The collection of texts “primarily authored by Laura Fleming represents one educator’s vision of what transmedia is, and what it can be, for teachers and students learning to read and write in a digital age.” You’ll find an explanation and history of transmedia as well as example texts and pedagogical reflections.

Also out last week are these posts from Bedford Bits posts:

• Looking for a new way to do group writing? Holly Pappas explores The Collaborative Writing Sprint: Product & Process.
• Andrea Lunsford shares her Tip for New Teachers #7: Setting Up Effective Peer Groups.
• Jack Solomon explores the semiotics of recent scandals in Congressmen Behaving Badly.
• Whether you want to catch up with poetry or keep up it, High School Bits blogger Jesse Tangen has a solution for you in The Poetry Foundation’s New Website: A Walk-through.
• Traci Gardner explores how to use cell phones and encoded images in the writing classroom with QR Codes for Composition Teachers.
• Susan Naomi Bernstein considers what happens when students compose in that precarious space outside the box—or outside the standardized curriculum in Crooked Seams, ADHD, and Basic Writing: A Narrative of Personal Experience.

A Few Extra Links

• Writers tell stories that demonstrate how everyone is a writer in the video “Who is a Writer: What Writers Tell Us” from the National Conversation on Writing and and the WPA Network for Media Action.
• Learn How the Internet Is Revolutionizing Education in this infographic that takes us from TV lectures to YouTube & Facebook.
• For a diversion, “Test Your Literature IQ” with quizzes on first lines, classic texts, and even cats in fiction.
• Sign up for our Ink’d In newsletter and request free professional resources today.
• Have great assignments or student essays to share? Jay Dolmage is Looking for Essays and Assignments and paying up to $100 for works chosen for publication.

For regular updates from Bedford Bits, be sure to like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. Have a great week!

—Traci Gardner

[Photo: Gunter Somerfeld, Transmedia Development & The New World Model by Gulltaggen, on Flickr]

As I wrote in an NCTE Inbox blog post a couple of years ago, the problem is that while spelling has apparently become prime time entertainment, spelling bees still aren’t good pedagogy. A 2007 Washington Post article explains that spelling bees provide limited support to students learning about words and the ways that they work. Sue Ann Gleason, the teacher quoted in the article explains the spelling bees “honor the children who already know how to spell, but they do little to support those who need explicit instruction.”

So while the Spelling Bee may get kids and their families interested in spelling for a few days, take a look at the spelling lesson plans and activities on ReadWriteThink for ways to support every student (not just the ones who can spell funny words like weissnichtwo. And check out the calendar entries, lesson plans, and classroom activities below for more classroom-ready ideas. Have a great week!

New Resources

• Listen to the most recent podcasts on ReadWriteThink:
  • Books about Bullying from Text Messages: Recommendations for Adolescent Readers
  • Take Me Out to the Ball Game from Chatting About Books: Recommendations for Young Readers
• Are your budding scientists eager to discover what makes plants grow? Check out The Science of Spring from Science NetLinks and watch students’ imaginations bloom.
• Inspire students with some summer reading activities:
  • Authentic Persuasive Writing to Promote Summer Reading (Grades 9–12)
  • Beyond “What I Did on Vacation”: Exploring the Genre of Travel Writing(Grades 9–12)
  • Book Clubs: Reading for Fun (Grades 3–5)
  • Reading Everywhere with Dr. Seuss (Grades K–2)
• Find more resources to kick off a summer of learning from our partners on Thinkfinity.

