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"5 K-12 Technology Trends for 2010 A look at the top technology tools and trends to keep an eye on in the coming year * By Bridget McCrea * 12/10/09 With technology evolving at the speed of light, and everyone looking to benefit from the latest, greatest hardware and software, keeping up can be challenging for educators, administrators, and school districts themselves. To help, THE Journal spoke with a handful of technology experts and came up with a short list of top tech trends you'll want to watch in the new year. Here they are: "

"The Two Top Areas for Keeping Today's Students Top Notch This is the third guest post in a series running all week featuring guest edu bloggers. By Vicki Davis Stock PhotoIn the NetGenEd™ project with Don Tapscott-students from my school and over 300 students from five countries are studying the future of technology. They are breaking down trends like Mobile Computing, Open Content, Electronic Books, Simple Augmented Reality, Gesture-based Computing, and Visual Data Analysis. But who cares?"

What is Soshiku? Soshiku is a simple but powerful tool that manages your high school or college assignments. Soshiku keeps track of when your assignments are due and can even notify you via email or SMS. And it's totally free.

Hey everyone, Please go to link and watch the boys' video, "We're Hungry and You Know It." Not perfect but they worked so hard on it ...and it' s pretty clever! I had absolutely nothing to do with it...Zachary and Tristen (8th graders) really ran the show and saw this project to completion. They need lots of views so share with your friends! I'm a little bit excited since this is our first iMovie attempt, AND the very first time I've ever posted to youtube! In case you weren't aware, our students have been working on a protest against the federally mandated reduction of calories in school lunches. They have been bringing sack lunches to school since August, have written letters to state representatives, emailed the White House, and have received recognition by mail, local news, and some national syndicates who have called the school and picked up the story. They'd like to keep the momentum of the movement going, so please help by spreading the word. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u748SRboxVc

"50 Sites in 60 Minutes, Volume Three This is a collection of sites that I like to use in a one-hour session of professional development. I like to update it twice a year to keep things fresh and because the first two were such a huge success. The last volume received over 21,000 views on Slideshare alone. As with all my resources, feel free to use them any way you see fit and I hope you enjoy it. I've even seen this used as teaching tool for a blogging exercise at the college level. Stay tuned for volume four sometime this summer! "

"FIRST...we cut a poster-sized reproduction into small squares that were labeled very carefully. Each student was given a square (actually some of them made several squares) to copy exactly onto a sticky note carefully studying and blending crayon colors and matching shapes. (Only one row was cut and distributed at a time to make it easier to keep track of.) "

With only a few short weeks before break, it's tempting to let school run on autopilot until party time. This valuable learning time doesn't have to go to waste or feel like a punishment. To make these days count instead of countdown, here are a few tips and tricks to keep the energy and learning alive while having some pre-holiday fun.

To help you start using PBL, we've created age-appropriate, customizable project checklists for written reports, multimedia projects, oral presentations, and science projects. The use of these checklists keeps students on track and allows them to take responsibility for their own learning through peer- and self-evaluation.

"iOS 5 is an incredibly complex operating system, filled with hundreds of innovative, undocumented little touches, just waiting for you to stumble on. Here's an updated, ever-constant filling of tips and tricks to help you master Apple's latest iOS to the fullest. Keep checking back and be sure to bookmark us for future reference."

"There's a great big World (Wide Web) out there, and it's hard to keep track of everything you find in it. Even if you do remember to bookmark a page and come back to it six months later, what are the odds of remembering why you bookmarked it in the first place? While this situation might be frustrating for your average Web surfer, it can be infuriating to the online learner or educator who may have been counting on returning to the information and rekindling a memory of why it was important to their studies or teaching. Fortunately there are a bunch of tools available to let the Internet remember for you. Curation and annotation tools allow you to not only "remember" a web site, but also to take notes about the pages you've visited, save them right on the pages themselves, and even share them with others."

"The American school year has been largely unchanged for decades, despite evolutions in culture, demographics, technology, and a wide range of other social and economic factors. In our increasingly global economy, this is starting to become a disadvantage, especially as students in many school districts are struggling to meet national standards and are simply unable to keep up with their international counterparts, many of whom spend many more hours in the classroom than they do. While there is no one magic solution to reforming schools, many districts around the nation have sought to level the playing field by adding more time to the school day or school year to more closely match those of other nations. While some changes have been more successful than others, what is clear is that the school year that worked for students decades ago simply isn't practical for today's students. Read on to find out some of the biggest reasons many are moving to extend or rearrange the school year for American students."

"By Kurt Schick My university recently convened an emergency "summit" for librarians, tutors, and concerned faculty members to solve a citation crisis. Our library help desks reportedly cannot complete their core mission of assisting students with information literacy (finding, choosing, and using sources) because students keep pestering them with questions about how to format obscure citations: "I'm analyzing poetry for my 'Punk Literature' seminar. Using MLA style, how do I cite a limerick scribbled in the third-floor toilet?""

"The 33 Digital Skills Every 21st Century Teacher should Have Every single teacher is concerned about his/ her teaching practices and the skills involved in this process. How many times have you wondered about a better way to teach the same lesson you have delivered to an eariler class? How often have you used technology to engage your students and improve their learning ? These are some recurring questions we keep regurgitating each time our teaching skills are put to the test."

As class sizes keep growing, it becomes harder and harder to find the time to look for new teaching materials, while still giving your kids the personalized attention they need (and deserve!). After all, you can only be pulled in so many directions at once, right? With that in mind, I put together this list of websites for elementary teachers, hoping that you'll finally be able add something fresh and fun to your lesson plan. Now, you don't have to skim the results of hundreds of Google searches to find a handful of useable internet resources-I've already got 101 of 'em!

"Engage Audiences Keeps audiences involved by asking open-ended questions and running ad hoc polls. Present the same slides you were going to use anyways! Get Feedback Receive honest, anonymous feedback from people you really care about. Ask audiences to enter their email address via the mobile device they participated with. Present Anywhere Do presentations anywhere -- there's no need for a large screen! Leave a copy of your slides on participants' devices, including your contact information."

"Organize Your Education!™ GradeMate is a powerful online organizer for teachers and students to keep track of their courses - from managing grades, assignments, and events to sharing files, course notes, and class discussions."

100 Helpful Websites for New Teachers By Tara Miller You've been preparing for teaching for years, and now you finally get your chance to have a class of your own. With so much to learn as you get started, it can be overwhelming keeping it all straight. The following websites are loaded with helpful information that new teachers will appreciate.