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Blogger is one of the most user-friendly Web site builders we've ever encountered. We both use it as a communication springboard with our students, and families have found wonderful success in building motivation for out-of-school learning as well. The site walks users through how to build a blog, and it can be customized in a variety of ways. We personally like this better than some others we've used, in that there are more functions with Blogger, and it flows so easily from one application to the next. We use this extensively in the classroom -- for out-of-class contests, research opportunities, extra-credit assignments, keeping absent students up-to-date, communication with parents about classroom climate, and much, much more. I've just renewed my blog site for the new school year.

Collaborize Classroom -- A free online collaborative platform designed to complement classroom instruction with additional activities, assignments and discussions that can be accessed online.

Cool Math -- A collection of games that are designed to be safe to use in the classroom, covering a variety of math subjects as well as reading, science and geography.

First In Math -- A schoolwide resource that teaches kids as young as kindergarten basic math skills via online games. Kids are encouraged to keep playing by earning stickers and other rewards from their teachers.

3 Tools, 1 Unique Process Our teaching tools all use our unique collaborative writing and voting process. BoomWriter is perfect for any classroom or group and is ideal for various subjects, including ELA, History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects!

The Top 8 Reasons why SMART Boards are an essential component in the modern day classroom:

2. Enhanced teaching/learning experience

3. Interact and share:

SoundingBoard

Apple recently announced at their Education Event that 20,000 education apps have been built for the iPad.

Richard Scarry’s Busytown

While there is much on-going research on new technologies and their effects on teaching and learning, there is little rigorous, large-scale data that makes for solid research, education experts say. The vast majority of the studies available are funded by the very companies and institutions that have created and promoted the technology, raising questions of the research’s validity and objectivity. In addition, the kinds of studies that produce meaningful data often take several years to complete—a timeline that lags far behind the fast pace of emerging and evolving technologies.

For example, it is difficult to pinpoint empirical data to support the case for mobile learning in schools—a trend that educators have been exploring for several years now—let alone data to support even newer technologies such as tablet computers like the iPad. The studies that do look at the effects of mobile technologies on learning are often based on small samples of students involved in short-term pilots, not the kind of large-scale, ongoing samples of students that educators and policymakers would like to see (Education Week, Feb. 23, 2011).

However, there are a handful of large-scale studies that do point to trends and observations in the education technology field. For example, Project RED, a research initiative linked closely with the One-to-One Institute, which supports one-to-one laptop initiatives in K-12 schools, released a study about successful implementation models of education technology in October 2010. That study found that most of the schools that have integrated laptops and other digital tools into learning are not maximizing the use of those devices in ways that best make use of their potential. The report goes on to outline the critical steps needed to capitalize on that potential (Project RED, 2010).

Free Lesson Plans, Units, Classroom Materials, Teacher Communities, and More!

The sharing and commenting features in Google Documents are fantastic for giving students feedback about their work. Likewise, those features are great for students to use for peer editing. But if you want to really add your voice to then you'll want to add the Voice Comments application from Learn.ly to your Google Drive account. Thanks to a Tweet from Alec Couros I learned about a Google Documents voice comment tutorial produced by Jennifer Roberts. Her video tutorial is embedded below.

One free online method of creating report cards is to use a Google Sheets template. Rather than starting from scratch, my recommendation is to search in the Google Drive template gallery for a report card template.

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