Author: Jennifer Smyth Summary: This collection of materials, inspired by a shared reading in English and Biology classes of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, describes the planning and presentation of Bioethics Day as a “day of learning” for students from three high schools. The materials include explanatory videos and...
Author: Connected Learning Alliance Summary: This profile of a 14-year-old aspiring photographer from a New York City public high school illustrates the power of connected learning, showing what is possible when a young person is able to openly pursue a personal interest with the collective support of friends and compassionate...
Summary: Eight teachers from three National Writing Project sites spent a month in Chicago exploring the power of systems thinking to support students in the way they learn, make, and write. Of particular interest to teachers planning and leading young writers programs that focus on digital literacy, this project, called...
Summary: Teachers Teaching Teachers is a weekly interactive webcast which has been hosted by the New York City Writing Project since 2006. The webcast is a great meeting place for educators wishing to connect with teachers from across the country and the globe for two main purposes: developing teacher knowledge...
Author: Glynda Hull Summary: After introducing cases of underprepared students using computers in a community college literacy course, Glynda Hull raises important issues and tensions related to the role of technology in the teaching of writing. While she argues for the democratizing potential of “information technologies” to support a liberatory...
Author: Razeen Zaman Summary: “Grinding New Lenses,” a four-week summer camp supported by a MacArthur Foundation grant, combined intensive professional development in design thinking for teachers with their leading a program for sixty-five rising sixth- and seventh-grade Chicago area students that engaged them as game designers and digital storytellers. “The...
Author: Howard Rheingold Summary: Teacher Brianna Crowley describes how shifting into being a connected educator expanded her network of colleagues and renewed her teaching career. She spotlights benefits and challenges for herself and the students, and provides advice for ways students can connect to the community and to their learning...
Author: Antero Garcia, Christina Cantrill, Danielle Filipiak, Bud Hunt, Clifford Lee, Nicole Mirra, Cindy O’Donnell-Allen, and Kylie Peppler Summary: This collection of compelling firsthand vignettes written by NWP educators illustrate “connected learning principles” and depict teachers designing opportunities for all students to have access to, participate in, and thrive within...
Author: Stephanie West-Puckett Summary: Educator Stephanie West-Puckett describes her experience using collaboratively designed digital badges as a networked, contextual, and participatory form of writing assessment in a college first-year writing course. She describes how this “community-based assessment” supported diverse conceptions of writing and prompted critical discussion about what constitutes successful...
Summary: This resource contains materials and discussions originally created for the KQED Let’s Talk About Election 2020 campaign, but would be useful to anyone who is looking to give students an opportunity to engage in topics, issues, and/or controversies that are relevant to their lives and their communities. The lessons...