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I love awards because it's a chance to recognize and share those who rock my world. Thank you Edublogs for providing this opportunity to acknowledge amazing educators around the globe, and for raising the awareness of the awesome impact social media and web 2.0 can have on our learning and our learners. Here are my nominations for 2011-2012: Best individual blog: Integrating Technology in the Primary Classroom Integrating Tech in the Primary Classroom Hands down, the most influential individual blog that I've learned the most from is Kathleen Morris' Integrating Technology in the Primary Classroom . Her content is innovative, filled with tangible and applicable learning for every level (even if you aren't a primary teacher). She makes it super easy for a newbie to feel right at home, while being encouraged to take the next step. I appreciate how Kathleen replies to all her comments, which lets us know how much she cares and is passionate about helping ...

Collaborative writing is strong for bringing ideas together, capitalizing on individual strengths, and building in feedback. When I walked into Mrs. Bliss' 5th grade class to work on the Student Blogging Challenge #3 , "Me on the Internet," they decided to write their post collaboratively. How can students successfully write a collaborative post (or written work)? Build Background Knowledge (while hooking their interest) First, we watched this video called Digital Dossier by DigitalNatives , introduced to us in Miss W's post for the Edublogs Student Blogging Challenge #3 . Before playing the video, we asked them to focus on two questions to discuss after the video: What is a Digital Dossier? Why is it important to each one of us? Following the video, we went back to our guiding questions and asked them what it was and why it's important. The students were quite involved in their discussions because of its relevance to their lives. Introducing Trac...

Last week, I had the privilege of working with a group of educators on 21st century lessons and PBL as part of their Collaboration Coach training. One of the main topics we kept revisiting was authentic purpose and audience. After pointing out strengths, I asked questions such as: What real audience could the students share their learning with? What real audience would benefit from their learning/product? What real audience, community, or expert outside the classroom could provide feedback? Relating Authentic Purpose and Audience to Common Core Language Arts Yesterday I received an email from Theresa Bartholomew , our Federal Programs Director, asking us to watch this video and reflect on these questions: What stands out to you about this?   What potential shifts will this require in our instructional time, focus, use of curriculum programs, etc.? Here was my quick reply to Theresa: I'm pumped about it! I expect to see more PBL , probably thematic units , an...