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This was written by Misty, one of my fourth grade students. I think she has the right idea in what our schools need to be thinking. As teachers, our pedagogy needs to be changing with the needs of our students. As Misty states, it is also essential that we integrate technology into the content areas, rather than just use it as an add-on to the curriculum.

Instead of cutting down trees and wasting all of the trees, we should all just use technology! Its easier just to get on a desk top , laptop , cell phone, i pod, i pad , or anything like that!!! I think that schools around the nation should each get their own laptop from the school to rent it out and take it back and forth from school to your house. The teacher would give students assignments on the computer and maybe even make their own website, blog, wiki, or a network that the teacher and students could get on everyday to do their assignments with like, math, fractions, spelling, reading, algebra, geometry, and a lot more. Todays technology lets you search the internet for research unlike a piece of paper, you can do your homework, and its more organized then a lot of papers lying around. You can just set the laptop somewhere and remember where it is instead of all the papers that you could lose in the wind. It is faster to look up information during research projects. It's also much easier to type in what you want than to look it up in a book. It might take a few days to find the information in a book, where on working with technology, you can edit quicker and easier.

Technology is motivating and fun=http://! There are games that teach children, virtual worlds give kids experiences that most would not normally have, digital storytelling allows kids to share their story, and all of these things are a lot of fun. It makes school more fun and interesting.

Technology prepares kids for the future. If you need it when you're a lawyer or something you can bring it right with you or you could skype people in foreign countries to talk to them. 90% of future jobs have not been invented yet and all of those will require technology use.

I think you should consider this to schools around the world!! maybe like Alaska, Texas, Florida, California, New Mexico and Iowa for sure!!! and it will help kids prepare for the future!!! If you decide to do this then I thank You kindly.

We have just completed our first round of digital stories for the year. The students wrote personal narratives and then used scanners, ipods, imovie, garage band, Facebook, as well as other media tools, to create their digital stories. Using all of these tools to create an authentic writing piece was a first for all of the students in my room. If you click on each student's blog link, you can see their completed projects. Feel free to leave feedback to each of the students and praise their work! Remember to leave constructive comments!

Yesterday, you started commenting on other people's blogs about what they wanted the Monster's belt to look like. Continue working on adding comments and suggesting more specific adjectives for others. Also, after your partner and you have made a few comments, you may also add a new description using very specific adjectives.

As I was surfing the web tonight for a class project, I came across this collaborative project. I thought it would be fun to do and we could learn a lot from classes from other schools. We might be able to possibly Skype, blog, or create a wiki with these classes from other parts of the world. Check this site out and let me know if you think we should participate.

http://www.smithclass.org/proj/Monsters/

The students were very excited to see comments to their blogs today! Will Richardson stated in the book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, "The difference between blogging in this manner and writing as we traditionally think of it are clear: Writing stops; blogging continues. Writing is inside; blogging is outside. Writing is monologue; blogging is conversation. Writing is thesis; blogging is synthesis...none of which minimizes the importance of writing," (Richardson, 30-31). To me, this is a very powerful statement, in which the students really felt today. Because people actually read their blogs, their voice is finally being heard. They were able to reflect on comments that were posted and take their thoughts to a deeper level. Not only were the students extremely happy that people were responding to their thoughts, it made them realize the importance of explaining their thoughts in detail!

Thank you to everyone that responded and please keep the comments coming!

If you were to put one item in a time capsule, what would it be in and why?

The students were so excited today when I told them they got to get the laptops out and blog! Even though they had an assigned topic, they were motivated to write. They were amazed to see the results of their work on the Internet!

Lexi and Olivia even spent their recess inside showing our principal and guidance counselor how easy it was to create their own blog! It is so fun to see the kids motivated to write!

We are just completing our first blogs for the 2010-2011 school year. The students are eager to hear comments about their blogs. Their first assignment was to explain what making connections means to them, to explain why it is important to make connections, as well as to share an example.

They are really enjoying sharing their ideas with the world, as well as using technology to create. It is amazing how much more thorough they are explaining their thoughts when it isn't just a worksheet or graphic organizer to fill out. They know other people will be reading their thoughts so they understand they need to explain more in-depth.

I also loved how I could just show two people how to blog and they became my experts. They showed everyone else how to get logged in and what the steps were in completing! Yea for technology!!!

Your first blog assignment for the year is dealing with Making Connections while reading. We have been working on this skill for a week; therefore, you should be experts on connection making. First, you are to tell what it means to make connections. Next, tell why it is important to make connections. Finally, give an example of a connection you have made from your book that you are reading.

After visiting Recycle City and Dumptown, I want to know what are some things you learned that we can do to help our environment.

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