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Twitter Resources for Teachers You've heard the buzz on the Twitter phenomenon. Everybody seems to be hooked by this micro blogging service. It's been a catalyst for marketing in multinational companies, personal branding for entrepreneurs, and a simple advertising tool for the small businesses. Professionals from the education sphere seem to be catching up to the trends of technolgoy. Whether you're innovating teaching strategies for the university or looking for education jobs online, Twitter is one versatile venue where both teachers and students converse meaningfully. Don't take our word for it, here are some expert guides and tips on how to use this magnificent social networking site to your learning advantage. Articles on Twitter In Education 1. Teaching Twitter to the Teachers - To use twitter effectively, you need a reason to start with. 2. Twitter Tweets for Higher Education - Doing a little online searching (emphasis on the little), the author of this blog has found the following items related to Twitter and education. 3. 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Education - Blog By Carol - Based on a list by Chris Brogan - 50 ideas for using Twitter in Business. 4. Using Twitter as an Education Tool - Are you using Twitter yet? If not, you may want to read how other educators are using Twitter as an education tool. 5. Twitter Transforms Teaching - Twitter's now tapped as a teaching and learning tool with opportunities to motivate students and advance achievement. 6. Teaching with Twitter - Steve Wheeler's 10 top uses of Twitter for education. 7. Twitter Professors: 18 People to Follow for a Real Time Education - 18 people Lon S. Cohen (writer and social media strategist. He is @obilon on Twitter) following for a real time education. 8. Educational Tool: Twitter - 'Twitter in the Classroom' techniques by Christine Morris. 9. Twenty-Five Interesting Ways to use Twitter in the Classroom - Excellent presentation by Creative Commons 10. N

"iSchool: a closer look at Manhattan Beach Unified's iPad pilot program email Does Manhattan Beach Unified's iPad pilot program represent the future of education? Kindergarten students at Grand View Elementary School use iPads two times a week. Photo by Alene Tchekmedyian Kindergarten students at Grand View Elementary School use iPads two times a week. Photo by Alene Tchekmedyian Just before 8 a.m. one recent Tuesday, Andy Caine wheeled a waist-high cart into his second-floor history classroom at Mira Costa High School, as the Beach Boys' "I Get Around" played faintly in the background. On the syllabus for the day: the First Amendment. As the first period bell rang, Caine unlocked the cart. "Come and get 'em," Caine said to his class of seniors, and stood behind his podium, on which he's pasted a sticker reading, "Think for yourself. Question Authority." The students put aside their pens and notebooks and lined up at the cart to pick up an unconventional tool that school districts across the nation have been implementing into classrooms. Each student grabbed an iPad and returned to his or her seat. Caine is one of 43 Manhattan Beach Unified School District teachers chosen to try the $500,000 iPad pilot program, which started last fall. At Mira Costa, two English, math, science and social studies teachers use iPads, along with eight science teachers at Manhattan Beach Middle School and 27 teachers of different grade levels at each elementary school. The district purchased 560 student iPads (32 gigabytes and costing around $700 each), in addition to iPads for pilot teachers and administrators. A quarter of the pilot costs are grant funded, while the district supports the rest. Later this year, the School Board will decide whether, and in what capacity, to continue the pilot. Caine and pilot teachers implement iPads into their curricula two to three times a week, a total of 30 to 90 minutes. "I would use them every day if I had the po

"The rest of this week I will be running workshops on Google Docs and Google Sites with Kern Kelley and Alice Barr as a part of Google Apps Bootcamp NH. For the Google Docs section I will be using my guide to Google Drive and Docs for Teachers. For the Google Sites section I will be using a brand new guide to Google Sites for Teachers. Google Sites for Teachers was designed as a guide for new users of Google Sites. I have designs for expanding it to include more advanced features in the future. You can view the 47 page guide as embedded below. "

iPresentee offers a variety of Keynote Themes for iPad you can choose from to create a new presentation. You can transfer pre-made Keynote templates to your iPad without creating presentation on your computer and build Keynote presentation on iPad. Furthermore you may create your presentation on a Mac and transfer it to your iPad. Share your great ideas effectively with iPad. Choose theme from a variety of presentation styles with coordinated fonts, colors, background textures, unique bullets and picture frames. Each Keynote Theme is available in 1024x768 and 800x600 sizes in pixels. To get the most out of Apple's Keynote choose Keynote Show only for $70. Keynote Show includes: 80 Keynote Themes, 52 Keynote Motion Themes, 33 Keynote Themes for iPad, 115 Keynote Animations and 181 Keynote 3D Stuff objects. Buy now! Keynote Themes for iPad requires Keynote installed on your iPad or Macintosh computer running Mac OS X with iWork '09. Keynote Themes for iPad includes 33 themes. Click on any Keynote Theme for iPad and see how it works! Purchase Keynote Themes for iPad only for $25. Buy now!

