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Across the blogosphere this morning, tech blogs are abuzz with the news that Google has decided to dump the Microsoft Windows operating system (OS) for its internal computing. New employees are reportedly being given the choice of either a Mac or Linux-based OS. The official word from Google is that it is dumping Windows because of security concerns in the wake of the China hacking incident. A good article detailing this latest move by Google can be found by linking to ZDNet here.

What I am going to share here will probably be the most personal thing I have ever shared on my blog. Only 3 other people know of this and some who are skeptics will dismiss me right away. But - I promise if you stick with me to the very end, it will make sense AND it will be woven into Tech. A long time ago, a pastor I trusted was into meditation and he was leading several people through them. Being the skeptic (yes, even though my faith is strong, I still have doubts at times) I decided to give it a try. What I am sharing next was what I saw. I was sitting on a fountain and there was a gentle man sitting next to me and we began to talk about what I was afraid of. He asked me if I was ready to conquer some of my fears and I said "Yes". He advised me to look up - and there floating above me were planks with words on them….words with the fears that I indeed was dealing with. And the closest one said "Dogs". I was able to easily reach up and grab it. As I gave the gentle man the plank, I said "But I am not really afraid of dogs" and his response was "sometimes you have to go for the easy before you can go for the hard." He then asked me if I wanted to fly and I said yes and suddenly we were flying through the sky…….yet, I continually looked toward the fountain, toward the ground, toward the certain. He finally asked if I wanted to return and we returned to the fountain. He laid his head in his hands and began to cry. When I asked him why, his response was "Jennifer, I want you to fly, yet you always wish to return to where it is safe." What I am sharing with you is true - and I still deal with my fears and my wanting to be safe - but today - I want to take those 2 stories and weave them, if I may, into what our teachers are dealing with in regards to being open to tech. In the last few weeks, I have had several conversations with tech coordinators, integratrators, evangelists, ambassadors - whatever you want to call

Very interesting reading. I feel that many of you are with wings and flying high, even if sometimes we question things and just want to go back to the ground. This is totally natural, questioning, trying, feeling on the verge of giving up, giving another chance, trying a different approach...

Great word list and free online games for the first week of school

This search engine gives you top sites for your search word, video, images and related topics

excellent site for tools for educators

A website with word videos

The Crossword puzzle maker is used to make simple crossword puzzles. It turns out that good crossword puzzles of the type found in newspapers are fairly hard to generate, and require a pool of lots of words, not all of which are used. This program puts all of the words you specify (no more, no less) into a simple crossword puzzle. The puzzle that is generated will remain on this server for about two months. If you want to ensure that you have a copy of the generated puzzle, make sure you save a copy.

A veru fun and effective tool to be used in both group and private classes, aiming, for instance, to work on specific structures.

Very interesting article on how to learn better.