About
Blog Purpose:
The purpose of this blog is to share thoughts on Web 2.0 tools, to contemplate on how to best use them, and to connect with wise educators struggling with similar concerns. In addition, TechBabble highlights best practices in technology integration.
About the Author:
Sarah R. Blattner is the Technology Coordinator at The Crefeld School, Philadelphia, PA. She taught middle and high school English for many years in both the public and private school settings.
Sarah Blattner’s Work Samples:
Oh Web 2.0
http://ohweb20.wikispaces.com/
Oh Web2.0 is a wikispace that explores the use of various Web 2.0 tools for collaborating, creating, communication, and synthesizing information.
http://writepostread.wikispaces.com/
This is a wiki designed for students to write about literature, compose creatively, share, offer and receive feedback, and participate in an online, collaborative writing community.
WebQuest: Culture Quest, 1960s, The Outsiders
http://web.epsteinatlanta.org/culture_quest/index.htm
Culture Quest, 1960s is an interactive webquest that introduces middle school students to the local color of the novel The Outsiders, by S. E. Hinton.
Podcast Book Project
http://web.epsteinatlanta.org/jewish%20books/index.htm
Students in 7th grade English independently read a book of their choice. After exploring sample podcasts and their formats, students collaborated in small groups, composing scripts. Students then utilized MAC software, Garageband, to utilize sound effects and apply sophisticated sound editing techniques. Student volunteers assisted in the building of this podcast web site.
Wiki: Freak the Mighty, Novel Study
https://epsteinfreakthemighty.wikispaces.com/
Author Rodman Philbrick posted responses to many of the students’ questions for this online novel discussion of the summer read, Freak the Mighty, by Rodman Philbrick.
Article Featuring Wiki, Freak the Mighty
http://sandyspringsga.ourlittle.net/WikiTheEpsteinSchool07
Envisioning Literature
http://www.learner.org/envisioningliterature/
I wrote all the ancillary online and print materials for Conversations in Literature, a high school and middle school series, as well as significant portions of Making Meaning in Literature: A Workshop for Teachers, Grade 6-8, and Engaging With Literature, A Video Library, Grades 6-8. My vision shaped the content for the entire site, as well as the format for the workshop and library of online and print materials for the project. I presented the web site at the 2001 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) national conference.
This professional development video series is based on the research by Dr. Judith Langer from the National Center on English Learning and Achievement (CELA), State University of New York, Albany. Dr. Langer’s research demonstrates that readers experience a recursive process of making meaning from what they read by relying on their background knowledge and personal experiences, connecting new information to what they already know, holding up the literature as a mirror to their own lives, as well as critically responding to the craft of the author.