"Apple's iOS 5 added new enhancements to its email app. To use them, you'll need to set up your email first. Here's how to do it. Open Settings and select Mail, Contacts, Calendars. Then under Accounts tap on Add Account. Add Account Now tap the email service you want to add. Here I'm going to set up my Hotmail email. Select Service Next, you're prompted to enter your email address, password and description for the account. Tap Next. Email Credentials Now turn on the features you want to have your iPad check. Click Save. Email Features You'll be taken back to the Mail, Contact, Calendars screen. You'll see the account you just added. Tap on it to change settings. New Account Ads by Google Galaxy Nexus Phone google.com/nexus Calling All Dessert Lovers New! Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Sync All of Your Files www.SugarSync.com/Sync_Files No More USBs or Emails to Yourself Auto Sync Files to Your Own Cloud! Hilton Garden Inn ® www.HiltonGardenInn.Hilton.com Book Online or Call (888) 370-0984 for Our Best Rates. Guaranteed! The account screen will come up. Here you can turn features on or off - and delete the account if you want. Mail Selections On the Home Screen you'll see a red notification with the number of messages you have. Tap on it. Mail Notifications Now you can use your email account on your iPad. If you enable iCloud, it will sync your messages, calendar, and contacts between all of you iOS devices and Mac. iOS 5 Inbox New features in iOS 5 include dragging addresses to different fields, formatting message text and an enhanced search. iOS 5 Mail delicious facebook linkedin reddit stumble twitter email About the author Based in Pelican Rapids, MN, Brian Burgess is executive editor at groovyPost. Got an idea for a How To? Email it to Brian at Brian@groovyPost.com. Twitter | Google+ | More Posts Related posts: iOS 4.2.1 Released: Big Changes for iPad, Plus AirPlay and AirPrint for iPh... How

"Cloud storage of files is one of my favorite aspects of the modern Internet. Cloud storage services make it easy to access all of my important files from any computer and most mobile devices. And for students cloud storage eliminates the I forgot my flashdrive excuse for not having an assignment ready for class. The potential problem with cloud storage, and any other online service for that matter, is having your account compromised. One way to make it more difficult for your account to be compromised is to enable two-step authentication. Two-step authentication for a Google account requires entering a verification code that Google sends to your cell phone. Click here for directions or watch this video to learn more."

Educate, engage, and inspire your students with video! Sign up for YouTube for Schools to bring the power of video to your classrooms for free. Access thousands of free high quality educational videos on YouTube in a controlled environment. Learn more here. Are you logged-in with your school's Google account? If you don't have a Google account for your school, please sign up for free here. Please do not sign up for YouTube for Schools using your personal account.

"10 Ways for Teachers & Students to Build Websites The lines between blogging platforms, website platforms, and wiki platforms are not always clear. I have a somewhat simplistic explanation that I give to teachers who don't have a web presence yet, but want to create one for their professional work. Here's the explanation: websites are good for providing a static resource of information, blogs are good for frequent updates and communication, and a wiki is great for collaborating on the creation of a reference site. For the teacher who wants to create a website, here are ten good platforms to try."

"Educators are constantly seeking new strategies for using Wikis in the classroom. This is especially true for teachers who have formulated some ideas; however, they are still looking for additional ideas. Even teachers who have been using this technology for quite some time are on the lookout for new ideas. Regardless of being new to Wiki or a veteran, new strategies and techniques for engaging students are just around the corner."

