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The final section talks about how teachers have changed the way they teach, now using the laptops as tools for students to create products, such as pubic service announcements, or podcasts explaining the concepts for other students.

Liz, This is an excellent article that should help us with our 1 to 1 program next year. As I heard in Shanghai last year, teacher training is key to a successful program.

Liz, This is an excellent article that will help us plan our 1 to 1 program. It reinforces what i was told in Shanghai in September, teacher training is the key to success.

In this article, Larry Ferlazzo discusses the need to keep students motivated - even at the end of a school year - and the ways in which to do so. The article also mentions ways in which to keep teacher energy at its best. At least for me, this article is very timely (7 student days remaining). I think it's also very important for communication. If we forget our purpose in teaching (even in the last few days of school), we can also forget about motivation from our students. All of these things truly work hand in hand.

Ironies and contradictions within the educational system are highlighted in this presentation by Adam S. Bellow. He has advice to school administrators about the use of digital communication tools in the classroom. He states that "We're doing kids a major disservice if we don't teach them good digital citizenship." He discusses 7 rules that should be allowed in school, but are problems.

This teacher makes a really strong argument that you should not feel that you have nothing important to say. This is the way to make some strong networked relationships. I like her quote "This has led to many great conversations with other educators about teaching issues." Blogging has connected her to peers throughout the world. I find that being an online educator is lonely so this may be the way to go to share resources and to discuss with others that share our online world.

I really enjoyed reading this article because I'm feeling the same excitement as the author did when she first began blogging. While I'm just learning how to "officially" blog, I have been using Edmodo with my students as a way to connect with my students outside my classroom. It allows us to communicate and ask questions to one another outside of normal school hours, yet in a more structured classroom like forum, unlike Facebook. But because it works similar to Facebook, the students love it and don't mind logging on and doing their assignments. One day when I was out sick, I was able to log on an have real time discussions with my students. If they had questions about the assignment they were able to ask. They can also turn in their assignments via Edmodo instead of waiting for the next day/week. My feelings are if the students are into it, then it's something we need to be doing as well to keep up with them. Teachers who use Web 2.0 tools such as blogging have an advantage over those that don't because these are the social networks that students know and are familiar with. Also, the author of this article points out the fact that teachers have a new way of connecting to each other and share ideas. From what I remember when I was younger, the traditional teacher's only way of communicating and sharing ideas or concerns with other teachers were via phone or before/after school meetings. I don't know how often that actually happened, but now with blogging you can share your information any time with any body.

This article attracted my attention due to my affiliation with Graduation Portfolios for our district. I loved the idea of students taking ownership of their Portfolio in terms of linking it to an electronic format they could *present* at the end of the school year. One of the apps listed ("Three Ring") sounded really interesting, and I hope to model it with next year's Seniors.

This article was great. Our high school students should be creating career portfolios and some of the programs like Evernote and Three Ring seem to be great ways of collecting and organizing career information. Employers are now looking at what students have accomplished over a paper resume. Some employers want to see you digital resume' with examples of a student's work. These two programs seem to be a great way to help students be prepared for the new way employers might require for job interviews. One other website is a great resource for Student Portfolios and that is MassCis. Not only does it have the ability to upload exemplars, but it has lessons teachers can use that are aligned with the standards to help students explore their career interests. Imagine, career information, career inventories, goal setting activities, resume writing, college and financial information, teachers' lesson plans and student portfolios all on the same website. Each student can create a portfolio and have it from the middle school through high school. Check it out: www.masscis.intocareers.com

The author points out the importance of bringing creativity into the classroom and into the curriculum to help engage the learner. The author recommends several Web 2.0 applications that can be used at any school which include Glogster, Storybird, Animoto, and Voki to name a few.

This article was great! It was to the point and explained the importance of creativity in the classroom. The integration of that creativity helps students become producers of their own curriculum and makes them responsible for their own education. The article lists useful tools to bring that creativity alive.

