In 14 minutes, social studies and ELA educators can take advantage of a haunting new titled Ellis about the buildings on the island between New York and New Jersey. Ellis Island served as a United States immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The 2015 film is now available on Youtube and stars Robert De Niro. The setting […]
Colette Bennett
Colette Marie Bennett is the Curriculum Coordinator for English Language Arts, Social Studies, Library Media, and Testing for the West Haven Public School System in West Haven, Connecticut.
Previous to this position, she served as the Chief Academic Officer (7-12) for Regional School System #6 in Litchfield, Connecticut. She has 23 years of teaching experience in English Language Arts from grades 6-12, including electives in journalism, drama, and film studies.
A graduate of the Alternate Route to Certification, Bennett also has a Masters in English from Western Connecticut State University a 6th year in Advanced Teaching and an 092 Administrative Certificate from Sacred Heart University, and graduate credits from the GLSP in Social Studies at Wesleyan University. She holds a Literacy Certification (102) from Sacred Heart University for grades K-12.
She has presented how technology is incorporated in classrooms at the Connecticut Computers in Education Conference (2010, 2012, 2014), the National Council of Teachers Annual Conference (2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015), and the Advanced Placement Annual Conference (2011) the Literacy for All Conference (2012), and the ICT for Language Learning in Florence, Italy (2014).
She blogs about education at Used Books in Class: http://usedbookclassroom.wordpress.com/
She tweets at Teachcmb56@twitter.com
Posted inCommon Core, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy, Technology
Math, Patterns, and MLK's "I Have a Dream" Speech
The third Monday in January is a national holiday commemorating Martin Luther King, and February is Black History Month. If you’re an educator, and you have not already seen Nancy Duarte’s visualization of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, then here it is below on YouTube (or the Vimeo link here): [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Literacy, Opinion
Making the Best Persuasive Argument Does Not Mean Writing an Essay
The Best Persuasive Argument of 2015 was not presented in the form of the standard five paragraph essay. Instead, the best persuasive argument made this year featured 1000 musicians playing the song “Learn to Fly” in a field in order to persuade the rock band Foo Fighters to play a concert in a small town in Italy. The entire project was […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, High School, Social Justice, Uncategorized
Terror, Terrorism, and the Teaching of Social Studies
“We are not used to live with such bewildering uncertainty” wrote Jessica Stern in a New York Times editorial How Terror Hardens Us on Sunday (12/6/15) after the San Bernardino, California, shootings. Stern, an adult, was writing about adults collectively when she used the pronoun”we.” That same bewildering uncertainty also confronts our children, our students in schools. That bewildering uncertainty is happening at […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Literacy, Professional Development, Technology, Uncategorized
One-to-One Presentations=”Contextus”
Last month, I travelled to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to attend the 2015 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Convention with two fellow teachers to participate in poster sessions under the topic Digital Pedagogies and Approaches to Media. One of the poster session was titled “Every Picture Tells a Story” and offered by Catherine Flynn, the Literacy Specialist […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy
Labor Day Informational Text: “Work is a Blessing” from This I Believe
Of all the national holidays, Labor Day is the most passive. It floats as the first Monday in September. It lacks a symbol, a song or ritual, but maybe that is not so strange for a holiday established to be a collective celebration of rest. Labor Day is set aside to recognize the importance of labor in our lives. That sentiment […]
Posted inFrom the Front Lines, High School, Instructional Strategies, Literacy
Maybe the Film Credits Are the Best Lesson
Twice this summer, I found myself thinking that maybe educators are not taking advantage on how we could show films in class. We seldom, if ever, show the film’s credits. Perhaps the lack of attention to film credits is because there is not enough time already for what many educators might consider a passive activity […]
Posted inElementary School, Featured, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies
Stop Increasing “Quid Pro Quo” Elementary Homework
“…but first, I give them a quiz,” the 2nd grade teacher was telling me. “A quiz?” I was surprised, “Why?” “Well, how will I know they read their homework?” she responded. “But…they are only in 2nd grade…so……” I trailed off; she blinked expectantly. I didn’t finish my sentence. “So… this is how the madness starts,” […]