"15 Sites for Finding Images and Clip Art for Education A while back I did a top 10 sites for finding images and clip art for education. However, a lot of things have changed since then and a few of those sites no longer exist. A handful of new and exciting sites have been developed for educa"

it2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format. You can: * Download the files to your Mp3 player and listen on the go, * Listen to the Mp3 files on your computer, * View the text on a webpage and read along as you listen, * Print out the stories and poems to make your own book. There are four ways to get started with Lit2Go: 1. Browse by Author. You can pick your stories by the author's last name. 2. Browse by Title. You can pick your stories by title. 3. Search Database. You can search the collection by title, author, keywords or reading level. An abstract, citation, playing time, and word count are given for each of the passages. Many of the passages also have a related reading strategy identified. Each reading passage can also be downloaded as a PDF and printed for use as a read-along or as supplemental reading material for your classroom. 4. Launch iTunes. If you have iTunes software installed on your computer, you can download many of the selections directly into your iTunes library. The free iTunes application for either Macintosh or Windows computers may be downloaded directly from Apple, Inc.

it2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format. You can: * Download the files to your Mp3 player and listen on the go, * Listen to the Mp3 files on your computer, * View the text on a webpage and read along as you listen, * Print out the stories and poems to make your own book. There are four ways to get started with Lit2Go: 1. Browse by Author. You can pick your stories by the author's last name. 2. Browse by Title. You can pick your stories by title. 3. Search Database. You can search the collection by title, author, keywords or reading level. An abstract, citation, playing time, and word count are given for each of the passages. Many of the passages also have a related reading strategy identified. Each reading passage can also be downloaded as a PDF and printed for use as a read-along or as supplemental reading material for your classroom. 4. Launch iTunes. If you have iTunes software installed on your computer, you can download many of the selections directly into your iTunes library. The free iTunes application for either Macintosh or Windows computers may be downloaded directly from Apple, Inc.

My goal is to create the ultimate teacher resource that is free for everyone! Have Fun Teaching is updated on a daily basis with new worksheets, songs, videos, flash cards, coloring pages, fun activities and blog articles released every day. Unlike other web sites for teachers, Have Fun Teaching is created by a teacher and it offers high quality songs for learning with content-rich lyrics for kids. HaveFunTeaching.com specializes in fun worksheets, coloring pages, songs for kids, educational videos, fun activities, and teacher tools. ColorMeGood.com is another website that I have created that offers over 6,000 free printable coloring pages for kids! This is the largest selection of coloring pages online with thousands of high quality, full-page coloring pages.

"In the face of the "new normal" of decreased budgets and increased expectations, many administrators are turning to technology to enhance teaching and learning while mitigating the consequences of consecutive years of budget cuts. Mobile learning, in particular, has attracted a great deal of attention for its potential to engage students by leveraging the technology environment they have grown accustomed to in their non-school lives; its potential to scale personalized learning and reduce the digital divide; its potential to extend learning beyond the four walls of the classroom and the limited hours of the school day; and its potential to enable new pedagogies based on the affordances of these devices that students already carry at their fingertips.Still, the field of mobile learning is still emerging and there are many questions to be addressed when contemplating a mobile learning implementation. How do we create a program with a sustainable impact on teaching and learning, rather than a superficial adoption of the currently "hot" technology? What are the steps involved in implementing a mobile learning program? How do we optimize the investment of our technology dollars? How do we choose devices, networks, and software for our implementation? What are the security considerations in implementing a mobile learning program? What are the policy considerations for a mobile learning program? What are the professional development considerations? What are the teaching models associated with mobile learning? What are the options for funding a mobile learning program?"

There are a tremendous amount of websites out there now (usually referred to as web 2.0) which allow users to create content. You're actually on one right now…a blog. With all of these resources, they offer tremendous promise for classroom application. The trick is to pick a few and begin to infuse inside your class. From time to time, you will see our TCI bloggers refer to, or even use, sites. For techies, web 2.0 is like breathing. They can't imagine life without it. For many teachers though, it can be overwhelming. We've worked to create a quick guide to some of the more popular web 2.0 sites out there. This guide will give you basics on how to get started and how they can be used in a great TCI activity. Feel free to download and share this document with colleagues. If there's another site you feel we should really take a look at, please let us know! We're always on the hunt for great new tools for teachers

