Creating individual account logins for teachers, students and administrative staff.  Continue reading...

In a speech on Tuesday anticipating the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that it was time to retire the name "Ground Zero" when referring to the World Trade Center site. "We will never forget the devastation of the area that came to be known as 'Ground Zero,'" Bloomberg said. "But the time has come to call those 16 acres what they are: The World Trade Center and the National September 11th Memorial and Museum." That's quite a mouthful.  Continue reading...

The movies have me in a venge-ful mood these days. Among the surfeit of superhero movies this summer there was Captain America: The First Avenger. This movie, along with Thor and last summer's Iron Man 2, is a prelude to next summer's The Avengers, showcasing the Marvel superhero team that features these characters.  Continue reading...

If you are wondering how to approach 9/11 in your classroom, turn to one of these excellent news sites for educators:

• The New York Times Learning Network: Teaching and Learning About 9/11 With The New York Times
  
  
• PBS NewsHour Extra: Youth Remember 9/11

I don't often feel like I'm contributing much to the world, because I'm not. Doctors, teachers, librarians, and people making dog-sprinkler videos are all benefiting society more than yours truly.  Continue reading...

In my column "The Dead Letter Classroom," I argued that we needed to be teaching students how to write letters. In this piece, I'm going to tell you specifically how I do it and how I use letters to teach English skills in a timely, relevant manner.  Continue reading...

Merrill Perlman considers why writers avoid the word "oral" and use "verbal" instead.  Continue reading...