From the Calendar

• May 31: Today is Walt Whitman’s birthday. Students write and illustrate their own children’s stories using the text from a Walt Whitman poem. (For grades 7–12)
• June 1: National Spelling Bee Finals are held this week. Students discuss why certain contests get more publicity than others and what counts as “knowledge.” (For grades 7–12)
• June 1: CNN debuted as the first television news network in 1980. Students brainstorm a list of modern news sources and from previous centuries. Groups then research one of these sources and create a timeline showing the evolution of news. (For grades 3–12)
• June 3: Jesse James robs the Obocock Bank in 1871. Students listen to folksongs and related information about Jesse James, and then research James’ life and write new folk songs about James or another famous outlaw. (For grades 3–12)
• Look ahead to next week for lesson plans and activities on the Crystal Palace, the first sale of ice cream, and the birthdays of authors Cynthia Rylant and Nikki Giovanni.

Connecting with Other Teachers

• As a teacher, how do you inspire students to learn more during the summer? Share your ideas on the Thinkfinity Community.
• Follow, friend, and connect with all the Thinkfinity partners with this collection of links to where to find us online.
• Add your thoughts to one of the Featured Topics on the Thinkfinity Community:
       What do you find most rewarding about being an educator?
       How do you motivate the unmotivated?
       How do you inspire your students to learn more over the summer?
• What resource rocked your classroom this year? Share a resource that most surprised you and sample a few that other teachers have shared.

If you have feedback or questions about ReadWriteThink, all you have to do is contact us.

[Photo: Bee by _PaulS_, on Flickr]

El Día de Los Niños/El Día de Los Libros is supported by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and REFORMA, an ALA affiliate that provides library and information services to Latinos and the Spanish-speaking community.

This week on ReadWriteThink, you can find activities for El Día de Los Niños/El Día de Los Libros as well as other lesson plans and resources for timely classroom activities. Have a great week!

New Resources

• Complete our 9-question survey by the end of the week to help improve our collection of resources in Spanish. The survey closes April 30.
   
• April is National Poetry Month. Find links to 30 different poetry-writing resources in the Thinkfinity Community. (For grades K–12)
   
• Read about the new National Geographic Education website and then explore the site’s features, which include activities rich with photography and video; interactive maps that can be customized for specific projects; and a growing reference library. (For grades K–12)
   
• Explore Thinkfinity’s classroom resources on baseball & spring fitness. There is something for every classroom!

From the Calendar

• April 24: Congress approved the purchase of books to start the Library of Congress in 1800. Celebrate America’s oldest cultural institution. Students practice and refine research skills by visiting the Library of Congress website and conducting a research project. (For grades 7–12)
   
• April 26: The Spanish town of Guernica was bombed on this date in 1937. After students view Picasso’s Guernica, they are provided with background information, share their impressions, and write about Picasso’s purpose in creating the painting. (For grades 3–12)
   
• April 27: Coretta Scott King was born on this day in 1927. Students complete a book report assignment based on a current or past winner of the Coretta Scott King Book Award. (For grades 3–12)
   
• April 27: Playwright August Wilson was born in 1945. Students use the Timeline Tool and Drama Map to create a decade-by-decade record and play of their community’s history. (For grades 9–12)
   
• April 28: Author Lois Duncan was born on this date in 1934. Solve and brainstorm the attributes of a good mystery. Small groups compose short mysteries using the Mystery Cube interactive. (For grades 3–12)
   
• April 29: Poet Yusef Komunyakaa was born in 1947. Read and analyze the language use in Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem “Camouflaging the Chimera.” (For grades 8–12)
   
• April 30: Celebrate El Día de Los Niños/El Día de Los Libros (Children’s Day/Book Day)! Using the Book Cover Creator, students write and share their own multilingual stories. (For grades 3–12)
   
• Look ahead to next week for literacy activities on Get Caught Reading Month, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Teacher Appreciation Week, the founding of National Public Radio (NPR), and Cinco de Mayo.

Connecting with Other Teachers

• Connect with teachers across the country and around the world in our Reading & Language Arts group in the Thinkfinity Community.
   
• How do you motivate the unmotivated? Share your ideas in the Thinkfinity Community forums.
   
• Keep students at the center of learning by registering today for the Supporting Students in a Time of Core Standards Virtual Conference Series.
   

