My background
My name is Ann S. Michaelsen and I’m an administrator at Sandvika vgs, a high school in Norway. Sandvika is a high school with 850 students in the age group 16 to 19. The school is situated close to Oslo the capital of 
Norway. Sandvika is a new high school that started in 2006 and we have since the beginning been a 1:1 school. All our students have lap-tops and the wireless connections are available in the whole building. All our classrooms have projectors and speakers and our block scheduling facilitates the use of social networking and Web 2.0 tools in our teaching.
My main responsibilities as an administrator are to facilitate the use of ict for both teachers and students in class. Our school has a reputation of being a school with highly qualified teachers in this area and the result is that our school is the most popular schools in our district. I believe it is important to teach the students how to use social media to build a personal learning network and to connect with learners in different parts of the world. It is important that teachers start by building their own network. That way they will be able to help their students in their learning too. Digital footprints and understanding who to trust and where to find material is vital in this pursuit.
This year will be my second year teaching a subject called International English. The topics we cover can be found on my students’ blogs and they are also listed on my main page. Please take a look and feel free to comment or email me at: ann.s.michaelsen@sandvika.vgs.no
If you want to find lesson plans you can easily browse the different categories. On the right hand side of my blog you will find links divided in the following categories: Sources, Tools and Student blogs. The blogposts are also sorted in categories. If you are looking for something to do in class be sure to search for lesson plans. Other categories are: did you know and useful applications. I have also listed the books I’ve read or are currently reading that have topics related to school and teaching. I hope you find something useful here!
Please comment on the page or follow me on Twitter: @annmic
Paul J. Mckenna
September 15, 2008 at 12:11 pm
We have an ongoing discussion about the ethics of usuing computers at school, here at the Media and kommunuication department. We (Mk teachers) should be forunners for teaching in this area. It seems to me that the challenges we have to face in the classroom could be solved for many if we organize a forum for good solutions and information which can guide all teachers. As a new teacher at Sandvika VGS I have already experienced many (time consuming) discussions of what to do with the lap-tops during classes. (They are tools for learning and communication – not to accepted as the pupil´s instument of recluse). Regards Paul J. Mck
tidertechie
January 22, 2009 at 1:10 am
I couldn’t access your email address through your post, so I left you a message on Sue’s blog. I thought I would drop a note here also. We would love to collaborate with your class. I know time will be a difficulty, but maybe we could work through student blogs or wiki.
Thanks,
Lisa
Berit
January 22, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Hello Ann!
It is such a help to me as an English teacher to have such a clever friend.
Berit
Errin
January 31, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Hello Ann!
I found your site linked to Lisa’s Tidertechie site (we are both participating in the 31 Day Blogging Challenge). I wanted to leave a comment because I think it’s wonderful how you are using blogging with your students! I am about to set up a classroom blog for my art/photography students and it is helpful for me to look at other examples.
I also wanted to mention that my husband is Norwegian (he was born here in Canada, but his parents are from Steinkjer) and we have always wanted to travel in your beautiful country. Looking at the photos on the student blogs makes me want to travel there even more!
sinikka
April 29, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Hi Ann!
I also came across your blog through the Tidertechie site. So unusual to find another Scandinavian teacher who is into the use of ICT in language classes. I am a high school English and French teacher in Finland, and have been testing several new tools to connect my students internationally.
Your blog is amazing, and I am definitely going to keep reading. Maybe next year we could get our students together for some activity – Skype or something?
Thank you for sharing wonderful lesson plans with the whole world!
xecole
May 15, 2009 at 11:13 am
I think you have missed one of the most fun sites for learning English online verbbusters
It’s all about the irregular verbs & it ha sfree activities, search engine and lots of other resources.
Julie
June 5, 2009 at 3:44 am
I’m new to blogging and am trying it with community college students. We are just getting started. I’d love to get some feedback as they start to post their work.
Also, the format of my blog – would you have any suggestions to make?
thanks!!
Ingunn
June 6, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Found your blog just now, Ann, and I have to say – this was really inspiring
Zhenya Gospodinova
October 6, 2009 at 10:20 am
Hello! Great blog!
I have a question, can you please contact me by email? Thanks!
Valentina Dodge
October 9, 2009 at 9:27 am
Thanks Anne for sharing your blog and work, I’m sure many of my students at the university would be interested in exchanges. We don’t officially start the academic year for a few more weeks so I’ll set something up and then get back to you. Would your students like that, do you think?
Looking forward to finding out more!
Anonymous
October 19, 2009 at 2:15 am
Hey Ann!
