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 * WELCOME TO MY CURRICULUM CORNER!

This wiki is for all those dedicated and hard working teachers out there in cyberspace. Please browse every nook and cranny and use whatever you find useful in your own classroom. For an inspirational video about teaching, click [|here.] Here's [|another].

As a child advocate and former secondary ELA teacher who is now a Director of Curriculum and Instruction in a Western New York city school district as well as a university instructor of future English teachers, it is important to me that teachers stay current with new and exciting trends in education in order to continue to motivate and inspire the learners and leaders of tomorrow.

In this wikispace you will find a number of links and resources that address learning styles, motivation and discipline, lesson and unit planning and design, literacy in the content areas, and [|21st Century Skills].**

**Who wouldn't want kids learning these kinds of skills? Things are much different from when we were young students. Times have certainly changed, my friends! Kids today are DIGITAL LEARNERS, period. We must find ways to tap into these 21st Century skills to motivate, inspire, and help kids see the relevance of school today or we will continue to see graduation rates fall and dropout rates rise.**


 * Speaking of 21st Century Skills, here's something hot of the press... **

**WASHINGTON, D.C.– Sept. 10, 2008** – Creating a 21st century education system that prepares students, workers and citizens to triumph in the global skills race is the central economic competitiveness issue currently facing the United States, according to a new report released by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
 * In fact, there's a new National Technology Literacy Exam coming our way soon. Read all about it ** [|**here.**]

To see **motivational videos** that address the topic of teaching 21st Century Skills, see the links below.
[|A Vision of K-12 Students Today] [|24 Hours in the Life of a Digital Native] [|A Vision of Students Today] [|2006 vs. 1976] [|Did You Know? 2.0] [|The Teachology of Technology]

[[file:Meeting the Needs of All Learners.ppt]] ***contains some linked videos from youtube and teachertube.**
=== Here's a project that I differentiated by choice, interest, and product for __To Kill a Mockingbird__ along with the rubric I used for assessment. Below you will also find a teachertube link to a video newscast some former students created in movie maker as one of the project choices (very cool). ===

[|TKMB NEWS] student project posted on teachertube compliments of my former [|Tonawanda High School] students

[|TKMB Themes] could be used as a model for a project choice

[|TKMB and the Scotsboro Boys Trial Comparison] this could be used as a model for one component of one of the project choices, although I would like to see something more extensive.

[|Movie Trailer] this one doesn't match a project choice, it's just cute

= For Literacy in the Content Areas ideas, see the following documents: = = =

I invite you to share this space with others and use whatever is attached, embedded, or linked to enhance your instruction and the learning experiences of your students !
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