A class hub can make all the difference for digital writing and learning! 
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By: Kathleen Neagle Sokolowski,
on 11/30/2016
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: blogging, authors, organization, professional development, communication, writing workshop, parent involvement, preparing students for the 21st century, apps, digital writing, kidblog, #cyberPD, Cathy Mere, Flipping writing, Add a tag
By: Kathleen Neagle Sokolowski,
on 10/23/2016
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: awards, blogging, conferences, conventions, punctuation, writing workshop, engagement, Kylene Beers, adolescent literacy, Lester L. Laminack, digital writing, content-area writing, argument writing, Add a tag
By: Dana Murphy,
on 10/20/2016
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: technology, writer's notebook, digital writing, Add a tag
By: Kathleen Neagle Sokolowski,
on 6/13/2016
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: blogging, celebration, writing workshop, engagement, authentic assessment, apps, choice, Weebly, digital writing, kidblog, Green Screen, Padlet, SeeSaw, GAFE, Add a tag
By: Tara Smith,
on 10/12/2015
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: assessment, digital writing, Add a tag
By: Kathleen Neagle Sokolowski,
on 8/24/2015
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: memories, brainstorming, sharing, writing workshop, back to school, NWP, heart maps, digital writing, Thinglink, writing territory maps, Add a tag
By: Mary Lee,
on 6/16/2015
Blog: A Year of Reading (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Graphic Novels, comics, Writing Workshop, digital writing, Add a tag
or a moment in their lives
or something completely random that shows they were playing with the tools and wound up making something that made some kind of sense!
Every year, I have students who read graphic novels and want to make their own in writing workshop. I've never had success supporting these students because of the limitations of students to draw their own stories, the limitations of the digital tools I had tried in the past, and the lack of an accessible mentor text for beginning graphic novelists.
I think this coming year might be the year of the student-created graphic novel. Instead of renewing the three subscriptions to magazines no students in my classroom have read for the past two years, I am going to pay for a subscription to Bitstrips (digital tool -- √).
And I'm going to share this book (mentor text -- √) with my writers as a graphic novel/comic strip mentor text:
By: Stacey Shubitz,
on 1/14/2015
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: picture book, technology, mentor texts, digital writing, Add a tag
By: Elizabeth Moore (@BethMooreTCRWP),
on 6/9/2014
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: independent writing projects, summer vacation, Multi-Genre, Summer Writing, digital writing, independent writing, Add a tag
By: Tara Smith,
on 5/4/2014
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: writing workshop, apps, digital writing, Add a tag
By: Tara Smith,
on 2/16/2014
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: writing process, Slice of Life Story Challenge, slice of life, writing workshop, olw, digital writing, SOLSC Classroom Challenge, Add a tag
By: Stacey Shubitz,
on 12/4/2013
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: technology, ELL, writing workshop, primary grades, digital storytelling, digital cameras, digital writing, digital video cameras, Add a tag
By: Stacey,
on 11/27/2011
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: reading, technology, NCTE, Web 2.0, apps, reluctant writers, digital writing, Add a tag
By: Ruth,
on 9/28/2011
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: inspiration, education, standards, standardized tests, digital writing, Add a tag
By: Ruth,
on 9/14/2011
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: digital writing, research, non-narrative writing, writing workshop, primary grades, Add a tag
By: Ruth,
on 2/7/2011
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: digital writing, Add a tag
By: Ruth,
on 2/3/2011
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: books, digital writing, Add a tag
By: Ruth,
on 11/8/2010
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: social networking, digital writing, Add a tag
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By: Kathleen Neagle Sokolowski,
on 11/30/2016
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: blogging, authors, organization, professional development, communication, writing workshop, parent involvement, preparing students for the 21st century, apps, digital writing, kidblog, #cyberPD, Cathy Mere, Flipping writing, Add a tag
By: Kathleen Neagle Sokolowski,
on 10/23/2016
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: awards, blogging, conferences, conventions, punctuation, writing workshop, engagement, Kylene Beers, adolescent literacy, Lester L. Laminack, digital writing, content-area writing, argument writing, Add a tag
By: Dana Murphy,
on 10/20/2016
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: technology, writer's notebook, digital writing, Add a tag
By: Kathleen Neagle Sokolowski,
on 6/13/2016
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: blogging, celebration, writing workshop, engagement, authentic assessment, apps, choice, Weebly, digital writing, kidblog, Green Screen, Padlet, SeeSaw, GAFE, Add a tag
Digital tools can transform your teaching by allowing students to have a writing community beyond the classroom walls, be innovative, make meaningful connections to other writers and students, have more resources readily available, and have true, authentic reasons for writing.
By: Tara Smith,
on 10/12/2015
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: assessment, digital writing, Add a tag
In Assessing Students’ Digital Writing:Protocols For Looking Closely, Troy Hicks and a team of forward looking educators have given us lenses through which to appreciate and evaluate the type of digital creativity that students seem adept at...
By: Kathleen Neagle Sokolowski,
on 8/24/2015
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: memories, brainstorming, sharing, writing workshop, back to school, NWP, heart maps, digital writing, Thinglink, writing territory maps, Add a tag
The heart map is a great tool for helping students find personally meaningful topics, but used year after year, it might feel a little stale. Writing territory maps is another option!
