I’ve just added a new category called “Blended Learning” which is something I’ll likely be writing about in the next few months. Blended learning, for us, will refer to a learning model that consists of any combination of traditional face-to-face instruction with technology-enabled learning that takes place outside of the regularly structured school day.

The reason that I’ll be writing about this is that I’m currently working with a school that is part of the NYC Connected Learning program. All of the 6th grade students in the school have been given desktop computers to take home, as well as free broadband access to the Internet. The school is already using the Moodle online learning management system, so we have a real opportunity to leverage this powerful tool to extend learning beyond the school day.

I am currently setting up an online classroom for a 6th grade class on Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. The space is private for the students and other invited members of the school community. I can post documents, links, and message boards for the students. I will have limited opportunities to work with them in person, so this will truly be a blended learning model. I may also be setting up an online classroom for 8th grade students studying As You Like It who I may not even be working with in person at all. (This would still count as blended learning, as they would be studying the play in class.)

Do you have any suggestions about what I should include in the online classrooms?

Today, this blog celebrates its four year anniversary. Right now, it has a Technorati authority of 108, which ranks me 56,666 out of over a million ranked blogs. There are currently 715 posts in 63 categories and 2,196 approved comments. As of midnight last night, there were 58,818 site visits. Many thanks as always to the readers who continue to make this site what it is, whatever that may be.

I’m still having fun, so let’s get ready for another year of anagrams, riddles, and other bloggy goodness.

Before the ball drops ushering in 2011, I’d like to take a last look back at my ten favorite posts of 2010. Enjoy!

1. Conundrum: The Big Picture II (January 26) – Readers managed to identify 32 of the 49 films represented in this 3-D movie puzzle. The puzzle is still active, so feel free to take another crack at it.

2. The Rules (October 27) – I wrote this satirical piece out of frustration with the tone in contemporary politics. But some took me seriously, prompting a follow-up post explaining the joke. Did Jonathan Swift have these problems?

3. Metrocard (April 11) – This was a poem I wrote about New York City schools, inspired by Elizabeth Bishop’s “Visits to St. Elizabeths.” And by the way, the kids did get their Metrocards in the end.

4. Back to the Future: The Remake! (July 5) – I imagine a remake of the classic film, set 30 years further into the future. This post also has a funny video of the actor who played Biff.

5. Ten Kiddie Apps (January 29) – This was a list of the top ten iPhone apps for kids, posted as a follow-up to an earlier post listing apps for grownups. Just one year later, these lists are showing showing some age. Stay tuned for a similar list of iPad apps in the coming year.

6. Shakespeare Anagram: Henry VIII (October 16) – I really liked this anagram, a succinct summary of my earlier review of Waiting for “Superman.” But what earns it this spot on the list was the anagram conversation about the film with Dharam that continued in the comments.

7. Shakespeare Teacher: The Book! (September 1) – I published a chapter in a book earlier this year, and this post describes what it’s about. Surprisingly, it turns out to be about teaching Shakespeare.

8. Shakespeare Anagram: Twelfth Night (August 21) – When I think about what I’m trying to accomplish with the Shakespeare anagram feature, this one scores high marks in all categories. And have you noticed how little talk there has been about the “Ground Zero mosque” since the election? I’m just sayin’.

9. Googleplex – 1/24/10 (January 24) – I decided to limit myself to one Googleplex for this list, and I chose this one, which has the Top Ten Shakespearean Pranks, as well as information about how students can animate Shakespeare. This Googleplex was a close runner-up.

10. The People’s Historian (January 27) – Upon hearing of Howard Zinn’s death, instead of taking the time to write a proper eulogy, I simply posted, without comment, a long quote of his that had made a profound impact on me. But then DeLisa reminded me that presenting that particular quote at that particular time was, in fact, giving a perspective. Zinn would have agreed.

Have a Happy New Year, and I’ll see you in 2011!

Feedback on my recent post about The Rules has led to a concern that my humor is too subtle and not everyone might get that it is a joke. As this regularly happens to me in real life, I thought it might be a good idea to sprinkle a few drops of water on my dusty-dry sense of humor, and clear up a few items on the blog that were always meant to be taken with a grain of salt.

ONE. The Rules were a satire that applies equally to members of both sides of the political spectrum, including me at times. You should definitely vote.

TWO. To the best of my knowledge, Rick Astley never performed in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. That was a Rickroll setup. Sorry. But there really is a “never give her o’er” speech.

THREE. The rap song “Mary, Mary” by Run DMC is not really about Queen Mary I of England. The song was actually written by Michael Nesmith of The Monkees. No, seriously.

FOUR. King Henry VIII never really used online file-sharing services. Someone really did search for that, though.

FIVE. President Bush did not really let the door hit him on the ass on his way out of the presidency. That’s just an expression.

