The Classroom Bookshelf - A Blog of Literature Lesson Ideas

This afternoon at ISTE 2016 I met with Kathy Ishizuka who is the editor of School Library Journal. Kathy shared with me her excitement about School Library Journal welcoming The Classroom Bookshelf as a new member of their blog network.

The Classroom Bookshelf is a blog that many teachers have enjoyed in the past. The content and mission of the blog is the same always. That is to share short book reviews along with detailed suggestions for teaching lessons based on the book. Each post also includes a lengthy list of links to additional supporting resources.

If you visit The Classroom Bookshelf today you may notice the formatting is a little off right now. I'm sure that's just a product of the content recently being imported into a new blog platform. I'm sure that will be corrected soon.

Applications for Education
Like any lesson plan resource, you should be careful to avoid the copycat trap when reading The Classroom Bookshelf. Each book should be evaluated on its own for its suitability for your classroom.

The Best Ways to Use Padlet - Examples from Teachers

This afternoon at the ISTE 2016 conference I had a nice meeting with Melanie Broder from Padlet. She told me about some of the things that Padlet is working on developing during the rest of the year. One of things is a community for educators. That community should help teachers find creative uses of Padlet as well as sharing lesson activities in general. Until that community gets going, take a look at Padlet's Best of Education wall.

Padlet's Best of Education wall features twenty-seven Padlet walls created by teachers. One of my favorites in that collection is 100 Picture Books to Read and Share. All of the books in that Padlet wall are linked to Goodreads pages. Another good wall in Padlet's Best of Education is a collection of student blogging prompts.

Watch my video embedded below to learn how to use the latest version of Padlet's website.