Connie's+page

=**Connie's Page** =

Competency--Blogging
www.**blogspot**.com Blogging is a great way for students to both communicate, express themselves and practice their writing. It is easy to set up a blog. Here is the word blog as defined by Dictionary.com

**blog**
 / blɔg, blɒg /  [ blawg, blog ]   noun, verb, blogged, blog·ging. –noun 1. a [|web] site containing [|the] writer's or group of writers' own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having [|images] and links to other Web sites. –verb (used without object) 2. to maintain or add new entries to a blog.

The website // www.**blogspot**.com // offers an easy way to set up a blog. The student will need a gmail account, so she can enter her name and passowrd. The site walks you through step by step. Blogger is another site which offers space for a blog-- www.**blogger**.com both of these sites are free. Blogging would be great for any subject, especially English. Students can keep an online journal, that the teacher and classmates can have access to as well.

Resources
The resources I found this week are coolcatteacher.blogspot.com, Dictionary.com and http://thesaurus.com/Roget-Alpha-Index.html
 * http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2011/04/top-10-coolest-mostly-free-things-for.html**
 * www.Dictionary.com**
 * http://thesaurus.com/Roget-Alpha-Index.html**
 * http://lyric.org/home.html**
 * http://www.dimensionsclinic.org/**
 * Most people know about Dictionary.com and thesaurus.com--they are great resources for any subject which requires writing. To have a dictionary or Roget's thesaurus at the click of the mouse is pretty great.
 * A site you may not know about is http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com It's GREAT! Lesson plans, ways to incorporate technology in the classroom--it's amazing. The website was started by Vicki Davis, "a full time teacher in rural Camilla, Georgia. Known for stretching budget dollars into massive global collaborative projects, Vicki overcomes, inspires, and educates." You can also access info on [|www.coolcatteacher.com]
 * I have also included 2 resources for queer youth. The first is the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center--lyric.org LYRIC has an actual community center with a variety of programs you LGBTQ youth. They offer drop-in groups, access to support hotlines, job-training and computer-skills workshops, field trips, dances and other recreational activities. Dimensionsclinic.org is a free clinic for LGBTQ youth. According to their website, //"Dimensions is an open and friendly place to get support in being healthy. We offer low-cost health services for queer, transgender and questioning youth ages 12 to 25. With a staff made up of medical & mental health professionals, we can answer just about any question you might have, including things you may be too embarrassed to ask anyone else."//

Final Project
**I chose to include 2 lesson plans (Day 3 & Day 5) from a 2 week unit on //The Glass Menagerie,// for an 11th grade American Literature class** **. It would take place early in the Spring semester, and the classes are 90 minutes/block schedule.**

** 11th Grade American Literature Lesson Plan ** ** Unit Day 3—February, Spring Semester ** ** FROM MEMORY: Tennessee Williams’ //The Glass Menagerie// ** ** (90 min. block period) **

** Objective: ** SWBAT begin to examine the power and meaning of memory in literature. SWBAT practice writing skills. SWBAT to do research using resources on the internet

CA Standard: Speaking Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics) 2.5 CA Standard: Reading: Literary Response and Analysis 3.4 CA Standard Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics) 2.1

** Context: ** Students have begun examining the power of memory to inspire writers to write. They have also looked at the power and influence their parents have in their lives. In the previous class, they brought in photographs or objects from childhood, which had significant meaning to write about. These in-class writings were shared aloud in class. The students read a short story, //The Still Small Voices// by John Fante, whose memories inspired him to write. The students watched a film about Tennessee Williams, which connected his memories to his inspiration to write his most autobiographical “memory” play, //The Glass Menagerie//, and have had a class discussion revisiting symbols.

** Materials: ** 2 Graphic organizers (a 2-sided handout with George Ella Lyon’s poem, //Where I’m From// with space on for student writing, copies of the play //The Glass Menagerie,// pens or pencils, laptop or desktop computers, CD player, and the CD of the radio play //The Glass Menagerie.//

** Do Now: ** Announcements. Students pick up the 1st graphic organizer//—//George Ella Lyon’s poem, //Where I’m From,// and copies of the major work they begin reading today, the play //The Glass Menagerie.//

_(5 mins)

