An interesting article in this weeks Boston Globe - Parade Section
Generation Wired Article Oct 7, 2011
They text (and text and text). They have hundreds of “friends” they’ve never actually met. They game for hours. How to keep your kids safe and healthy in a hyper-connected world.
How Exactly Is All This Affecting Young Brains?
A 2010 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that students 8 to 18 spend more than 7.5 hours a day engaged with computers, cell phones, TV, music, or video games. Forty percent of kids in middle school and high school say that when they’re on the computer, most of the time they’re also plugged into other media. The effects this multitasking has on still-forming brains can be positive and negative. “The prefrontal cortex, which is essential for social behavior, planning, reasoning, and impulse control, is not fully developed until the early 20s,” says Jordan Grafman of the Kessler Foundation Research Center. “Its development is largely dependent on what activities you do.”
Studies have shown that multitasking can lead to faster response time, improved peripheral vision, and a greater ability to sift through information quickly. But it also results in a diminished ability to focus on one thing for long. “You get better at the physical and visual motor parameters of what you’re doing, but not the deeper, thoughtful aspects,” Grafman says.
How will the generation coming of age now—less accustomed to sustained concentration—be affected? No one’s sure. Dr. O’Keeffe recently spoke to a group of college students. “They said they feel really bombarded, they’re not sure they’re learning effectively, and they’re not sure how to turn it all off. We need to learn from what they’re saying and help our current teenagers as well as younger kids learn to disconnect.” For parents, that might entail modeling a bit of self-discipline, like refraining from making calls while you drive or sneaking off during family gatherings to check your email. But the payoff—real conversations in real time—just may surprise you, and your kids. Who knows? They may even like it. Of course, you may need to check their Facebook page to find out.
Good Morning - 
- Word clouds (with images) using http://www.tagxedo.com/ or http://www.imagechef.com/ic/word_mosaic/
There are many tools that you can use to collaborate and share information. 
In the 1990s, one of Bloom’s students, Lorin Anderson, revised the original taxonomy. In the amended version of Bloom’s Taxonomy, the names of the major cognitive process categories were changed to indicate action because thinking implies active engagements. Instead of listing knowledge as a part of the taxonomy, the category is divided into different types of knowledge: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive. This newer taxonomy also moves the evaluation stage down a level and the highest element becomes “creating.”
We spent the last two day in Athens. The weather has been cool and rainy. We visited the Plaka then toured climbed the hill to visit the Acropolis. The rain held out until the afternoon. The kids are having a great time.
Our school trip to Greece sponsored by Teach by Travel departs this Friday. 
30 Poets, 30 Days: Throughout each day during National Poetry Month, a selected poet will have 24 hours to tweet his or her daily insights before passing the baton. Poem Flow/App 
Poem In Your Pocket Day: Join thousands of individuals across the U.S. by carrying a poem in your pocket on April 14, 2011. 
Poetry & the Creative Mind: Each April, The Academy of American Poets presents a star-studded celebration of American poetry.
Poem-A-Day: Great poems from new books emailed each day of National Poetry Month. Sign up for your daily dose of new poems from new spring poetry titles.
Spring Book List: Check out the new books of poetry available each spring.
Poem Flow for iPhones: Available through the iTunes store, this innovative mobile app features daily poems presented as both fixed and animated text.
National Poetry Map: Find out what is happening in your state by visiting our redesigned and updated National Poetry Map. Massachusetts http://www.poets.org/state.php/varState/MA
Dance Don't Chance video contest that is part of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS), in partnership with the Registry of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Public Health that aims to make the prom/graduation season safer for teens on Massachusetts' roads. 
I was impressed with an app called Proloquo2Go. It is an application which provides adaptive communication for non-verbal individuals. I have a particular student in my school that I believe will benefit from using this technology on the ipad. I plan on connecting with her speech therapist and teacher. Note: I believe the cost is under $200.00. Some of the other Apps we reviewed Life Skills Sampler, Bob's Books and Mathination. There is a Special Education Section in the itunes Store that I plan hope to explore with teachers. I am hoping I can figure out how to get the ipad/iphone to work with the SMARTboard and plan to checkout LogMeIn Ignition.
I belong to a neighborhood book club. We normally share books. My neighbor had a gift certificate for the Barnes and Noble so she downloaded the Nook App for her ipad. This month's selection, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night -Time . She was kind enought to let me borrow her ipad yesterday in order to read. The book was only 120 pages and I was able to breeze through reading the book on the ipad. It was interesting to see firsthand how I could change the font size, highlight, take notes and hyperlink within the novel. 
MassCUE and METAA’s 6th Annual Technology Leadership Symposium 2011 - March 17th, 2011 - College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA 