Idea Diarrhea

The more I read, the more I think, the more I try, the more I want to do.  But when?  And with whom?  My job as a coach allows me entry into many doors in my school, but I do not want to hover outside the doors that have already opened to me, and I do not want to lurk near the closed ones, sending good vibes beneath the door and crossing my fingers.  This is such an exciting time in education, particularly in literacy education.  Every day the limits of what counts as literacy spread a little farther.  Reading, writing, speaking...of course.  Add to that all things digital and literacy becomes all-encompassing.  So where to begin?  With 2-minute documentaries, spoken word poetry festivals, kidblogs, voice thread storytelling, Book Creator stories that save as iBooks, digital mashups, stop-motion animation...  Every time I get a new idea it leads me to seven others.  I need to commit to a plan for developing new projects.  So here it is, for now:

1. Plan blog-writing unit for forth grade
2. Plan a 2-minute documentary as a nonfiction writing unit for early middle school
3. Begin the process of introducing a Spoken Word "contest" in our middle school English program
4. Identify digital means of presenting knowledge (the kids', that is) that incorporates layers of reading, writing, thinking, and communicating skills.

That's enough for now!