break, and I'll be back and blogging (I hope with more regularity!) in 2012.

Wes

Headed out to the NCTE convention!

The ReadWriteThink team is meeting up in Chicago this weekend for one of our few-times-a-year face-to-face meetings. We meet up at the NCTE convention and the IRA convention. Always fun, and it's great to interact with team members in person from time to time. We'll be fleshing out next year's work plan, so I hope to come back with some juicer tid-bits about what we will be up to.

It's been a crazy-busy time here as we try to wrap up this year's objectives. A lot of my time has been spent on the K-W-L Chart Creator, which I have spent a lot of time talking about here. It's not final yet, but it is coming soon, and I'm going to share the beta with you. If you have any feedback on it, feel free to drop them into the blog comments!

I've heard tell of a sweet little deal going on at IRA right now, a Recruit-A-Member program. You invite your coworkers to become a member, and--if they accept--they get a free trial online membership...and can win some cool prizes, starting at a discount on your own membership renewal. The more people you recruit, the better the prizes.

Check it out! Seems like a great way to share IRA resources with colleagues and win a little something for yourself!

I feel like there is a bunch more stuff going on at IRA now--I definitely have more I could fill in here, but I'm a little swamped for time. My flight leaves in 2.5 hours, and I need to be heading out to make sure I make my flight.

Hopefully I'll have a little bit of time for a couple new updates next week before the holidays, but I'm only in Wednesday, and likely a lot of that is going to be spent following up on emails and voice mails.

In case I don't get back to this before Thanksgiving, have a great holiday!

Wes

And We're Back!

Minor computer issues have prevented me from updating this before now.

Last time, I think I mentioned my up-coming 5K run. It went well--better than expected even--and I have since done a second 5K which went even better. I'm thinking there might be a third in my future, some time in November perhaps.

What's going on in the IRA offices?

This week, we did a shoot for the next Convention Insider, due out in November. I dropped in on another coworker to ask who she wanted to celebrate as a educator during IRA's Celebrating Teaching initiative for the 2012 convention.

I was also at the Diamond State Reading Associating (DSRA) conference a few weeks back to promote IRA, ReadWriteThink.org, and Thinkfinity (who sponsors ReadWriteThink through grants). I find it fun to get out to the smaller, local conferences and meet with teachers, our users, to see what they like about the site and what theyw ould like to see.

I was surprised by the number of teachers who said they loved and used ReadWriteThink but that they didn't know some of our interactives had a save capability. Why, yes! Yes, they do!

Acrostic Poems
Letter Generator
Essay Map
Persuasion Map
Compare and Contrast Map
Diamante Poem
Resume Generator
Puzzle Me Words

We're still rolling it out on other interactives as the time goes on.

We are also working on what  we want to be working on next year. (Follow that?) So if you have any suggestions for us, let me know!

That's it for now. I'll try to find out something really interesting for new week!

Wes

5Ks, Conventions, Resumes, and Small-Group Reading Instruction

So my last post was a "September is right around the corner" post. Jeez, was that really 4 weeks ago? Feels like less, and I didn't even have vacation in there!

OK, so now October is right around the corner. Teachers and students are kind of in their groove. The first issues of The Reading Teacher and JAAL are out. The first Reading Today was sent (and it does look good!). The IRA Convention webpage is up and running. Did you check out the Convention Insider? You should. <wink, wink>

So what's up around IRA for next month?

Well, first off, I'm going to tell you about what I'm up to. Oct 1 I'm running a 5K. It's not my first 5K, but it's over a really large bridge, so likely it will be my hardest 5K.

See the big bridge? Over that!

What does that have to do with IRA? Well, nothing, but it is my blog, so I thought I would mention it,

In other news, I will be at the Diamond State Reading Association conference in Dover, DE, on Oct 7th. I'll be there to talk about ReadWriteThink.org and IRA. I enjoy it because it gives me a chance to interact with local teachers on an one-to-one basis, and I like supporting the state affiliates. I'd love to go to more! (I'm sure I can be booked for state affiliate conferences in some way or another, if you really want me there.)

What else have we got coming in October? Our Resume Generator will be live by then. The second new interactive, Puzzle Me Words, will be live, we think. I suppose I could link to the current, beta-version here in the this blog. Sure, why not? I doubt my boss will read this. Here is the link to the beta-version of Puzzle Me Words, a word-sound game for very young students.

It's not finished yet; we still have some bugs we are working on and some improvements, but if you want to play around with it and let us know what you think, enjoy!

The Interactive K-W-L Chart Creator is in early testing, but it looks good so far. I'll share a link to that when it's a bit further along.

As for IRA, we have a new book publishing in October: Small-Group Reading Instruction by Beverly B. Tyner and Sharon E. Green. Beverly I've had the pleasure of meeting on a few occasions--she's talked a few times at the IRA Marketplace at convensions. I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting Sharon.

And that is pretty much that for now! I'll see about scoping some new info out in Oct for you for my next update...and I won't be delayed a whole month to get the info to you!

