In the News
Learncentral Web Event
Jim Burke on Teaching English and Social Networking
Mon October 25, 2010
Sponsored by Elluminate
Join Steve Hargadon for a live and interactive FutureofEducation.com webinar with Jim Burke, author, teacher, and the creator of English Companion Ning: "Where English teachers go to help each other."
Watch the Elluminate recording of this event:
Jim Burke on Teaching English and Social Networking
An Interview with Courtenay Stewart of Ning Creators
Jim Burke on finding your niche and collaborating with your members
Feb. 4, 2010 Creators.ning.com
Posted by Courtenay Stewart
Jim Burke, High School English teacher and Ning Network Creator, recently won the 2009 Edublog Award for Best Educational Use of a Social Networking Service. When I came across this article announcing the Edublog Award, I was interested to hear what inspired Jim to create English Companion Ning and what he learned along the way. With over 11,000 members, it is clear that English Companion Ning created a much-needed space for High School English teachers. Jim discusses how he found his audience, and uses his audience to build and maintain a successful environment. Thank you Jim, for sharing this advice, and congratulations on the Edublog award!
Read the Interview >>
Visit the Ning Creators network >>
Jim Burke Joins Shmoop.com as Special Adviser
Make learning and writing more fun and relevant for students in the digital age
Study Guides & Teacher Resources on Shmoop
Shmoop provides lively Learning Guides and Teaching Resources lovingly written by educators and doctorate students at top universities (primarily Stanford, Harvard, and UC Berkeley). Our guides have a deep, fun approach that hits students in the intellectual and cultural gut. We provide multiple points of view and we hope to provoke, spark, and inspire students as they come up with original ideas. We dig deep into pop-culture, current events, and the Internet to bring these budding researchers face to face with the relevance of what they study. As a result, you’ll find at Shmoop some truly dynamic, lively, and entertaining guides that will help you make the classroom live and breathe.
Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Congratulates Author Jim Burke
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Author Wins Prestigious Award for Best Educational Use of a Social Networking Service
Jan. 11, 2010 Business Wire
Press Release excerpt:
SACRAMENTO, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Houghton Mifflin Harcourt today announced that author Jim Burke, who teaches English at Burlingame High School, has won the 2009 Edublog Award for Best Educational Use of a Social Networking Service. The award, sponsored by Edublogs Campus and Classroom 2.0, was given to Burke for his creation and management of the English Companion community on Ning. The English Companion Ning, created in December 2008, boasts more than 10,000 members and serves as a destination where teachers can meet virtually to discuss education issues, ask peers questions and offer best practices for instruction.
"Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is a leader in educational innovation, and recognizes the value of utilizing social networking services for teacher collaboration and ongoing professional development. We congratulate Jim for his accomplishment," said John Sipe, K–12 Vice President for HMH's California Region. "Our organization believes in providing opportunities to connect teachers with the authors who developed the textbooks they use in the classroom."
The English Companion community was created for high school English teachers and provides a consortium of collaborative opportunities including discussion forums, content sharing, event promotion, professional development topic exploration, blog writing and relationship building with colleagues and peers. Ning is a social networking platform that houses more than 1.8 million Ning Networks and 39 million registered users, and provides people the opportunity to create niche networks that serve as interactive websites formed on common professional goals, hobbies or a variety of other shared interests.
Read the full press release >>
Larry Ferlazzo's Blog Websites of the Day for Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
An Interview with Jim Burke
By Larry Ferlazzo
Jan. 4, 2010 Larryferlazzo.edublogs.org
Interview excerpts:
How and why did you become a teacher?
