I don't mean to steal thunder from Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey, so I won't. You'll get the big scoop on graphic novels in the class from them in an up-coming IRA member's only article. Keep your eyes out for it--it's a good one!
Their article got me thinking. First about how my love of comic books persisted throughout my youth. I still read graphic novels, though I indulge less in the monthly superhero stories and go for a big stories, the more complex tales geared to more mature readers. Watchman is an amazing comic for that. As is The Sandman. Neil Gaimen is one of my all time favorite authors; whether it be his novels or his graphic novels, the stories he weaves inspire and amaze me.
I am an avid reader and still an avid reader of graphic novels.
But that isn't what the article really got me thinking about. It took me back much farther than that.
When I was young lad back in first and second grade (and a big apology to all my grade school teachers--I must have been a terror in class back then, but please realize all your efforts paid off!), I had trouble reading. In fact, I had to get tutored a couple times a week to catch me back up to grade level in between second and third grade (and a big thank you to my tutor, and especially to my parents who took the time make sure I caught up).
It's hard to think of myself that way now, someone who didn't read much. I don't recall not enjoying reading, but then I don't recall much from back then.
Anyway, what this article reminded me of was me sitting in my local library (which was a tiny thing, but Mom took my brother and I there often), sitting on the floor next to a spinning rack of soft-covered books. Comic books. Mainly Peanuts--I would sit there and read one cover to cover and then go for the next one. Over and over. Probably read the entire collection a few times a month.
Mom mentioned recently how, at the time, she thought I was just looking at the pictures. She was surprised when I would start describing what was happening with Snoopy and poor ol' Charlie Brown. She said something about how at the time some of my teachers said they weren't level-appropriate, but Mom figured if they kept me reading it was worth it. And they did. And it was.
Yeah, I did need to get tutored to catch me up, but I got hooked on reading before then, and I think already having that foundation of enjoyment in reading helped. It kept me going. It gave me a reason to want to read better because I already knew reading could be fun. I just had a hard time doing it.
After the tutoring, I got into the Three Investigators series and my love of reading really took off from there, but that's a story for another time.
That was my little trip down memory lane, remembering how that rack of Peanuts comic books start me on the path to being a life-long reader--and an editor at the International Reading Association and ReadWriteThink.org. They were my gateway books into the literary world. I hope all young readers out there find that gateway into the world of reading.
Let me end with a huge thank you to Charles M. Schulz, creator of the Peanuts, as well as everyone else out there who managed to get kids reading--authors, illustrators, teachers, and tutors. You're doing the world a huge favor, and your efforts are worthy of praise. Thank you.
Do you remember your gateway book? Perhaps that one series when you were young that grabbed and hooked you as a reader?
Wes
This blog is written and maintained by the editors of ReadWriteThink.org. It is a way for us to interact with our users and share our up-coming plans and events with you. We plan on keeping this light and friendly, not just business-like reporting, but engaging and (I hope) amusing discussions.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Character Trading Cards on the redesign block
I was sure I had posted a blog entry at the end of Jan. Like REALLY sure. And yet I don't see it. So I can only assume I didn't...or the Internet ate it.
I'm pretty sure the Internet gets hungry from time to time. Usually it snacks on emails, I think, but sometimes it gets blog posts, too.
And when it is really hungry, whole webpages.
Anyway, I'm posting now, and I'm going to just run with what I had planned rather than worry about what I previously said.
I'm working on the redesign for Character Trading Cards. This one gets a lot of usage, and we really want kids to be able to save their work and keep their cards. Of course, once we start brainstorming, we don't stop with just the save functionality. The project has bloomed!
First, we wanted different graphic options. The current design is really neat and looks great if you print it in color...and only sort of cool if you print in black and white. And of course both methods use a ton of ink! So we wanted a colored design, a black and white design, and a minimalist/economy design. I'd love to have even more options, but there are timeline and budget considerations.
We want to make a Create-Your-Own Card option for teachers to design cards with their own questions, similar to the new Create-Your-Own Cube.
But wait! There's more!
We thought about these cards, and there are a lot more options out there than just characters. The questions are geared towards fictitious characters from stories...but what if I wanted to make a Mom card? Or a Dad card? Or a card for my teacher? (Cause if there is anyone who should be featured on these cards like a hero, it is parents and teachers!) So let's see if we can make a card for Fictional and Real people!
But then it hit me. My 7th and 8th grade English came back in a rush of spectacular knowledge--and for those who know Mrs. Gibbons (Corpus Christi school, Elsmere, DE), you know what that means.
You see, many kids were taught that a noun is a person, place, or thing. I was told that freshman year of high school, and my friend Dave and I looked at each other, laughed, and said "No. A noun is an essential part of speech whose function it is to state person, place, thing, idea, event, or emotion" (I think it was emotion...that last one always got me in English class.)
