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Great resource from Derrick McNeil for helping physics students learn Physics, not independently, but at an independent pace to supplement and differentiate content for his students (and ours).  Interesting approach and philosophy that I think has great merit and is worth exploring for more content areas. 

Continuing discussion of two issues that are at the forefront of our work. 

The website says: "THE Place For Educational Games!Our research-based and standards-aligned free educational math games and language arts games will engage, motivate, and help teach students. Click a button below to play our free multi-player and single-player games! In the future we'll add features enabling you to save records, tailor content for differentiated instruction, and pinpoint student problem areas." I think using the games in conjunction with a holistic approach to developing skills would make for a great way of getting students to practices some skills. Let students play, set goals, monitor those goals, reflect on their progress, and apply strategies/heuristics to specific problems they struggle with would create an environment in the classroom where learning was fun, self-monitored, and successful. 

ZoomIt is screen zoom and annotation tool for technical presentations that include application demonstrations. ZoomIt runs unobtrusively in the tray and activates with customizable hotkeys to zoom in on an area of the screen, move around while zoomed, and draw on the zoomed image.

Science related news brought together for multiple topic areas, including: nanotechnology, physics, space and earth, technology

"Reading and writing in the content fields (content literacy) represents one of the major changes in the recently adopted Common Core Standards. In only a few short years, content teachers will be held accountable for supporting literacy standards in their content instruction. "

I like the idea of this post. Find four or five sources of information, invite students to read, and reflect critically on what they read. I like the idea that it promotes the use of individual writers, allows the teacher to select the sources, gives the students some choice, and includes a very strong use of technology.

I think a great way of getting students involved in a discussion about a topic. I like the premise of this idea. I wonder about using this with SS or ELA or Humanities content areas.

Yet, another great data analysis, display tool from Google. Implications in helping students organize/display/analyze/evaluate data is incredible. Displaying data through a map has implications in so many content areas. 

I still believe that Diigo has the potential to be a worthwhile tool for high school students doing collaborative work in content area classrooms. Here is another teacher who is using it with her students and providing a basic framework for introducing it to her students.

I just added all fifteen tools to my library but thought I should probably add the article where I got them all from as well. I think the article is a little overly supportive but at least the sites are interesting. I do like the premise of creating instructional routines that can be supported as paperless. I would like to see the conversation about how to create the entire routine from getting students to the site, letting them do their thing, get feedback to/from the teacher, reflect, repeat/progress... I think that is an area that teachers need help in thinking through.

Online binder of activities created by Kelly Hines for her students. She uses this site (livebinders.com) to organize her online learning for her students. This is just a good example of what an online binder might look like. 

social activism is one of the areas that has been enhanced through the web. Another site that helps bring people with a social conscience together! 

cK-12 FlexBooks are customizable, standards-aligned, free digital textbooks for K - 12. Subject areas include: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Easy to use but not very adaptable within the chapters. You decide the chapters that you want in your book, but each chapter is basically a pre-made PDF. 

Example of a walking tour that uses QR Codes to provide people with information about a town or area. 

Another digital storytelling resource. This resource focus' on using the modality for content storytelling, so if you've been reluctant to explore digital storytelling in your classroom, then think again. It's a great set of ideas for developing rigorous stories for content of multiple grades and content areas.

"Staffed with about 60 full-time researchers, many of them Indians with PhDs from top universities in the United States, the center is at the cutting edge of Microsoft's R&D. It covers seven areas of research including mobility and cryptography." For now, the US is still the center of tech education. How long will people continue to come to the US for education? How can we change the tide of American students not choosing/being prepared for engineering/leadership

How many of the PhD's are going back to India, though?

It's what we are moving our students to by teaching to the test and in this article it's being used against India.

Always looking for reading resources to share with the Striving Readers group. Here is a great online resource that has short readings that are applicable and topical. May not be user friendly for students 2 years or more behind grade level, but very applicable to the content area classrooms! Very interactive, combine pictures with text, updated constantly.

The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) was developed to help guide the complex task of evaluating technology integration in the classroom. Basic technology skills and integration of technology into the curriculum go hand-in-hand to form teacher technology literacy. Encouraging the seamless use of technology in all curriculum areas and promoting technology literacy are both key NCLB:Title II-D/EETT program purposes. The Inventory for Teacher Technology Skills (ITTS) companion tool is designed to help districts evaluate teachers' current levels of proficiency with technology and is also used as a professional development planning and needs assessment resource. The TIM is envisioned as an EETT program resource which can help support the full integration of technology in Florida schools. What is in each cell? Each cell in the matrix will have a video (or several videos) which illustrate the integration of technology in classrooms where only a few computers are available and/or classrooms where every student has access to a laptop computer. Transformation The teacher creates a rich learning environment in which students regularly engage in activities that would have been impossible to achieve without technology. Active Indicator: Given ongoing access to online resources, students actively select and pursue topics beyond the limitations of even the best school library. Collaborative Indicator: Technology enables students to collaborate with peers and experts irrespective of time zone or physical distances. Constructive Indicator: Students use technology to construct, share, and publish knowledge to a worldwide audience. Authentic Indicator: By means of technology tools, students participate in outside-of-school projects and problem-solving activities that have meaning for the students and the community. Goal Directed Indicator: Students engage in ongoing metacognative activities at a level that would be unattainable without the support of technol

Edutopia is just confirming what we all know and believe. Why is it such a hard thing to implement well in the classroom?  We need to continue fighting for the chance for every student to have opportunities and expectations for communicating in class everyday as a regular/routine part of their learning.