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In You Can't Learn Much from Books You Can't Read by Richard L. Allington, the author discusses the roles of textbooks in the classroom. The textbooks that are used in grades fifth through twelfth don't match the reading levels of the students reading them. Classrooms use one textbook and go off the "one-size-fits-all" approach and now classrooms are using textbooks with a reading level two or more levels more advanced. This approached is shown by the achievements of US fourth graders shown to be the best in the US and then when they hit the misuse of textbooks, the achievements go down. The solutions to change this problem is to have multiple levels of text in the classroom, have student choice, and have individualized instruction. Student choice consists of having an assignment that can be done multiple ways so the student can pick the way they can excel and be interested in. Teaching the students different techniques to solve problems is part of the individualized instruction and seems to work very well.

The article, Connecting the Digital Dots: Literacy of the 21st Century, is arguing the point that the types of literacies are expanding every day, and people need to be kept up on them. The authors, Barbara Jones-Kavalier and Suzanne Flannigan, state that to be a fully functioning member of society, you must acquire and understand a new literacy; a digital one. They also state, "Today, we still seek better communication methods, only now we have myriad more choices, along with new tools and strategies and greater knowledge of effective communication". Technologies will not just be used to communicate though anymore, it is being to "create, to manipulate, to design, to self-actualize". In the New Literacy and Education paragraphs, it is stated that classrooms today are less advanced for the students who are being put in them. Almost all of these students are digitally literate, but teachers are presenting ideas in the ways they always have. Maybe, it is not just the classrooms that need remodeling, but the teachers need to attend workshops and become more accustomed to dealing with these new types of literacies. Schools who are looking to hire teachers need to look at what background the interviewees have, or require a pre-requisite for computer literacy. The authors also state that today, students are "digitally savvy". They don't believe that teachers should be re-typing overheads into PowerPoint's. There are so many different technological ways to teach things to students. It just isn't the same anymore to just use a whiteboard and an overhead projector. "As an example, now teachers can do a PowerPoint presentation with streaming video, instant Internet access, and real-time audio-video interaction, and they can do it with relative speed and ease".

Barbara Jones-Kavalier and Suzanne Flannigan in their article "Connecting the Digital Dots: Literacy of the 21st Century" state the reason the definition of literacy has gradually changed through time, will always be changed, and that the history behind why it has changed leads to the definition itself. They assert that through the technological advancements the thought processes in the humans mind have drastically changed; and in order for literacy to keep up with this rapidly changing "E-generation" Jones-Kavalier and Flannigan express that our minds need to be open to this change. They state that "vision combined with practical, recognizable goals and incentives that encourage people to embrace new digital and visual literacy skills individually and collectively" will allow there to actually be a change universally.

This article discusses how literate once meant a person's ability to read and write. Now that technology is rapidly changing, our society is learning to adjust to it. Now, literacy has a new definition. According to the authors, "Literacy includes the ability to read and interpret media (text, sound, images), to reproduce data and images through digital manipulation, and to evaluate and apply new knowledge gained from digital environments." Older generations are having a more difficult time adjusting to it than the teenage generation. Learning technology is starting to seem like learning a new language. Although, it's a priority for society to learn to acclimate to these changes in order to learn and communicate effectively.

In "using the technology of today, in the classroom of today" authors Eric Klopfer, Scot Osterweil, Jennifer Groff, Jason Haas start to give basis to the argument that technologies such as videogames and social networking sites help shape learning. They focus on how they are learning outside of school but in completely different ways than teachers focus on. They argue, "Nearly all institutions- business, industry, medicine, science and government - have harnessed aspects of these technologies for decades. Games and simulations have been a key component of training doctors and military personnel, but even businesses like PricewaterhouseCoopers used a game about a mining company in outer space to teach its employees about derivatives. Although that may seem a bit "off the wall," the fact is major corporations, the Department of Defense, and the medical community would not use these tools if they were not highly effective" to illustrate how corporations use videogames so the educational system shouldn't reject it them as a learning tool. They point out how videogames can serve as a simulation for real life just as mining in outer space can teach about derivatives. Videogames are also a highly interactive learning environment. Instead of being told information, students are right in the middle of the action and the learning. They also discuss how social networking is a new way of collaborating with other about a wide variety of subjects including school work. The authors write, "Of course, educators have long been aware that learning is a social activity, where learners construct their understanding not just through interaction with the material, but also through collaboratively constructing new knowledge with their peers" but teachers reject the use of social networking as means of learning because of the other aspects included safety or privacy. But what teachers can learn from social sites is that "'knowledge cultures' assembled in these o

