Technology+Leadership+Summary

__**Summary of Angela Maiers’ Blog**__ Angela Maiers is an educator with over twenty years of experience. She has done everything from classroom teaching, to corporate training, to research, writing, and publishing. It has been her life’s mission to pursue literacy and learning. Inevitably her mission has led her to technology and the Internet. She now uses her blog, Twitter, and various social networking sites to communicate with other educators the many things that she has learned along the way with the hope that it will help inspire other educators to have the same type of passion she has for teaching. Maiers’ blog has can be divided into several categories. The ones that pertain the most to educational technology are //Chalk Talk, Tools/Apps I’m Lovin’, and Social Media (including Twitter)//. Often times her entries have links, in which readers can click on and explore the new web tools she is discussing, or view the presentations and notes that she is referring to. Every entry is linked to education in some innovative way. In Maiers’ //Chalk Talk// entries she shares links that she feels are useful for either professional or personal development. Each link comes with a few sentences that briefly describe what can be accomplished on the site or with the tool. One of the links I found particularly interesting was Study Blue (April 2011). This is an online tool that will help students store and organize their notes, as well as create study aides such as flash cards or quizzes. In another entry (June 2011) she discusses a website called The History Lab. The website is said to be a valuable resource, in which teachers would share how they used technology in social studies to encourage the students to use higher-level thinking skills. //Chalk Talk// appears almost weekly and is always a good resource for learning about the newest technology trends and tools to hit the web. For more detailed information about the latest and greatest tools out there on the Internet, look for Maiers’ //Tools I’m Lovin’// blog posts. In these posts Maiers will focus on one tool, or a small set of tools that accomplish the same thing. She describes in greater detail the tool’s capabilities, and gives ideas for its most practical uses. Often times there are short videos or screen shots that show the tool in action. One tool featured was Pixir-o-matic (July 2011). This tool was billed as a cheaper alternative to Photoshop when doing simple photo editing. She also wrote an entry on tools to use for presentations. Included in this blog was information about Slideshare, Scribd, and AuthorStream (August 2011). You will find the //Tools I’m Loving// posts a few times a month, and they always feature tools that she has used and found very helpful. The //Social Media// blogs are a combination of presentations that display the vast influence that social networking sites have on our lives today, and information on how it can be integrated into our schools to make learning more meaningful. Some of the information presented is quite shocking. For example, on video stated that “If Facebook were a country, it would be the 3rd largest country in the world” (June 2011). Another entry posted showed a video conversation between Nancy White and an adorable puppet named Suzy. The conversation detailed the efficiency and ultimate potential Twitter can have in revolutionizing the way people communicate. These blog entries are excellent resources when trying to obtain support for including social networking in the design of our curriculum. Overall Angela Maiers’ blog is an excellent source for information regarding in education and the efficient integration of technology. There are entries that will keep you abreast of the newest and most innovative tools and software out there, and it also includes entries that will simply inspire you both professionally and personally. As Maiers continues her lifelong journey to seek knowledge so too will her many followers.