Wow! It is hard to believe that another year has passed and here is my blog still! It took me a great deal of time to find it and recall the basics here. Not to worry that is why I keep taking classes.

There is a frightening permance to the internet and the creations we give birth to on it.
They don't change on their own, but we can continually edit and revise them to meet our needs at the time.

This year the focus is on how we will weave the Common Core & Google Tools together to best meet the needs of all our students. This one seemed easier than the last to me. Common Core (especially the ELA parts) are truely focusing on looking at things in-depth. At truely understanding and being able to communicate that understanding through presentation. Google presentation allows students to incorporate their understanding and show it in a mutitude of ways. Instead of being confined to a pencil interpretation students now have access to video creation, Word Art, images, and Google Draw to help them express, explain and share. 

One of the strongest elements of Google Tools is the ability to share. Shae your work as it is in progress, share your thoughts with a teacher who is at home, share with your parents outside of school, collect and share thoughts on other people's work before, during, and after it's creation. Creation through collaboration should be an integral part to the development of strong communication skills. Working collaboratively is a skill we all need to build. The world is smaller in so many ways. Student's today can speak (via Google Chat) to students in other parts of the world. They can watch history unfold on their phones, and information is a few clicks away. Common Core is about 'how to think' not how to recall and Google Tools can help our students to learn to do just that.