Stannerscircle ning update

Well, a few new members have joined which is good to see. Download stats show that others who have stumbled across the site have found some useful material as well. I will continue adding resources to see if it gains momentum as we settle into the back to school routine.

Numbers have also climbed a little for the March 20th, 'Science Fiction' TTA workshop. Some useful video clips have been posted on the ning site for clarifying genre context. I will try to cover several modules and electives and welcome input from other HSC teachers relating to topics they might be teaching.

http://stannerscircle.ning.com/
I have set up a wikispace for my 2010 classes and students are starting to familiarize themselves with it. There is a huge range of ability with regards to computer literacy and so will load some simple video tutorials for how to use powerpoints, podcasts and blogs to help those with only basic knowledge. I am amazed and inspired by the technological expertise and teaching strategies exhibited on so many educational wikispaces and blogs, here and overseas.
Found an excellent 'War' site with a vast range of quality quotes useful for triggering class discussion. http://www.hickorytech.net/~leighp/warisstupid/.
Matched with evocative images and an inviting format, students are encouraged to continue reading. A good homework task would be to get them to choose 10 quotes that most appeal to them and have them deconstruct why and how and then write a reflection statement outlining a more informed view of war.
Bye for now, back to school prep.

'Goodnight Mr. Tom' as a 'Changing Worlds' text

Have started a conceptual unit of work. Hopefully students will become more aware of the impact of changing circumstances. The novel being used is 'Goodnight Mr. Tom'. To establish the contextual framework I have designed a ppt which is available on my wikispace: http://stannersenglishmatters.wikispaces.com/
Sections from 'The Chronicle of Narnia' could be used to demonstrate how the film fictionalized factual events in an effective way.
A great deal of material is available regarding the evacuation of children during the Blitz, especially from the IWM, including personal stories of those directly affected.

Extra pages and various resources have also been added to my wikispace that might be useful along with new material for Senior English teachers on my HSC ning site.
Scroll down to find direct links.

Useful Resources from a Victorian Wikispace

The day to day workload often leaves little time to search for innovative ways to deliver units of work. Here is a good site for online tools to make coursework more interesting. Well worth a look when you get time.

Useful Online Resources - English@11

http://english11casey.wetpaint.com/page/Useful+Online+Resources

Thirty Eight Interesting Ways To Use Wordle I

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Thirty Eight Interesting Ways To Use Wordle I

View more presentations from Curtis Lee.

Another year beckons!

In preparing for upcoming topics, I have stumbled across some wonderful resources including an excellent'Romanticism'ning site. This is well worth visiting.

http://romanticism.ning.com/

May Term 1 be productive and stress free.

Barbara

StannersCircle Ning

I have set up a Ning site for HSC resources. The idea is that it becomes a repository for teachers to use and add to. I have set up three groups to get us started,

'Frankenstein' and 'Blade Runner', 'Hamlet' and 'Science Fiction'. I have also posted some basic resources relating to them. I still have to master some of the 'Ning' features but it seems fairly straight forward thus far.

It is fairly open for everyone to use at the moment but I might find that it needs tweaking to increase functionality and stop it from becoming cluttered which is what I find most annoying with some of the other 'ning' sites I have visited.

It is interesting that different sites such as blogsites, wikispaces and nings have different strengths and weaknesses in terms of layout, accessibility and options. Nings seem to be the most complicated in regards to streamlining but I will wait and see how much traffic it attracts before I put too much time or energy into making it look better.

My aim is to encourage teachers to share resources more and feel comfortable with expressing ideas and strategies as well as having a rant if need be. The ning offers a forum, blog and posting site which seems easier to navigate in some ways.

This is an experiment -

watch this space to see if it blooms or withers.

http://stannerscircle.ning.com/

Extra resources available at my wikispace

http://stannersenglishmatters.wikispaces.com/