** 1. Poetry reading and In-Class Writing Assignment --//Where I’m From// ** · Teacher explains that fictional text is often inspired by real-life. For this short poetry assignment (for which students will be given class time to work on it, and will revise it as homework) students can write about their own lives using a simple format. The goal is that students begin to use memory as inspiration for their own writing, and to understand what compelled Williams to write the major work. · Class reads George Ella Lyon’s poem //Where I’m From// together. · Teacher asks ss to go through the poem line by line, and asks them to write lists that match the ones in Lyon’s poem, and to share them aloud (household items, names of relatives, things found in the yard, old sayings their grandparents or other relatives have said that they remember, foods that bring up memories, music etc.) · We share the lists out loud as we brainstorm. · Once ss have their lists, teacher asks them to write. They should use a repeating link, such as “I am from…” or use another phrase of their choosing that moves the poem along. · Assessment: Students share their poems before turning them in. ___(15 mins)__

** 2. Resources ** Student go to their computers and look up the following resources __ @http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/williams.htm  __ __ @http://www.latw.org/acrobat/glass.pdf  __ Fill out graphic organizers listing at least 3 new concepts you have learned from these resources. __(15 mins)

** 3. Read Play ** audio clip Scenes 1 – 6 //The Glass Menagerie// (featuring Jessica Tandy, Julie Harris and Montgomery Clift.)
 * Teacher asks students to read along as the play is being read, to listen carefully for the vocabulary and phrases they have just explored, as well as clever sound effects, music, and other techniques used in a radio play—take notes in their journals.
 * Prompt:”Bear in mind that the writer, Tennessee Williams’ refers to this play as his ‘memory play.’ Ask yourself why he calls it that. Think about, too, your poems you’ve created. Are their symbols in your poems?”

___(45 mins)__

4. **Resources** Now that you have begun reading the play, go to your computers and visit: []

5) Quick Write: your impressions of what the actors an director have said about the play.

_(10 mins)


 * Homework ** – Students finish reading Scene 7 of //The Glass Menagerie//; Journal: Each student will be assigned a character to write a //“Where I’m From”// poem from that character’s point of view, incorporating symbols from the play.

** 11th Grade American Literature Lesson Plan ** ** Unit Day 5—February, Spring Semester ** ** FROM MEMORY: Tennessee Williams’ //The Glass Menagerie// ** ** (90 min. block period) **
 * |||||||| **Where I’m From Poem –Characteristics of Student Work** ||
 * **Evaluative Criteria Category** || **A** || **B** || **C** || **D** ||
 * Connection to the text || Poem demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of the assigned character and its complexities. || Poem demonstrates a reasonable understanding of the assigned character and its complexities. || Poem demonstrates an adequate understanding of the assigned character and its complexities. || Poem demonstrates a superficial understanding of the assigned character and its complexities. ||
 * Use of imagery || Author uses several examples (3-4) of vivid imagery within the poem that illustrate the character’s memories and daily life. || Author uses examples (2-3) of imagery within the poem that illustrate the character’s memories and daily life. || Author uses 1-2 examples of imagery within the poem that illustrate the character’s memories and daily life. || Author uses 1 example of imagery, but is not supported by the text. ||
 * Use of symbols || Author uses at least 2 symbols from the play and incorporates their meaning within the poem. || Author uses at least 1 symbol from the play and incorporates its meaning within the poem. || Author dos not use symbols from the play. || Author does not use symbols from the play. ||

Identify symbols in **//The Glass Menagerie//.** Begin to make revisions in their Program Notes Essay and create a Wordle for the cover Work together is small groups to develop a Radio Play based on //The Glass Menagerie.//
 * Objectives: **
 * SWBAT: **

CA Standard: Speaking Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics) 2.3 b, 2.5 CA Standard: Reading: Literary Response and Analysis 3.2 CA Standard Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics) 2.1
 * CA Content Standards ** :


 * Context ** : Ss have been reading //The Glass Menagerie//; they have heard a radio play and watched a film clip of the play as well. At the end of this unit, the ss are assigned to turn in a traditional assessment—an essay in the form of “Program Notes” to assess their comprehension and were to begin a rough draft this weekend to work on in today’s class. They created a poem about a character in the play, titled “Where I’m From”, as a character analysis assessment. Today, they will create a **Wordle** from that poem to use as a cover for their Program Notes.


 * Materials ** : the play //The Glass Menagerie//, laptop or desktop computers and a printer, butcher paper and markers, notebooks (pen/paper.)


 * Do Now ** : Ss sit with their groups, and take out their plays.