Related Posts Delicious Finally Jumps on the Mobile Web Fad Delicious, Yahoo's highly popular web bookmarking service, has finally launched a mobile version. They're calling it a beta production (or more accurate, a... Yahoo MyWeb Shuts Down, Becomes Delicious Yahoo announced the imminent closure of its bookmarking service MyWeb this weekend...and yet it seems unlikely the product will be missed by many. ... Dwellicious: Do You Want a Delicious for Real Estate? Delicious remains the most recognisable name in social bookmarking, but does it serve niche markets as ably as specialized tools could? Boca Raton,... Delicious Sidebar for IE is Here. Almost as Cool as Firefox. Even though many of you were excited about the Delicious add-on for Firefox 3, there are still some Internet Explorer users that would like... * View my o My Posts o Facebook o Twitter o MySpace o Digg o Delicious Toolbox: 80+ Updated Tools and Resources February 20th, 2009 | by Sean P. AuneView Comments delicious-logoDelicious (Delicious), a powerful social bookmarking tool, has been around for what seems like forever, and while it may not get as much press as Digg (Digg), it still has an extremely active and loyal group of users. There are a number of tools out there that cater to these users, some of which still even stick by the old del.icio.us moniker. Here are over 80 tools for everything from your mobile device to your blog, and more, that can help you view your bookmarks in new and unique ways, backup your bookmarks in a secure location, take your bookmarks with you on the go, blog about your most recent saves, and then some.

"Ever wonder what it would be like if we let our students pick the tools we use in class? This collection of web 2.0 tools is just that- a list of tools and ideas for what students see as being useful for their learning in and out of school. To begin the project, 8th grade students were engaged in a conversation about what school would look like if all of the rules we currently had were disbanded. They were no longer bound by walls, schedules, age restrictions or standardized tests. No technology was outlawed. It was a bit of a hurdle for them...after eight years of the current school arrangement, it was difficult for them to imagine anything else. With a little encouragement and a push they rose to the occasion, and here are the tools they think we ought to consider using. As this is a dynamic site, there may be some entries in need of editing. We will get to them! We left the duplicates in for emphasis as well as different points of view. Enjoy!"

""Educational Networking" is the use of social networking technologies for educational purposes. Because the phrase "social networking" can carry some negative connotations for educators, the phrase "educational networking" may be a way of more objectively discussing the pedagogical value of these tools. The original URL for this site (http://socialnetworksined.wikispaces.com) still works, but http://www.EducationalNetworking.com is now the main URL. The page to list or find a social network devoted to education is here and in the navigation to the left. Also in the navigation are the page for keeping track of articles and blog posts which discuss educational networking, links to discussions on this topic, and pages which could be used for video and podcast tracking. "

Lisa Nielsen is an educational administrator and permanently certified teacher with more than a decade's worth of experience working in educational innovation at the city, state, and national level. Working as an innovative educator in New York City, Ms. Nielsen was honored as Teacher of the Year and was her district's nominee for Technology Educator of the year. Ms. Nielsen has worked in various capacities in educational innovation at the NYC Department of Education and Teachers College, Columbia University including as manager of instructional technology professional development, literacy coach, instructional technology coach, teacher, librarian, and staff developer. She currently serves as Technology Innovation Manager for the NYC Department of Education. Ms. Nielsen is a Google Certified Teacher, International Edublogger, International EduTwitter, and creator of The Innovative Educator blog, website, learning network, and wiki. In addition to her blog (http://TheInnovativeEducator.blogspot.com), her work is published in "Learning and Leading," and "Tech & Learning," magazine as well as the following online media Tech & Learning, ISTE Connects, Ed Reformer, and The Huffington Post. An outspoken and passionate advocate of innovative education Ms. Nielsen is also covered by local and national media for her views on "Passion (not data) Driven Learning," "Thinking Outside the Ban" and determining ways to harness the power of technology for instruction and providing a voice to educators and students. Her first book "Teaching Generation Text" is set for a fall 2011 release.

"Cell Phones for Learning Cell phones are rapidly becoming ubiquitous in many school communities, but their presence in the classroom is commonly viewed as disruptive and unwanted. Modern cell phones offer a variety of capabilities, which are being used effectively by educators in different schools to support curricular learning objectives and boost student achievement. Explore reasons some school districts are embracing the use of cell phones for learning both inside and outside the classroom and examine specific guidelines school districts are utilizing for student cell phones. Explore specific applications of cell phones for learning, including use as electronic response systems, data access, media recording, homework tracking and social networking. This session is also presented as: * Guidelines and Instructional Applications for Cell Phone Use at School * Cell Phone Digital Storytelling"

"Free download: 19 Practical Evernote Ideas for Students Posted on September 6, 2012 by Jordan Click below for your free PDF download of 19 Practical Evernote Ideas for Students from the Evernote Student Handbook. And while you're here, you might as well subscribe to this blog for email updates, right?"