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"This maths reflection tool is aimed at students aged 6 - 14 gives a great insight into how your students feel about their abilities in maths, and what areas they still need to work on in the future. This task allows for both artistic and mathematically minded students to share what they know in the areas of the four operations and general maths. It takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours to complete depending upon your students age and ability. Please feel free to download the Maths Reflection Tool"

"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?"

"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! "

With over 1.6 million members spread across 196 countries, we are the largest network of teachers in the world. We have over 3 million unique visitors every month and 50 million page views. TES is home to more than 100,000 teaching resources developed by teachers for teachers. 2 resources are downloaded every second from TES and each resource saves teachers an average of 30 minutes preparation time. A staggering half a billion hours of prep time has already been taken out of the system.

Wiki, Avatar with the Wee Folks...Challenge #1 In the Cloud...Challenge #2 Take a Picknik without the ant...Challenge #3 WKL not KWL...Challenge #4 Clip It and Bind It...Challenge #5 Get Flashy with Quizlet...Challenge #6 You must have spent hours...Challenge #7 Magazines, Posters and Cards - Oh My!...Challenge #8 Interactive Tools...Challenge #9 Blah, Blah, Bladder?...Challenge #10 Wrap it up with a Glog...Challenge #11 I wish I may, I wish I might......Challenge #12 12 for 2012 Gallery

"This is a supplement to "Appy Hours 4 You" Blog Talk Radio Show: Episode 15 - "Making Mathematics App-tastic: Part 2". In this follow-up episode we featured 15 free mathematics game-like apps that focused on basic math, ordering numbers, proportions, FDP conversions, and equations for both elementary and secondary. For each app we shared a brief description and then ways the app could be used in the classroom (e.g. stations, assessment, remediation). Check out our first segment of "Making Mathematics App-tastic"."

This is a supplement to "Appy Hours 4 You" Blog Talk Radio Show: Episode 13 - "Making Mathematics App-tastic". In this episode we featured 11 free mathematics game-like apps that focused on currency/money and fractions for both elementary and secondary. For each app we shared a brief description and then multiple ways the app could be used in the classroom (e.g. stations, assessment, remediation).

"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."

The Summer Challenge Tuesday, July 21, 2009 When I was little, I loved school so much that I would ask my mom to give me homework out of the encyclopedias during the summer. Well in the same tradition, I decided to offer summer homework to the teachers in my division. Totally optional, but there would be a reward in the end--four hours of professional development credit awarded upon the submission of a portfolio containing all eight challenges. To my surprise, several teachers have accepted the challenge. I have even had teachers from other divisions ask for my homework after hearing what the Early Childhood teachers were doing. They are having so much fun! They have proudly shown me some of their projects. Some say they probably won't do the portfolio for credit, but just wanted to complete the challenges to learn something new. I am linking to the project documents here if you would like to take the challenge. Summer is a great time to learn something new!

Today's post is the first in several that will give you an insight to some Google tools you may not have not had the chance to previously explore. Yes, we all Google in one form or another, but most of us are unaware of little tools and great updated features that make Google more than a basic search engine. Plus, with the newest features of Google Squared, the Timeline, and the Wonder Wheel, students and teachers have a way to navigate through information more efficiently and effectively. I don't know about you, but I'm a big fan of getting results quickly rather than wandering in the web for hours.

"This is a guest post from Karen Schweitzer. Karen writes about online colleges at OnlineColleges.net. Productivity has to be priority number one when you're a student. Between class, study time, and extracurricular activities, there just aren't enough hours in the day. That's why free web apps exist. These no-cost products are specifically designed to make your life easier and less stressful. Some have been around for years and others are relatively new-but they will all do their part to boost your productivity. Here are 20 free web apps that every student can use: "

"Cheating, and specifically the time-honored act of plagiarism, has been receiving a good deal of attention in education circles of late. The rise of the Internet as a virtual paper mill has tuned educators in to the fact that students, when given the chance, will often resort to dishonest measures in order to get high marks in a course. Many of my colleagues have reacted very strongly to the rise of Internet cheating. Some have strengthened their policies on the matter, others have added new paragraphs to their syllabi addressing the issue directly, and still others have been spending hours online trying to find any paper they believe to be pilfered from a source other than the student's brain."

"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."

Talk faster than you type? Want to post fun stuff on Photobucket or YouTube? Want an easy tool (did we tell you it is free!) that lets you express your creative self? Then QlipBoard is for you! What can you do with QlipBoardTM? Make narrated slide shows of your vacation. Show off your home for sale. Get help with your homework. Invite someone to a party. Talk to your friends in other countries without having to wake up at odd hours. The possibilities are endless! To learn how,

This podcast is a recording of a conversation over skype on May 14, 2010, with Dean Mantz in Sterling, Kansas, Dean Shareski in Moosejaw, Saskatchewan, Cyndi Danner-Kuhn in Manhattan, Kansas, and Wesley Fryer in Edmond, Oklahoma. For the past several years, each participant has taught pre-service technology classes for undergraduate college students. In this conversation (which runs long, about an hour and a half) topics ranged from how course activities are selected, structured and assessed, epiphany or "a-ha" moments in teaching, changes which have been made to the course or how the course is taught (mixing face-to-face, online and blended modalities) and how to best leverage face-to-face interaction opportunities with students. LOTS of great ideas here. Check the podcast shownotes for most (if not all) of the referenced websites, curricula and resources from our conversation. This podcast is labeled (part 1) because we plan to continue the discussion in upcoming months!

"If you want proof social media technologies can transform lives, look no further than 6th grader Greyson Chance of Edmond, Oklahoma. Two weeks ago Greyson's father used a hand-held camera to record his son's piano and vocal performance of Lady Gaga's song, "Paparazzi" at a local church. The video went viral within 2 days of its posting on YouTube, with over 1.5 million hits in the first 48 hours. Currently the video has over 11.9 million views, but that number does not include NUMEROUS copies which have been posted by others seeking a moment of YouTube fame from the web searches for "Greyson Lady Gaga Ellen" and similar search engine queries."

The Next Generation of Digital Books Our Choice will change the way we read books. And quite possibly change the world. In this interactive app, Al Gore surveys the causes of global warming and presents groundbreaking insights and solutions already under study and underway that can help stop the unfolding disaster of global warming. Our Choice melds the vice president's narrative with photography, interactive graphics, animations, and more than an hour of engrossing documentary footage. A new, groundbreaking multi-touch interface allows you to experience that content seamlessly. Pick up and explore anything you see in the book; zoom out to the visual table of contents and quickly browse though the chapters; reach in and explore data-rich interactive graphics.