"Bright-eyed Athena sent them a stiff following wind rippling out of the west, ruffling over the wine-dark sea as Telemachus shouted out commands to his shipmates: 'All lay hands to tackle!'
Suddenly wind hit full and the canvas bellied out and a dark blue wave, foaming up at the bow, sang out loud and strong as the ship made way."
-The Odyssey, Book II (trans Robert Fagles)
Tools for Teachers
Winedark Web aims to provide a set of online tools for high school English teachers and their students. As a high school English teacher and occasional web developer, I have had the opportunity to imagine tools that could make me a better teacher, and then to bring them into being. I have also sampled the tools currently available, and found that they are mostly inadequate and based on outdated pedagogy. After several years of writing code for myself, it's time to develop my tools into a more robust form I can share with colleagues across the country.
My main project goals are to help teachers:
- Collaborate and share curriculum
- Automate drudgework
- Innovate with web-based learning
- Make teaching and learning more fun
Pepsi Refresh Grant
Well, the voting is over, and Winedark Web didn't win a Pepsi Refresh grant. Thanks to everyone who voted and passed the word along to others as well. The project will still go on, though--check back here. I plan to develop a prototype over the next few months, and spend much of the summer developing the first iteration. If you're interested in helping design, test, or use Winedark Web, please send me an email at chris@proctors.us. Thanks!
Student Blogs
My students keep blogs to write about their outside reading. I need a tool that will check student blog posts automatically, so I can focus on providing feedback.
Group Projects
I need a site students can use to keep track of who they're working with and how they can contact their peers. When students get to choose their own groups, they should be able to do so without my having to sort 150 little slips of paper, checking everybody off.
Sharing Curriculum
I need a site that lets me plan well-designed units, not just individual lessons. And I want to be able to work with other teachers and share my work. When teachers share their curriculum, it's usually by dumping a folder of poorly-labeled documents onto a thumb drive. There has to be a better way.