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"A survey of 2,462 Advanced Placement (AP) and National Writing Project (NWP) teachers finds that digital technologies are shaping student writing in myriad ways and have also become helpful tools for teaching writing to middle and high school students.  These teachers see the internet and digital technologies such as social networking sites, cell phones and texting, generally facilitating teens' personal expression and creativity, broadening the audience for their written material, and encouraging teens to write more often in more formats than may have been the case in prior generations.  At the same time, they describe the unique challenges of teaching writing in the digital age, including the "creep" of informal style into formal writing assignments and the need to better educate students about issues such as plagiarism and fair use"

"Maybe you have the situation of one student dominating the Q and A time, leaving others searching for their chance to answer. You've tried the pull a name out of the hat trick, popsicle sticks, and notecards. Maybe that worked? Maybe not? Better yet, when that student answered the question were you really able to remember by the end of the day if he or she answered it correctly? It's simple. Pick Me! will randomly pull a students name for you to call on and after they answer you record whether or not it was correct using the thumbs up or incorrect using thumbs down. The data is saved and ready to export to your email account at the end of class. "

"Using tech tools that students are familiar with and already enjoy using is attractive to educators, but getting students focused on the project at hand might be more difficult because of it."

"Apparently Code.org's successful "Hour of Code" event in December was just a warm-up act. The Seattle-based nonprofit on Thursday is announcing the rollout of its computer-science education programs at 30 school districts around the country. Altogether they'll reach more than 2 million students - nearly 5  percent of all K-12 students in the country - starting this fall."

Meograph is a free, easy multimedia storytelling tool. Students can quickly combine videos, audio, pictures, text, maps, timelines, and links to create what the developers call "four-dimensional storytelling." No registration is required and an education version is available.  You have to play around with it to get the concept before introducing it to students.

"Respondus LockDown Browser™ is a custom browser that locks down the testing environment within Blackboard, ANGEL, Desire2Learn, Canvas, Moodle, and Sakai. When students use Respondus LockDown Browser they are unable to print, copy, go to another URL, or access other applications. When an assessment is started, students are locked into it until they submit it for grading. Available for both Windows and Mac."

"Creative writing can be a daunting task for students who struggle to think of story ideas or who don't love the writing process. For kids who have trouble putting pen to paper, there are a handful of fantastic iPad apps that just might inspire them to tell a story. Your students will be able to gather ideas, brainstorm and publish writing straight from their tablet."

"Newsela is an innovative way for students to build reading comprehension with nonfiction that's always relevant: daily news. It's easy and amazing. Register now or learn more about the impact Newsela can have on your classroom."

Handy for your personal lives and neat for students to see

GUIDE TO MAKING VIDEOS With this much content out there -- and let's face it, a lot of it is pretty silly -- the idea of slogging through all those videos to find gems that best lend themselves to learning might seem daunting. But truth is, there are many worthy videos that do help enhance students' understanding of subjects, whether it's showing how squids camouflage themselves underwater or how fictional novels influence reality

"ou don't need a degree in rocket science to know that visually organized data appeals more to students than plain text-based scribble. The visual stimulus is quickly captured by the brain and requires way less processing to understand and code it than written text. As teachers, we need to capitalize on this and try to include as many relevant visuals as possible. One way to do this is to use these visual alternatives to Google Docs. The web tools below have almost the same collaborative features Google Docs provide and they also have an added feature which is that of capturing and organizing data visually."

"One good thing about this easy-to-use technology is that students can still use important English language arts skills like writing a narrative, planning a sequential story, and including key details when getting ready to make a movie. These apps can enhance the work that you are doing with children in the classroom and give them room to be creative storytellers."

Google Forms is one of the potent services Google provides for free for its users. Using Google Forms, you can very easily and without the need for any advanced technology knowledge create all kinds of forms to use with your students from contact forms to quizzes and polls. Since its inception a few years ago, Google Forms has undergone some major updates and the last one in this regard is enabling users to embed pictures and images into forms.

"Here are seven ways that my students benefit from the online Professional Learning Network I have built over the years:"

"Using Blooms Taxonomy in education is a highly effective way to scaffold learning for the students. With the recent popularity and pervasive nature of iOS devices in school districts it is essential for educators to understand how to implement Blooms in the classroom using the apps that are available. "

"So the following infographic from Mentoring Minds is immediately relevant to all educators, and students as well. It's a bit of a mash of Habits of Mind, various 21st century learning frameworks, and the aforementioned learning taxonomies, promoting collaboration, problem-solving, and real-world connections (standard "critical thinking fare" with Habits of Mind-sounding phrases such as "Open-Mindedness.""