FAQs for English Companion Ning Users
Q: What is the difference between a blog, forum, and a group?
* Post to a blog if you have a subject you will write about regularly. Think of these as regular columns. Kelley, for example, is blogging regularly about her experience as a new teacher. I blog about what I do in the classroom. Give your blog a catchy, consistent name (e.g., mine is "The Annotated Classroom").
* Post to the Forum if you have one topic you want to post a question to the group about and to which you want people to respond. For example, I posted a request for recommended existential novels (for which I received so many great recommendations!). Forum postings can be about anything but should be sort of stand-alone postings.
* Post to a specific Group if you want to contribute to a discussion or ask questions about that specific topic. If you can't find a group and think we should add one, send the recommendation to me and we can work it out together.
Q: Who can join the EC Ning?
Anyone who is preparing to become or wants to consider being an English language arts teacher. If you are a student teacher currently enrolled in classes or doing your student teaching, we definitely want you on the Ning! Anyone whose work supports ELA teachers---curriculum supervisors, administrators, publishers, editors, professors---we want you on the EC Ning. If you work with English Learners or teach ESL in another country, we want you here on the EC Ning. We especially want to extend an invitation to new and future teachers to join this community so we can help you not just survive but thrive in the classroom.
Q: Who can post events? And what types of events can be posted?
Anyone who is a member of the EC Ning can and is encouraged to post. If it is an event—conference, call for manuscripts, opportunity—that can help English teachers do, enjoy, or improve their work, we definitely want you to post it. Running a summer institute for your Writing Project site? Post it! Putting on a state conference for your state’s NCTE affiliate? Post it! Want people to submit article to your journal? Post it as an event! Offering or know about program like National Endowment for the Humanities? Post it!
Q: Can I post photographs of students or student work on the EC Ning?
The official policy of the English Companion Ning is that you should have some form of permission from students to display or otherwise publish their work to the EC Ning. We just trust you have this and so will not ask for proof. Still, for your own protection be careful about what you post. A good guiding question is, “How does this photo help others understand the point I am trying to make about teaching ELA?” If it is just a social photograph of you and your kids it would be best not to post it so we can use our space for images that promote effective teaching.
Q: Can students post to the Ning?
No. It is only for teachers and other members of the ELA professional community.
Q: Who created, monitors, and runs the English Companion Ning?
The English Companion Ning was created by Jim Burke on December 5th, 2008. The name English Companion comes from his website (English Companion) and his book The English Teacher’s Companion. He is the sole monitor and administrator of the EC Ning. In addition to running the EC Ning, he teaches English at Burlingame High School, writes a blog, Twitters, and writes books. He also has a wonderful wife and three great kids (and two tortoises and one dog), all of whom he loves very much.
Q: Can I advertise on the EC Ning?
No. The EC Ning is a commercial-free space. All costs are paid by the EC Creator/Administrator, Jim Burke. Authors may, however, post information about their books, including links to commercial sites for purchase, in the Authors’ Corner Group section, where they can provide additional information about the books by way of promoting their work and helping teachers evaluate whether they should purchase the book. While Jim Burke’s books are published by Heinemann, Scholastic, Great Source, and Holt McDougal Harcourt, he receives no money or other sponsorship from these or any other companies.
Q: What can the general public (non-members) see on the EC Ning?
The EC Ning is open and visible to all; only members can post to it, however. People can see everything on your “My Page,” including all comments from others on your wall. The only private space is what you send to others or they send to you as a message. This message function amounts to an internal email system. If you want to communicate privately, do so by hitting “Send a Message.” You can achieve some greater privacy by clicking on Settings and selecting or deselecting different items.
Q: How do I contact or report a problem to the EC Ning Moderator?
Click on the link for Jim Burke in the About English Companion box. This will take you to his homepage and you can post on his wall or send him a private message from there. You can also search for “Jim Burke” in find him that way.
Q: How do I quit or otherwise leave the EC Ning community?
Click on the Manage tab and then click the “Delete Network” link in the bottom right corner.
Q: Can I crosspost or post a link on the EC Ning to my own blog outside the EC Ning?