Wes

My Brain Hurts

"What brain?"

Hahahaha--whatever.

No, seriously, it's been a busy week and while my brain doesn't hurt, I am ready for the week to be over. It wasn't bad busy or anything, don't get me wrong, just lots of stuff piling up.

"Like what?" you asked?

I'll tell you.

I've been helping Becky with the testing of the Resume Generator, but that's just the start. I had a great idea for redesigning a couple ReadWriteThink pages, so I worked up some mock-up examples for discussion...and then got feedback on them, and needed to do some more work.

I also got asked to fill in for a some voice work for the Engage / Teacher to Teacher blog Listen Up! podcast (yup, that's me in the intro!).

There's a bit of work I'm doing for IRA's Annual Convention -- which will be in Chicago April 29 - May 2, 2012. More on that coming in the following months (shhhh! It's a secret!). Fun stuff--good for a laugh, I hope, and informative.

And I'm pulling all kinds of statistics and traffic numbers for ReadWriteThink so that we can analyze usage and make some changes/improvements. So I get to look at charts and graphs and columns of numbers in order to make charts and graphs and columns of numbers that make more sense and show the information we really need.

This is why my brain hurts. But at least my charts are pretty.

I know, not the most interesting blog post, but busy doesn't always equal fun/entertaining.

I hope to have a more interesting blog next week. If not from work stuff, then just something I make up and talk about anyway.

Wes

Upcoming RWT Goodness: Resume Generator

I meant to post this on Thursday, but I was too busy working on the Resume Generator interactive to actually post about it. And by working on it, I mean testing it. I mentioned a few weeks ago about how I was the lead designer on the K-W-L Chart Creator interactive. Becky is lead designer on the Resume Generator, and she did an excellent job researching current resume practices, finding templates, and creating the tips.

It looks AWESOME!




Of course, looks aren't everything. It also functions extremely well. It's not only intuitive, but it has audio tips throughout to help guide users in creating a stronger resume.



And it does result in a pretty swanky-looking resume when you are all done:






Testing that was my Thursday. As always, there were minor changes that need to be made, some small things we wanted to see a little different, but all-in-all, our programs did an excellent job--which was no surprise. Those guys are great to work with.

We are hoping to have it ready for release in August. We still need to get some more testing done--by you! That's right, we want to have a sort of open beta test for this interactive. If you are interested in trying it out, send me an email or drop a comment on this blog, and I will hook you up with a link to Resume Generator so you can give it a whirl.

More cool stuff still to come from ReadWriteThink. I scooped the K-W-L Chart Creator, and just introduced the Resume Generator, but we've still got a third new interactive rolling out this year--but I'll keep that one under wraps until we get a little closer to finished.

It's pretty exciting, though!

Wes

RWT secrets revealed: K-W-L chart creator!

It's been a month--a month!--since my last blog. That just won't do!  Though I have a good excuse and a couple doctor notes.

What to talk about now that it is July?

Hmmm.

Maybe I should unveil my big ReadWriteThink project of the year....

Sure, let's go with that.

I mentioned in a previous post that I have been working on redesigns of RWT interactives: giving them a new luck, adding new features, and updating them with the Work Saver functionality. What I did not mention is that we are also working on three new interactives for the site. We hope to have them up for the new school year, but we don't have a set-in-stone timeline yet.

I won't reveal them all (yet) but I will talk about the one that I spearheaded, the interactive K-W-L chart creator.

I assume you know what a K-W-L chart is, but in case you don't, here is the gist. The name stands for what I Know, what I Want to know, and what I Learned. It begins as a pre-reading exercise in which students list what they know about a topic and what they want to learn about the topic before reading about the topic, filling in the K column and W column respectively. After the reading is finished, the students then list what they learned in the L column.

If it is just a chart that students fill in, then why make it an interactive? After all, RWT already has a printout.

This is where the Work Saver feature comes in handy--it allows us to think about interactives as something teachers and students can go back to rather than just use once and immediately print out a final result. It gives us the ability to consider whole-classroom uses.

The idea with the K-W-L chart creator is that a teacher could start a whole-class discussion about the topic the students are going to read--ideal if the classroom is fortunate to have an interactive whiteboard, but that's not necessary. The class collectively discusses what everyone knows about the topic, and the teacher fills out one K column for the class, maybe the W column as well. The teacher can then save the file and send it to all the students so they can fill in the L column as an individual assignment.

So there is a sneak peek of what we have in the works for this year. And there are two other new inteactives coming. I'll reveal those in the upcoming months, along with screenshots when I can manage.

And that does it for this week. See you back here later for more behind the scenes at IRA! Maybe I'll sneak into some meetings and see what other people are working on in the building.

Wes

Vacation Right Around Corner

I am going on vacation tomorrow--flying out to CA for a friend's wedding in Yosemite Park!

It's a pretty busy day today, wrapping things up before I'm gone.

One of the things I am wrapping up is the new Community Stories page the the ReadWriteThink.org site. What's new about it? We changed the layout, made it a little more friendly and story-writer focused, and we added the Story Highlights, which displays pictures and videos from the classroom.