I was just going to let you know this years students have their blogs up and are starting a 3 Day Challenge this week. I am having them visit your student’s blogs as models! So, if you see some sporatic comments on student blogs, those our my students for this year.
We moved off the block and onto seven period days, so there hasn’t been much time to blog.
Lisa
@tidertechie
CoffeeAddict
May 12, 2011 at 4:22 pm
Hi/Hei
I am also a Norwegian English teacher and I use a lot of web 2 tools as well as Moodle in my teaching. However, I teach in Izmir, Turkey (at an American school) and my students are 8th graders. I am very happy to have found your blog! It is interesting to follow the goings-on in the home-country
I taught for several years at Flekkefjord Vdg Skole in Flekkefjord before I moved to Turkey but in those days (it’s been a while) we didn’t even know what computer assisted learning was 
beste hilsen, Karin
Ann S. Michaelsen
May 12, 2011 at 5:53 pm
Hi Karin, thank you for your nice comment! Fun to hear from teachers around the world and fun to hear you are from Norway. Good luck teaching in Turkey. Glad you have found something useful here!
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Jon
August 24, 2011 at 3:32 pm
Amazing Blog!
Thank you,
Jon Moody
(Maine; USA)
Shutty
November 9, 2011 at 12:17 pm
This is a really advanced blog you have gone above cthe limits with it. Its great.
Ann S. Michaelsen
November 9, 2011 at 12:58 pm
Thank you! I appreciate it!
myour
December 11, 2011 at 6:28 pm
You probably already know about The English Blog, but I just now came across it and thought I’d pass on the URL to you. I very much admire what you and your students are accomplishing.
http://www.englishblog.com/
Ann Michaelsen
December 11, 2011 at 8:45 pm
Thank you for your kind words and leaving the link! No I don’t think I have seen “The English blog”. Looks great! Thanks again!
shamcumpai
February 15, 2012 at 12:40 pm
Hi Ann,
Starting from Google’s keyword “web 2.0 tools for english teachers”, it appears that your website comes the first. After a glance, I found that this is what the “ideal school” called. I just want to drop a line for greetings and keep up your great job!
Sunchai Hamcumpai
Ph.D. Student (English), Texas A&M University-Commerce, USA
English Department Head, Roi-Et Rajabhat University, Thailand
Ann S. Michaelsen
February 15, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Hi Sunchai
Thank you for those kind words!
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February 23, 2012 at 7:48 am
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Robert Butcher
February 24, 2012 at 4:17 pm
Hi Ann,
I work for an education technology start-up in London, and our team regularly visit your blog for thought-leadership. I found your blog post ’25 web 2.0 tools for teachers’ particularly interesting and informative – some great resources mentioned there and we have one we think you’d be interested in.
Not sure if you’ve heard about us (Wordia.com), but I’d value any thoughts you have on what we’re trying to do (we’re trying to map the K-12 – all of the vocabulary that students need to learn… raising literacy and subject vocab levels, through video and games-based learning).
Originally, Wordia was built as a ‘living video dictionary’, but under the advisement of 100s of educators – we’ve pivoted to something that I’m really excited to be sharing with you!
The new-look Wordia has just launched – with some smart technology that lets educators build their own word games and hold school tournaments! We’d love you to have a look, and tell us what you think. Indeed – we’re running a t-shirt competition – and I’d love to send a school you know, some free Wordia t-shirts (a thank you – for helping us with the R&D efforts!).
It’s early days, but your feedback would be most welcome!
Thanks again.
Rob
Director of Play
(Research & Development)
Ann S. Michaelsen
February 26, 2012 at 5:16 pm
Hi Rob, I had a look at your web-site and it looks great! It looks like it is targeted at students aged 7 to 14. Since I’m at a high school it is difficult to try it with my students. But I’ll think about recommending it to a middle school and see what they think!
http://babyshowercakesforgirls.net/
April 15, 2012 at 7:33 am
Hello, i think that i saw you visited my web site so i came to “return the favor”.I am trying to find things to improve my site!I suppose its ok to use a few of your ideas!!
Learnclick (@learnclick)
April 29, 2012 at 10:23 am
Wow, there are a lot of useful resources on your blog. Maybe your readers would be interested to learn about http://www.learnclick.com, a website for creating gap-filling exercises (so-called cloze tests).
Philip
Ann S. Michaelsen
May 2, 2012 at 11:05 am
looks great!
learn to be a schmuck
May 10, 2012 at 10:22 pm
Great blog here! Also your web site loads up very fast!
What web host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host?
I wish my site loaded up as fast as yours lol
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May 22, 2012 at 4:39 am
What a great story!
LOVE that you’re doing this! What a great idea.
Thank you for sharing.