My Techno-Steeped Classroom

Once in a while, the centerpiece of this blog shifts from the mighty Lachen and Aksel. Here are a couple of sites that tell you about what I've been doing at St. Mark's. The student body recently hosted social networking guru, Matt Chamberlin, for an assembly about using social networking sites. Matt also visited my classroom, and we had an invigorating discussion about podcasts, wikis, social networking, and all sorts of web-based communication. His blog post about the St. Mark's visit can be found at http://blog.clearcastdigitalmedia.com/. And, my students' wiki can be found at http://reidenglish.wikispaces.com. It's all about Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1. There are articles, podcasts, video podcasts, and even a rap written and recorded by 9th graders in my class. Who knew Shakespeare could be so 21st century!

On an entirely different note, the whole school recently broke from regularly-scheduled classes and took buses out into the community for a day of service. The 37 boys in our dorm went to a public housing complex in the nearby city of Worcester to clean hallways, common spaces, and playgrounds. I found myself talking about LVC a lot that day, and it reminded me how much the service trips to Colorado with Habitat for Humanity, a trip to Caring and Sharing Hands in Minneapolis, delivering Meals-on-Wheels in Forest City, and all the other service has formed me into who I am today. Good stuff!