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"Below are three excellent Google Apps checklists to help you make the best of  Google Apps in your instruction and also in your professional growth as a teacher and educator. These checklists are prepared by Google certified teacher Neil Charlet and are part of a series Neil is actually working on titled" Google Apps Proficiency Checklists". Still to come in this series are : Google Calendar Proficiency checklist and Google Gmail Proficiency checklist. Follow Neil to stay updated of his upcoming work."

OVIEDO, FL -- July 14, 2008 -- InfoSource Learning announces that all school districts, state departments, and educational organizations can receive the SimpleAssessment for Student Technology Proficiency free of charge for all students. What started as a promotion at this year's National Educational Computer Conference (NECC) has blossomed into a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of students' technology proficiency.  This campaign also stems from the goal to assess 25 million students during the 2008/2009 school year as a means of celebrating the Company's 25th anniversary.

"With the growing interest in using iPads for teaching, the inclusion of technology as part of the 21st century skills, and the availability of iPads in classrooms, it becomes more and more important to create language lessons that make effective use of the device. Often teachers and learners alike are overwhelmed by the new technology and the wealth of apps that are available. When searching the Apple Store, for example, several language learning apps focus on grammar, vocabulary drills, and games in a variety of languages. However, it is not the objective of this article to highlight apps for grammar and verb drills. Instead, it is the goal of this article to present a sample of free-of-charge apps that were not necessarily created for language instruction but that can be used in a creative way to encourage critical thinking, enhance language proficiency, and integrate into existing curricula and lessons. WHY USE TECHNOLOGY IN TEACHING?"

It is often assumed that technically sophisticated students are proficient in information competencies through their use of the Internet and popular search engines. However, course assignments frequently reflect problems such as plagiarism and inaccuracy in evaluating credible sources. Most faculty welcome support to promote information literacy skills but are often pressed for time; they don't want to be constrained in how they teach and would prefer to customize course resources. Participants will learn about UCF's institutional approach to addressing information literacy for the 21st century, which adopts principles inherent in Web 2.0 that most students and faculty have come to expect.

"Reading for Meaning is a research-based strategy that helps all readers build the skills that proficient readers use to make sense of challenging texts. Regular use of the strategy gives students the opportunity to practice and master the three phases of critical reading that lead to reading success, including Previewing and predicting before reading. Actively searching for relevant information during reading. Reflecting on learning after reading."

"Around this time last year, I wrote a post about the lack of engaging Maths apps on the iPad that went beyond "skill and drill" number activities. Since then, developers have introduced a greater range of apps across all areas of the Maths curriculum that can be used to enhance the Maths teaching and learning in your classroom. Here's a selection of 20 apps that cover Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability ( these are the Content strands (CS) Australia's Mathematics curriculum has been categorized under ). They also cover the proficiency strands (PS) of Understanding, Fluency, Problem Solving and Reasoning. I'm sure other countries' curricula are similar in many regards and you will be able to make the connections"

"Last week we looked at some extremely useful science boards on Learnist. This week, we'll do the same for math. As the United States ramps up its drive towards increasing proficiency in math and numeracy across curricula, these Learnist boards on mathematical topics and Math Common Core State Standards should prove invaluable."

"This article is about finding the best 3D printing software for every stage of your workflow. Which 3D printing software is best for preparing 3D models to print? How about designing 3D print models from scratch? What if you're an absolute beginner? Have no fear, we've answered all of these questions, together with details on proficiency levels and where they can be downloaded. And best of all, the majority of them are totally free and open source."

"The gap between the skills people learn and the skills people need is becoming more obvious, as traditional learning falls short of equipping students with the knowledge they need to thrive, according to the World Economic Forum report New Vision for Education: Fostering Social and Emotional Learning Through Technology. Today's job candidates must be able to collaborate, communicate and solve problems - skills developed mainly through social and emotional learning (SEL). Combined with traditional skills, this social and emotional proficiency will equip students to succeed in the evolving digital economy."

Rather than focusing on future jobs, this report looks at future work skills-proficiencies and abilities required across different jobs and work settings.