I became a teacher by accident, in many respects. One summer, when I was 19, I had two job opportunities: pull tree stumps in 110 degree heat in Chico where I would earn a lot of money; or work as a camp counselor near Santa Cruz for 300 dollars a month (working for about 15 hours a day!). Somehow kids won out, though I had not worked with them before. This led me to study cognitive psychology at UCSB where, as part of my degree, I had a practicum at a school for kid with developmental disabilities (the Devereaux Foundation) where I ended up working with kids who had to be taught 1:1 because they were too violent. From here, I entered the Peace Corps where I helped create a school for developmentally disabled kids in a mosque in the small town of Menzel Temime on the Mediterranean coast of Tunisia.
When I returned, I realized I needed new challenges beyond behavior issues. I had spent the whole time in Tunisia reading voraciously and writing, so when I returned it made sense to become an English teacher. As a student teacher at SF State I wrote my first published piece on a Day in the Life of a student teacher. I sent in a 5000 word article and the man at the SF Chronicle said, "I think you have a really good 500 word piece in there." He helped me cull out those words and I think from that point on I was a writer.
. . .
What might be three important lessons you’ve learning in your career that others might find helpful in their own teaching?
Find and cultivate deep relationships with real mentors who will teach and support you, who want to learn with you. These people embody the notion of life long learning and a love of the profession. Stay away from the naysayers and the others who want to complain. Even when things are terrible, the great ones just find it another set of challenges, like some new level of difficulty in a game, to try to work around.
Read! We make time for what matters most to us. Nothing—nothing! Has made a bigger difference on my teaching, my emotional and intellectual health than the commitment to just keep reading for myself all the time. No matter how busy. I get the New Yorker and read something in it every week, even if it is just the cartoons, but usually more than that.
Read the entire interview >>
EC Ning Wins 2009 Edublog Award for Best Educational Use of a Social Networking Service 2009
Dec. 18, 2009 edublogs.org
The winners of the Best Educational Use of a Social Networking Service 2009 ...
- Winner: English Companion Ning
- First Runner Up: EFL Classroom 2.0
- Second Runner Up: RSC Access and Inclusion Ning
Blogs nominated in alphabetical order:
- Beth Still ISTE/ NECC Newbie Project
- Classroom 2.0
- Country Day School Ning
- Digiteen Ning
- Educator PLN ning
- EFL Classroom 2.0
- eLearning Professionals on Facebook
- Elementary Tech Teachers ning
- English Companion Ning
- Fireside Learning: Conversations about Education
- Independent School Educators Network
- LearnTrends Online Conference
- Mathematics24×7
- MSP2 Maths & Science Pathways Online Social Network
- OnlineProjects4Teachers
- Principles of Biology
- RSC Access and Inclusion Ning
- Saltashrainbow
- Second Classroom
- talk.ed
- Technology Integration in Education
- The Assistive Technology Ning
View all award categories and nominations >>
US Department of Education's Doing What Works: Research-based Instruction
Engaging Students in Reading: Building Academic Literacy Through Text Discussion
US DOE's Doing What Works: Research-based Education Practices Online
Dec. 5, 2009 ED.gov
Resource overview:
Listen to high school English teacher Jim Burke describe the importance of providing opportunities for adolescents to discuss text. He explains how he establishes a supportive environment for discussions and describes note-taking organizers he uses to help students prepare for text discussions. Audio and more
Ed Week Blog The Book Whisperer Reflects on Convention Costs
The Book Whisperer: Is a Ning Enough?
By Donalyn Miller
Nov. 22, 2009 EdWeek.org
Blog excerpt:
Last night a few of the folks from Jim Burke's English Companion Ning met. In person.
Donalyn and I arrived early. A few folks were there ahead of us. By the time Jim arrived, there were about 50 people. There were a lot of "so-great-to-meet-you" hugs going around. Jim thanked everyone for helping to grow the Ning. He shared a few stories of teachers connecting online—the funny ones ("help, the stack of papers on my desk has been sitting there for months...ungraded") to the not-so-funny ones ("a student of mine was killed in a car wreck and I need support"). He also said that publishers are loving the ECN book club. (Hmmm...wonder why?)
