Blending Learning and Technology

Wesley Fryer, an educator and agent for the combination of learning and technology in schools spoke at the Ohio eTech Educational Technology Conference. As the author of the blog, Moving at the Speed of Creativity, Fryer frequently posts about applying innovative techniques in the classroom. His presentation is available here.

Attending a conference, most people hope to bring home one or two ideas that will help improve on what they are doing. Listening to Mr. Fryer, it quickly became obvious that his message during the keynote address to open the conference had numerous thoughts and ideas for educators.

The need for integrating Web 2.0 into the daily lives of students was mentioned throughout the speech. Collaboration and connectivity were main themes. Fryer modeled this using videos, personal stories, and time for sharing with peers.

As we move through the second half of the school year, following his lead and thinking, students will have numerous opportunities for exploration and growth. Currently students are working on writing posts for the blog, and commenting on online journals. This is a great start, but only the beginning.

As we follow the ideas set forth by Wesley Fryer, students will have numerous opportunities to use technology to increase their learning. He commented frequently about blending technology and learning. This is what makes Reading Workshop engaging for the students and the teacher.

Before the end of the year, students will have chances to incorporate research, with music and videos while building a digital portfolio, including guest posts on this blog, of their writing that will travel with them as they move on towards Jr. and Sr. High School.

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Know Any Good Books?

We want to know all about great fictional books! Write a comment about your favorite book. Tell us why you like the book. Or what you think of the book. Make sure to include the title and author of your book.

You can also tell who you would recommend the book to and why you would recommend that book. What happens in your book? Why does it happen? Who is your favorite character?

But, don't give away the ending!

Today's post was written by a guest writer, Lily W. Thanks for the good idea.

How Do You Feel About Reading?

Today's post is a guest post by Shayna T. She is a sixth grade student at Laurelville Elementary.


If you don't already know, reading is an important part of your education. Reading can give you knowledge and entertainment. If you don't read you probably can't comprehend some of the most basic Social Studies, Science, Math and Writing skills. The only reason why you can't do these things is because you don't read enough! I know some people don't like to read, but sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do!

As I said earlier, some people don't like reading, but I do! Reading has helped me get A's in all of my school subjects. When I was in 3rd grade I didn't enjoy reading that much. That was before I found out about the Harry Potter books! After that I started to try more and more books until I found the right genre. The genre that I like the most to this day is realistic fiction. Realistic fiction is like where the things that happen in the book can be real, but they are not proven facts.

If you want to know where to get some really good realistic fiction books I would look in Mr. McGuire's bookshelf. Some of the best books that I read were The Outsiders, Party Girl, Define Normal, Kira Kira, Star Split and the Watchers series.

To end my post I wanted to ask you some questions about your reading habits.

1.What kind of books do you read?

2.How often do you read?

3.Do you like reading?

4. Do you read as a hobby?