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ISTE has helped transform teacher preparation programs through its standards to integrate technology into learning, teaching, and leading. The refreshed standards-Technology Coach, Technology Director, and Computer Science Educator-are pending NCATE approval. These build on the original Technology Facilitator, Technology Leader, and Secondary Computer Science Educator standards.

This post is hard for me to read (my eyes don't like the white on black) but I think the premise could be interesting - how can we harness tech to raise writing and reading standards of boys (and girls) Part 2: Raising Standards in Boys' Writing using the iPad for Gaming: Outcomes and Ways Forward By Mr Williams

list of exemplar texts K-12 being recommended by the US Common Core Standards

""I still teach with standards in mind," he said. "I just teach inductively from the standards instead of using them as the ceiling.""

"The Information Fluency Continuum provides a framework for the instructional aspects of a library program. The framework is based on three standards that form the basis for the skills and strategies that are essential for students to become independent readers and learners."

Excerpt re literacy:  "While English classes will still include healthy amounts of fiction, the standards say that students should be reading more nonfiction texts as they get older, to prepare them for the kinds of material they will read in college and careers. In the fourth grade, students should be reading about the same amount from "literary" and "informational" texts, according to the standards; in the eighth grade, 45 percent should be literary and 55 percent informational, and by 12th grade, the split should be 30/70."

As mathematics educators at all levels consider effective implementation and instruction related to state or Common Core standards, a frequently asked question is, "What does it mean to be fluent in mathematics?" The answer, more often than not, is, "Fast and accurate." Building fluency should involve more than speed and accuracy. It must reach beyond procedures and computation.

A textbook follows an arduous process to get approval for use in the classroom. So who vets the curriculum when a teacher can simply pluck a learning object off a virtual shelf?

I have written several posts before on the importance of making presentation meaningful and interesting. Not just creating a PowerPoint because it's the easiest tool for you to create a visual representation of your content. Comic books are what I consider to be attention grabbers. After bringing out several samples, you now have the student's attention. It's what you do with that attention that really matters. For this post I thought I would share some great web 2.0 tools that allow you and your students to make comic books. I urge you to make these assignments interesting, and relevant. Make sure that they are strongly tied to important curriculum standards and benchmarks. Just because the form of presentation and activity creation is "fun" does not mean that the substance in the curriculum is not important.

Article from NY Times about a man who looked at successful teachers & wrote a book about 49 ways to become a better teacher. "He knew how to advise schools to adopt a better curriculum or raise standards or develop better communication channels between teachers and principals. But he realized that he had no clue how to advise schools about their main event: how to teach."

A three-year study of 491 middle school students found that the more children played computer games the higher their scores on a standardized test of creativity-regardless of race, gender, or the kind of game played. Everyone is gifted and talented.

Providing a wealth of resources for K-12 science educators, Science NetLinks is your guide to meaningful standards-based Internet experiences for students.

Lure of the Labyrinth is a digital game for middle-school pre-algebra students. It includes a wealth of intriguing math-based puzzles wrapped into an exciting narrative game in which students work to find their lost pet - and save the world from monsters! Linked to both national and state mathematics standards, the game gives students a chance to actually think like mathematicians.

See, for example, the ToonBook reader -- in different languages.... "The initial phase of PGF is focused on K - 3 with emphasis on reading and writing skills. Over time, the site will incorporate the areas of science, mathematics, and other core areas, first at K -3rd grade level, and systematically expanding thereafter to encompass grades K - 8. This content will be state standards-based with the intent to include lesson plans, activities, classroom ideas, and incorporate assessment methodologies - all in an entertaining and fun atmosphere for kids.\n"

A list of games related to:  "Universal rights to which every person is entitled, by a moral standard that stands above the laws of any individual nation."

<< Smarthistory.org is a free multi-media web-book designed as a dynamic enhancement (or even substitute) for the traditional art history textbook. Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker began smARThistory in 2005 by creating a blog featuring free audio guides in the form of podcasts for use in The Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Soon after, we embedded the audio files in our online survey courses. The response from our students was so positive that we decided to create a multi-media survey of art history web-book. We created audios and videos about works of art found in standard art history survey texts, organized the files stylistically and chronologically, and added text and still images. >>

the Journal for Emerging Investigators (JEI), a publication founded by a group of Harvard grad students in 2011 that provides a forum for the work of middle school and high school students. It has the same standards as academic journals, and each submission is reviewed by grad students and academics.

"A striking assumption animates arguments on both sides, namely that nonfiction is seldom literary and certainly not literature. Even Mr. Coleman erects his case on largely dispiriting, utilitarian grounds: nonfiction may help you win the corner office but won't necessarily nourish the soul. As an English teacher and writer who traffics in factual prose, I'm with Mr. Coleman. In my experience, students need more exposure to nonfiction, less to help with reading skills, but as a model for their own essays and expository writing, what Mr. Gladwell sought by ingesting "Talk of the Town" stories. I love fiction and poetry as much as the next former English major and often despair over the quality of what passes for "informational texts," few of which amount to narrative much less literary narrative. What schools really need isn't more nonfiction but better nonfiction, especially that which provides good models for student writing. Most students could use greater familiarity with what newspaper, magazine and book editors call "narrative nonfiction": writing that tells a factual story, sometimes even a personal one, but also makes an argument and conveys information in vivid, effective ways."

"What schools really need isn't more nonfiction but better nonfiction, especially that which provides good models for student writing. "  Totally supports my belief that nonfiction longreads are out there on the internet and are not being taken advantage of by teachers -- enough.

Link to a PDF correlating the IB Learner Profile with the ISTE NETS