When Pop Culture Steers Us Wrong

You know we love all things cool and kitschy about Pop Culture. We believe it has a place in our lives and can be used for good. Unfortunately, social media is a minefield of accurate and inaccurate information. Apparently some out there get joy out of scare tactics, especially in the realm of parenting. One

WHY READING COMICS MAKES YOU SMARTER

Our youth contributor Lorna Bonnell brought this article from Geek and Sundry to our attention to share. Thanks Lorna! Evidence and research is stacking up to prove that comic books make their readers smarter. Comics make you want to read, and they use complex language which improves verbal intelligence. Like steroids for the mind, comics can

Student Art Show

 Origin Stories: Future Artists  is a celebration of student art inspired by popular culture from graphic novels to movies, music to television. Art may be of any static media including but not limited to drawing/illustration; painting; sculpture; and mixed media. A statement of artistic inspiration must accompany all entries. Any violation of these rules may,

To Be Clear: Epic Rap Battle

“Dude, to be clear: Being five centuries regressed in your reasoning doesn’t mean we all can’t still like your music.”-Neil Degrasse Tyson When Rapper B.o.B. claims the earth is flat and calls out Dr. Tyson an epic rap battle ensues. IFLScience gives us the details and you can listen to both tracks. Use this artifact

Blogging is the New Persuasive Essay

By Shelley Wright As an English teacher, I’ve had numerous conversations with college professors who lament the writing skills of their first year students. But not all writing. Most students are capable of solid expository writing. It’s their skill with persuasive writing that’s the problem. Specifically, they’re weak at writing a thesis statement that can be

2015 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,000 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 33 trips to carry that many people. Click here to see the

Inside Out Teachers’ Media Guide Now Available

Inside Out was released on DVD with a host of bonus features. This package allows us to use the movie and bonus features in real and meaningful ways in our classrooms. The Teachers’ Media Guide has ideas for classroom integration for K-8. Check it out here! We’ll be having a 20% off sale November 30

Content Specialists vs Youth Development Specialists

A typical class is 45 – 50 minutes in duration.  Project based learning is a hot topic in education these days; but how do you engage kids in meaningful learning when you have them for chunks of time that are less than an hour? The silo-ing of content areas is a main problem. By intermediate

We Need to Change a Few Things

By KellyAnn Bonnell This summer I was invited to a birthday party of a dear friend. I was told it would be at her favorite restaurant so I didn’t bother to look up the address when I was ready to go to the party (bad move on my part because they’d opened another location). Anyway,

HUFFPO: 5 Lessons Hogwarts Teaches Us

by Pam Allyn Become a fan Founder and Executive Director, LitWorld & LitLife; author; literacy and education expert and advocate Young Muggles around the world hold their breath before opening their mailboxes, waiting for the day a snow-flecked owl will deliver their acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Hogwarts School of J.K. Rowling’s