1) Ss read aloud Tom’s last speech to the end of the play—intro to Direct teaching/class discussion “What do Laura’s candles represent?” _(10 mins)

2) **Assessment: Illustrating Symbols** a) In their groups, ss take out a sheet of paper. Each group has 5 minutes to choose 2 symbols from the play to illustrate. Then each group will be assigned a piece of butcher paper. They must draw a line down the center of the chart, write the name of each symbol and create an illustration for each symbol on the chart paper. · They must write down what they think the symbol means/what it represents · Write down the points in the play where the symbol is used. · Paraphrase each symbol in their own words (create a sentence using that word symbolically as it is used in the play.  _(10 mins)

3) Gallery Walk/Class Discussion of symbols: Discussion points:  _(10 mins)
 * “Describe your symbols”
 * “How many symbols can you find in the play?”
 * “Was it easy to agree on which symbols to illustrate?”
 * “Were you surprised at what other groups illustrated?”

4) **WORDLE** Ss go to their computer stations and visit the Wordle website: []  Prompts:  “Today we will create a Wordle from your poems. A Wordle features all of the words in your poem, and creates a picture with your words.”  “You will type your poem in to the Wordle doc. Follow the instructions on the site.”  “Which symbols did you use in your poem?”  “You can change the font, color pattern any way you choose. Try and make the shape of your Wordle reflect the themes and symbols.”  “We will print out each Wordle and place them on our gallery wall.”  “The Wordle will eventually serve as a cover page for your Program Notes, after we have shared them as a class.”  _(30 Mins)

5) **Program Notes essay:** In pairs, ss review their rough draft essays with the rubric provided. _(30 mins)

**PROGRAM NOTES ESSAY**
 * Homework: ** Continue working on their Program Notes essay—bring 1st Draft to class tomorrow. (We will review if time allows.)
 * Due the day after the final day of this unit (the day after we perform the Radio Plays)**


 * In addition to your group project, your Final Assessment will be to create a well-thought essay in the form of Program Notes for The Glass Menagerie. A rubric has been provided for you. You will need to keep notes, create a 1st draft, and turn those in with your final draft the day after we perform the Radio Plays, in other words—the day after this unit is completed. Please treat this assignment as if you were writing a real-life program for the play. Your Wordle will be the cover page for the Program.** **The essay should be at least 5 paragraphs (although if it’s longer, that is okay.) It must be typed and double-spaced please. Consider the play’s history, symbolism, why the play is relevant today, the characters and plot in your writing. On the back of this form, you will find an example of program notes from PCPA’s production of Ragtime to use for text-tapping. These are actual program notes from play. Use the example given to guide you—don’t copy it, but use the format to guide you. 1st drafts are due in class next Tuesday.**


 * Helpful hints:** . Plan to do more research on the internet, and review the resources you were given—there is lot information on Tennessee Williams. Refer to your class notes on the documentary we viewed, //Tennessee Williams//--//Wounded Genius// and the resources you explored online. **Program notes are __not__ a summary—they feature opinion and description!**

**//Text Tapping-- Program Notes//**

 * //These are actual program notes from PCPA’s production of Ragtime, the play SOTA is producing this semester. Note how the author brings together historical facts, insights about the plot and characters, and the symbolic meaning of the title to make the reader interested in the play!//**


 * // Ragtime //**

About the Play //Ragtime// is the first truly American musical genre, originating in the 1890s, and reaching the height of its popularity (with notable revivals) between 1899 and 1918. This genre is typified by a style or effect rather than a particular rhythmic meter; it relies on syncopation of melodic accents that occurs between musical beats producing an effect for the listener of intensifying the beat. On piano, the left hand plays in strict 4/4 meter while the right had plays jagged, jazz syncopations around that beat. As composer Scott Joplin (the acknowledged King of Ragtime) asserted, "Play until you catch the swing;" change the time values of melody notes to 'rag' the music. Music historians note that this style of syncopated music was born in the jigs and marches played by all-black bands in Northern cities of the US in the late 19th century.

For director Mark Booher, //Ragtime// is a classic American story that puts into a powerful musical form the great forces of American culture, the grandeur of the American spirit, and the epic scale of the human struggle. "It is an amazing civics lesson." This story is rooted in E. L. Doctorow's vision of America - specifically New York - between 1906 and 1910. Through this vision pass a cavalcade of influential figures who were real parts of our turn-of-the-century nation and who remind us what it was like to be vibrant and alive in one of the centers of the known world. Yet in this world, characters are united across, and divided within, their races, their economic classes, and their national origins. And, they are active participants in the harmonies and the conflicts that affect the human heart.

