1. Meenoo Rami, English Teacher Science Leadership Academy Philadelphia, PA Community, Collaboration, Creation
2. My Students Mike, Ms. Rami, Aamer 2010 Badminton Team with Coach Rami
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6. What I want for my Students Describe how you read and write differently after taking this course. I read and write differently in class because English 1 has given me more time to become a better writer. I LOVED this class! I read and write differently after taking this course because my writing skills and reading skills have improved. I like to write more, I enjoy expressing my feelings in writing. Source: Rami (2011)
Thank you for giving me a chance to share the stories from heart and my classroom. I am a proud member of NCTE. I appreciate this opportunity to share with you briefly how I use technology to create community, co-collaborate with my students and help them create meaning out of our work together.
These are my students. I am honored to teach them. I realize that their parents put a great deal of trust in my school and me by sending them here, I value this trust and live up to their expectations, everyday.
My students would be called Millennials in studies, research and dissertations but to me they are my best teachers. From them, I learn what works and what doesn’t when it comes to my practice.
In order to teach them, I had to know them. At the beginning of every year, I give a student a survey to learn about their family, favorite books and music and technology inclination. Here is what I’ve learned
Aside from using technology, my students would rather co-create meaning than take notes from lectures, They are goal-oriented, collaborative, social and full of potential.
So now I know them, where do I want to go with them through the year? These are direct quotes from the end of the year survey which my students completed. This is what I want for them, for to think of themselves as budding readers, writers and thinkers who will take
Using blogs, student work is made public, celebrated and shared with relevant members of our community, from parents to other teachers, administrators or grandma who might be checking in from Puerto Rico. By publishing and commenting on each other’s work, students work is elevated and celebrated.
Using online community of readers like Goodreads, my students recommend books to one and another, writer reviews and even connect with Young Adult authors on the site. They go from reading for class to reading for life.
I don’t want my students to just be content consumers in the 21 st century but I want them to be content creators. This is a video created by Grace, a reluctant reader and a future tattoo artist in my 9 th grade class.
At the end of the day, I am left to grapple with these questions. For me, technology is a necessary tool to create some amazing work with my students in the classroom.
I started #engchat b/c I wanted to give back to my profession. I wanted to collaborate and interact with teachers from around the world. This weekly twitter chat often brings hundreds of participants together to share their best ideas, questions and inquiry. As an organizer, I line up a guest moderator each week and using the hashtag, #engchat, we can see each other’s responses. More than a weekly chat, it’s a learning community that interacts throughout the week to support one and another.