This new layout was a pretty big project. It started during a group meeting we had last summer, when our NCTE team members came out to IRA headquarters. The concept discussion started then. We planned the layout in the following months. Then we got the designers involved. Then there was the testing.

Big project, and it is coming to a close. The page is up and working, and we received some great stories with excellent highlights showing teachers using ReadWriteThing with students in their classroom. The new stories have been a good way to continue the testing of the process--still ironing out some kinks, which is what I was working on today.

Another little wrap-up for the week was finalizing the most recent Chatting About Books monthly podcast. My involvement is minimal, but it is usually the last step--adding the book cover images. I finished that up this morning, and the new podcast should be live tomorrow.

That is a little glimpse into what this editor has been up to today, besides e-mails and meetings and debates about proper grammar. Yes, that last one is true; some of the other editors and I had a very lovely discussion about grammar rules today--we were all in agreement over what was correct; however,  none of us could give the rule as to why it was correct.

I'll leave you with the same question, then, and see if I get any responses in the comments.

Which sentence is correct and why? What is the rule?

"I am suppose to go to the store."

"I am supposed to go to the store."

And I shall be back the week after next, when I return from California.

Wes

Returning From Holidays

Returning from a holiday weekend can be a bit of a--hmmm, what is the word?--chore. Takes a little extra effort to get out of bed. After the over-eating of a gluttonous weekend (I rarely have any other kind), the hunger builds a little bit more during the day then usual.

I end up stalking the halls and corridors looking for snack food.

Alas, there was none to be found yesterday! Probably for the best.

The other problem is all the catching up to do on work. Meetings and emails and looking over the to-do list from last week for any stragglers.

The second day back from a holiday is a little more productive.

So what am I working on today?

Specs for the updated Bio-Cube interactive on ReadWriteThink. We've been updating several interactives, giving them a new look, making some user-requested changes, and adding the new work-saver functionality.

So far, we have updated these interactives:

1. Acrostic Poems
2. Letter Generator
3. Compare & Contrast Map
4. Diamante Poems
5. Essay Map
6. Persuasion Map

If you look at the preview images, you might notice a couple things. First and most important is the little Save and Open tabs on the top right side of the interactive--that is the really cool save function.

Second, if you check through a few of them, you will also see that I like steak, that I also enjoy salads, and that I've read The Hunger Games (and in case you were wondering, I really enjoyed the book).

But back to the Bio-Cube. We will be updating the look to match our current design theme. We'll be adding the work saver. We'll be altering a couple of the questions on the cube.

One of the most requested features is for teachers to ask their own questions on the Bio-Cube. We plan on adding that functionality. Teachers can fill in the questions, use the work saver to save the cube, and then distribute to their classes for the students to fill in.

Now I just need to figure out how to implement all of that.

So let me toss a question or two to you, the readers. Have you every used an interactive from ReadWriteThink with your class? If so, which one(s)? Which would you like to see the work saver added to next, or do you have any other suggestions for improvements? Drop a comment on the blog or email me.

OK, so that's the scoop from inside IRA!

Time to get on those specs.

Wes

Sound check. Sound check. Is this thing on?

Hello!

You probably don't know me. Yet. But since you are here, let's change that.

My name is Wes Ford, and I'm an editor at the International Reading Association (IRA). More specifically, I'm the Associate Editor for ReadWriteThing.org, a joint venture by IRA and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) funded by a grant from Verizon Thinkfinity.

Before working with the ReadWriteThink team, I was a production editor at IRA working on books and journals. If you had articles published in The Reading Teachers, The Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, or Reading Research Quarterly between 2006 and 2010, I might have worked on it.  Of course, I was probably in contact with you during the process, so you might recognize the name.

I also worked on a number of books in some capacity, usually proof reading or copy editing. I'm not going to list them all out.

I've done work for IRA on other projects, some in an editor function, others not so much. I've worked at the IRA Marketplace/Bookstore for a few of the conventions (Toronto, Atlanta, Minneapolis, and Chicago). If you were ever at the Marketplace, we might have met!

This year in Orlando, I had some different responsibilities. There were a bunch of ReadWriteThink meetings to attend, and we hosted a couple of sessions at the convention. I also had the privileged of video recording some behind the scenes footage as well as some interviews with IRA staff and attendees.

Not sure when that footage will become available, but I'll let you know.

So what's the point of all this? The introduction? The blog?

Just a bit of fun. A way of introducing the staff of IRA to the membership. A little bit of an outlet from the main office. Even a way to contact one of the IRA editors.

The hope is give an insider perspective. Give some details on what goes on at IRA, who we are, and what we do.

Maybe we have met, you and I, via emails about manuscripts or perhaps at one of the IRA conventions. And that's awesome if we did! I hope it happens again.

But for everyone else, all those other members who have never met anyone from IRA, well, now you have.

Hi! I'm Wes, and I'm an editor at IRA.

It's a pleasure to meet you.

I hope to talk to you again real soon.


Wes