As America's economic possibilities changed with the turn of the 19th century, so too did many of her values. And with that change of value, came both increased social awareness and compassion as well as diminished social responsibility. For Booher, this century reveals "not a story of happiness, but a journey toward hopefulness. We experience with the characters the enormous personal and societal losses that come with the end of an age." It is a deconstruction of the American Dream. What it is? Who it is for? Is it a positive or negative force? Is it less powerful if it only remains an idea? The play's journey reflects our effort to find what makes us most resilient as a nation and as individuals, as well as to learn wherein lies true heroism.

According to Booher, "the real hero in this story, if there is one (and I hope there is) is Mother. It seems that everyone else does what they must, and she is one of the rare few who does what she can, which, it turns out, is quite a lot." She, like Tateh, is looking for who we are and who we should be. And, in the pursuit of those goals, they both reveal who is included and who is excluded and how economics and integrity affect that pursuit. As she strives to act and to choose, she also learns that the only way out of the poverty, the tenements, and the pain is to go through it to something more.

Says Booher, "The story, //Ragtime//, like the musical form, is full of surprises - unexpected rhythms, unexpected sensibilities, and unexpected connections." To rag is to musically tear time apart by playing in a syncopated manner. To rag is to bring the nation and its political, social and cultural institutions a new syncopation in the times that are a changing. To rag is to place the California dream of a land full of possibilities in the heart of a New York play. To rag is to contrast marital and familial disintegration with forgiveness and reconciliation, bigotry with humanity, and social revolt with a potential for greater unity through change and transformation. by [|Patricia M. Troxel], Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts Santa Maria, California


 * PROGRAM NOTES ESSAY RUBRIC—Due on Tuesday Feb. 18th**

Excellent Good Needs Work
 * ** Requirements: ** || Contains all notes,1st draft, and final product—your Program Notes essay. || Contains some notes and your final product. Contains no 1stdraft. || Contains your final product only. ||
 * ** Focus: ** || Your Program Notes are creative and exciting! The notes establish its central idea clearly and effectively and maintains this focus throughout the essay. Contains 5 or more fully developed paragraphs. Each paragraph is logically linked to the main idea, and the sentences within the paragraphs serve to further develop and maintain this focus. || Your Program Notes interesting; the notes establish its central idea clearly and effectively and maintains this focus throughout the essay. Contains a minimum of 5 paragraphs. Each paragraph is logically linked to the main idea. You have || Your program notes are basically retelling the plot without a lot of detail or description. ||
 * ** Insight ** || Your Program Notes explore the play—your subject matter—in all its complexities. It examines and reveals the nature of that complexity in your essay. You have discovered and shared anecdotes and several historical points of interest about the play, and have drawn parallels to your own “production” you are writing about. These insights should not be implied: they should be revealed and developed through good examples from the text. || Your Program Notes explore the play, and reveals some of the complexities in your essay. You have discovered and shared a few historical points of interest about the play, and have drawn parallels to your own “production” you are writing about. These insights should not be implied: they should be revealed and developed through good examples from the text. || Your Program Notes share a few insights about the play, but rely mostly on historical facts. ||
 * ** Organization ** || Your ideas follow and relate to each other in a logical and effective way. Information is organized within the sentence and paragraph as well as the entire paper itself, for maximum effectiveness. The ideas are well-balanced. || Your ideas flow fairly well, and you make 3 or more salient points that are supported by the text. || Your ideas are difficult to follow, and are not supported by the text. ||
 * ** Conventions ** || Your Program Notes are written grammatically correct English; the essay has no spelling or grammatical errors. It showed a sound understanding of the structure. || Your Program Notes are written grammatically correct English, but have a few spelling or grammatical errors. It showed a sound understanding of the structure. || Your Program Notes have numerous spelling and grammar errors. ||

