Welcome to a new school year!

Nings: social networking tools for true learning communities

—(January 2009) When I first began hosting AP English, an open community for AP English teachers, I was excited about the possibilities. And while I wish the group were as vibrant as others, such as Jim Burke's English Companion, our membership is growing and the conversations have been excellent.

Nings are fantastic tools for groups of like-minded professionals from all over the globe to convene and discuss.

A basic ning offers its members the ability to

• discuss topics in a threaded forum
• post to a blog
• upload videos and pictures
• comment on videos and pictures
• upload files
• create a personal page
  • post pictures and files
  • post links
  • add applications
  • see recent activities
  • add friends
• and more

See a more complete list of nings in the far right column of this page.

Students' success lies within

December 2008—Who knows what the future will bring, but right now, jobs students used to count on might be outsourced. What then, must students do to help them be successful in the future?

Students should do their absolute best in high school in order to have the best chance for success in college and beyond. Good habits formed now will pay off in the future.

Some school beyond high school is absolutely necessary. To ensure you get accepted to the college of your choice, you need good grades, a good record (attendance etc.), and you need a variety of experiences (academic and extra curricular). High school is the time for students to start finding out what they're made of.

The best present you can give yourself for your future is a commitment to success.

Each day you should look to do the following:

Improve your academics and high school success:

• Have a postive attitude; believe in yourself!
• Focus on each task, giving it your best effort. Cut out distractions.
• Stop PROCRASTINATING! Sure, you'd rather do a lot of things than homework, but do your work first and play second.
• Don't think the world ends if you get one bad grade. Learn from it and resolve to improve. We can learn from our failures.
• Get involved in some extra curricular activity. Teens who are in clubs, sports, music, art, etc. will be more engaged in school in general and have a better feeling about themselves as students.

Improve your health and well being:

• Eat right. Good nutrition is good for your body and your brain. If you don't know what good nutrition is, educate yourself.
• Get enough sleep (about eight hours EACH night). Sleep deficits cause stress, weight gain, and memory loss.
• Get active. Exercise vigorously at least four times a week. If you spend too much time at that computer, your body will show the results.

Improve your attitude and emotional well being:

• Seek help when stress overwhelms you. Talk to a teacher, your counselor, or your parents.
• Surround yourself with positive, upbeat friends who like you for who you are and believe in you. A person who wants you to be something you're not is not a friend. Neither is a person who wants you to do something you know is wrong.
• Smile, even if you don't feel like it. Dwelling on the negative is counter productive. Positive thinking breeds positive thinking.

Be well and do well! And pass the message on. Support each other. Never harrass someone for being smart. Learn their secrets.