The EC Ning wants as many voices as possible as we believe this cross-fertilization adds to the common wealth of our community here. What we do not want is someone opening a new blog post on the EC Ning and writing merely, "Check out my blog at www.mygreatblog.com." This is self-promotion and takes up space on the EC Ning without contributing to the EC community. It is, however, permissible to do something like what Tricia Buck did in the following example:
"Just blogged about my paperless English classes at http://buckenglish.wordpress.com/ I welcome your read!" Tricia's post, aside from coming from a great thinker who wants to share her very interesting idea about the paperless classroom with the EC Community, situates her idea so we know what it is about and why we might want to go over there to her blog. I would encourage people to post responses to such a blog on the EC site by way of enriching our own community and helping people realize why they might want to go visit her site and read her excellent blog.
* Post to a blog if you have a subject you will write about regularly. Think of these as regular columns. Kelley, for example, is blogging regularly about her experience as a new teacher. I blog about what I do in the classroom. Give your blog a catchy, consistent name (e.g., mine is "The Annotated Classroom").
* Post to the Forum if you have one topic you want to post a question to the group about and to which you want people to respond. For example, I posted a request for recommended existential novels (for which I received so many great recommendations!). Forum postings can be about anything but should be sort of stand-alone postings.
* Post to a specific Group if you want to contribute to a discussion or ask questions about that specific topic. If you can't find a group and think we should add one, send the recommendation to me and we can work it out together.
Q: Who can join the EC Ning?
Anyone who is preparing to become or wants to consider being an English language arts teacher. If you are a student teacher currently enrolled in classes or doing your student teaching, we definitely want you on the Ning! Anyone whose work supports ELA teachers---curriculum supervisors, administrators, publishers, editors, professors---we want you on the EC Ning. If you work with English Learners or teach ESL in another country, we want you here on the EC Ning. We especially want to extend an invitation to new and future teachers to join this community so we can help you not just survive but thrive in the classroom.
Q: Who can post events? And what types of events can be posted?
Anyone who is a member of the EC Ning can and is encouraged to post. If it is an event—conference, call for manuscripts, opportunity—that can help English teachers do, enjoy, or improve their work, we definitely want you to post it. Running a summer institute for your Writing Project site? Post it! Putting on a state conference for your state’s NCTE affiliate? Post it! Want people to submit article to your journal? Post it as an event! Offering or know about program like National Endowment for the Humanities? Post it!
Q: Can I post photographs of students or student work on the EC Ning?
The official policy of the English Companion Ning is that you should have some form of permission from students to display or otherwise publish their work to the EC Ning. We just trust you have this and so will not ask for proof. Still, for your own protection be careful about what you post. A good guiding question is, “How does this photo help others understand the point I am trying to make about teaching ELA?” If it is just a social photograph of you and your kids it would be best not to post it so we can use our space for images that promote effective teaching.
Q: Can students post to the Ning?
No. It is only for teachers and other members of the ELA professional community.
Q: Who created, monitors, and runs the English Companion Ning?
The English Companion Ning was created by Jim Burke on December 5th, 2008. The name English Companion comes from his website (English Companion) and his book The English Teacher’s Companion. He is the sole monitor and administrator of the EC Ning. In addition to running the EC Ning, he teaches English at Burlingame High School, writes a blog, Twitters, and writes books. He also has a wonderful wife and three great kids (and two tortoises and one dog), all of whom he loves very much.
Q: Can I advertise on the EC Ning?
No. The EC Ning is a commercial-free space. All costs are paid by the EC Creator/Administrator, Jim Burke. Authors may, however, post information about their books, including links to commercial sites for purchase, in the Authors’ Corner Group section, where they can provide additional information about the books by way of promoting their work and helping teachers evaluate whether they should purchase the book. While Jim Burke’s books are published by Heinemann, Scholastic, Great Source, and Holt McDougal Harcourt, he receives no money or other sponsorship from these or any other companies.
Q: What can the general public (non-members) see on the EC Ning?
The EC Ning is open and visible to all; only members can post to it, however. People can see everything on your “My Page,” including all comments from others on your wall. The only private space is what you send to others or they send to you as a message. This message function amounts to an internal email system. If you want to communicate privately, do so by hitting “Send a Message.” You can achieve some greater privacy by clicking on Settings and selecting or deselecting different items.