"Increasingly, educators are acknowledging and welcoming the relative advantages of social media into the teaching and learning process. From creating school Facebook pages to connecting students with experts via Twitter, social media has taken root as a legitimate classroom learning and communication tool. The highly linguistic nature of social media allows us to create and consume ideas and information unlike ever before. Much attention has been given to composing an articulate blog post and condensing our messages to 140 characters or less. However, effective use of this 21st century technology requires that we not only become proficient in textual communication, but also in our ability to express ourselves and interpret others' ideas through visual literacy. "

"The source for innovative or creative thinking is as much as mystery as that of curiosity or particular genius. In a traditional classroom, "having a good idea" is strangely not valued as much as the ability to demonstrate proficiency with a specific assessment form. In fact, "good ideas" can often be disruptive to a tightly-sequenced and outcomes-based learning process."

"The title of this checklist is "Teacher iPad Proficiency Checklist Page 3 of 3GISD Educational Technology " and is actually hosted on georgetownisd but am not really sure who created it. I have also checked for copyrights but haven't found any. However, this checklist is available for free download from this Link. I highly recommend it for anyone planning to use iPad with their students in class. I am pretty sure it will exponentially help your educational "ipadding" way better than you ever thought."

"Let's face it - getting kids to learn their math facts can be a challenge. But once they know them, they know them forever. The process of "doing math" becomes more efficient and less frustrating when kids know their facts. Luckily there are plenty of fun apps that can help kids become "math fact" proficient. All of these apps are FREE or were "FREE for a limited time" when I reviewed them. Check them out - they're all great!"

"In Manitoba there are traditionally five provincially mandated PD days per year. This year the topics for the first four of my school's PD days were 'Cultural Proficiency' (a division sponsored event), an 'EdCamp' (facilitated by division coordinators), a day where teachers work with other teachers from around the province in their teaching area, and a school-based session on 'Deeper Learning and Critical Thinking' with support from a division coordinator. Our final day will be on the topic of 'Positive Behaviour Interventions and Supports'. We will join one of our feeder elementary schools, and the day will be facilitated by divisional educational support services staff. Although these sessions have all been of great value, and have resulted in many thoughtful conversations, the days are somewhat disjointed. The topics for each day are chosen by divisional administration or school-based administrators, without the input of the teachers that will 'benefit' from the PD sessions. To make these PD days more valuable, teachers need to keep the conversations going on these important topics for deep learning to occur, or this 'one size fits all' model needs to be abandoned for a more teacher directed PD model. If teachers are in charge of the topic of their personal PD, they will be more likely to own this time and use the division sponsored PD days as a catalyst to deeper learning and connections to other professionals within their own building and beyond. Teachers need going beyond the four or five division sponsored PD days to ensure personal and professional growth."

"It's a familiar classroom ritual - every June, teachers assign summer reading. And every September, students come back to school having read too few books. This is frustrating for teachers, and challenging for students. When kids aren't in school, they forget crucial skills they learned during the year - at least a month of reading achievement, on average. This so-called "summer slide" is particularly pernicious in children from low-income families. Low-income students often walk through the door of their kindergartens already behind their more fortunate peers because of a mix of poverty, poorer health, less parental education, and higher rates of single and teenage parents. With limited access to books and other academic opportunities in the summer, these children experience the summer slide threefold. Over time, this adds up. By third grade, children who can't read at their grade level (a whopping 73 percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch) begin to struggle with other subjects. Students living in poverty who cannot read proficiently by third grade are 13 times less likely to graduate from high school. By ninth grade, some have estimated that two-thirds of the reading achievement gap can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities. There is good news: Stemming the summer slide isn't impossible. Students who read just four to six books over the summer maintain their skills (they need to turn more pages to actually become better readers.)"

"It is Benjamin Bloom's belief that the entry point to learning is the acquisition of knowledge. He postulates that a solid foundation of terms, facts, theories, and skills is the educational base that will allow the mind to evaluate information effectively and inspire innovation. Our schools' emphasis on and devotion to standards-based instruction and high-stakes testing reflects a desire for students to become proficient at memorizing terms, and facts as well as and mastering various sets of skills. "

HeyMath! is the #1 E-Learning program for Math in Singapore - a country that has been ranked #1 for math proficiency globally in a recent study conducted by the American Institutes of Research, and consistently outperforms in TIMSS surveys. Over half the highest performing students in Singapore use HeyMath! as their core instructional technology resource for middle-high school math. We're also thrilled to announce that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (with the highest NAEP math scores in the US) recently funded a pilot study for a group of teachers in western Massachusetts to explore HeyMath! as a potential resource for MA teachers to strengthen their own mathematical content knowledge as well as to enhance classroom lessons and instruction.