Ready for National Poetry Month?

April is National Poetry Month, and the Academy of American Poets is inviting everyone to celebrate in some creative ways. First, anyone can sign up to receive a poem a day email. They are trying to get us all to select a poem and carry it in our pockets on April 30 to share with co-workers, family, and friends. Every year, they choose a poster to celebrate poetry (which educators can get for free) They also are having a unique photo competition to "capture and share your own ephemeral bits of verse." The idea is to "write lines from a favorite poem on a sandy beach, assemble twigs on a hillside, or chalk the sidewalk. Take a photo before it disappears and post it in the Free Verse group page on Flickr, or on the Academy's Fan Page on Facebook, or email your photo to freeverse@poets.org."

Some really wonderful photos are already online.

Social Networking: My Experiences

I am beginning to see great possibilities for social networking in education. I have participated in various online groups for years but have never seen the commitment and collaborative spirit that I see at work on sites such as Classroom 2.0 and Fireside Learning.

Classroom 2.0 and School 2.0 were founded by Steve Hargadon, the director of the K12 Open Technologies Initiative at the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN).

Fireside Learning: Conversations About Education, was started by Connie Weber, a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher in Ann Arbor Michigan.
Another one that intrigues me is FieldFindr: Connecting Teachers to Global Citizens. David Truss, an educator in Vancouver, started this site as a way for teachers to connect to experts in various fields.