Q: How do I contact or report a problem to the EC Ning Moderator?
Click on the link for Jim Burke in the About English Companion box. This will take you to his homepage and you can post on his wall or send him a private message from there. You can also search for “Jim Burke” in find him that way.
Q: How do I quit or otherwise leave the EC Ning community?
Click on the Manage tab and then click the “Delete Network” link in the bottom right corner.
Q: Can I crosspost or post a link on the EC Ning to my own blog outside the EC Ning?
The EC Ning wants as many voices as possible as we believe this cross-fertilization adds to the common wealth of our community here. What we do not want is someone opening a new blog post on the EC Ning and writing merely, "Check out my blog at www.mygreatblog.com." This is self-promotion and takes up space on the EC Ning without contributing to the EC community. It is, however, permissible to do something like what Tricia Buck did in the following example:
"Just blogged about my paperless English classes at http://buckenglish.wordpress.com/ I welcome your read!" Tricia's post, aside from coming from a great thinker who wants to share her very interesting idea about the paperless classroom with the EC Community, situates her idea so we know what it is about and why we might want to go over there to her blog. I would encourage people to post responses to such a blog on the EC site by way of enriching our own community and helping people realize why they might want to go visit her site and read her excellent blog.
Tags: blog, community, faq, forum, group, help
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Hi Victoria,
Sad to say that until I saw your post, I had never even heard of a "wordle," but being addicted to words, I love the idea. Thanks for sharing both your own wordle and aiming us at the site.
Terry
Kathy--
A few random thoughts as you begin--
Look at districts that have courses like you are suggesting. I work in Hillsborough County, Florida and we have a course like you are suggesting. It is based on several research-based works.
Read Janet ...
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Silvia Tolisano's presentation, Around the World with Skype or Alrededor del Mundo con Skype will go live on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 12:00:00GMT -->Time Where You Are
Presentations for years 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 are on the k12On...
I like that way of thinking about the dance in an alternative school (or any school or classroom, really). Where might I find this article or chapter Maja?
I have been following an Integrating Technology online course on Moodle for the past 4 weeks and I think it has a huge amount of potential as a Learning Management System. It offers a lot of features for teachers and students to exploit.
I have u...
Submitted to the Council Chronicle (National Council of Teachers of English), November 28, 2009
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If you can get past some of the liberal barbs in this article (and, admittedly, that's a big if), I think Kreeft has a lot to say about moving beyond the fragmentation:
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/civilization/cc0098.html
Hey, Paul! I remember when you were doing the Biggest Loser Contest at your health club the winter that we did the Children's Book Presentation at the NWP Winter Conference in Indianapolis and you were making awesome progress. You can do this. You...
1.one pre ex would be to hand out MLK's "I have a dream" speech; discuss elements of public speaking; compare to Old Major's speech. This would lead into student's idea of a "dream" (possible and farfetched)
2. I usually give an overview of Russio...
Meredith Stewart showed us ETHERPAD at Ncte2009. I adore Google Docs, but Etherpad has a play back feature so you (or anyone) can just hit play and watch the process over again.
And we can still hold hands-- we need to.
What a blessing it is to know that there are folks like those here on the Ning to make the journey with. It makes the days that seem to drag on forever bearable. It's wonderful to know on the days that go ...
Wow! "It isn't right that a child who spent all night listening to his parents fight... instead of breathing room for his soul." The entire speech was beautifully crafted and brave and I am in awe of you. That particular quote spoke to my heart. T...
The deadline is close (Dec. 1st) and I can't wait until I win and can start the unit with my students!
If you voted- THANKS!
If you haven't, please take a minute to help. Need a FEW MORE VOTES TO BE IN 1ST PLACE :)
Just go to http://www.weareteac...
Look, there is no other way to put this. . .something has to be done and the only one who can do this is me, me, me. . .how's that for hook? What is Paul going to do: revolutionalize reading, warp conventional wisdom regarding writing, save publ...
I think one of the essential features of lit circles is student choice. Otherwise it is a small group discussion, or groupwork or other group activity. What if you gave them 5 different texts / speeches to select from, then arranged groups from th...
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