And verbs aren't action words. "Verbs are essential parts of speech whose function it is to state action, being, or state of being in reference to it's subject. There are three kinds: transitive, intransitive complete, and intransitive link." We would then have to go on to define three, give a sample sentence of each, and diagram the sentence. And that was 1 question on a test, worth 10 points, and woe be you should you miss something in the definition.
Why, yes, I do believe Mrs. Gibbons is part of the reason I became an editor. Why do you ask?
Anyway, back to trading cards. Why limit the cards to people? Why simply have a Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley card when you can also make a Hogwarts card (place), a Quidditch card (event), a Wand card (thing), a Friendship card (idea), and a Love cad (emotion)? Wouldn't that be awesome? To have students make a collection of cards from a single book about setting and plot and themes rather than just characters?
We're working on ways to allow students to save these cards as collections, too, rather just individually, so that students could make a Harry Potter collection with all of their Harry Potter cards. Or maybe a collection for every book, which would show how the characters changed through the series.
Or to give it a real-world bend, students taking a field trip to Washington, D.C. can make cards about some of the monuments they see as well as cards about the historical figures and events those monuments honor.
So that is my current project. Beefing up the old Character Trading Cards interactive and making it simply a Trading Card interactive.
The change in direction on the questions has been the major hold-up. I have design ideas in mind for the new interface, but I need to rewrite all the questions on the card...and that is going to take some time and pondering.
Though I hope when I write my next blog (in two weeks at most!) I will be reporting to you that I have already done it.
Drat! I spent all my time talking about trading cards and didn't mention my other news.
Ah well. I'll just leave this here, and talk about it next time (hopefully next week).
Wes
I'm pretty sure the Internet gets hungry from time to time. Usually it snacks on emails, I think, but sometimes it gets blog posts, too.
And when it is really hungry, whole webpages.
Anyway, I'm posting now, and I'm going to just run with what I had planned rather than worry about what I previously said.
I'm working on the redesign for Character Trading Cards. This one gets a lot of usage, and we really want kids to be able to save their work and keep their cards. Of course, once we start brainstorming, we don't stop with just the save functionality. The project has bloomed!
First, we wanted different graphic options. The current design is really neat and looks great if you print it in color...and only sort of cool if you print in black and white. And of course both methods use a ton of ink! So we wanted a colored design, a black and white design, and a minimalist/economy design. I'd love to have even more options, but there are timeline and budget considerations.
We want to make a Create-Your-Own Card option for teachers to design cards with their own questions, similar to the new Create-Your-Own Cube.
But wait! There's more!
We thought about these cards, and there are a lot more options out there than just characters. The questions are geared towards fictitious characters from stories...but what if I wanted to make a Mom card? Or a Dad card? Or a card for my teacher? (Cause if there is anyone who should be featured on these cards like a hero, it is parents and teachers!) So let's see if we can make a card for Fictional and Real people!
But then it hit me. My 7th and 8th grade English came back in a rush of spectacular knowledge--and for those who know Mrs. Gibbons (Corpus Christi school, Elsmere, DE), you know what that means.
You see, many kids were taught that a noun is a person, place, or thing. I was told that freshman year of high school, and my friend Dave and I looked at each other, laughed, and said "No. A noun is an essential part of speech whose function it is to state person, place, thing, idea, event, or emotion" (I think it was emotion...that last one always got me in English class.)
And verbs aren't action words. "Verbs are essential parts of speech whose function it is to state action, being, or state of being in reference to it's subject. There are three kinds: transitive, intransitive complete, and intransitive link." We would then have to go on to define three, give a sample sentence of each, and diagram the sentence. And that was 1 question on a test, worth 10 points, and woe be you should you miss something in the definition.
Why, yes, I do believe Mrs. Gibbons is part of the reason I became an editor. Why do you ask?
Anyway, back to trading cards. Why limit the cards to people? Why simply have a Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley card when you can also make a Hogwarts card (place), a Quidditch card (event), a Wand card (thing), a Friendship card (idea), and a Love cad (emotion)? Wouldn't that be awesome? To have students make a collection of cards from a single book about setting and plot and themes rather than just characters?
We're working on ways to allow students to save these cards as collections, too, rather just individually, so that students could make a Harry Potter collection with all of their Harry Potter cards. Or maybe a collection for every book, which would show how the characters changed through the series.
Or to give it a real-world bend, students taking a field trip to Washington, D.C. can make cards about some of the monuments they see as well as cards about the historical figures and events those monuments honor.
So that is my current project. Beefing up the old Character Trading Cards interactive and making it simply a Trading Card interactive.
