The Polliwog Journal

A weblog about teaching English & integrating technology

Mentoring in the 21st century

August 31st, 2009 · 1 Comment

When I began teaching in 1990, I got no tour of the school, no handbook of helpful tips, and no mentor to guide me. I got shown my room that was barely ready for school. Undaunted, I plunged into the deep end and did not drown. To be fair, I didn’t know one should expect [...]

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Tags: CyberEnglish · School in general · blogging · social networking · web 2.0

Blogs, Nings, and Social Networking

February 16th, 2009 · No Comments

If the terms “Blog,” “Ning,” and “Social Networking” are still nebulous to you, but you’re intrigued all the same about how you can engage both yourself and your students in these Web 2.0 tools, you may be interested in joining a new ning (online community of like-minded people, in this case, teachers or other affiliated [...]

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Tags: Technology and Education · blogging · social networking · web 2.0

facebook is not a seedy, back-alley teen club

October 19th, 2008 · 15 Comments

As a proponent of blogs for teachers and students, I am adamant that teachers must use the tools they hope to bring to the classroom. Teachers must blog, but what about friending people on facebook?
There were a variety of factors that propelled me to open my own facebook account this summer. The strongest was that [...]

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Tags: Technology and Education · social networking · web 2.0