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Many educational sites to check out this summer. There is a site of web 2.0 tools that can be accessed in "two clicks." Also a nice live binder link for how to use the web 2.0 tools. this site will take you to his recommendations for webinars, lesson plans and all sorts of internet sites. Updated regularly.

This article showcases some Web 2.0 creative media tools. Students should have the ability to create new media. The tools outlined in this Edutopia article are great suggestions to assist in creativity and student participation, as well as provide a showcase for their critical thinking. Also includes links to Parts 1 - 3 of Eric Brunsell's series.

This article gives reasons why schools should encourage tweeting among their student body. It shows the benefits of connecting students to students, teachers, parents and the entire community. Reading this article could give the reader new ideas for communicating and connecting using a popular Web 2.0 tool.

This article has merit from the perspective of a district principal. The 12 reasons are aligned with the school mission statement and since Tweeter is free, it is accessible to all stakeholders in the school community. It suggests that parents receive training in the tool to build two-way communications. Tweeter will help build a Personal Learning Network (PLN) and allows for anytime, anywhere PD, and that it is easier to send a tweet than it is to correct a webpage. The last reason #12 actually seems to be the most important in that students can make a connection not with only one mentor but with "a million other mentors" to learn from using Tweeter.

Schools are giving students access to technology, such as Study Island, via their home internet connections. Students are able to keep up on skills, review, and continue working with education resources even when school is not in session.

'We do not need to teach creativity, but rather inspire its daily practice.' This opening sentence is intriguing yet inspiring to me. As said in the title, this article introduces 18 apps to support students developing creativity at different thinking stages. The writer also suggests some practical strategies which could be incorporated in our daily teaching practice. Nevertheless, what strikes me more is the reminder that we, as a class, school, or community, need to build a culture of trust in the first place to cultivate culture of creativity and innovation.

What a great article about creativity.  What I loved is that the article states that schools do not need to teach creativity.  Schools need to foster it by providing students a safe place to take risks and providing them tools that make that risk taking possible.  Creativity is about finding solutions to problems using one's own ideas and thinking skills.  Students can do this when given the power and opportunities to do so.

Like Chris, the opening to this post caught my eye. "We do not need to teach creativity, but rather inspire its daily practice." Ms. Darrow's article captures the importance of creating a school that values it's students, encourages them to take some risks, and lets them practice these skills with abandon. With support and coaching from teachers, students can work through the steps outlined in this article using technology to streamline the process, help them develop real life/career skills, and appeal to their interest in digital media. I like how Darrow labels this process; there are clear steps to increase understanding. Collaboration or group work can use this format as well, group members' jobs are easily created with the resulting structure. It also creates natural places to scaffold the process for individualizing learning in a classroom full of all kinds of learners. Each activity we do in a class may not need all these steps and some may need more, but I plan to keep this article in mind as I tweak my courses this summer.

A great article to read at this time of year when we are finished with school for the summer. The six questions are powerful and reflective. Though it is recommended that the questions are asked and answered between a colleague or two, I found them helpful for me as I look back on my teaching and the different age groups of students who came to class every day.

This is an exciting article about a project that encourages young people into STEM careers through weekend and summer courses in computer game design. The program uses mentoring and collaboration to teach Game Design.

For STEM education, this is an exciting opportunity for students. I have had a couple student go after game design careers and have been successful. I was interested to read about the support that is built into the program (mentors) and the collaboration to help teach design. My former students have told me that is how they like to learn the design is through collaboration with fellow students in the class they are in.

This article introduces another fun, collaborative, storytelling digital tool - Storybird.