If you have feedback or questions about ReadWriteThink, all you have to do is contact us. Have a great week!

—Traci Gardner

This week on ReadWriteThink, you can find more resources for Earth Day and other poetry activities, lesson plans, and calendar resources to support you. Have a great week!

New Resources

• Prepare students and their families for Drop Everything and Read Day (April 12) with the new Make Time for Reading tip sheet.
   
• April is National Poetry Month. Find links to 30 different poetry-writing resources in the Thinkfinity Community. (For grades K–12)
   
• Work with Spanish-speaking families? ReadWriteThink has a new collection of tips and activities translated into Spanish for use at home that you can use to explain how families can help their children develop as skilled readers and writers.
   
• Talk about the 150^thanniversary of the U.S. Civil War with Thinkfinity classroom resources.
   
• International Reading Association launches Learning Pages partnership with ePals to engage schools, parents, and students across the entire suite of ePals products with their own collaborative programming.

From the Calendar

• April 10: The Statute of Anne, an influential copyright law, went into effect in 1710. Make a class booklet on copyright rules to use as a reference. (For grades 6–12)
   
• April 12: Gary Soto, poet and children’s writer, was born in 1952. Compose stories and poetry that evoke memories and images of home, family, and community. (For grades K–6)
   
• April 13: Seamus Heaney was born on this day in 1939. Focus on figurative language with an exploration of Heaney’s poem, “Digging.” (For grades 7–12)
   
• April 14: Participate in Poem in Your Pocket Day! Select a poem and carry it in your pocket all day, sharing it wherever you go. (For grades 3–6)
   
• April 14: Noah Webster published his American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828. Celebrate the publication of Webster’s Dictionary using a variation of the board game Balderdash. (For grades 2–12)
   
• April 15: The RMS Titanic sank on this day in 1912. Use the Internet Workshop model to explore web links about the Titanic disaster.
  (For grades 3–12)
   
  
• Look ahead to next week for literacy activities on Paul Revere’s midnight ride, Earth Day, and the birthdays of writers William Shakespeare, Mary Hoffman and Barbara Park.

Connecting with Other Teachers

• Connect with teachers across the country and around the world in our Reading & Language Arts group forum in the Thinkfinity Community.
   
• Get great ideas for using online video tools from the Online Tools for Educators group, including ideas for digital storytelling.
   
• 2011 marks the sesquicentennial or 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Sign up for the Civil War Stories from the Smithsonian’s History Explorer, a 30-minute webinar on April 20th at 4pm or on April 23 at 1pm.
   
• Keep students at the center of learning by registering today for the Supporting Students in a Time of Core Standards Virtual Conference Series.
   
• Learn how to train other educators to use Thinkfinity in the classroom. Apply now for the 6-week course. Deadline: April 19.

If you have feedback or questions about ReadWriteThink, all you have to do is contact us.

 
[Photo: NASA GOES-12 Full Disk view March 30, 2010 by NASA Goddard Photo and Video, on Flickr]

So many April poems, it’s little wonder that April is National Poetry Month. This week, ReadWriteThink has poetry activities, lesson plans, and calendar resources to support you. Have a great week!

New Resources

• Visit the Thinkfinity Community for links to 30 different poetry-writing resources. (For grades K–12)
   
• International Reading Association launches Learning Pages partnership with ePals to engage schools, parents, and students across the entire suite of ePals products with their own collaborative programming.
   
• Prepare students and their families for Drop Everything and Read Day (April 12) with the new Make Time for Reading tip sheet.
   
• ReadWriteThink has a new collection of tips and activities translated into Spanish for use at home that you can use to explain how families can help their children develop as skilled readers and writers.
   
• New lesson plan: What’s Under the Slide? Making Inferences Using Microscopes (for grades 3–5)
   
• Get ready for Earth Day (April 22) with interactive STEM games and lesson plans for teaching students to think green.

