Are you going to the ISTE Conference in Philadelphia, PA, June 26-29, 2011? This is the International Society of Technology in Education conference with over 17,000 people from all over the world. If you want to connect with the people who write the articles and blogs you read, this is the conference. You can still sign up to go.

If you'll be there, please come by:

• 1-to-1 Laptop Programs: Why it Takes a Village (Poster Session with Oakland USD and Madison Middle School) Tuesday 6/28 10 am -12 pm 
• Change, Culture, Constructivism: The Importance of Process and Reflection...   more...

Barbara Bray has a new title: Creative Learning Strategist and a redesigned website and blog called Rethinking Learning. Join her as she facilitates growing creative and engaging learning environments. Here's two of the latest posts:

• Changing Teaching and Learning 
• Learning from Angry Birds

We are so proud of the featured projects our members have created that they now appear on the outside of My eCoach so everyone can view them. Here are a few of the featured projects since the last newsletter:

• Instructional Development Timeline 
• Web 2.0 in the Classroom 
• Choose your Career 
• Decades Project 
• Coral Reefs 
• Egyptian Holidays  
• Samuel Pabon Jr. | ePortfolio 
• Web Accessibility Workshop

Madison Middle School in Oakland Unified School District, CA with the leadership of Dr. Lucinda Taylor put on a successful Expo the evening of June 7th. Everyone in the school community was involved including the district Instructional Technology Team. You could feel the excitement everywhere. Students, parents, teachers, and community members attended in the biggest event ever. Parents shared how much they enjoyed seeing the types of projects their children were doing: CSI Oakland, BizWorld, Dream Houses, Glogs showing Algebra 1 Problems. and a Film Festival. Read more...

Noteworthy updates from the educational community

Articles & Presentations

• Teaching Beyond the Test, to Make Room for Current Events 
• Learning 3.0: Why Technology Belongs in Every Classroom 
• 58 Interesting Ways to use an iPad in the Classroom 
• 7 Critical Questions for Tech Planning 
• Measuring your Online Community 
• Download the New 2011 Horizon Report 

Contests & Challenges

• Fly Your Face in Space 
• K-12 Superhero Competition 
• Amateur Radio on Space Station 
• Because It Flew- Space Shuttle Art Competition 
• Science & Engineering Festival Songwriting Contest...   more...

Google searches now allow users to choose reading levels of the results of a search. There are three levels to choose among: basic, intermediate and advanced.

So how do you do a reading level search? After typing in a query on Google.com, look at the column of tools on the left side of the search results and you will see "All Results."

Click on "More search tools" and then click "Reading Level."

After you click on Reading Level you will see at ...   more...

It is pretty easy to create a blog in My eCoach and have "user control" of who edits and comments.

• You can create a personal blog as a private journal. No one else sees it.
• If you are on a team, you can have a team blog and only the members of the team can view and comment on it.
• You can share a blog with one or more My eCoach members.
• You can create a public blog and choose from different themes.

When you create a blog, you need to create at least one post. Think of a blog as a book and the posts as chapters in the book.

...   more...

We want to hear from teachers and administrators

We are looking for input on what type of support you need as a teacher or administrator. Please take a moment to answer this short survey of 8 questions so we can better understand what your needs are.

What is your Unique Selling Position (USP)? How do you stand out in a crowd or in social media so you are remarkable and different enough to get noticed by an employer or client?

You can do this by branding yourself. The job market is tough and sending thousands of resumés may not be the right way to get that "job" you want. This article from AARP...   more...