The E-line Archives, Vol. 3, #13

Volume 3, No. 13 23 January, 2004

[To view this newsletter on line:
http://www.emck.net/eline/04_01_23.htm.]

The Partnership Help Desk is one of many resources provided by The Partnership for Kentucky Schools.

Your students! Your Portfolio...
...is your student's success!

"Dear Reviewer..."

"The word 'portfolio' is used in a variety of ways in our society. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines it as '...a hinged cover or flexible case for carrying loose papers, pictures, or pamphlets.' This implies the second definition '...the office and functions of a minister of state or member of a cabinet.' Hence, a portfolio isn't just a collection of documents, it's a collection of professional tasks, responsibilities, and accomplishments.

"In Kentucky, the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS) includes a writing portfolio as a way of displaying our understanding of facts or processes, and simultaneously illustrating our skill as writers. In this edition of The Partnership Help Desk I present a wide range of resources that support the writing process, providing writing prompts and portfolio lesson ideas. I have also found that through researching, analyzing, and writing about these resources, my understanding of this process has increased a great deal.

"I submit this contribution as my writing portfolio..."

Jeffrey L. Jones - Editor, The Partnership Help Desk.

On-line lesson planning - Portfolio Prompts

Writing Across the Curriculum/High School - from Erlanger-Elsmere Schools

http://www.erlanger.k12.ky.us/juggernet/kyportfolio/

Lloyd Memorial High School teacher Bryan Sweasy accumulated and posted this collection of portfolio prompts for high school writers, from contributions from the staff. There are prompts from all disciplines except mathematics. There's a disclaimer, and the site hasn't been updated for a few years, but it's one of the few free collections of prompts across the curriculum on the web!

The Best of the Rest:

Writing prompts from Education World - http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/02/lp249-03.shtml - This odd collection is a good start, and is part of an extensive collection of writing lesson plans.
ClassBrain.com - http://www.classbrain.com/artteensb/publish/cat_index_22.shtml - here's a collection of writing prompts from Cynthia F. Kirkeby's dot-com. There's a small membership fee for some resources, but not these. Take a look at the Harry Potter writing prompts!

KDE Although a lot of KDE's writing portfolio resources have disappeared, they continue to maintain this collection of writing resources.

Content Area Resources

The Arts	Writing Ideas for Funeral Procession http://www.ket.org/content/elliswilson/hswritingprompts.htm Just in time for Black History Month...Kentucky-born artist Ellis Wilson is the subject of Kentucky Educational Television's documentary "So Much to Paint." On KET's support website are these art-based writing ideas drawn from several of Ellis Wilson's artwork, including his Funeral Procession. We submit it as an example of how well art can serve as a prompt for high school student writing!
Mathematics	Roz's Math-A-Rama http://www.eduplace.com/kids/mw/ Houghton-Mifflin hosts Education Place, and this collection of elementary level math activities is pretty extensive, including games, practice, brain teasers (problem-solving), even test preparation! There are no lesson plans, but the range of activities make this a good resource for remediation and supplemental activities for your students.
Reading and Writing	Read Write Think http://www.readwritethink.org/ A joint project of the National Council of Teachers of English, MarcoPolo, and the International Reading Association, Read Write Think has been featured in The Partnership Help Desk before. It's a great collection of lesson plans for all grades. Click on "Lessons," select your grade level, and "Learning through language" as your literacy strand for plans most suitable for writing portfolio prompts. As one would expect from NCTE, these resources are high-quality and standards-based, and the site is quite easy to navigate.
Science	Missouri Botanical Garden's Biomes of the World http://mbgnet.mobot.org/ This wonderful resource does not contain any lesson plans or teacher supports, but it is a very striking and informative source of information about biomes and ecosystems. Suggested by McCreary County's Greg Owens from a posting on UK/KDE's LISTSERV KYTRT.
Social Studies	Understanding Taxes http://www.irs.gov/app/understandingTaxes/ Those W2 forms are wandering into folks' mailboxes...it's almost tax time! This educational site provided by our Internal Revenue Service is a complete lesson initiative, with plans, materials, and ties to national standards. Particularly important to the social studies teacher is the "Whys of taxes." The lessons are aimed at high school and beyond.

Software Sources

CutePDF Writer

http://www.acrosoftware.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp

It has been a while since we've found a good free piece of software to recommend, but here's one thanks to Owensboro DTC Ron Milliner! CutePDF Printer, the completely free (and open source) younger cousin to Acro Software's CutePDF Form products, installs as a virtual printer allowing you to create Portable Document Format (PDF) documents from any software that prints! It's a one-click solution that works, and is truly free!

Professional Sources

The Educator's Reference Desk

http://www.eduref.org/

This source replaces AskERIC, the database portal that accesses and delivers ERIC's extensive collection of lesson plans and other educational resources. Direct access to ERIC through the web disappeared in December. The Educator's Reference Desk is the product of the Information Institute of Syracuse, who also maintain The Gateway, featured in the May 2, 2003 edition of The Partnership Help Desk.

Newsletter archive (including further information about this resource): http://www.emck.net/eline/

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