Techology-Leadership+Summary

==//The Innovative Educator// blog is written by author and speaker Lisa Nielson sharing learning in creative ways to support students’ success. The award-winning blog includes views on 21st Century education, ideas for incorporating technology in the classroom, and parental support. The intended audience consists of teachers and home school parents. The blogs appear to be evenly split between the two. There is a definite bias towards supporting home schools for education, rather than public schools. There are many negative entries discussing testing and the need for differentiation.==

==Lisa Nielson is not only an author but also a speaker around the World discussing social media and encouraging the use of technology in teaching. She has more than ten years of experience, writing books and articles on creative lessons using technology tools. Most blogs include web sites to access along with detailed instructions on how to work with the tool.==

=== The category of most interest was technology use in the classroom. There are a plethora of technology blogs providing ideas, instructions, and web sites to access. On April 25, 2011, 7 Solutions for Educators who Want 21st Century Students to Tune In identified problems in today’s classrooms with student engagement. Nielson writes, “Stop complaining that your students are on Facebook and not paying attention and start incorporating tools like this into instruction.” (Neilson, 2011) Technology tools are provided within blogs such as iSchool Students Present TED-Style Talks about Issues Important to Them. The website is listed and ideas to build students’ researching, questioning, speaking, and writing techniques. New tools continue to be introduced on June 29, discussing icould and the useto inspire students. “The site provides a treasure-trove of real potential heroes and helpers that they may very well be able to relate to a who may expose them to ideas and possibilities they never knew existed.” Another tools was introduced on August 26, 2011, the Geometer Sketchpad, and described as, “…it offers students a tangible, visual way to learn mathematics while increasing their engagement, understanding and achievement.” (Neilson, 2011) Issues are presented such as online safety, along with suggestions how to avoid issues. Step by step procedures are listed for using You Tube and Google Search. The safety features are available but not well-known or discussed in the world of education. On November 1, the blog states, “With the right building blocks in place, teachers will be positioned to transform their classrooms from disconnected where learning happens in isolation to global communication centers.” (Neilson, 2011) This article gives actual activities to integrate technology in the classroom using a variety of Web 2.0 tools. ===

=== Overall, the blog is extremely helpful providing tools to increase the use of technology in our classroom. If technology education, in the classroom, is your focus you might want to skip the home school articles. I found the detailed instructions of using new tools gave me just enough background to give some a try. After each article there is a heading, You Might Also Like…, listing several related articles. This is a great way to build information on your chosen topic. Several articles have video embedded to further explain the subject. All web sites discussed have links provided. I found the blog easy to maneuver around and found a vast amount of information I will be able to use in my classroom and share with my fellow teachers. ===