So as the blogathon comes to an end, I am faced with having my personal blog, hosted through Blogger.com, blocked.

Many, many of the links that people have posed to useful teaching blogs ar

Thanks to everyone who has read my postings and commented along the way.  I believe that this experience helped me to tackle making a web page for my classroom, when I would never have dreamed

Today, while considering some of the changes the IB has made to the A2 English courses, I started thinking about using graphic novels in the classroom. 

So, I've just about given up on winning this thing.  But the good news is that I've started a classroom blog for my students. 

I wonder if all of my students really are digital natives.  In the classroom, I have embraced technology and the use of paperless turn in, via turnitin.com.  Some of my students cannot figure out how to use the site, which requires a simple file up-load to turn work for scoring.  I have been asked, “Won’t you take a printed version of my paper?” more times than I care to acknowledge and I am blown away by how many senior level students struggle with digital turn in.

“I found that you can learn a lot about history from an old person if you listen.  And Miss Lydia could sweep you up into a story so that you could almost see and smell and taste the things she described.  It was a lot more interesting than any schooling I’d had.”

-- From page 33 of “Billie Standish Was Here” by Nancy Crocker

How many times have I forgotten that learning is more about bringing the world alive for students than it is about writing a technically correct paper, or even a technically correct sentence? 

Hi.

I'm Ms. Johnson.  As my goal is to share what I have learned about teaching, I thought I'd give you a bit about who I am.