This article provides four points to increase parent involvement and communication: 1) Make a case for increased parent involvement, 2) Reach out to parents who want to make a connection, 3) Find ways to involve families in school culture, 4) Make the commitment to join the conversation with other teachers and parents. Within each of these four points, there are various links to more actively engage with tips, articles, and discussion groups.

Every school has a need to increase parent involvement for a variety of reasons, with such intended results as a better sense of "community" among families, faculty and students, improved student achievement, and the like. This can be a challenge for all these entities. It's helpful from time to time to have reminders of strategies that work.

Ten Ways Schools Are Using Social Media Effectively

Have you ever thought, "Gosh, I wish I had time to learn more about Flickr, wikis, or (enter your Web 2.0 tool here)?" Well, this is your chance to take the time to focus on your personal and professional development around Web 2.0 tools. It's fun to explore these tools and figure out ways to use them in the library, with your personal Web sites, or in other ways.

I will give Zoho a look. We use google docs at my school now. Each staff member and student was given an account with the same extension. With so many sites to choose from it takes time to see which ones you lke. Google docs seems to show up in many articles.

Zoho Writer looks interesting as you need to be invited to participate. Google Docs are used extensively within our school, though I only used them for our NGY Ning project last year. We also use Google Docs for attendance in our after school programs.

Developing these skills requires students to debate, write and master structured argument, the very activities that middle and high school teachers say they must abandon to respond to the demands of minimum-standards, test-driven curriculums. But such demands are smothering education.

Start your own school internet radio station.

This is so cool and something that never crossed my mind as being available. Just goes to show we have no idea what is around the corner. I was on the radio station at school and had to drive to Boston to take a test with the FCC to get a broadcasting license, which I almost lost a couple of times for not following FCC rules to the letter. I wonder how that all works now?

Interesting short article on impact of social communication devices on students. Should they be allowed and if so, should they be limited? It's good to read opinions of different people outside of your own school system and their take on social devices and how they affect students and learning. It's also nice to see that we are not alone in our struggle to find a balance in our schools concerning the boom of social devices.

This short article explains a new Pew study which explored the affects of broader access to the internet and social media and student performance. The article speaks of both the positive and negative affects that they are seeing as per standardized tests and teacher feedback.

I found this very interesting as our school goes to a Bring Your Own model and the entire High School becomes a 1:1 laptop zone. Many teachers have asked questions about this and the Pew study is something I plan to share with them.

This blog post describes the Web 2.0 tools that are being used in the author's school to help students reach each level of Bloom's Taxonomy.

This article looks at online communication from a district's point of view. Using tools such as websites, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, online surveys, YouTube, and Pinterest, school districts are getting information out to a variety of constituents, not just parents and students. They are building a connection to the community.

Cindy, the instructional technologist from a school in Northeastern North Carolina sees administrators using the flip camera in creative ways all the time. One principal takes her flip camera on her daily walk-through through her school. When she sees great interaction between students, unique teaching methods, or an overall great experience in a classroom she pulls out her handy camera and records the experience. Then, during faculty meetings and staff development she shares her videos with the staff as great examples of what is and should contiunue to happen in her school.

This article presents many ways Flip Cams can be used in the classroom. Students and teachers can be very creative using Flip Cams. Suggestions included students sharing their world, digital story telling and others. Creativity can be enhanced Flip Cams.

This article outlines some helpful apps for high school students with iPads. These apps range from notetaking to SAT prep. These would be really helpful ideas for struggling students.

A school librarian has worked to bring Kindles into the classrooms of the school she serves. Because of the success of the program the school district purchased Kindles for every eighth grade student.

This looks very interesting as well as promising. Furthermore, placing such devices into the hands of older students help mitigate the fears of lost/damaged property. I was unaware a Kindle had a text-to-voice option, something a few students I know would find immensely enjoyable. "The bottom line for me is the Kindles have generated a love of reading among those students who would not have otherwise picked up a book."

Find out how schools are using iPads to provide special education students and their families a lower cost device that can assist them with communication and much more. Specific app titles are suggested for use.