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Fascinating read from a professor about the response of his graduate students when they all received ipads. Some felt that by carrying them they came across as elitist. Perhaps it is because so many people want them and they are still very expensive. Very interesting read.

An amazing augmented reality app for Android and iPad. Bring animation to still objects, make your children's written work come to life and make dragons fly around your school... through your camera at least. Share your creations with other users to make geo-location designs which will interact with anyone with the app. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

Mess around with web pages. This is from David Warlick's post on Educon that I posted as part of the daily news. You're not REALLY changing the page but changing it locally on your machine, but is is still a lot of fun. There are also links to using this site to teach how to make websites.

To create a test for all, the NYS Regents sets the bar low.

Jane Hart's list of Top 100 Tools for Learning in 2011. (Hat tip Stephen Downes) This is from a survey - not just one person's opinion. Topping the list (again): Twitter. I also LOVE how this list shows the previous rankings from the prior 4 years. Youtube is #2 although still blocked in SOOOOO many places followed by Google Docs, Skype, Wordpress, Dropbox, Prezi (something I haven't gotten into yet), Moodle, Slideshare, and Glogster EDU. Take a look at the entire list on her blog post.

My indispensible recipe app for the ipad/ iphone. I LOVE Paprika. If you're looking at thanksgiving and want it on your ipad, then get paprika while there is still time.

Not sure how I missed the April announcement that Read it Later has been rebranded as Pocket but I kept seeing "pocket" in my RSS readers, Zite, etc. and got curious. Pocket (theh competitor to instapaper) allows you to save websites you see on your mobile device to read later like a magazine on devices like your ipad, droid device, kindle fire, or even your web browser (if you read on your laptop still.) I've seen many use this on their laptop and send it to Pocket or Instapaper to read on their ipad later.

There is a new type of wiki called the "federated wiki" that is the new brainchild of wiki inventor, Ward Cunningham. INfluenced by GitHub, this invention lets you "fork" a wiki page and make your own version with the original author having the choice to integrate your changes or keep it separate. This may be a great type of collaborative writing tool for researchers and academicians who often are concerned about adding to a common repository in that the page could evolve to no longer represent their views but their name is still affixed to the page. On the other hand, those who may not understand it, might incorrectly attribute something that has been forked and edited but not approved by the original author. I like the potential, however. For those of you who do collaborative work, this is an excellent read.

OK. I think this will be great news for many schools who are still clinging to Windows XP. Microsoft will keep supplying anti-malware updates to Windows XP until april 15, 2014. The March 2013 date caused an outcry among many and we've been working hard to update all the XP machines with extra RAM so they could go to Windows 7. But with the machines working so well on XP many of us wonder why we should dispose of machines that work so well especially in cash crunched times. Take your time - you've got a little longer although for us in the US if they'd go through June 2015 it means we can get 2 more school years out of XP machines. In a sign of the times, it can make all the difference between some kids using technology and some not.

Next week on 9/11 is the 9/11 day of service that many are commemorating. You can go to www.911day.org to see what others are doing and join in. This is a great activity and focus on others but more importantly - it is a remembrance - it isn't enough but it is a remembrance. Some of us still feel like it was yesterday.

The new $35 Chromecast USB looks to be a great option for those of you who haven't purchased a Roku or Apple TV yet - even if you have, you might still want to get one - especially if you watch a bit of YouTube. Take a look at the setup information about how to do this.

A lovely overview by North Canton City Schools about how to go paperless with Google Docs. If you're working towards being as paperless as possible, this is a nice document to get you started. (For some of you out there who don't know this - Google renamed everything "Google Drive" to respond to Dropbox's domination of cloud storage but many of us still call the word processor "Docs".)

Dawn Casey-Rowe hits a tough topic that is the number one complaint that teachers have. I had her on my show not too long a go and she speaks from a tough situation with lots of blocks and bans but gets it done anyway. If your complaint is blocks and bans, then take time to read this post to focus on what you CAN do. Dawn is offering a set of PD blog posts that you'll want to dig into. "This week, we're going to discuss the white elephant in the room. Tech frustration. Many teachers struggle to bring students the type of tech experience they would like because of systemic blocks and bans, or worse, feel embarrassed as students have more access to tech than teachers do. This is the issue that brought me to the tech world myself. Students continually asked the hard questions about why they couldn't utilize technology such as smartphones, laptops, and tablets, and why phones were confiscated when students were using them for educational purposes. I wanted to improve my classroom experience and give my students more, but budget was a concern. Tech access is a problem in many schools. There are legitimate reasons-the desire of administrators to protect students from the darker side of the internet, fear of the unknown, lack of wireless capacity and budget difficulties which cause insufficient numbers of computers or the inability to upgrade existing tech. Some educational leaders have overcome these hurdles, but others are still working to get to that space."