**http://www.field-trips.org/develop.htm**
This week, I explored the tutorial on Virtual Field Trips featured on Erin's Competency Page. When I first heard about virtual field trips, I was intrigued. Unlike other tools on the web which frankly confuse me, virtual field trips made perfect sense immediately. So--what is a virtual field trip? The above website, created by educator Kim Foley, offers tutorials for free on how to create field trips-- The site defines the virtual field trip: //"It's a guided and narrated tour of Web sites that have been selected by educators like yourself and arranged in a "thread" that students can follow from site to site with just the click of a single button. Using Tramline technology, teachers like us can create easy-to-follow tours so students no longer have to work from lists of Web sites. This is a real advantage because lists of links are not easy to work from at any level, but they are especially difficult for elementary school children."//

So--a teacher could go online and create an outing from resources available on the web. If my class was reading Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," I could compile video from Salem, Massachusetts and my students could "visit" places where the Puritans settled, where the witch trials took place, etc. I found this example on the web of just such a trip:

//"Students in Mrs. DeMaria’s English classes took a virtual field trip to Salem, Massachusetts to speak with Stacey Tilney from the Salem Witch Museum. The students have been studying Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’, a satiric play revealing the parallel between the Red Scare in the 1950s and the Salem witch trials. Ms. Tilney was able to answer many of the students’ questions, and also shared a lot of information regarding the trials, the men and women accused, and some of the famous landmarks related to the events.//" --
 * http://einstein.hempfieldsd.org/hhs/2011/02/22/students-visit-salem-witch-museum-via-virtual-field-trip/**

Obviously, to take an entire class of 32 students on a trip to Salem, MA would be next to impossible--it is clear across the country, of course--but, using a virtual field trip the students could experience the sites of this historic town. Using a virtual field trip, students can revisit sites over and over if they wish to reinforce the lesson.

Resources
http://www.salemwitchmuseum.com/ This site explores the events of the trials featured in the play. I would definitely use this site as part of a virtual field trip, while teaching //The Crucible//.

This website explores Plymouth, MA and offers many resources, including historic blogs, for students to study the area where the Puritans settled. It would definitely complement a Virtual Field Trip! This is a great website for just about EVERYTHING a teacher would need to know to teach //The Crucible//, including info on the 1950s Red Scare & McCarthyism, which inspired Miller to write the play.
 * http://www.plimoth.org/**
 * http://www.aresearchguide.com/crucible.html**

**http://video.about.com/presentationsoft/Start-PowerPoint.htm**
This week I focused on learning Power Point. Because I worked in a terribly under-funded non-profit for 11 years, I never learned PowerPoint, a presentation tool that most people learned in the 1990s/2000s usually during professional development workshops or working for corporate America. Since it is new to me, I really wanted to take some of my study time during this class to explore Power Point further.

This video I found offers some pretty useful tips for creating a Power Point presentation, most notably "Have all your content available" before you start! **http://video.about.com/presentationsoft/Start-PowerPoint.htm** This basically means you need to have all your text ready on your computer and that if you want to use photos, you need to have them already downloaded to your computer.

Power Point has many uses for teachers and for our students. It provides easy visuals for teachers to guide lesson plans, by highlighting the important points during a lecture/direct teaching. Students can use PowerPoint themselves for creating presentations--and it forces the student to think about and identify the salient points of their presentations. Power Point provides opportunities for students to use their creativity as well, using clip art, photos, text, etc.

Recently, I taught a mini-unit on Men of Color in Literature. Within this unit, the students studied a new mode of literature called Flash Fiction. Flash Fiction is basically a really short story. Through another teacher, I discovered several fun pieces of Flash Fiction including 3 short stories/flash fictions by New York author and TV commentator, Toure. Toure's story //Trainspotting// (which has nothing to do with the Scottish film about drug addicts) tells the story of two graffiti artists in Manhattan. After reading the story, I instructed students to text-tap a newspaper article and rewrite the details of the story the way a newswriter would. They had the option to write an op-ed/opinion piece opposing or defending the artists or simply serving as reporter, reporting the events in the story, in a //just the-facts ma'am// kind of style.

