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"3 Tips on Integrating Technology in the Classroom Former Gov. Bob Wise discusses Digital Learning Day and how high school teachers can embrace technology. By Laura McMullen Jan. 25, 2012 SHARE Integrating technology into a high school classroom isn't a one-step process. "You can't just slap a netbook [computer] on top of a textbook and say, 'Great, now we have technology," says Bob Wise, former governor of West Virginia and president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, an advocacy organization. Wise says that digital learning starts with teachers, whose performance is enhanced by technology-not the other way around. That's also the idea of Digital Learning Day, which the Alliance is spearheading. The first annual Digital Learning Day falls on February 1 and will celebrate innovative K-12 instructors who successfully bring technology into the classroom by assigning online course content, using adaptive software for students with special needs, and utilizing online student assessments and other digital tools. Educators, as well as parents, students, librarians, and community leaders, can learn about classroom innovations and get new ideas by chiming in during the virtual National Town Hall meeting held on Digital Learning Day. [Learn how a new iPad app is revolutionizing textbooks.] "The whole intention of Digital Learning Day is to really celebrate teachers and good instructional learning practices," says Sarah Hall, director of the Alliance's Center for Secondary School Digital Learning and Policy. And good teaching, especially the kind that involves working with evolving technologies, sometimes requires good advice. Hall and Wise shared the following ideas for effectively using technology in the classroom-not just on Digital Learning Day, but anytime. 1. Plan ahead: There has to be a comprehensive strategy in place to implement technology into the school system, Wise says, and the teachers have to be involved in the planning stages. "When a schoo

"Five Ways Teachers Can Use Technology to Help Students Posted: 05/07/2013 8:34 am Follow éducation , Classroom Technology , Open Source , Public Schools , Teacher Technology , Technology In The Classroom , Technology News SHARE THIS STORY 57 273 34 Submit this story By Darrell M. West and Joshua Bleiberg Thomas Edison once said, "Books will soon be obsolete in the public schools... our school system will be completely changed inside of ten years." Amazingly enough, however, one of our nation's most important inventors was proven quite wrong. The American education system has a remarkable resistance to innovation and the classroom experience has changed very little in the 100 years since Edison's prediction. Advances in information technology have revolutionized how people communicate and learn in nearly every aspect of modern life except for education. The education system operates under the antiquated needs of an agrarian and industrial America. The short school day and the break in the summer were meant to allow children to work on family farms. Schools have an enduring industrial mentality placing students in arbitrary groups based on their age regardless of their competencies. Technology has failed to transform our schools because the education governance system insulates them from the disruptions that technology creates in other organizations. The government regulates schools perhaps more than any other organization. Rules govern where students study, how they will learn, and who will teach them. Education regulation governs the relationships of actors in the system and stymies the impact of innovative technologies. Furthermore the diffuse system of governance creates numerous veto points to limit innovation. To overcome these obstacles, we must persuade teachers that technology will empower them and help their students learn. We argue that there are five strategies for successful teacher adoption of education technology and that these principles will he

This is a great post on how change is necessary for a teacher.

Keith Hughes explains how to flip your classroom. He gives a quick tutorial about how to do the video piece. He emphasizes three things: 1. Know your curriculum, 2. Know your audience. 3. When you know your curriculum and your audience, you can focus on how to engage kids so they understand your objective clearly. He suggests making a 10 minute video, and explains how incorporate the videos, font and lecture into the video. The students watch it at home and come to class prepared to discuss the concept. In this way, class time is not used to teach content, but to respond to the concepts the students viewed in the video at home.

The Richard Howe Blog is a meeting place for historians, archivists, artists, photographers, travellers, and Lowell fans to blog about our beloved city of Lowell. Check out Tonty Sampas' photographs.

This a tutorial on how to make an updated "book talk" for your classroom.

How to teach students to leave quality comments on blogs

Pointers on how to blogging in the elementary grades

 At this site, teachers have recorded short videos/screencasts demonstrating how to use various web 2.0 applications with students.  Each video is 5 minutes or less.

Posting folders with every single topic that is done throughout the year on the back wall. 

Ideas for podcasts, and the hows and whys to use them. I already found one I would have loved to have used this past year. 

Each of the six links off of this page go into greater depth on how to use specific apps!

Faces of Learning is a collaborative, solution-oriented site that seeks to answer the questions: What does an ideal learning environment look like? and How do we create more ideal learning environments? It is a blog as well and there are many shared stories of learning experiences. There is an interactive 'learner sketch' to determine your own (or a student's) strengths and weaknesses. You can record your own story too.

How to create a presentation that stands out and memorable.

Examples of how QR codes are used in education

Public draft of upcoming science standards. I haven't had a chance to look through these yet, but I am looking forward to see how these compare with the Common Core Standards.

Richard Byrne's Tech for Teachers blog- Specifically, Google "how to" vids in one place

This had a major impact in my teaching. If the process he describes is what is innate in children, how does our teaching now help or hinder that effect? I think technology is a great way to bring students natural inclination for learning to the fore.

Although not strictly about technology, it did help form how I thought about teaching. Check out act one for the story of Geoffery Canada.

This website provides great lessons for teachers to prevent cyber bullying and to teach students how to handle it.