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This is a great site for primary source material that was collected through the National Archives. Using primary sources actively engages kids and motivates them to think. This was one of the nuggets of information I saw at MassCUE. There is an amazing amount of content on this site.

I loved this too. I have recommended the site to our fifth grade teachers due to the large amount of research their students do.

Beth Holland is an insightful, creative educator who I saw at MassCUE yesterday so I decided to follow her and see what else she had to say. This is an interesting and insightful discussion of the potential positives and negatives of screen time. A good reminder to keep it meaningful, and as we have all said, avoid "technology for the sake of technology." "Television rots your brain." In a similar vein, video games turn your mind to mush, and staring at a screen for too long potentially makes you a zombie. In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published a report suggesting that children under two should not have any screen time.

The three questions this article asks are something I think a lot about when using the iPads in my classroom. Last year when I first started using them in my classroom they were mostly being used as mobile educational gaming devices. The kids were using apps that reinforced the phonics and math concepts we were learning, but they weren't really going anything further than that. They certainly were engaged and learning so I don't feel that it was time wasted, however I always knew there was more they could be doing with the devices. The third piece, is it empowering, was the piece I was missing last year and am trying to incorporate more this year.

Great article. I agree there needs to be a balance with screen time and how we should use that time. The 3 questions of screen time being appropriate, meaningful, and empowering are key to allowing students take charge of their learning. The article states "… teachers had found educational apps to reinforce math and reading concepts, the students passively interacted with content rather than constructing understanding. The interaction primarily consisted of students just tapping on a screen." I feel it is important for us to limit these types of apps and find the few that are going to allow students to "construct understanding" and apply content they learn outside of screen time. To me, this strikes a good balance. At MassCUE this past Thursday, I attended a session by a district that made the decision to use apps that allowed for creativity. They recognized that there were many apps for gaming and skill drills, but they wanted their students to be able to use their devices to apply learning in a meaningful way. This was music to my ears. I applaud their efforts, and based on the examples of student work that were shown, it's working.

Interesting - it looks like this company is trying to make a tablet that is tailored for education. I like this idea because the iPads seem to be designed to profit the Apple company, which makes some things (such as the lack of Flash compatibility) a hindrance in the classroom.

We actually met with the rep from this company last spring. He was at MassCUE as well. At the time we could not purchase any of the tablets. They were in the beta stage. When I saw the rep at MassCUE, he mentioned that they applied many of the suggestions we made when he showed us the tablet last spring. The interesting piece was that we still are not able to purchase them yet!

Having access to a tablet specifically designed for education would be beneficial. ipads are great, but like you said, something like the lack of Flash Player can be frustrating. With increasing use of technology in schools, the devices will hopefully get more educator friendly.

Perhaps you've come across Greg at MassCUE presenting on iPads in the classroom, or perhaps you're familiar with his blog "The History 2.0 Classroom" at http://kulowiectech.blogspot.com/. This is a new site of his that is documenting "the process of only using an iOS device for one month." A few posts in, and there are already some great demos for using iPads for classroom work flow.

This was a very interesting article. Greg was able to complete many tasks using his iOS device. I noticed he used quite a few Google tools to complete them. I agree there are some good examples of work flow for iPads here, which I find is always a challenge, but never impossible!

Great evidence for the potential for taking visual notes.

I have a few students who are doing this! Mixing visual media with their notes in Evernote, Penultimate, Skitch, Google Drive, etc. They included images of European Romantic art with their analysis of scholarly article excerpts today. Seriously, their notebooks are amazing and Ovenell-Carter takes it to even another level. Can't wait to see what they're doing in a year or two once more students are coming to school with their own tablets instead of having to rely on ours. Next question: How do we convince parents of the value of this kind of note-taking and that putting a tablet in their child's hand will change the way they think about education?

I love these notes and took pictures in sessions at MassCue to jog my own brain. How do we encourage young ones to keep doing this as they grow in their learning in school. I watch the early childhood group already doing this naturally. I wonder when my own children will do this.

TED-Ed was mentioned in at least two different workshops I attended at MassCue. We're all familiar with TED Talks; this takes a similar idea and moves it towards kid-friendly videos, lessons, and quick assessments. One example that I saw was a third grade teacher using a YouTube video (which works along with TED-Ed) about the phases of the moon for the students to watch at home. The website includes a "Flip this Video" button so that teachers can assign a short video for students to watch at home, along with quiz questions as they watch. This could be a great tool for flipping the classroom. Each time I heard it mentioned, the presenters commented on the quality of videos. In addition to using YouTube videos, TED-Ed is pairing up good teacher lessons with animators and visual artists to create a video library that teachers can access for free. I believe you can also suggest or submit a lesson idea that they will consider for a future video. Definitely worth checking out. The URL listed above takes you to a short video explaining the website.

I've started playing around with this site and it's great! I'm looking forward to using some of these as I begin to flip my classroom this year.

George Couros is a MUST follow on Twitter. I really like this post he wrote. It covers new v. experiences teachers, tech integration, parents, and "listening to the nay-sayer". It's a good (and quick) read.

Loved #3, the demographics of our cohort is proof of the debunking of that assumption. My colleague PB and I are two of the oldest teachers at our school and we, along with our team members, are considered leaders in tech integration. I agree it is all about mindset, not age.

I agree with you, John. I went to MassCue on Thursday and noticed that the majority of the teachers there were veteran teachers. I think that years of experience give teachers the necessary understanding and confidence it takes to create change. Veteran teachers in our school also see and value the great ideas of newer teachers and work with them to make teaching better for all students.

This is a blog written by a high school teacher who is using Evernote for the entire scope of his classroom workflow. He creates documents in Evernote, shares them with his students, and has set up capability for them to share with him to turn in work. Worth a read!

Thanks for this, Anne Marie. I just added this teacher's blog to my Feedly. I'd be curious to discuss Evernote with you further some time and see how you use it with students, if you currently do? I saw some neat ways to use it at MassCue and want to try it further with my students. However, we're also trying to have them use Google for many things, since they have easy access at home, and I'm trying to figure out which is a more comprehensive tool for students, and which would be easier for them to navigate - both at school, and at home. It's so great to have all of these tools, but I also don't want to overwhelm them with too many accounts.

This is a great news and current events site for kids. The site is organized by topic and by month/year. The articles contain links to related information which can be used for further research. Information is easy to find. The presenter at MassCUE who talked about the site used it in second grade, but children in older grades will definitely enjoy it too.