By: Mary Lee,
on 6/16/2015
Blog: A Year of Reading (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Graphic Novels, comics, Writing Workshop, digital writing, Add a tag
Near the end of the school year, I introduced my students to Bitstrips. "Introduced" means I showed them where to find all the tools, gave them the login code and got out of the way.
After spending a ton of time creating their avatars, they got down to the (funny) business of making comics. You can imagine that with an available background of a bathroom, there were plenty of cartoons that would appeal mostly to a 10 year-old sense of humor. What surprised me the most were the comics that captured a moment in our classroom
or a moment in their lives
or something completely random that shows they were playing with the tools and wound up making something that made some kind of sense!
Every year, I have students who read graphic novels and want to make their own in writing workshop. I've never had success supporting these students because of the limitations of students to draw their own stories, the limitations of the digital tools I had tried in the past, and the lack of an accessible mentor text for beginning graphic novelists.
I think this coming year might be the year of the student-created graphic novel. Instead of renewing the three subscriptions to magazines no students in my classroom have read for the past two years, I am going to pay for a subscription to Bitstrips (digital tool -- √).
And I'm going to share this book (mentor text -- √) with my writers as a graphic novel/comic strip mentor text:
by Chris Giarrusso
Image Comics, 2012
The book starts with a longer story, but the ones I really want to share with/study with my students are the 1-2 page "Comic Bits" and the two-panel "Mean Brother/Idiot Bother" strips. Every budding Kazu Kibuishi has to start somewhere, right?
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By: Stacey Shubitz,
on 1/14/2015
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: picture book, technology, mentor texts, digital writing, Add a tag
By: Elizabeth Moore (@BethMooreTCRWP),
on 6/9/2014
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: independent writing projects, summer vacation, Multi-Genre, Summer Writing, digital writing, independent writing, Add a tag
By: Tara Smith,
on 5/4/2014
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: writing workshop, apps, digital writing, Add a tag
At last August’s Summer Institute, Cornelius Minor, teacher extraordinaire and staff developer at TC’s Writing and Reading Project, gave an unforgettable presentation on technology in the classroom which I wrote about on my… Continue reading 
By: Tara Smith,
on 2/16/2014
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: writing process, Slice of Life Story Challenge, slice of life, writing workshop, olw, digital writing, SOLSC Classroom Challenge, Add a tag
With the Classroom Slice of Life Story Challenge just around the corner, perhaps some of you are thinking more than ever about starting a class blog just for writing. Over the past few… Read More 
By: Stacey Shubitz,
on 12/4/2013
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: technology, ELL, writing workshop, primary grades, digital storytelling, digital cameras, digital writing, digital video cameras, Add a tag
Two of the sessions I attended at NCTE in Boston helped me think about ways two digital tools could be meaningfully integrated into early childhood and elementary school classrooms to engage young writers. The "Exploring Collaboration of Multimodal Literacies in Early Childhood: Digital Filmmaking, Designing, and Co-Authoring" panel discussed the way digital video cameras could enhance learning, while two of the presenters in "Writing Workshop Is for All Students: Using Visuals, Oral Language, and Digital Tools to Maximize Success and Independence for English Language Learners" suggested the incorporation of digital cameras.
By: Stacey,
on 11/27/2011
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: reading, technology, NCTE, Web 2.0, apps, reluctant writers, digital writing, Add a tag
One of the fantastic sessions I attended at NCTE was called “Beyond Classroom Walls: Honoring Voices of Young Readers.” It was led by Julie Johnson of Raising Readers and Writers, Katie Keier of Catching Readers, and Cathy Mere of Reflect and Refine. Let me start by saying that all three of these women are the [...]
By: Ruth,
on 9/28/2011
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: inspiration, education, standards, standardized tests, digital writing, Add a tag
Often when I’m working with teachers, I get the question: How do you know? This can be in response to a number of things: minilesson ideas, conference teaching points, share sessions, anchor charts, unit planning, blogging, tweeting. Truthfully, the answer is often I don’t know. I’m just trying things that make sense. I’m trying things that [...]
By: Ruth,
on 9/14/2011
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: digital writing, research, non-narrative writing, writing workshop, primary grades, Add a tag
Martha Horn is coming to NE Indiana on October 14, hosted by the All-Write Consortium. I’m super excited to hear her thoughts about teaching our youngest writers. If you are interested in attending, just click here for registration information. Do you know her book, Teaching, Drawing, and Writing? She wrote it along with Mary Ellen [...]
By: Ruth,
on 2/7/2011
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: digital writing, Add a tag
This spoke to me from my Twitter feed today: As educators standing in this place in our field, we have a choice. We can look out and see problems and despair or possibility and promise. — Katie Keier Katie wrote Catching Readers Before They Fall (Stenhouse, 2010) with Pat Johnson. You can check out their [...]
By: Ruth,
on 2/3/2011
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: books, digital writing, Add a tag
We’ve been reading How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills (check out Tad’s website) since its release last summer. It is one of my son’s favorite books. He loves dogs and reading, so this book is a great match for him. A few weeks ago he said to my mom, “Mimi, let’s Google Rocket [...]
By: Ruth,
on 11/8/2010
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: social networking, digital writing, Add a tag
One of the first people I addressed in a tweet was @CAFirstGrade, Julie Simmons’ first grade classroom in Ohio. They were using Twitter via an iPad during their independent writing time. Later in the week, they tweeted during shared writing using a SmartBoard. It was fun to tweet with them and gain insight into their [...]