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"Digital books are transforming the way students of all ages learn today. The interactive elements of digital books enhance the learning experience, making it far more informative and interesting than before. Many teachers today are embracing this new media and producing some high quality student-made eBooks in their classrooms. One of the most fascinating ways to create an eBook is using a mobile device, particularly, an iPad. StoryKit, Book Writer, and Book Creator are 3 apps my students have used to create some highly interactive, professionally looking eBooks. All three apps are excellent examples of tools that allow students to unleash their creativity and tell their own stories."

"I received a couple of requests over the last few days to feature a post about tips for managing iPad classrooms. I know several of you, if not at the start of the school year then at least at some point during this school year will probably be drawing on iPad as a teaching resource to scaffold students learning. To this end, I went ahead and compiled this list hoping you will find it helpful. Enjoy "

"Hopscotch is a free app created specifically for the iPad that introduces students to programming using a visual touch interface and drag-n-drop code blocks. With bright colors, friendly characters and a library of different functions and programming statements, Hopscotch is an excellent way to introduce the logical concepts of programming to learners."

"There are a variety of forms in which visual representation is materialized. Knowing these forms will enable you to diversify the visual channels through which you communicate information to your students. To this end, I am sharing with you this wonderful periodic table that features different visualization methods. When you Hover your mouse on any of the boxes in this periodic table, a pop-up picture will be displayed showing the name and a sample of the visualization."

"YouTube is definitely one of the best platforms for searching and accessing  educational video resources. We have already covered several ways teachers can leverage the  power of this platform in instruction. In fact, the strength of YouTube is not only in it being a resource of educational videos but is also a powerful tool for creating and editing videos. Several teachers still overlook some excellent editing features and creative possibilities that YouTube provides. For instance, you can use YouTube editor to create beautiful slideshows and presentations to share in class, or create use it to create a Hangout  and invite students to take part. These and several other hacks are all available right in your YouTube account and if you need help discovering YouTube's hidden gems, this section is a good place to start with."

"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."

"Read and Write for Google is an excellent Chrome app that provides text-to-speech functions from your browser. They have just released a free iPad and Android app. The apps provide text to speech functions, which are great for ESL, learning disabled, visually challenged and struggling readers, on your device, just like the web app does in the Chrome Browser and Chromebooks."

"It's known as the "musician's advantage."  For decades, educators, scientists, and researchers have observed that students who pick up musical instruments tend to excel in academics-taking the lead in measures of vocabulary, reading, and non-verbal reasoning and attention skills, just to name a few. But why musical training conferred such an advantage remained a bit of a mystery. "

"Where do you begin the search for art apps for the classroom?  Many websites have some excellent lists and we've put some of the best all in once place."

"Today while I was browsing my Google Plus feeds I came across this wonderful work by Pip Cleaves. This is a slideshow presentation in which Cleaves features a plethora of web tools to help educators and teachers (who do not always work in the app world) create  effective learning designs. These tools are arranged into six main categories:"

"The two web tools I m sharing with you today are ideal for creating and sharing mapped stories. Students can use them in class to organize, narrate and present information through the means of geography. Both of these tools are easy to use and are also student friendly. Have a look and share with your students."

"Music is creative, enjoyable and an excellent means of expressing oneself. Even better: playing an instrument is one of the best workouts you can give your brain. Even if you don't intend on pursuing a career in music or starting a band, you only need to know the basics of an instrument to enjoy it. YouTube can teach you to do just about anything, and that includes playing an instrument. Today we'll focus on piano, guitar, bass guitar and drums, but if you look hard enough you'll find crash courses in everything from the bassoon to the melodica."

"Recently, the NY Times ran an excellent article entitled: A Natural Fix for ADHD. In this piece, Dr. Richard Friedman, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Director of the Psychopharmacology Clinic at Weill Cornell Physicians, explores the neuroscience behind ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). In so doing, Friedman attempts to reframe our understanding of just what ADHD is, and how much more nuanced our approaches for treating it need to be."

"Microsoft's Office suite for iPad, iPhone, and Android is now free. In a surprise move, the software giant is shaking up its mobile Office strategy to keep consumers hooked to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents. Starting today, you'll no longer need an Office 365 subscription to edit documents or store them in the cloud. The move comes just days after Microsoft announced a strategic partnership with Dropbox to integrate the cloud storage service into Office across desktop, mobile, and the web. You can now download Office for iPad and store all your documents on Dropbox without paying Microsoft anything at all. Microsoft is also releasing a brand new iPhone app today, alongside a preview of Office for Android tablets, all with Dropbox integration."

Well written and informative guide to Facebook. Links to many resources you might not find on your own. Ties back to website with even more timely information for educators about social networking. Excellent resource!

An excellent guide to teaching research to students in grades 6 - 10

An excellent blog I came across that includes articles of the week.  

Doug Bradshaw's blog excellent ideas on Digital lLiteracies