This article is very rich with information that has to do with how digital games, social networks, and simulations can be involved in classrooms. With the involvement of them is more than just entertainment that children or people actually learn stuff from them.

The chapter "The Computer and Active Learning" from the book The Vitrual Classroom by Starr Hiltz really grasps the use of computers in the classroom. "Whether in CIA or in the Virtual Classroom, the student is forced to actively participate" this is one of the main ideas to this book and especially this chapter. Students who use the computer to learn are actively participating by answering questions after they are on the computer. The chapter also develops the idea that computer education works, but teacher and student communication is important, "it appears to be effective only if there is also significant communication between teacher and student". The article holds computer to a high standard by defining computer use as "an active learning situation", instead of taking a quiz later on what a student learned, they get to take a quiz right after they read it online. They response as they go, making computer use active learning. It also develops the idea of the computer as a social process; "this social process of developing shared understanding through interaction is the "natural" way for people to learn". The author believes that responding to peers work creates a process of learning that is never seen in the classroom. All of the ideas are great examples of why technology in the classroom works, and can be used to our advantage as teachers.

In this article it states some facts that about who bullies, what cyber bullying is and if there is a way to stop it. Attacking someone on the internet is a lot easier to do because it can be from someone anonymous. It states in the article that most of the time the victim is someone that goes to the bully's school. The parents so be involved in the children's lives and ask question. Do not assume they are doing something bad on the internet. "All school children in the UK are taught to "zip it, block it and flag it" -- don't share information, block contacts and tell an adult."

This chapter was about a topic that I have actually thought about which is being able to tell the "good guy" apart from the "bag guy" and what makes them that way. The fact that there are video games in which you can choose to play as the bad or good character in the story changes the way you play it and how you are perceived, Also as you choose which character to play, in the game alone even if you are the bad guy you are still the good character. In the real world people make out the world to seem black and white, your either the good guy or the bad guy. Who determines what is to be considered bad and good and just because a person makes a bad choice does not make them a bad person. The world is filled with millions of examples of cultural models and rule they way people think and perceive different things making a model of what we should all consider to be good and if we do something otherwise then it is the wrong (or bad) thing to do. Video games can teach the player that there is more meaning to to being the bad or good character and that a gray area exists.

Users share a commonality in the various ways they represent themselves on Facebook. These vary from the way people structure their privacy settings, to the way they represent themselves through their pictures, to what groups they identify with, and how they define themselves through text on their profile pages. It is something which when analyzed can be recognized as constructed in order to portray the desired image of each individual. With a Facebook page you use its different features to create yourself from nothing and in heart design yourself. The freedom that the virtual world provides allows people to construct their identity in any way they wish. With the freedom of constructing identity in multiple ways comes the freedom to socialize in multiple ways. Therefore, Facebook is a space where people may construct and share their identities, rather than being just a platform where one "'keeps in touch."

In this video, Clay Shirky talks about how the media as developed over the hundreds of years until the 20th century. One media as stated by Clay, such as internet, is the first medium in history which supports both groups and conversations at the same time. The media is also becoming more social, with social connections, a combination of newspaper, telegraph, telephone, movies, televisions, etc.. It was because of the internet, specifically Twitter, that let the world knows beforehand that an earthquake was happening in China before the news and the China government even knows about it. The media, a global, social, ubiquitous, and cheap place, is a way of creating an environment for assembling and supporting groups.

Its amazing of how the media changed so much in history.

This was back in 2009 so this video does not have to do with Egypt at all. This video points out all the media changes over the years.

