Tarrant Institute e-newsletter
Thursday, November 10, 2011
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In this issue:
   
    * Spotlight on: Tweetedtimes.com 
    * Visit New Zealand in 2012 with UVM's Education Department
    * Writing Contest for Grades 4-12


Tweet of the Week:

       Students offer ideas for educational apps http://sbne.ws/r/9nFH
                            --@pennybishop

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Spotlight on: Tweetedtimes.com
http://www.tweetedtimes.com

    * Tweetedtimes.com lets twitter followers publish online newspapers on any topic they choose. Check out
       South Burlington librarian and technology integrationist Donna McDonald's TweetedTimes for Monday, 11/7/11:
       http://tweetedtimes.com/#!/dsmacdonald

Related:

    Tweetedtimes in TeacherCast LiveBinder
    http://livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit/154861

    VT YA author Kate Messner on twitter in the middle level classroom
    http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6708199.html

    Using twitter to engage shy students - a case study
    http://www.good.is/post/twitter-in-the-classroom-watch-this-teacher-engage-shy-students-in-learning-history/

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Writing Contest for Grades 4-12

The Vermont Department of Libraries and the Vermont Center for the Book invite young readers in grades 4 – 12 to participate in Letters About Literature (LAL), a national reading and writing program of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

To enter, readers write a personal letter to an author, living or dead, of any genre—fiction, nonfiction, or poetry, contemporary or classic—explaining how that author's work changed the student's way of thinking about the world or themselves.

There are three competition levels:

Level I for children in grades 4 through 6;
Level II for grades 7 and 8,
Level III, grades 9 - 12.

State winners, announced in March each year, receive a $50 gift certificate to Target as well as a prize from the local sponsoring organizations. National winners, announced in late April, receive additional prizes and earn for their school or community library LAL Reading Promotion Grants valued at thousands of dollars.

LAL focuses on reader response and reflective writing. The program provides free teaching materials, including lesson plans, writing samples, assessment checklists, and teacher tips--all downloadable through the program’s website at http://www.lettersaboutliterature.org. 

Submissions must be postmarked by January 6, 2012.  For information about entering the contest, visit http://www.lettersaboutliterature.org. You can also email questions to the Vermont Center for the Book at wendy@mothergooseprograms.org  or to the Department of Libraries at grace.greene@state.vt.us

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Visit New Zealand in 2012 with UVM's Education Department:
A Letter from Tarrant Institute Director Penny Bishop:

"Dear Teachers and Principals,

Annually at UVM we offer a travel-study course designed to examine student-centered and technology-rich education in New Zealand middle schools. Educators in our Tarrant Institute partner schools have participated in the past and found it to be a very powerful experience.

For this reason, TIIE is again offering a subsidy to our partner schools for those who may be interested in joining the course. We are attaching here a brochure that outlines the program, which will take place February 25th- March 10th (this overlaps February break for many schools). The TIIE subsidy covers the program fee for up to two educators per partner school.

For more information about this opportunity, please download a pdf of the program's brochure from
http://www.uvm.edu/tiie/NZ_2012.pdf or get in touch with Penny Bishop, TIIE Director, at pbishop@uvm.edu.

Best regards,
All of us at TIIE"
   
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Coming Events:

11/16: Really Cool Tool Duel
4pm, ISTE webinar

11/17: LNV open training session
Colchester VT

11/17: Tech Tips: Bookmapping with Google Earth
Free @ UVM

11/19: e-communities in the Digital Age
Lyndon State College

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© Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education 2011
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