From the Calendar

• April 4: In 1928, Maya Angelou was born. Ask students to read some of Angelou’s works and reflect on how one’s life and experiences can influence one’s writing. (For grades 7–12)
   
• April 5: Pocahontas married John Rolfe on this date in 1614. Explore the fact and fiction of the legend of Pocahontas through research and discussion. (For grades 7–12)
   
• April 7: Jazz and blues singer Billie Holiday was born in 1915. Identify powerful and descriptive images in Holiday’s song “Strange Fruit” for a mini-lesson on tone and about the lynchings in the South during this time. (For grades 9 –12)
   
• April 9: In 1939, Marian Anderson was denied permission to sing at Constitution Hall. After exploring historical background materials, write a letter to a newspaper editor about social injustice. (For grades 7–12)
   
• Look ahead to next week for literacy activities on copyright, Gary Soto, Seamus Heaney, Noah Webster, Poem in Your Pocket Day, and the RMS Titanic.

Connecting with Other Teachers

• Connect with teachers across the country and around the world in our Reading & Language Arts group forum in the Thinkfinity Community.
   
• Will you write a haiku for Thinkfinity? Talk about Thinkfinity as a whole, your favorite partners, lesson plans you love, useful resources, or outstanding webinars. Whatever inspires you. Post one poem or several.
   
• 2011 marks the sesquicentennial or 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Sign up for the Civil War Stories from the Smithsonian’s History Explorer, a 30-minute webinar on April 20th at 4pm or on April 23 at 1pm.
   
• Keep students at the center of learning by registering today for the Supporting Students in a Time of Core Standards Virtual Conference Series.
   
• Thinkfinity is planning to invite educational figures to discussion events. Who would you like to connect with in the Thinkfinity Community?

If you have feedback or questions about ReadWriteThink, all you have to do is contact us. Have a great week!

 
[Photo:French Lilac Detail by farlane, on Flickr]

Cake may not be the answer to every problem, but it can’t hurt to give it a try. My suggestion for curing writer’s block? Why not take a break and read one of the new entries posted on Bedford Bits last week?

• Holly Pappas discusses her techniques to foster a sense of curiosity, inquiry, and wonder in Learning to Ask the Questions.
   
• A picture might be worth a thousand words. But words paired with pictures? That’s worth even more! Andrea Lunsford discusses Words . . . and Images, and teaching graphic novels.
   
• What role does the Writing Center play in Writing-About-Writing? Blogger Doug Downs explores how tutors contribute to the pedagogical approach in WAWriting Center.
   
• What kind of progress students can make in one semester? Barclay Barrios shares another student paper and his comments in More Sample Work: Student Progress.
   
• High School Bits blogger Jodi Rice asks why people read literature and what reading will look like in the digital age in Storytelling 2.0.
   
• Where does the military get names for their operations? Reflecting on the Operation Odyssey Dawn, Traci Gardner talks about Naming and the Rhetoric of War.
   
• Susan Naomi Bernstein reflects on classroom assignments and her own writing in Writing for the Catastrophic Moment.
   

A Few Extra Reminders

• National Poetry Month is here, and so is the Third Annual (TYCA) National Poetry Month Celebration!
   
• Read the top intellectual property developments of 2010 in the CCCC IP Caucus Annual. The free document can be downloaded as a Word document or PDF from the CCCC web site.
   
• A Comic Book Lover’s Guide to Going Digital has for resources and tips you can use when discussing comic books graphic novels.
   
• If you’re heading to CCCC, check out C’s the Day! CCCC – the Game? Level up through a series of quests, earn special prizes and titles, and more. Follow the game on Twitter: @csthedaygame.
   
• Don’t forget to tag your Tweets with #CCCC2011 or #CCCC11 so we can follow your comments on this year’s conference online.

We’re still looking for suggestions. Tell me what you want to know about teaching writing or about using digital tools in the composition classroom by leaving a comment. Your response will help shape upcoming posts.
 

