BlogLovin' & Blog Huntin'

There's always something new to keep up with in social media, isn't there?  My latest adventure:  Bloglovin!  
 I'm still working through the details, but so far...I like what I see!  I was fortunate enough to get to transfer the blogs I follow from Google reader over to Bloglovin with a few clicks of the mouse.  If you weren't so lucky before Google Reader disappeared, it's NOT TOO LATE to search for some of your old favorites, and maybe even find some new ones to follow.   Let's go on a BLOG hunt together!  :-)  I've joined the Goin' on a Blog hunt linky with Laura Candler to help teachers find some terrific blogs to follow on Bloglovin' if you're up for it!  



Getting started is easy! If you'd like to follow my blog, No Monkey Business, simply click on the black button to follow my blog on BlogLovin, which was a button created by the talented and super sweet Melissa over at Common Core and So Much More!  




If you're ready to hunt for some additional teacher and student friendly blogs, click on the Blog Hunt button where you can peruse through some outstanding educational blogs. Happy Hunting!

 

 Bananas for hunts that don't require camouflage and getting up early!

SMARTPHONES = SMARTTRAVELLERS

Recent research has shown that smartphones really are a traveller’s best friend and, thanks to recent advancements in technology, organisations are also befriending them more than ever.

Last week, a survey from TripIt, the leading mobile travel organiser from Concur, has shown that travellers find it much easier, and are more comfortable, staying in touch with their partners back home thanks to the variety of technology that’s accessible through their smartphones.

Just 17% of TripIt respondents said they still found it difficult to stay in touch with home when travelling on business. And just 8% continue to find it stressful to say goodbye to their partners. Instead they are finding comfort in their smartphones, which allow them to stay in constant contact whether through regular phone calls, video calls, email, text messages and social networking.

88% of travellers make phone calls to stay in touch with back home, 47% use video calls, 85% texts and 72% email. Despite having the same access to technology, those staying put don’t seem to have embraced technology in quite the same way with 95% sticking to phone calls and just 37% using video calls, 78% texts and 45% email.

I think what’s important about these figures, which, to some degree, seem to state the obvious, is that connected travellers are no doubt happier, less-stressed travellers, which means their productivity and wellbeing will be leaps and bounds ahead of those travellers who are home sick and suffering because of it and companies will save money as a result.

Mobile technology is not only proving its worth for staying in touch at home, but also when travellers are away. Social media tools, in particular, enable travellers to stay in touch with their community of trusted contacts and also enable them to hook up with fellow travellers. These can be wide or niche communities, for example, MaidenVoyage.com for women travelling alone.

The next smartphone technology to make a huge impact on travellers’ lives is undoubtedly NFC (near field communication):  contactless payments. This is increasingly available and soon it won’t feel strange to make payments through a mobile phone with a chip in it instead of using a credit card. It will, for example, automatically do travel expenses, open hotel room doors and start cars.

And for organisations, smartphone technology is also proving to be worth its weight in gold. NFC, for example, has the potential to save money – lots of money – by encouraging traveller compliance. For example, suggesting you take the underground from the hotel instead of a cab (together with the route), or instead of taking a taxi to a favourite bistro, travellers will be directed towards restaurants in the hotel’s vicinity that are within budget.

The smartphone is already a must-have travelling gadget, over the next 12 months it will become the traveller’s companion. The technology to make that happen already exists – it is just a matter of time before it becomes standard.

David Chapple is event director of the Business Travel Show and is already planning his trip to the GBTA Conference in the UK this August using TripIt and will be glued to his smartphone before, during and after his travels.

Read Like a Detective Book Study & Freebie

Have you read Teaching Your Students to Read Like Detectives?  It's a close up look at training students how to analyze and dive deeper into the text, as well as learn how to discuss text in a meaningful way.  I heard someone recently say, "When you teach kids to read like this, it's more like scuba diving, than water skiing."  

My teachers and I pulled together for a book study so that we could better prepare ourselves for Common Core and teaching kids to read more rigorous text with a purpose.  We had some fun along the way and I'd love to share the highlights.



Valuable lesson #1:  We decided it's important to create not only a text dependent classroom, but a SAFE, text discussion-based classroom!  By setting the stage early, you can foster a classroom where everyone's opinion, comments, expertise, learning, etc. has value.  The book discusses some key components to creating this type of environment.  I created an acronym to post on an Anchor chart to help remind our students what type of Reading classroom we would be! 



Valuable lesson #2 and key "take-away" from the book was the importance of keeping kids IN the text.  OH, how easy it is for them (and us) to jump into personal schema and bring what WE know (or think we know) to the text, instead of keeping our conversations centered around what the AUTHOR wanted us to focus on. The book gives some great question stems to help guide teachers BACK to the text when students start to stray.



Valuable lesson #3:  Teaching Narrative text (fiction) is still VERY RELEVANT and EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!  When Common Core came along, one of my very first introductions to it was someone who said that Non-fiction was here to take over the world.  Okay, maybe not that extreme, but I began to wonder where literature would fit into all this Common Core stuff.  It didn't GO anywhere!  It's still as relevant and crucial to teach as it ever was!  


Valuable lesson #4:  Expository Text IS making a bigger splash! There are many cool non-fiction genres to expose children to.  The book gives a list of some signal words that help lead students to a better understanding of how text can be organized.  I put them on Anchor Charts to help alert children to some of the different types of expository text they would be exposed to!  They're NEW, but my ultimate goal is that they will carry over into the different genres of writing.  If students are writing a compare/contrast piece, the "signal" words on the anchor chart can also be used in their writing to assist them in keeping it a true compare/contrast!  

Finally, Valuable lesson #5:  Collecting evidence from the text can be fun!  I've included a FREEBIE template that can be used in your Common Core Reading classroom.  As you do a 'Close Read' of a text, you can have students scour the text for a variety of information you want them to focus on. There are lots of suggestions in the Teaching Your Students to Read Like a Detective book.  Our teachers will simply add the labels to the magnifying glass handles for what evidence they want the students to locate in the book. Students will record in the magnifying glass circles and share.  Click on the image to grab the freebie template!  :-)





If you're an educator and are teaching Common Core, this book is an excellent resource for your professional library!  If your faculty is into book studies, this one is a quick read and provides teachers with some essential tools for tackling the Common Core in Reading.  



Bananas for anything that helps my students become better readers,