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"Yesterday, Google introduced add-ons for Google Docs and Sheets. These add-ons allow you to add all kinds of functionality to your documents, including signing faxes, creating bibliographies, and more. While it's still in its infancy, here are a few of the best add-ons available at launch. "

"This week I got an email from Apple inviting me to try out the Beta version of iWork for iCloud. I was keen to see how useful this could be for educators in the classroom, and whether or not it could be a serious contender to my current favorite online productivity suite - Google Drive. So, I logged in to iCloud with Chrome on my Mac and there they were - Pages, Numbers and Keynote - complete with all the documents I had created on my Mac and iPads."

If you need something short and sharp to convince decision makers on why it should be iPad and not an alternative, this poster might help. Laptops and Chromebooks make excellent business tools for those writing documents, sending emails and using Skype (not available for Chromebook) but for creative options in schools, it still has to be iPad.

"For students who dread writing class, a blank page can look a lot like a ten-foot monolith; an imposing, empty slate towering over their homework list. Visual storytelling is one way to break students out of writer's block, and storyboarding apps are a pre-packaged strategy you can use to bring images to the narrative. Whether your students are afraid of writing or you're simply looking for a way to break up a brainstorming session, these 10 storyboarding apps for iOS and Android devices can help inspire-and organize-students of any age. The best part might be the flexibility of these apps. While they can be used for strict storyboarding in the creation of fiction, they can also be used for other tasks, including documenting project-based learning, sharing assignments, or capturing research notes."

"Digital literacy, as a set of skills that students need to develop and master in order to properly use digital technologies , is an essential component of the 21st century education. Being digitally literate should not be confused with being comfortable using certain types of digital media such as social media. And as Danah Boyd argued in her book "Understanding The Social Lives of Networked Teens" teenagers know how how to use Facebook, but their understanding of the site's privacy settings did not mesh with the ways in which they configured their accounts.They know how to get to Google but had little understanding about how to construct a query to get quality information from the popular search engine. Along with learning how to conduct effective online searches comes the the second most important skill which is that of evaluating and assessing the validity of information found online. One of the versatile tools teachers can use to teach students about web content evaluation is called CRAAP . The acronym CRAAP stands for Currency, Relevance, Authority, and Purpose. CRAAP is a test developed by the University of California at Chico to help students evaluate web content ( and any other content) based on those four dimensions. Below is a public domain document, a checklist, that teachers and students can use to evaluate web content. Click here to download it."

"Perhaps one of the most powerful expectations of students in an environment of scarcity is that they not question the source of the information. As the modern classroom has become connected, the amount of information available to both teachers and students has exponentially increased. Where teachers once lectured about important ideas and events, or shared their acquired knowledge with their students, today's classrooms can see every key primary source document, the actual notes of great scientists, and a limitless amount of literary criticism. For students, this abundance of information means not only a changing role from the traditional classroom, but also a drastically different set of skills and expectations."

"It is that time of year. Across the nation, teachers are saying goodbye to their students for a few months, while parents are tasked with helping their children avoid the pitfalls of the well-documented "summer slide." What many parents may have overlooked is the fantastic opportunity right at their fingertips -- Internet research."

"Yesterday was a Flex Day in our district, so my teaching partner and I had a very small group of first grade students to do some very focused instruction. It was a great day, but was made even better through a mid-morning surprise! Our kiddos discovered that both classroom's praying mantis egg sacs had hatched new baby praying mantises! We were so excited, and disappointed at the same time, because not everyone was there to see it! We needed to set them free quickly because they can actually eat each other if you don't get them a food source quickly enough. I suggested that we try out the Book Creator app, since it's on my "To Purchase" list for school iPads, to document our investigation and release."

"Despite their popularity, tablets get knocked on productivity-largely because entering data on them is slow and cumbersome. But that doesn't mean you have to boot up your laptop every time you need to type a lengthy document. From add-on keyboards to alternative on-screen keypads and general screen-typing tips, here's a host of ways to speed up data entry on your iPad or Android tablet. "

"After the publication of "9 Google  alternatives for academics and student researchers" today I am sharing with you this excellent list of academic search engines specifically curated for history teachers. Using these search engines, you will be able to look for and find resources and materials to use in your class with your students. These resources include original historical documents, maps, images, records, memorials, primary source materials, interactive timelines and man"

"When we use literature circles, small groups of student gather for an in-depth discussion of a literary work. To ensure that students have a clear sense of direction and remain focused, each group member is given a specific task. For example, one student may be the designated artist; s/he is responsible for using some form of art to explore a main idea, a theme, or significant scene from the text. Another group member, the wordsmith, might be responsible for documenting important, unusual, or difficult words from the reading. Regardless of each student's role, each group must collaborate as they read, discuss and critically engage with texts."

"The science is clear: If you get kids moving throughout the school day, they will do better academically. That's the case being made in the article "Building a better brain" just published in the Globe and Mail. The article quotes Harvard Medical School's John Ratey, an internationally recognized expert in neuropsychiatry: If you want to raise test scores, we have documented evidence - big time evidence - that the key is to include fitness-based activity in the day. Not only do schools need to start incorporating physical activity into every school day, they need to make sure that their students are physically literate, so they have the skills necessary to participate and enjoy that activity. And we know that kids who are physically literate have the confidence to move and will seek out opportunities to be physically active."

"If you are using or planning to use iPad in your instruction the apps below are definitely a must have. These are apps that will help you organize your class and enhance students learning. Some of the things you can do with these applications include: create virtual spaces for your classes, share materials with your students such as files and documents, get students to pass in their assignments, post reminders, share quizzes and homework assignments with students, send reports to parents and school administrators  and many more."

"PDFs are one of the most popular document formats, mainly because you can view them easily on any device. Sometimes you need to modify them or convert them to other formats depending on your usage. SmallPDF is a free, online service that gives you the ability to compress, convert, split, merge, modify, (and more) PDF files."

"Folders allow you to organize your files in Google Drive. They also allow you to more efficiently share a collection of documents. If you've switched to the new Google Drive you can create a folder by clicking on the reddish "NEW" button and choosing folder. The "Create" button provides the same options if you have not switched over."