This article starts with talking about how students want to think outside of class. It states that they are scared sometimes of being judged on what they say or how they say it. Chat rooms or Backchannels is what they call them can help these students. In the article it shows some graphs about how the students used these chat rooms that were set up and how often they used them. according to the graphs as school seemed to continue, the students seemed to go in less. This article was great to understand the difference between in a classroom learning, and the way the web can teach the students and they can open up more and feel more safe in it. They don't want to learn between four walls all the time is stated in the article, and i think this is a great way to look at learning. broaden their horizons, because they all ready are and want to know that it is ok.

This entire article was about online chat rooms and how we can incorporate chat channels into schooling for collaboration, explanations, and discussion about topics in class. It talked about many of the good things and the bad things about chatting online and how we should be able to use chatting in school. The word backchannel is used for anything going on in the background while a teacher is lecturing or presenting. This idea of backchannel is talked about throughout the article. It explains what backchannel is, how we need to change schooling to work with it, what problems it creates, what things it works well with, why kids are using it so much, and how it could be used positively for classrooms.

In Dara N. Byrn's article, The Future of (the) "Race": Identity, Discourse, and the Rise of Computer - mediated Public Spheres, Byrn argues that social networking on - line encourages the act of racism. The use of social networking increases racial and cultural discrimination, even though everyone seems to think that there are no racial or cultural boundaries when communicating with others on line. It is important to realize that social networking sites, such as AsianAvenue, BlackPlanet, and MiGente, can create racial boundaries for the young people who use them.

This website is made of a survey done by The National Campaign. This sight has all of the facts. The articles states that this "sexting is the new craze" . These students aren't even high school. I like this website because it gives me facts of the people in this world, I know it is a small survey compared to the entire world but they are good statistics to work with. There is a movie called The Odd Girl Out. This movie portrays how harmful this subject is. This teenage girl starts high school and "makes friends". She soon finds out that these friends are fakes. She chops her hair off, she over doses on sleeping medication all because these "friends" are calling her fat and other degrading words.

In the article Lift the Cell Phone Ban, by David Rapp, the ongoing concerns of cell phones in the classroom is discussed. David Rapp first discussed concerns of North American schools and how cell phones are becoming distracting. Rapp then brought the idea of using these devices in the classroom. He states how many countries like Asia and the United Kingdom already use cell phones in the classroom a great amount of the time. David Rapp discusses an experiment that happened in Canada where the use of cell phones in the classroom worked and helped. The teacher was able to use video recordings on the cell phones to monitor small group discussions and get work turned in more efficiently.

Digital identity, like that presented on Facebook, thrives because it is temporal. You can change your identity, you can become a liberal or conservative change your interests and hobbies at the push of a button. The point is, you're always presenting the identity you want to present you never have to worry about the identity you used to present. Students disclose lots of real information, but they also disclose lots of false information. The reality is, is that you can always change the fake information. Facebook is no longer just a current method of identity presentation; it is an archive of our digital identity. People love exploring each other, but we don't want to leave traces behind. We don't want people to be able to see if we've viewed the profiles of others. We don't want people to know if we decline their friend requests. Facebook, like it or not, has brought to bear a very real issue in online identity.

In the article Mobile Identity: Youth, Identity, and Mobile Communication Media, by Gitte Stald, the author states how the mobile phone is a source of identity for the youth. The focus of the article is on the meaning of the mobile phone in young people's lives and how it somehow shapes their identity as a person. Most young people's identities are influenced by the media they use. The idea that the youth's identity is mobile means it is always changing every moment, and changing relations between friends and family. The mobile allows the youth to communicate within physical and virtual spaces always in transition. This tool (mobile phone) has become such an important part in the young people's lives and it is almost impossible for it to not be a part of their identity.

This article describes what the Language Immersion Program is (specifically talks about spanish), how it is beneficial, what the drawbacks are, research studies, and how children are effected by using the program. The author's opinion is clear, so in her whole article she has a slightly persuasive tone and she makes the program look and sound amazing to probably everyone who reads it. There is some good information about the program and some research studies, and the benefits/drawback are very interesting.