This NPR article on the school situation in Philadelphia is heart wrenching. Poverty impacts everyone, especially children. For those who have never seen it, it is hard to understand. I remember in Mumbai, seeing kids with a tiny notebook and pencil down to the nub that had been used the whole school year - kids were erasing unimportant things (if they still had an eraser) to add more to their notebooks. Yes, there are many places that desperately need school supplies and help and Philadelphia is one of the many cities who are really struggling. Take time to read/listen and understand and set up this holiday season to help. ""Clothing, books, all of the school supplies, backpacks," Kantor says. "And you see some kids that are really suffering. Some kids don't ever have a dime. They have one pencil, they have a spiral book, and they don't have any of the supplies." Other teachers say they've had to bring in cleaning supplies - even toilet paper. But lots of nonmaterial things gnaw at Kantor: She says some parents, many of them single moms, seem overwhelmed and disengaged. Kantor says she knows they're stressed out and tries to reach out by phone, but is too often left discouraged."

Some very interesting gadgets and gizmos that you may want to add to wish lists for family and friends. Also a few I wouldn't have picked ( a car made the list) but still very interesting.

Great advice from Nicholas Provenzano about failure: "What I am not saying is that teachers should leave students on their own to figure everything out and sit back and watch them fail on exams or essays. Teachers still need to guide their students and let them explore learning, but you have to let them try new things and learn through trial and error. The error part is the thing people are starting to forget. In the rush to get through content, it's easier to give students the answers instead of letting them discover them on their own through hard work.  As you work in your class this year, try to take a step back when a student fails the first time. Assure them they can come up with the right answer on their own if they try a couple of times. Offer them strategies on how to approach problems in different ways to get new outcomes. "

Students across the country have already started working on their IWitness Challenge project sponsored by the USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education, but there's still time for youngsters in your community to enter this free online program geared to all secondary-school students. The deadline to enter the Challenge is Dec. 2, 2013. The winning student, along with their teacher and a family member will be brought to Los Angeles to showcase their work as part of the 20th anniversary activities for the Shoah Foundation, which was founded by director Steven Spielberg in 1994 after making "Schindler's List." Tthe IWitness Challenge (iwitness.usc.edu) connects students with the past in a very personal way that spurs them to take action to improve the future. With access to many of the Shoah Foundation's 52,000 testimonies of survivors, liberators and rescuers, students experience history in a way that hits home. Instead of reading facts from textbooks, students feel the emotions and build relationships with those who lived through seemingly impossible situations. But students do more than watch the testimony. The IWitness Challenge compels them to think, to make smart choices and to create their own project and video from what they've learned. By encouraging teachers and students to create their own lesson plans, IWitness allows them to expand on practically any subject they wish to pursue. From civics, government and history to poetry, art and ethics, educators can tailor lessons appropriate for their classrooms. And by using the embedded editor, participants not only learn valuable searching and editing skills, but also how to make ethical editing decisions that ensure their finished assignments are a fair and accurate reflection of what they've seen. All work is kept safe inside the IWitness site and not accessible to the public. Using IWitness is free, but teachers or homeschool parents must register at iwitness.usc.edu.

You can keep reading, just DON'T MAKE A PHONE CALL. I guess the FAA has heard us now and has demonstrated that playing games, reading ebooks and watching videos can be done and cellular service must be disabled in phones. Even bluetooth accessories can be used... all of this coming soon. "Saying it has "determined that airlines can safely expand passenger use of Portable Electronic Devices (PEDs) during all phases of flight," the Federal Aviation Administration announced Thursday that it is advising airlines they can let fliers use their much-loved e-books, tablets and other handhelds "gate-to-gate." Cellphone calls, however, would still be prohibited."

A new website that is easy to align to standards (and share information with other teachers) with your students as you give "exit tickets" but also other activities during class. I like how easy it is to share your questions with other teachers. I'm still testing and learning this system but am impressed that this is an alternative for student response systems that some may want to test as well. For those who do data driven decision making, this is a must test.

"Teachers are quickly catching on and even surpassing students when it comes to embracing social media. What if you still have questions about the plethora of communication channels that exist for teachers to reach their students? Thankfully we are proud to share 'Tools For The 21st Century Teacher' by Michael Zimmer, a Technology Integration Specialist in Western Kentucky."