Book: Digital Writing for English Language Learners

Digital Writing for English Language learners looks at practical ways educators can implement the use of technology in their English and Language Arts classroom for English Language Learners. The book provides a variety of classroom activities and assignments that can be completed with English Language Learners using social media and other digital writing tools. The … Continue reading Book: Digital Writing for English Language Learners

How to Use Social Media to Strengthen Student Writing

This post was originally published on Edutopia. When Advancement Placement and The National Writing Project surveyed teachers regarding social media use in the classroom, they found that 78% agree (26% strongly agree) that digital technologies “encourage student creativity and personal expression”. Digital tools of course give access to social media, which is a powerful outlet … Continue reading How to Use Social Media to Strengthen Student Writing

Blogging as a self-reflective tool is overrated!

 Blogging in the beginning was a reflective tool, one to share thoughts and ideas while teaching, outside the classroom, or in a conversation. Many see blogging in this way, as a self-reflective tool. Instinctually, blogging is a self-centred act. It usually centres around the self and attempts to amplify the voice of the writer. Here's … Continue reading Blogging as a self-reflective tool is overrated!

An Interview with Rusul Alrubail

My interview with Doug Peterson. On HigherEd, #EduColor & more!

doug --- off the record

Doug: Thanks for agreeing to do this interview, Rusul. You’re another person that I’ve never met in person so I’ll skip my normal first question. We met on Twitter, right?

Rusul رسل

Rusul: Indeed we did. You started following me through a list of Ontario Educators.

Doug:  OK, confession time here.  I love your writing but I suspect that I miss a great deal of it since you publish in many places other than your blog.  Where can we find the complete works of Rusul?

Rusul: My own website: www.rusulalrubail.com Actually, I will be launching a new website soon, hopefully with the same address, and I am really looking forward to it! I try to cross post everything on my personal website, but often forget or don’t have the time. I also write on Medium.com, Edutopia, Teaching Tolerance, PBSNewshour, and Education Week.

Doug:  One of my favourite posts appeared over the summer…

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Empowering English Language Learners with Digital Stories

My latest post is on Teaching Tolerance. Last year, I took a big risk by including blogging as part of the curriculum for my first-year college English course. Around half of my students were English language learners (ELLs), and I wasn’t sure that they would be comfortable with this medium. (Read about blogging in my … Continue reading Empowering English Language Learners with Digital Stories