SIX. Shakespeare did not really use PowerPoint. If he had, he would have probably created the best presentations ever, and today’s scholars would be debating whether or not he had really created them.

SEVEN. I was never really serious about the feud.

EIGHT. I am not really a mixer, a battery, or any of the other riddle answers. I am forty, though.

NINE. Waiting for Superman is not really my favorite of the Superman movies. I like the one with Richard Pryor better.

TEN. I don’t really think my readers need a list of examples of when I was joking. I just thought it would be funny.

Fellow blogger Duane Morin (aka The Shakespeare Geek) has written a wonderful book called Hear My Soul Speak.

I’m going to tell you about it, but if this is your thing, you should already be reading his blog on a daily basis. If you came to this blog looking for steady news and conversation about Shakespeare, his was really the blog you were looking for. My blog is really more about a weekly riddle and a heap of good intentions. But I digress.

Hear My Soul Speak is a collection of quotes from Shakespeare that anyone can use for weddings. No prior knowledge of Shakespeare is required. Duane helpfully breaks down the quotes into different categories, whether you’re exchanging vows, giving a toast, or even proposing in the first place!

Even if you don’t have a wedding in the near future, it’s a fun book to read to geek out on Shakespeare quotes with Duane. With his trademark infectious enthusiasm, he offers insight on what each quote actually means, and when it is most appropriately used. He also offers suggestions on which quotes not to use, because their original context may not be as romantic as they first appear.

Hear My Soul Speak is available for download for just under eight dollars. It’s definitely worth checking out.

The Shakespeare Teacher received no compensation for writing this review.

I know I haven’t been blogging much lately, but we just reached 50,000 hits, and so what better way to celebrate the 4th of July than to break out our favorite cake? (I didn’t get a shot of the SiteMeter counter.)

The 50,000th hit came in from Palm Bay, Florida on June 27th at 9:41pm. The visitor followed a link from this page to get here.

At this point in time, the blog’s Technorati authority is 104.

Once again, many thanks to all who have visited, and continue to visit. I can’t really say I’ve earned the last 10,000 hits, but hopefully the milestone will inspire me to return to daily posting.

This blog just reached 40,000 hits, the week after celebrating its third birthday. It’s time for the cake and SiteMeter counter!

The 40,000th hit came in at 4:47pm on Thursday, January 7, 2010, via a Google search for “Totus Mundus Agit Histrionem,” the Latin translation of “All the world’s a stage.” As if to prove the point, the hit came in from Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany.

At this point in time, the blog’s Technorati Authority is 112. There are 636 posts (including this one) and 1,904 comments.

Once again, many thanks to all who have visited, and continue to visit.

Fans of this blog may also appreciate a link I found via the Shakespeare Geek. It’s a script of The Big Lebowski as it might have been written by Shakespeare. It’s extremely well done, and should be greatly enjoyed by fans of both the film and the playwright. It’s very appropriately called The Two Gentlemen of Lebowski.

Enjoy!

It’s been a turbulent year, and there hasn’t always been time for blogging, but I would like to finish out 2009 with a quick listing of my ten favorite posts (and the discussions that followed them) of the last twelve months. Enjoy, and I’ll be back in 2010!

1. Conundrum: The Big Picture (July 28)

2. Arrested Development: A Freudian Analysis (October 16)

3. Word of the Week: Community (March 18)

4. Augusto Boal (1931-2009) (May 3)

5. Othello Prank’d (June 23)

6. Did You Know – Three Point Oh (May 13)

7. Good Questions (May 5)

8. Question of the Week (May 4)

9. Conundrum: Shakespeare Invites (May 26)

10. Your Move: Thursday Morning Riddle (February 19)

If you’ve stopped in over the past couple of days, you may have noticed that the blog wasn’t quite itself. It all started when I tried to fix a problem with the RSS feed in Google Reader, and everything got out of control. It took me some time to fix it, but everything seems to be back the way it was. We now return you to the blog, already in progress.

I say this because, even though I have not been posting, new visitor Dharam has been busy creating entertaining anagrams for us. First she did the Shakespeare anagram challenge from February. Then she started to anagram the Thursday Morning Riddle. You can see her efforts here, here, here, here, and here. In each case, her anagram is a riff on the riddle’s answer, and scores high on the Anagram Hallmarks. Her later anagrams even rhyme!

Well, at least someone around here is producing. Dharam, you have shamed me into returning to the blog. Thanks for that.

This is just a quick post to acknowledge that I was able to blog every day in the month of May 2009. And yes, this post counts.

Moving forward, my penance paid, I will to try to continue to blog on a regular basis, though it may not be every day. Please feel free to comment on new posts, or old. Check out the Active posts, or browse old Questions. And you can always check out the right-hand sidebar to see which old threads have been revived.

Thank you for being part of this grand experiment.