Tapped In Newsletter: December 2008
...On the Tapis
December 2008
Issue 133
In This Issue
[1] Tips and Comments from the Experts
[2] News and Nuggets
[3] Tapped In Technology Tip
[4] ALSC announces exceptional web sites for children
[5] Writing Teacher Contest
[6] Odds & Ends
[7] About ...On the Tapis
Quote of the Month - "Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. - Maria Robinson
[1] Tips and Comments from the Experts
TI member Jim Wood generously contributed this comment about TI being an awesome resource for our teachers, "Collaboration is key in the success of any well run educational program. With the advancements in technology it is possible for anyone to collaborate at any time via the Internet. Tapped In provides an absolutely perfect tool to foster this collaboration."
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TI member Susan Pikowsky kindly submitted this comment to Tapped In Help Desk, "Comment: Thank you for your help these last few semesters. Thank you for keeping up the communication and with all of the resets."
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TI member Pat Williams used the How-You-Use-TI feature to let us know that she leads a project with teachers, participates in a project with an organization or her school, and she liked our site [Tapped In].
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If you have a comment or experience to share with the Tapped In community, please submit the information to BJ Berquist at bjb@tappedin.org or tell us how you use TI here.
[2] News Nuggets
TI member Kathleen Fulton recently did a presentation at a conference for the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) and showcased TI.
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TI member, Jeanne Swedo, will be presenting a workshop called "Easing Transitions through Collaboration" at the National Catholic Educator's Association/Catholic Library Association (NCEA/CLA) conference in Apr. '09 in Anaheim, CA. Her co-speakers are Chris Plaia, her English Dept. Chair, and Dr. David V. Loertscher, SJSU professor and school media guru. This workshop will focus on useful instructional technologies for teaching the millennial generation.
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The Becoming a Webhead 2009 (BaW09) workshop is being planned for Jan. 12 to Feb. 22. Get more information about the BaW09 workshop.
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Do you have a News Nugget about yourself or another member of the Tapped In Community? Send your News Nugget to BJ Berquist at bjb@tappedin.org.
[3] Tapped In Technology Tip
Assignment: Log in to Tapped In and explore!
Have you had a course instructor give you that assignment... or are you the instructor sending your students to "explore" Tapped In? Granted, exploring the community is fun, IF you are a risk-taker or are familiar with online environments, but, for many of the newbies who wander unprepared into reception, this may be a frustrating and confusing experience. Please show respect for the TI community and prepare yourself or your students by learning a little of the purpose of TI and what educators can do here. It's a simple matter to go to the Tapped In homepage, read the information posted there, and look at the About tab. Armed with that information, logging in and "exploring" will be a much more positive and productive experience for everyone!
[4] ALSC announces exceptional Web sites for children
(Chicago) The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association, has added Web sites this fall to Great Web Sites for Kids, its online resource containing hundreds of links to commendable Web sites for children.
Great Web Sites for Kids (GWS) features links to valuable Web sites of interest to children, organized by subject headings. There is also a special section with sites of interest to parents, caregivers and teachers, plus an area devoted to sites in Spanish. The ALSC Great Web Sites for Kids Committee maintains and updates the site. "Not all Web sites for kids are created equal," said Karen Lemmons, co-chair of the committee and a library media specialist at Howe Elementary School in Detroit (Karen also is a member of TI and leads the monthly K-12 Language Arts discussions!). "To make the cut and appear on the Great Web sites for Kids, a site must demonstrate commendable quality and reflect and encourage young people's interests in exemplary ways. Sites must stand up to an evaluation and voting process by the committee before being deemed 'great' and added to the GWS page."
[5] Writing Teacher Contest
Writing teachers can turn their favorite teaching tricks into gold in a contest aimed at gathering best practices for teaching writing in the classroom. The contest, sponsored by The Writing Teacher, We Are Teachers, and LearningExpress eFolio rewards the best ideas submitted by teachers as judged by their peers. Now through December 15, 2008, teachers who submit tips and garner at least ten votes will win a copy of any book in the LearningExpress English Language Arts series. The top eight finalists will win a full classroom set of any single title in the series and two winners who receive the most votes will each win a Flip Video camera.
[6] Odds & Ends
To follow up on last month's Tapis article on Collaboration a featured folder has been added to the TI reception discussion board for comments on how you use collaboration in your professional development, learning and teaching. Please add your posts and collaborate on collaboration!
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Because of the end of the year holidays and vacations, the January 2009 calendar mailing will take place the first week in January. The web calendar will be up before then so you don't miss any of the scheduled events.
[7] About ...On the Tapis
Past issues of ...On the Tapis newsletters are available online.
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