The change in direction on the questions has been the major hold-up. I have design ideas in mind for the new interface, but I need to rewrite all the questions on the card...and that is going to take some time and pondering.
Though I hope when I write my next blog (in two weeks at most!) I will be reporting to you that I have already done it.
Drat! I spent all my time talking about trading cards and didn't mention my other news.
Ah well. I'll just leave this here, and talk about it next time (hopefully next week).
Wes
Friday, January 13, 2012
First one of the New Year
Hey! Keeping to the one post every two weeks!
OK, I am going to start off with throwing out a link to the new Cube Creator. This is the landing page to the new Cube Creator. I'll be working next week to be redirecting old links to this new interactive. I hope this doesn't mess with any current teachers/classes working with the Bio or Mystery Cubes. Shouldn't since the new Cube Creator does everything the one olds did...and is just flat out better I think. Let me know if you disagree and why. We're really excited about this one, and I hope our users like it.
Now I'm going to give you a little hint at what RWT is planning this year. We have some interactives on the list to get redesigned and have the new Work Saver added. Oh, and we made a search filter for Saveable Interactives so I don't need to list them anymore. Shape Poems and Story Map are next on the list. I'm pushing for Trader Character Cards.
Something Becky and I are working on is a scavenger hunt for the IRA Convention. I'll reveal more as we plan the idea out--we need to get the plan rolling in the next few weeks so that we have time to do it. Right now, it looks like there will be a couple spots you need to hit to pick up the clues, and the clues will give you sentence which you then send to us. And we'll have a prize of something. It will be fun!
We are working on plans for a summer campaign, suggested activities that teachers can give to parents for their kids to do over summer. There will be a few different strands to pick from, like writing strand, which will have tips and recommendations for parents, and these strands will be linked to a couple of our interactives so that kids can have some fun while keeping up with their learning over summer. We're really excited about having a summer initiative. Becky's heading this project--she's looking forward to creating something she can use with her own kids at home, like the Alphabet Book.
Last plug for this blog: Doug Fisher is out featured interview for this month on the Convention Insider. I've had the pleasure of working with Doug on a book he published a couple years back with Nancy Frey and Diane Lapp, In a Reading State of Mind. I also work with Nancy and Doug on their monthly members-only article Engaging the Adolescent Learner.
We have a lot more planned for the year--it is going to be a crazy-busy, but very exciting year for us, and I hope for you, too.
Alright, I'm at the office far too late on a Friday (I had all the lights turned out on me!). I'm out!
Have a great weekend!
Wes
OK, I am going to start off with throwing out a link to the new Cube Creator. This is the landing page to the new Cube Creator. I'll be working next week to be redirecting old links to this new interactive. I hope this doesn't mess with any current teachers/classes working with the Bio or Mystery Cubes. Shouldn't since the new Cube Creator does everything the one olds did...and is just flat out better I think. Let me know if you disagree and why. We're really excited about this one, and I hope our users like it.
Now I'm going to give you a little hint at what RWT is planning this year. We have some interactives on the list to get redesigned and have the new Work Saver added. Oh, and we made a search filter for Saveable Interactives so I don't need to list them anymore. Shape Poems and Story Map are next on the list. I'm pushing for Trader Character Cards.
Something Becky and I are working on is a scavenger hunt for the IRA Convention. I'll reveal more as we plan the idea out--we need to get the plan rolling in the next few weeks so that we have time to do it. Right now, it looks like there will be a couple spots you need to hit to pick up the clues, and the clues will give you sentence which you then send to us. And we'll have a prize of something. It will be fun!
We are working on plans for a summer campaign, suggested activities that teachers can give to parents for their kids to do over summer. There will be a few different strands to pick from, like writing strand, which will have tips and recommendations for parents, and these strands will be linked to a couple of our interactives so that kids can have some fun while keeping up with their learning over summer. We're really excited about having a summer initiative. Becky's heading this project--she's looking forward to creating something she can use with her own kids at home, like the Alphabet Book.
Last plug for this blog: Doug Fisher is out featured interview for this month on the Convention Insider. I've had the pleasure of working with Doug on a book he published a couple years back with Nancy Frey and Diane Lapp, In a Reading State of Mind. I also work with Nancy and Doug on their monthly members-only article Engaging the Adolescent Learner.
We have a lot more planned for the year--it is going to be a crazy-busy, but very exciting year for us, and I hope for you, too.
Alright, I'm at the office far too late on a Friday (I had all the lights turned out on me!). I'm out!
Have a great weekend!
Wes
Thursday, December 22, 2011
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
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
Thursday, November 17, 2011
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
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
Friday, October 21, 2011
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
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
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
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?
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
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
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