Rose Garrett writes an article called Is Standardized Testing Failing Our Kids? which is basically questioning the purpose for taking the test. It talks about how the test hurt the students who need the help the most and is adding a lot of pressure to both the students and the teachers. It states how teachers have to teach to the test instead of teaching in a way that will not end up on paper. This article says that we should have a different kind of testing that is called performance based assessments and it is based on the idea that kids should be evaluated on what they can do and not for the purpose to see how successful they are. It allows kids to be creative and to shoe us what they actually know instead of taking a test. It seems clear that a standardized test only shows wheatear a student got the question right or wrong not how well they know the material or how well they can answer a question. The author states that until we can decided what we want kids to learn than it is hard to give them a test on things they may or may not know.

In this article, the author is explaining how lying gestures mean something, as well as the way a person's speech is. On the average, the effectiveness of uncovering a lie ranges from 45% to 70%. In most cases the suspicion that someone is lying can improve revealing the truth. I thought it was very interesting how they had an experiment where people went about their everyday lies, and still a few came out with a lie. I just don't understand how we can take something so small and stretch it to something large and grand, and for what? Is it the attention? Or is is the deception we want others to grasp upon? It stated that women are consistently more accurate than men at detecting lying and what the underlying truth really is. I was surprised to find out that women actually do fall for a man's lie more than vise versa. This article gave many small reason as to why people, and what was funny is that I, myself have heard them almost everyday or quite frequently.

Meade, the author, discusses the difference in lying when it comes to the opposite sex. She also discusses how growing we were not able to understand the differences in the types of lies.

In the book The Trouble With Boys, author Peg Tyre discusses boy's problems at school and what parents and educators must do. By interviewing hundreds of parents, children, experts and teachers, Tyre offers diverse explanations and facts on why the educational system is failing boys. This book is written in 20 informative chapters that provide important facts on ADHD, the necessity of recess, the vanishing male teacher, single-sex schooling and boys and literacy. In Chapter 11: Boys and Literacy, Tyre begins with scary statistics showing that boys have consistently scored less well than girls on tests measuring reading and writing. She also argues that the "male literacy gap" is not a new problem and may be spawning a national crisis. This is becoming a national crisis because "high-level reading and writing skills are essential not only to economic success but to economic survival" (135). Tyre then asks who or what is to blame for "the male reading deficit." Is it biology? Is it culture? The only clear answer is the "small differences get amplified by the careless, and sometimes crushing, messages that boys often get about the importance of reading from their parents, teachers and communities" (142). Boy's conclusions about reading and writing are shaped through schooling and home attitudes towards literacy.

Annotation: Benefits of Using Multimedia in Education, and "Kids views on technology in the classroom" On this website, Benefits of Using Multimedia in Education, it states many benefits of using technology within the classroom from the professor's point of view as well as the student's perspective. It states how educators believe that "multimedia tools provide students with opportunities to represent and express their prior knowledge" and "empower students to create and design rather than absorbing representations created by others". These observations are seen through researches that have been made on other websites and are linked right next to each statement of observation and benefit. Furthermore, it shows how multimedia tools benefit students work from "four perspectives: 1) as researchers, they must locate and select the information needed to understand the chosen topic;2) as authors, they must consider their intended audience and decide what amount of information is needed to give their readers an understanding of the topic;3) as designers, they must select the appropriate media to share the concepts selected; and 4) as writers, they must find a way to fit the information to the container including the manner of linking the information for others to retrieve(Smith,1993)".

In the article "Why Youth Love Social Networking Sites", Danah Boyd writes about Social network sites like MySpace and Facebook create a bridge for your social life and online life. Her article examines how these students use Social Networking websites to interact with their peers. She also addresses the issue of privacy and how it can be altered with in a social networking setting.

This article the author talks about how the different social networking sites have brought students together. A place where they can communicate with their peers and meet others. She addresses that fact that it allows the public to gather.

In the article Why Youth Love Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life by Danah Boyd is all about the way social networking sites work and how that connects to a person's real-life identity. Or in other words, how a person can form his or her own identity through social networking.