With technology making rapid advances in today's world, it's no wonder schools have started to catch on and make use of new technology in classrooms.
Teachers are using a popular app called Evernote in their classrooms. Launched in 2008, this app is used for taking and keeping notes in "notebooks". A note can be a formatted text, a webpage, a photograph, a voice memo, or a hand written "ink" note. You can also attach files and take notes on them. This very handy tool could be a teacher's best friend. It could store lesson plans, keep notes on students, keep student grades, and websites with lesson ideas. The possibilities are infinite. Evernote is also very accessible; you can have Evernote on your computer, phone or tablet, this makes accessing all your files from anywhere very easy. In this article, Kindergarten teacher Benjamin J Sheridan talks about how he uses Evernote in his classroom. He talks about how pleased he is with the program "After testing Evernote for about 3 months I was impressed by the flexibility and variety that is provided. As with most things I do in the classroom I try to figure out how to give the kids more ownership, not only in the process, but in the product as well". For more ideas on how to use Evernote in the classroom visit this website.
As a college student I use Evernote once in a while. It works really well for me when I'm taking notes on video clips or long readings. It's really easy to use Evernote on my iPad while I watch videos or read on my laptop.
Another popular app being picked up in the education world is Skitch. Acquired by Evernote in 2011, Skitch is a program that allows you to write on, highlight and add shapes to images. This is a huge help when reading long articles or texts from online because you can annotate or highlight them as you go and then save them in your Evernote notebook. Skitch is also a great tool to use in the classroom. In this video, third grade teacher Nicole Gleason uses skitch to find and label countries on a map. This is one of many ways Skitch could be used by teachers in the classroom. This website has a list of ways to use skitch in the classroom for all the different subjects.
I think skitch is a great tool. I haven't gotten the chance to use it much because I just learned about it at the beginning of the semester. I could see how it would be great for highlighting and annotating notes and readings.
Twitter is one of the most popular social media sites around today. With over 240 million users, and many thousands joining everyday, it is rapidly becoming the most used social media site worldwide. Maybe this is why some teachers have had such a hard time viewing the site as educational or useful in the educational community. However, the educators who do see twitter as a useful tool rave about it.
Twitter is also a great tool for building professional learning networks in schools. A professional learning network (PLN) can be defined as "The entire collection of people with whom you engage and exchange information, usually online". Teachers use PLNs as a way to locate resources for the classroom, get lesson plan ideas from master teachers, work on professional development, and learn about new technology and how to incorporate it in the classroom. In this blog, veteran teacher turned college professor, Tom Whitby talks about twitter as a PLN. "By constantly working and updating your PLN, you will continue to have relevant and beneficial sources flowing through your PLN". He discusses in detail how to find key educators to follow and how to use twitter to your PLN advantage. In another educational blog Kathleen Morris talks about how much she enjoys her twitter PLN "I find twitter to be a virtual staffroom where I can catch up with my PLN. It is a place where I can find advise, give advise, find great links, share my work and engage in general musings about education." For those teachers who do use twitter as their preferred PLN, they love the convenience of it. Twitter is easily accessible on your phone, computer, laptop or tablet and it is constantly being updated. This makes it easy to catch up, learn and discuss at anytime that is convenient for you. It's a way to branch out from the colleagues in your school's professional learning community. With users from all around the world, a Twitter PLN can be a great source for fresh ideas and new perspectives. 
I have had a personal twitter account for four years. I use it entirely for personal social media purposes and I really enjoy it. However, through the research I've done writing this blog post, I've been inspired to make a second twitter account for professional purposes. I think it would be interesting to start creating my own twitter PLN and have a second account that is strictly for professional purposes.
Technology is making a lasting impression on education today. Students love that the lessons are up to date and engaging. With technology playing a big part in their everyday lives it makes learning more relatable to them. When lessons are relatable to students it makes it easier for them to learn. Teachers also love the use of technology and social media in their workplace. Although it may take time for some to learn the ways of technology, it opens up so many doors for fresh and new teaching ideas that work.
Resources
Gleason, N. (2013, March 19). Using Skitch - YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CHjLBE5OlA
Klingensmith, K. (2009, May 5). PLN: Your Personal Learning Network Made Easy | Once a Teacher..... Once a Teacher.... | Adventures in education 3.0 and web 2.0, starting from 0.0. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from http://onceateacher.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/pln-your-personal-learning-network-made-easy/
Morris, K. (2011, June 22). PLN Challenge #3: Using Twitter to Build Your PLN. edublogs. Retrieved October 9, 2013, from teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/2011/06/21/pln-challenge-3-using-twitter-to-build-your-pln/
Sanfilippo, J. (2011, November 15). 10 Tips for Using Evernote in the Classroom - Teq Blog. Professional Development for Teachers - Teq. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from http://www.teq.com/blog/2012/11/10-tips-for-using-evernote-in-the-classroom/#.UlWfzRZrhUQ
Sheridan, B. (2012, September 10). Kindergarten Students Help Build Evernote E-portfolios Using Skitch | Exploring Digital Media in Education. COETAIL | Certificate of Educational Technology and Information Literacy. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from http://www.coetail.com/bsheridan/2012/09/10/kindergarten-students-help-to-build-evernote-e-portfolios-by-using-skitch/
Skitch - All about apps in YOUR classroom!. (n.d.). All about apps in YOUR classroom! - App Of The Week. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from http://www.appsinclass.com/skitch.html
Whitby, T. (2013, January 11). Building a professional learning network on Twitter SmartBlogs. SmartBlogs | Engage. Innovate. Discuss. SmartBlogs. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from http://smartblogs.com/education/2013/01/11/twitter-strategy-101/