I created another Power Point this week on how to make Napolitano spaghetti sauce. This PowerPoint presentation introduced a lesson for students on how to write/explain a recipe with instructions, as prep for the Star Exams. It was a fun lesson for a potentially pretty dry topic. The students enjoyed creating their recipes and sharing them with one another.I giggled all during the process of creating this presentation, especially when I found the photo of the little girl eating spaghetti. For future photos, I realize I need to go beyond Google images, and next week I will work on that. If we had access to computers for my class, I think it might have been useful to have the students create their own PowerPoint presentations featuring their recipes, and teaching the whole class how to recreate them. By the way, if I left out the chile pepper flakes-- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon depending on how spicy you like it. If you create this recipe, be sure to add the chile :)

**Resources**

 * http://www.niot.org/nios**
 * http://www.sfspeakersbureau.org/**
 * http://www.gsanetwork.org****/**

I'd like to share a 3 resource sites this week I hope folks will find useful. The first is //Not In Our Schools//-- This an off-shoot of a remarkable film project //Not In Our Town// which documents ways in which communities come together to respond to hate-motivated violence. NIOS offers lesson plans, videos, action groups, and offers suggestions for ways in which students and teachers can respond to negative comments, racist/homophobic/transphobic/sexist/classist remarks inside and outside the classroom. Teachers need to know how to deal with situations that can potentially lead to violence. NIOS offers resources and support.
 * http://www.niot.org/nios**

I would also like to share two additional resources related to NIOS:

The Speakers Bureau began at Community United against Violence in the 1970s. I began serving as the Coordinator and Volunteer Manager in 1998. Due to budget cuts, CUAV ended the program in 2009, and the volunteers are now sponsored by the SF LGBT Community Center. These folks are volunteer speakers who speak to elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as to adults in community colleges and work settings such as hospitals and police departments about their lives, dispelling myths and stereotypes about LGBTQ people. We believe that by personalizing the realities of LGBTQ people, we can help break down stereotypes which might otherwise lead to ongoing marginalization and violence against members of our communities. Teachers can access volunteer speaker to come to their classrooms by emailing a request to the website.
 * http://www.sfspeakersbureau.org/**

The other related resource is Gay Straight Alliance Network-- GSA has been around for quite a while. GSAs are school clubs basically that allow opportunities for LGBTQ students and their straight allies to meet, discuss, have events/parties, etc. GSA hopes to foster good relationships between queer, questioning, and straight students, and helps promote anti-violence education in schools.
 * http://www.gsanetwork.org**

**Week One: Competency- www.wordle.net**
**Creating Word Clouds**  This week at Erin's suggestion and my friend Susan, I decided to explore Wordle as a my new competency. It's a cool tool definitely. I assigned //The Glass Menagerie// to my 11th grade American Literature class. They had to come up with a poem for a character that describes the character's memories, titled //Where I'm From//, based on a poem which uses repetition to illustrate memory. The students wrote it from the character's point of view. I think Wordle's Word Cloud would be a perfect assignment for them. They had to design a program cover for the play, and the Cloud would have worked really well for that. I typed one student's poem about the character Amanda, in to Wordle--

**//Amanda Wingfield--The Glass Menagerie//**

**I am from Southern Belle beauty**  **kneeling princes love**  **plastic curls that have cracked**  **I am from a torn stuffed doll**  **stitches won’t cover**  **Failing care provided no one could adopt**  **I am from a world of high stress** <span style="background-color: #fdfdf4; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **Fatherless children** <span style="background-color: #fdfdf4; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **resistance of silence.**

<span style="background-color: #fdfdf4; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Here is the Word Cloud I created from her poem--

media type="custom" key="9095286"
The different fonts you can use can help you illustrate the feeling of the words. Great for English classes especially! For this poem, I chose a font called "Teen," since the poem was created by a teenager. You can change the shapes, colors, and size. I'm certain there are many other ways you can use Wordle's Clouds. This week, I learned how to embed an image using the Widget. This was completely new to me! I tried to make the image larger, but the tutorial on Wordle for that is pretty weak. It tells you to take a screenshot. I tried several times to do it, but it never worked. Here is the link: http://www.wordle.net/faq#large Arrgggghh! Anyone know how to do this? I have a small HP mini laptop. Other than that, I think Wordle is pretty cool.

**Resources**

 * http://www.delicious.com/**
 * http://www.theteacherscorner.net/**

This week, I discovered a bookmarking site that probably everyone else knows about--Delicious! Basically, it's a wiki that directs you toward a variety of resources--many for teachers. Their website states-- //"Delicious is a social bookmarking service that allows you to tag, save, manage and share Web pages all in one place. With emphasis on the power of the community, Delicious greatly improves how people discover, remember and share on the Internet."// I just typed in teacher resources in the search box, and discovered several sites for teachers. The Teachers Corner has lesson plans, a "book nook," printable worksheets/graphic organizers. You access both sites free of charge.