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I know that the summer months are a great time for reflection, but I also know that many of us are thinking ahead to the start of our school year.  I wanted to share an activity called, The Marshmallow Challenge, that has been popularized by Tom Wujek's Ted talk called, "Build a Tower, Build a Team."  After watching his presentation last summer, we performed this activity at a faculty meeting early in the year and I though it was a great way to have some fun and launch some great discussions.  We have worked very hard over the past few years to build a collaborative culture and I knew that this challenge would lead to a great discussion about the power of teaming.

"48 Great Ways Homeschoolers are Using Pinterest Pinterest has proven itself to be a valuable tool for so many people: photographers, designers, craft artists, wedding planners, moms, and more. It's a great place to discover interesting ideas, organize your thoughts, and pin down resources that otherwise might get lost in the shuffle. Homeschooling parents make up another group that benefits greatly from Pinterest, as they share unit studies, school room inspiration, and fun classroom project ideas. Read on to learn more about how homeschoolers are finding value in Pinterest, and some of the interesting ways they're putting the site to work in the home classroom."

"Although search engines provide a great starting point when you're searching for someone online, with all of the new social sites that have popped up over the past few years, they're often just not enough. In our recent State of Blog Search 2009 post we discussed the various reasons you may choose to use any or all of the following blog search tools: Technorati, Google Blog Search, Ice Rocket, Ask.com Blogsearch, and FriendFeed. While these blog search engines are great to fill specific needs, they're also another great place to look for your footprints on the Web. "

"Students are so emerged with technology, sometimes they act as the educators, showing their teachers how to do certain things and use certain tools. This video asks the simple question of if we are paying attention to the way our students learn. Besides being a visual, spatial or audio learner, most students fall under the category of "digital learners." With fascinating facts like the 10,000 hours college graduates have spent playing video games and the 70% of our nation's 4-6 year olds that have used a computer; it is no wonder why students are being classified as digital learners. The video also asks if we as teachers are reaching our students. Are we engaging them? The technologies that students are using so much in their everyday lives should be infused into the classrooms so that we do reach our students and so that we do engage them. Blogs, wikis, podcasts, virtual tours. These are just a few of the dozens of items presented in the video that offer a new way to use technology with our students. It brings up a great point that since our students already know how to use these technologies, we should be using them to teach. Even recent graduates who are no longer in school encourage the idea of using technology to engage students, not enrage them. Podcasts are another great option to teaching. With thousands available in almost any subject, you can teach students without having to stand up and lecture them. This video offers great advice and inspiration for engaging digital learners today."

Planet Quest Alien Safari is a great interactive site for kids. It lets you go on an adventure by exploring different "life zones" around the world. By visiting these, you will find all different types of organisms that are living on our planet. Students get to learn about what the organisms reveal about finding life in space. So, they will learn which can survive without sunlight, which have a high radiation dose, the most acidic and the ones that live the furthest underground, for example. By clicking on a life zone on the 3D Earth, you can watch a video introduction to that organism. This website is a great classroom and research tool. You can use it to simply explore all the things around you, or use it as a starter for deeper learning and researching on a specific subject or topic. Students can really get creative by writing stories and other works of writing based on the subjects and organisms they have been learning about. This site is a great tool to use in the classroom on an interactive whiteboard. With the music and interactive nature of the site, the whole class can get involved with learning about the various organisms. Go on a safari without leaving the room!

"7 Great YouTube Channels for Science"

"8 Great Free Tools to Improve your Students Spelling Skills"

"You might have wondered how those beautiful animated videos you see on YouTube are made. Sometimes you think people use expensive software ( well some do especially advertising companies ) but most of them are created using simple and free tools but with so much of creativity. Today I am introducing you to an awesome set of tools that are integrated into youTube and that will allow you to easily create videos without needing cameras or having to upload files or do any editing. They are very self explanatory and you can have a great video to share with your students in less than 10 minutes."

"15 Great Video Sites for Educators"

"Here is What Makes A Great Teacher"

"A Great Guide to Twitter in the Classroom"

"5 Great infographic Creation Tools for Teachers"

"So I asked everyone on Twitter for some advice on what th best apps were out there, and @narthernlad came back with so many suggestions I'm going to split them over a couple of posts! Here are some suggestions for literacy apps to try with your students. If you have any other suggestions for a great iPad literacy app, I'd love to hear them. Just add them in the comments below."

"Great resources for New Teachers - advice, support, and training"

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

Maybe you want to know how you would look like with a different hair cut, in a famous picture or in a cd cover... Many of us have tried to manipulate pictures in order to try something different or just to have fun but not only it takes loads of hard work but also the results aren't usually all that great. Well, not anymore. With FACEinHOLE.com you can easily and in a matter of seconds create a totally "new look" for you and your friends. You just have to select a scenario, upload and adjust a photo (or use your webcam) and there you have it; a great FACEinHOLE that you can send to your friends, post in your blog or make available to the world. Maybe you are wondering how much would this priceless tool cost? The answer is: totally and absolutely free!

"Vook is a relatively new tool Internet entrepreneur by Bradley Inman. With the idea to combine books and videos, Vook brings these media forms together. With content from great writers and professional videos by filmmakers from TurnHere, Vook brings its customers the best. Great books and films can finally come together all in one place. "

"Many teachers have yet to fully embrace the potential for the Internet to transform the social studies curriculum. Whether your class is named History, Government, Civics, Economics or Psychology, there is a great wealth of material available online that will engage your students. We've assembled just a smattering of the best of it here."

"15 Great Free Science Resources for Teachers and Students"

"Create great-looking quizzes for your website or blog. (It´s FREE!)"