Tuesday- the last day of August

The internet has become a vast source of knowledge filled in with multiple opportunities and resources for more learning. One great website to visit is Wordle.com This website allows the user to compile a list of words, or whatever text they need to display and it arranges it in a randomized and creative manner. You can adjust its features to alter the way the text is perceived. I believe that this is a very useful website that I would want to use in my classroom as a way to organize or present information or display key characteristics I would like students to portray in the classroom environment.
The website Toondoo.com is a great resource for a classroom brain break. This site holds a plethera of cartoons, many of which are related to education. Utilizing this website in the classroom would allow children to see modeled for them that education is a fun and exciting thing, that if the characters in the cartoon like to learn maybe there is something fun about learning. This site could also help in modeling story writing, and creating comic strips which can lead into story writing.
The website http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ is a fantastic source for teachers that allows them to find out more information about updates and information that will help teachers bring relevant technology and strategies to students.

All of the articles that we read were very informative and opened my eyes to many different aspects of technology and how today's children are changing with the technology.
- How to bring our schools out of the 20th century, by Wallis, C.& Steptoe, S.
- Partnership for 21st Century Skills, by 21st Century Skills.org
- The multitasking generation, by Wallis, C., Cole, W., Steptoe, S., & Dale, S.
- http://www.edutopia.org/ferryway-school-saugus-ironworks
1. One of the most interesting articles that I liked was the "Multitasking generation". When reading this article I found it aligning with my current beliefs about the negative effects of technology on personal connections and it was especially interesting to learn about how technology affects family dynamics.
2. The Time article "How to bring our schools out of the 20th century" was very interesting, and I found very true. Today's students are in a completely different world that is filled with technological world than they were fifteen years ago, but our classrooms neglect that our society has changed so much. It is time for our classrooms to reflect the outside world.
3. The website "Partnership for 21st Century Skills" is a great visualization of how teachers need to gear their classrooms in today's technologically savvy classroom. As teachers we need to create an environment that fosters social and technological growth that parallels knowledge of curriculum.
4. The last article found on http://www.edutopia.org/ferryway-school-saugus-ironworks, gives a great example of how students need to be challenged and through the use of technology students can accomplish great things because technology is truly a learning tool.