[Photo: Chocolate cake slice by alexanderward12, on Flickr]

I wondered, however, if we had enough resources on the site to write a different kind of poetry every day. I began with student interactives and then hit the site’s search engine to come up with the list below.

Each day has a link to a different kind of poetry writing, either a specific poetic form, like sonnets or acrostics, or poetry focused on a particular topic, like seasonal haiku or color poems. The materials range in grade levels, but could usually be adapted for any age (even college students).

So here’s the challenge for you and students: I found a different poem for every day of the month. How many different poems can you write?

Cross-posted to the NCTE Community ReadWriteThink.org Group and the Reading and Language Arts Group on the Thinkfinity Community.

[Photo: Magnetic Fridge Poetry by Minimalist Photography, on Flickr]

New Resources

• Help students understand the Conflict in Libya with a special collection of lesson plans and classroom resources from Thinkfinity.org.
   
• ReadWriteThink has a new collection of tips and activities translated in Spanish for use at home. The resources span grades K–12 and cover important literacy topics, such as “How to Help a Child Choose a Book” and “How to Be Safe Online.”
   
• New lesson plans:
  • Designing Elements of Story in Little Blue and Little Yellow (for grades K–5)
  • Literature Response in Primary Classrooms (for grades K–2)
  • What is Poetry? Contrasting Poetry and Prose (for grades 6–8)
  • What’s the Purpose? Examining a Cold Manipulation of Language (for grades 9–12)
• Show students how and why it is important to preserve the environment with eco-friendly classroom resources from Thinkfinity.org.
   
• Prepare students and their families for Drop Everything and Read Day (April 12) with the new Make Time for Reading tip sheet.

From the Calendar

• March 30: Black Beauty author Anna Sewell was born in 1820. Through Sewell’s novel, explore cruelty to animals and extend the discussion to current events. (For grades 3–12)
   
• March 31: César Chávez was born on this day in 1927. research a civil rights leader and do a creative writing piece, followed by a short story, with their group. (For grades 7–12)
   
• April 1: April is National Poetry Month! Students are assigned to be “poets of the day” and are provided several models to create, illustrate, and present their different poems to the class. (For grades K–12)
   
• April 2: Hans Christian Andersen was born on this date in 1805. Compare one of Andersen’s stories to the original story with
  the Venn Diagram tool, write fairy tale autobiographies, and explore satire with the movie Shrek. (For grades K–12)
   
• Look ahead to next week for literacy activities on Maya Angelou, Pocahontas, Billie Holiday, and Marian Anderson.

Connecting with Other Teachers

• Kindergarten Teacher ReGina Harvey explains how to spark imagination and engagement with fractured fairy tales in ReadWriteThink community stories.
   
• Take your teaching career to the next level! Watch the new ReadWriteThink ReView video to Find out how you can benefit from the outstanding professional development resources from IRA and NCTE.
   
• Join our Reading & Language Arts group forum in the Thinkfinity Community to exchange ideas and resources teachers across the country and around the world.
   
• April Fool’s Day is Friday. Share some humorous books that get kids laughing and learning in Humor and Giggles in the Classroom.
   
• Join the discussion on Bullying and Civic Education in the Thinkfinity Community.
   
• Thinkfinity is planning to invite educational figures to discussion events. Who would you like to connect with in the Thinkfinity Community?

If you have feedback or questions about ReadWriteThink, all you have to do is contact us. Have a great week!

—Traci Gardner

 
[Photo: Young Irish Lamb Sitting. by moonjazz, on Flickr]

New Resources

• Answer students’ questions and discuss current events with Thinkfinity.org’s classroom resources on earthquakes & tsunamis and nuclear energy.
   
• Spring into Writing! Create a haiku about the season with the grades 3–5 lesson Seasonal Haiku: Writing Poems to Celebrate Any Season.
   
