NYC MIdnight

As you know, this blog is not just about sharing the educational portfolio I created as a grad student in Instructional Learning Technology. This blog is also a place for me to share my passions for writing, reading and teaching.

At the end of this week, I will be hearing from the judges at NYC Midnight as to how my short short story was received.

This is the third year I have entered one of the online writing contests at NYC Midnight, and I'm amazed at how much it grows each year. People from all over the world enter the contests and this year, I'm proud to say that my sister was one of them!

The Flash Fiction Challenge tests the writing skills of its contestants by challenging them to concoct a 1000-word story based on a randomly assigned genre, setting and object in 48 hours. While the contest does require an entry fee, all stories get feedback from published writers.

What I love about this contest is that it's a great creative kickstarter for amateur storytellers (like myself). Thanks to this contest, I've written five stories that I'd never have even considered writing.
If you're a writer with an adventurous side, I highly recommend checking out this website.

For a taste of what the contest is all about, check out one of my favorite story entries...

Last Splash

Genius.com: Annotating the World

I stumbled upon a little website, RapGenius.com, a few years ago while creating some engaging activities for my middle school Poetry Month unit. The site encouraged its members to upload and then annotate rap lyrics. What a great idea! As a fan of rap and hip hop, there are so many random references and anonymous allusions in rap lyrics. Reading the annotations helped me understand exactly what those rap artists were talking about!

Flash forward to last year...I somehow rediscovered this site but now it has expanded into all other texts, including Literature. Even better, teachers can request special educator accounts that allow for special access to create text pages and provide feedback to student annotators before taking their annotations live.

The motto of Genius.com is "Annotate the World." And that's exactly what is going on here. Rap songs, poetry, chapters, essays, news articles, self-created texts...it's all fair game here! There's so much going on at this site that I plan on focusing many blog entries on various Genius know-how and methods of using the site in the classroom.

Let me close this entry with some information from the site that will help you get started on Genius.com. According to the Education site (which can be easily accessed in the footer of the page),

Education Genius works closely with teachers at all levels and across disciplines to design and implement classroom projects using the Genius collaborative annotation platform. Whether the assignment is a classic work of literature, primary source historical document, or scientific article, Education Genius lets students analyze and discuss their coursework line by line, online. We’re updating close reading for the twenty-first century! Public school educators, check out our annotated Common Core to learn how you can use Genius to implement the standards for reading and writing.

If you're interested in joining this amazing collaborative community, hit up the Education gurus to activate your educator account at education@genius.com. Tell them JJ Eagleston sent you!

Welcome to Live&Learn!

This is it! The first entry on Live&Learn, a blog that shares where I've been and where I'm headed. Besides learning a little about me and my love for life and learning, you can discover what it is that truly drives me.

My philosophy, my career and educational experiences, and my portfolio reveal my true passions: writing, reading and learning!