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The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) provides a foundation for professional development for technology integration and a common vocabulary for talking about effective uses of technology in teaching and learning. The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) illustrates how teachers can use technology to enhance learning for K-12 students.The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) illustrates how teachers can use technology to enhance learning for K-12 students.

Survey that reports what students want in education

"what students say is the best assignment they have had this year. "

"The author shares findings from her action research, focusing on the question, "How can I use critique to improve the quality of student feedback, student work and create a culture of collaboration?" "

"Writing appropriate emails is part of being a good digital citizen! Students (even digital natives) are not born with knowing the rules and responsibilities. Just as they need to learn to answer and talk on the phone, they need to learn about e-mail writing in an academic setting (to their teachers, Skype partners, project collaborators, administration or their classmates regarding school business)."

"if responding personally to text isn't leading students to deeper understanding, then where should teachers turn to help students improve their comprehension? We should turn to the text itself. Enter close reading."

"I knew where I wanted the question to lead but decided I was more committed to giving my students a voice than I was to accomplishing my project idea. I wanted our projects to be about "work that matters," but it needed to matter to the students not just me. I wanted their project-based learning to stem from their own empathy."

"I decided to use the teacher console on Diigo to create groups for each of my classes. I used handouts and tips from Bill Ferriter's Digitally Speaking Wiki to get everything set up and explain to the student how I wanted them to find, annotate, and share resources and information. (I highly recommend Bill's resources. They saved me a ton of time.) The students had used Diigo for research on a project during a previous school year so I thought with Bill's handouts and the boys' previous experience we were in good shape to begin. I soon learned differently. We have a 1:1 laptop classroom and the boys have a natural tendency to head straight to Google any time they have a question, but it was obvious after the first day that they weren't finding the quality resources they needed. Additionally, some boys still didn't know (or forgot) how to share to a group while others didn't know how to write a quality annotation. I had assumed too much. They needed what Mike Kaechele calls a "teacher workshop" on searching for information and on how to use Diigo. They needed me to model what they should do."

"Publishing student thinking can be among the most powerful ways to improve learning. There are a variety of reasons for this, but the biggest reason is that the "threat" of publishing moves the lodestone from the classroom to the "real world." This, of course, changes everything."

"Pinterest, a social sharing website that allow users to create and share virtual bulletin boards, has been the darling of social media over the past year. Its primarily female user base continues to grow by leaps and bounds. While you likely know teachers who have free Pinterest accounts, you may still be wondering if you belong on yet another social media site. "YES!" (Uttered quickly and with much enthusiasm!) And here's why. While Pinterest is exploding with fashion boards, trendy home decor, and to-die-for travel destinations (that sadly don't fit my budget), it also includes many boards for educators. Pinterest, heavy on visual appeal, can serve as a great resource for such areas as: classroom decor, language arts. content areas, lesson plans, technology tools, professional books, and much, much more! Your boards can also be a resource for students (age 13+ according to Pinterest regulations), teachers, and parents. If you're a newbie to Pinterest, listed below are a few must-know terms and how-to's. With a few quick tips, Pinterest can help you organize the internet jumble of resources for teachers and students. If you're a full-fledged addict, er, Pinterest Pro, skip to How Educators Use Pinterest or simply download today's Pinterest Cheat Sheet that also includes many ideas for boards."

"Learning in Hand #26 is about Padlet and Lino. Padlet and Lino are the two best online sticky note services around. They are web-based and work great on iPads, PCs, Macs, smartphones, and tablets. Walls can be set up so that students can use them without logins or passwords, making them easy to infuse into lessons. And the sticky notes aren't limited to text-they can have images, videos, and hyperlinks. Discover how teachers are using these virtual message boards everyday to collect student products, power communication, and fuel productive collaboration. View the 14:30 video on YouTube, on Vimeo, in iTunes as a podcast, through RSS, or download to explore the educational possibilities of Padlet and Lino."

"Great teachers in this second decade, will need more than subject knowledge to have value. In the 20th Century, it was arguably the most important quality of a teacher. "She knows her stuff" was a common student endorsement of a quality teacher. But "knowing your stuff" won't be sufficient any more. Wikipedia knows it's stuff, too. Better than you do, no doubt. The differentiator of success for a teacher will be the way you creatively translate knowledge to the lives of your students, the way you inspire them to discover knowledge themselves, and the way you infuse the learning process with joy."

"A teacher's role in the classroom is to supply direction, maturity and wisdom. It is to raise questions, inspire endeavour and lay down challenges. A teacher brings purpose to the lesson. But to be effective in an iPad classroom, she must relinquish control over the tools used, allowing students to share the responsibility and joy of discovering and sharing solutions to achieve that purpose. I'm not saying that teachers are absolved of their professional responsibility for learning to use the technology. But they should admit to being learners, and not let that fact stop their students from using the device in unforeseen ways, in the pursuit of the class goals."

Student samples of critical analysis essays. Good source for writing samples to share with students.

"As you are watching, ask yourself: What changed by using, in this case, the iPad and ShowMe app? Could the same [learning] have been accomplished by keeping students' illustrations analog? Was there differentiation potential? Can this type of "activity" be used as an assessment to replace/upgrade traditional assessment? Are the movie clips potential artifacts for digital portfolios? Could these movie clips be part of a variety of student work at a parent-teacher conference? Was any learning amplified by placing it on the classroom blog to share with families? What skills were practiced? What literacies were supported? Was it worth the extra time investment, the learning curve?"

Jason Bedell is an instructional technology consultant and a library media specialist at Belmar Elementary School in New Jersey. In his columns, Jason explores how effectively integrating technology can deepen student learning and make the school environment more student-centered.

The 4th of July: a great time to think about independence. No, not yours or mine; the students' independence. What curricular plan do you have for giving students increasing intellectual autonomy next year? Rate This In my previous post on transfer, I discussed what it is and isn't. Here, I draw from the research and highlight the key teacher 'take-aways' in terms of what the research suggests for practice. Most of the quotes come from Chapter 3 in How People Learn. Other sources are referenced at the end."

"As the information landscape shifts to offer far more information in an often befuddling manner that some have called "data smog," many schools are learning that traditional approaches to student research are inadequate to meet the essential learning goals set by most states or provincial governments. With hundreds of computers and dozens of classrooms connected to extensive electronic information resources, schools are recognizing the importance of reinventing the way they engage students in both questioning and research. "

"Since I am still in the classroom I am able to watch students perform various searches with Google. I have the opportunity to see what I claim is inefficient input resulting in a multitude of needless results from Google. Assisting our digital natives in the process of searching is something that all of us as digital immigrants can help with. We have the life experiences and educational background to help our students fine tune their digital skills and become more productive in research."

"At the Flat Classroom(tm) Conference in Doha, Qatar in January 2009, a visionary group of students proposed that a series of debates be held to promote awareness of racism on a global basis and how we need to work together to solve the world's problems. This multi-national group of four students proposed their project and were promoted through an extensive voting process including a global vote on the next project to be run by the Flat Classroom(tm) project founders, Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay. "