There were a lot of handheld devices—half the room was tweeting the meeting, fingers flying over the key pads. Most popular device in the room? Iphone. Most frequently seen device at the conference? Iphone
Jim started the Ning just about a year ago, following NCTE's convention last year. At NCTE last year, someone from NCTE told him that attendance was lower. A point of comparison: The Ning is about to hit 10,000 members. Convention coordinator Millie Davis told me about 10 days ago that 6,000 had preregistered for this year's conference.
Later I joined about 10 educators for dinner. There was talk about reading, but there was also talk about the role of professional teaching organizations today. Read more
Ed Week Chat Examines the Role of Teacher Social Networking
Social Networking and Teacher Professional Development
Chat hosted Nov. 12, 2009 by EdWeek.org
Moderator: Elizabeth Rich
Guests: Jim Burke, Karl Fisch
Online chat excerpt:
Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy Reviews EC Ning
Professional Resources Reviews: English Companion Ning
By Jeana Terry Rock, Amanda J. McCollum & Gregory Hessee
September 2009 Vol. 53, No. 1
Professional resource review excerpt:
Social networking sites such as Facebook have been recently growing in popularity among adults as they have discovered the advantages of maintaining connections with "friends" in other places. Ellison, Lampe, and Steinfield (2009) discuss how the two levels of personal networking sites—interpersonal and community—work. On the Ning, members have a personal page where they can post personal data such as photos, books they are reading, videos, and blog entries. This personal information allows participants to find connections with people they might not have reached otherwise. At the community level, participants can join focused groups where they can unite to share insights, discuss ideas, debate issues, or take action on a specific topic. The English Companion Ning has a similar format ... read more
Download a PDF version of the article
Teacher Professional Development Sourcebook Explores Reaches of EC Ning Community
The World's Largest English Department
A Ning group for English teachers reveals the potential of online social networking to break the culture of professional isolation.
By Elizabeth Rich
Published Oct. 1, 2009
This spring, 10 days after completing her bachelor's degree in secondary English education from the University of Tampa, Laura Abercrombie was hired to teach 8th grade language arts. Anxious about what might be awaiting her in the fall, Abercrombie did what any self-respecting digital native would do: She took her troubles to the Web. She searched "language arts" and stumbled upon The English Companion Ning, whose tag line read, "where English teachers meet to help each other."
Having created a Ning network in ed school, Abercrombie was familiar with the social networking platform and excited by the materials and ideas on the site. "I saw all these amazing YA literature resources, which I needed to know for my job," says Abercrombie, referring to books for the young adult market. But staring at pages of groups, forums, curricula, and multimedia resources, she also started to panic. Without the benefit of any guidance, it was like being dropped in a foreign country without a map. "I didn't know who to talk to or who could help me," she explains
... read more
National Writing Project Features EC Ning
English Teachers Find an Online Friend: the English Companion Ning
By Grant Faulkner
Published Mar. 31, 2009
If you ever question the maxim, "Build it and they will come," check in with Jim Burke, a high school English teacher in Burlingame, California.
Burke, who might just be the busiest English teacher in the nation—not just in the classroom, but with his blog, website, books, and Twitters—started a Ning, English Companion, for English teachers to congregate and talk about teaching. Almost overnight, membership exploded to over 3,000 teachers, and he estimates that it could reach 10,000 by year-end ... read more
Ed Week Blog Highlights EC Website, Ning
The Ultimate Social Networking Tool for English Teachers
By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo
Dec. 12, 2008 EdWeek.org
If you're an English teacher and you don't know who Jim Burke is, I just have to wonder where you've been for the last decade. Burke, an English teacher at Burlingame High School, outside of San Francisco, has been sharing his professional insights with colleagues around the country through numerous books and a popular listserv he has moderated for years. His Web site is a treasure trove of resources for novice and veteran teachers alike.
Now Burke is trying to use social-networking tools to build an even more vibrant online community for English teachers ... read more
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