• Need some egg-citement in your life? Then, listen in to hear about some books featuring adventurous chickens on Episode 32 of Chatting About Books: Chicken Adventures.

From the Calendar

• March 21: It’s World Poetry Day! Explore a poem by Billy Collins, create themed poetry collections, annotate favorite poems, or try your hand at acrostics, diamante, letter, or shape poems. (For grades K–12)
   
• March 22: Randolph Caldecott was born on March 22, 1846. Create a classroom literary award modeled after the Caldecott Medal (For grades K–12)
   
• March 24: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof premiered in New York in 1955. Introduce students to the characteristics of drama with Reader’s Theater. (For grades 5–12)
   
• March 25: Celebrate Kate DiCamillo’s birthday today. After examining the characters in one of DiCamillo’s stories, students write original short stories featuring animals as central characters. (For grades 3–6)
   
• March 26: Poet Robert Frost was born in 1874. Celebrate Frost’s birthday and his poetry by exploring his innovation in the sonnet form. (For grades 3–12)
   
• Look ahead to next week for resources on National Poetry Month and the birthdays of César Chávez, Anna Sewell, and Hans Christian Andersen.

Connecting with Other Teachers

• Want to ask questions, exchange ideas, & share resources for teaching reading & language arts? Join our Reading & Language Arts group forum.
   
• What books do you recommend to get kids laughing and learning? Share your favorites in Humor and Giggles in the Classroom.
   
• Join the discussion on Bullying and Civic Education in the Thinkfinity Community.
   
• Thinkfinity is planning to invite educational figures to discussion events. Who would you like to connect with in the Thinkfinity Community?

If you have feedback or questions about ReadWriteThink, all you have to do is contact us. Have a great week!

In the classroom, why not try a March Madness Poetry Tournament? It’s an activity you can easily customize for your class. Don’t have time for all 64 participants? Just move down a level or two to the Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight. Not teaching poetry? Focus your tournament on whatever you’re reading, viewing, or talking about in class (or out). How about a Final Four showdown among four authors you’ve studied?

Even if you aren’t following basketball, we have some slam-dunk strategies for you, all posted on Bedford Bits in the last week:

• Holly Pappas considers the challenge of student diversity in the composition classroom in One Size Does Not Fit All.
   
• High School Bits blogger MG Gannon focuses on occasion, argument, and research using Internet news sources with Rhetorical Context: Rhetoric in the Wake of the Arizona Shootings (Part 2). Read Part 1 of the series for an activity that analyzes political speeches.
   
• Andrea Lunsford explores The Importance of the Writing Center and their impact upon students’ abilities to think and write critically.
   
• Dan Martin shares his experiences with Writing About Writing pedagogy in WAW: Increasing Credibility and Course Personalization.
   
• Barclay Barrios talks about electronic tools and feedback on student work in Commenting with Word: The Basics.
   
• Traci Gardner has a solution that takes the torture out of poetry analysis in Using Pop Culture to Hook Students on Poetry.
   
• High School Bits blogger Jodi Rice suggests some strategies teachers can use them with Cool Google Tools.
   
• Susan Naomi Bernstein explains how the familiar music people love can help learners to connect to unfamiliar material in Listening to Learn.
  

A Few Extra Reminders!

• Start planning now to participate in Collaborvention 2011: A Computers & Writing Unconference. (It’s all online, so it fits your travel budget!)
   
• If you’re heading to CCCC, make sure you check out C’s the Day! CCCC – the Game? Level up through a series of quests, earn special prizes and titles, and more. Follow the game on Twitter: @csthedaygame
   
• Be sure to check out Bedford/St. Martins’ brand-new website. It has a cleaner look and feel, new navigation elements, and helpful resources that make your search for course materials quick and easy.
   
• Bedford/St. Martins’ online reference Writer’s Help has a Facebook page! Become a fan!

[Photo: March Madness by toddwickersty, on Flickr]