This insightful article written by Bill Smoot stresses the importance of the ubiquity of digital devices impeding the growth of the individual. In today's day and age we are all hyper aware of society's dependence on media. This realization led educator Bill Smoot to assign his students the challenge to spend 48 hours, from 7:00 p.m. Friday to 7:00 p.m. Sunday, without electronic media. The result, "by their own admission, their soulfulness and their capacity for human connection are limited by their media-obsessed way of life." I think these findings and this article as a whole prove very helpful to our class, as although the power technology lends to us is undeniable, it has slowly disconnected us from numerous realities and relationships in our own lives. We soon will have to face this specific issue within our own classrooms. I chose this particular article because I believe we need to remain aware that we are going to be teaching a different generation, one that lives and dies by their digital devices. As educators we need to be prepared to react to this aversion to real life experience and connection. We need to strike a balance for our students so that they realize that technology is provided to enhance our lives, not consume it.

This constructive article written by Nicole Krueger stresses the importance of developing student's abilities to tell their stories through the use of many technological mediums, focusing primarily on video. In today's digital age, sharing our stories or work with the world is an integral part of making learning meaningful and positioning oneself to take place in digital society. While many teachers are still hesitant to integrate video projects into their curriculum, "creating a video can provide an authentic learning experience that brings together critical skills, such as analytical thinking, problem solving and collaboration." Therefore, I think this article is very helpful to our class and other educators alike as it promotes the use of technology in a very creative, innovative, and opportunistic way for students to think beyond the classroom, develop essential abilities, and strive for excellence. The progression of utilizing video projects in the classroom can only implicate stronger motivation for students to exercise technological tools as a major pathway of transferring their learned knowledge and skills to real world application.

This valuable article by Nicole Krueger explores five tips on how to develop a professional learning network amongst fellow educators from all around the world. Michelle has stressed to us in class how so many teachers have "discovered these vibrant learning communities" through means of networking sites such as Pinterest, Twitter, Edmodo, Diigo, Google Classroom, and much more. This assignment, of bookmarking and sharing information, epitomizes the importance of this article as we are enabling one another to grow from each other's ideas.Thus, I think for our class and other educators alike it is important to "dedicate time for networking, joining networks, attending conferences and edcamps, sharing ideas, and asking connected educators for help." The ability of such vast wealths of knowledge to be shared globally between many teachers can only implicate stronger connections and better points of reference for all educators in the future.