Blogs

I have finally had the chance to sit down and view the archive of the Photostory 3 webinar.  I must say that I am glad I finally was able to watch it and I wish I had seen it earlier.  I have used Photostory before, but this webinar gave me some great ideas to pass on to my teachers.  I really loved the idea about creating some stock solid color powerpoint slides as jpegs that students can use as backgrounds.  I might even save some stock photos as well so that students do not have to spend a lot of time looking for basic images.  I can not wait until I have time to view more of these webinars on basic technology tools. They are a great way to remind me about how to use the tools and new tricks to share with my teachers.

What if you could find a learning management system that would allow you to take polls, post assignments and links, create online quizzes, and upload files for free?  Better yet, what if you could find an online resource that would actively engage students to become independent, lifelong learners?  Edmodo is that site!  Edmodo is a secure worldwide learning environment where teachers and students can collaborative and learn from each other. 

Almost 800 educators are connected in a nationwide Edmodo group, the "Common Core Conversation," to discuss what their schools, districts, and states are doing to address the new Common Core Standards in the k-12 classrooms. 

Help us reach 1,000 innovative educators.  Join the Common Core Conversation at http://www.edmodo.com.  The group code is gy48aa.

Kristina Holzweiss, The Laptop Lieberrian

lieberrian@yahoo.com

Fear by Michael Grant
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Book #5 in the Gone Series delves into the fear that invades each characters' life in the FAYZ in Perdid Beach; a fear of each other, fear of the parents who wait on the other side of the barrier hoping to find out anything about their children and now there is something happening to the barrier that surround them. It begins to turn black and move upward to the top of the barrier; blocking out light, stopping the fishing, the farming and the daily life activities the kids have been working on to eke out a living. Diana is pregnant and has left Caine and joined Sam and his boys. Lana is still curing everyone and living with Sanjit and his family on top of the hill. Astrid returns as a much different character in the previous books; she is lean, mean and has learned to live off the land and always carries a gun. Ork has become more sensitive but Drake and Brittney are still vying in the same body. Penny is used by Caine to punish Cigar; she tortures him and he almost dies. Once again, Grant does a tremendous job of terrorizing every child in the FAYZ and leaves this book and characters ripe for #6!

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The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a funny, tender, yet somber story of two teens meeting at a cancer support group and Augustus Waters falling for Hazel. Augustus is a good looking, very friendly guy who has lost below his knee to cancer. He wears a Prosthetic leg and when he meets Hazel he falls hard for her. But Hazel is a tough cookie and she doesn't fall for Augustus but slowly begins to respond to his constant optimism. Hazel has a very supportive mother and father as does Augustus, but his family is even larger. I just loved the way John Green described these characters; their worlds which includes their homes, especially their bedrooms and then the dreaded hospital. Green uses sarcasm, laughter and empathy in describing how cancer has totally defined their lives; but through their meeting, their relationship, their support group, friends and family, Green brings together friendship, romance and sorrow in a MUST READ for young adults and also adults.

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FOyMG by Amy Fellner Dominy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book! I keep thinking about Ellie, Zeydeh (her grandfather), Devon and Dynamite Doris. Eleanor Taylor is 14 years old, loves to argue, and is excited to be a part of a summer camp for debate and hopes to win a scholarship to the Benedicts School. Ellie has determination, quick wit, humor, and tenacity all going for her, but where she has a conflict is with her religion or should I say, she now has a conflict, but she was previously a very happy Jewish girl with an awesome grandfather who doesn't hesitate (like Ellie) to tell you what is on his mind and to be true to yourself. It is when Ellie receives the scholarship application and it asks about religion that a little nagging starts eating away at Ellie. Also, she wears her grandmother's Star of David for luck and when cute Devon tells her she might want to hide it when she is interviewed by his grandmother that Ellie gets the nagging feeling again. In order to win the scholarship Ellie decides to keep the truth from everyone; but her family finds out and they are very unhappy with her decision. Also things start "sizzling" with Devon and Ellie is all caught up with him, getting ready for her competition, and dealing with her stubborn grandfather. You will totally enjoy this book, these characters and the resolution, YOU HAVE TO GET THIS BOOK!

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The Girl Who Was on Fire: Your Favorite Authors on Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games Trilogy by Leah Wilson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Since I read the Hunger Games so long ago, this collection of young adult author essays on many of the Hunger Games trilogy’s different themes was a welcome read. Of interest to many will be the Peeta/ Gale question and Katniss’ balance of brain and heart. The dystopian craze is explored; reality vs. unreality in the games, Katniss as a media symbol in “Reality Hunger,” and Cinna’s designs in “Crime of Fashion.” I especially liked the discussion of the characters suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. For the Hunger Games enthusiast, this collection is a perfect extension.

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Karma by Cathy Ostlere
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book, very very long but so worth the saga and drama during the tumultuous time in India when Indira Gandhi was assasinated. I loved Maya, Sandeep, and understood the failings of her family because of their cultural beliefs.It is 1984 just after Indira Gandhi has been massacred; Maya and her father are caught in the middle of this crisis in India as they have returned from Canada to bring her mother’s ashes to her home in India. Two love stories are explored in this stunning novel in verse; will Maya be able “to speak” to Sandeep and her father?


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These days teh world belongs to cell phone and smartphone users . According to a study by the end of this year, additional than 40 percent of the people will switch over to wireless devices for their basic office use. In fact there are many users who have already started relying on the substitute of smartphone devices and other portable devices like iPad and tablets for their business communications. A wide range of business applications are seen in proving to be an ideal resolution for them to carry out their work with smart ways and ideas. But in the current modern world the quantity of devices and gadgets you use usually face an subject of security which make the people conscious . There was always a risk of losing imperative data and information to people like hackers and crackers. However, the subject was lastly resolved with the plan of VPN or virtual private network. You can find a wide range of VPN software which makes the data safe and sound and secured and make the users carefree while accessing internet.

The ideas like mobile VPN or iPad VPN or VPN Android which acts smart for smartphone and tablet users. With this idea, you can just encrypt the data found over the devices which makes impossible for any user to action smart and have fine time while enjoying a carefree internet usage apart from reaping other benefits including affordability, getting a full-fledged kind of privacy and even gaining access to a couple of censored sites at countries like Middle East and China. Initially, the plan of virtual private network was localized to conventional computer networks at offices and business places. However, gradually when devices like smartphones and tablets came into picture they too faced the similar issues, which was averted to a intense extent by using accurate VPN software.

The earlier versions of android based phones and iPhones didn't had the feature of whole security and safety measures which really hampered the sales of their products, however, when the VPN iPhone came into picture, the subject of security just got away. This is the beauty of mobile virtual private network or VPN mobile a perfect key for rendering mobile workers with safe, reputable, remove access to network resources and information from virtually anywhere. Only a well implemented mobile deployment helps to empower workers with competent resources they require to be helpful while resulting in faster business transactions, superior customer service and eventually making the customers happier and with increased level of revenue at their wallet.

Hence what you come across at the end of the day with mobile VPN are the factors like productivity, security, performance and management. The subject of productivity is seen increasing due to the automatically maintaining connections and application sessions; the security factor protects all your data traffic and wireless cell phone devices with the industry's highest level of encryption. The performance increase as you can see an superior degree of QoS connections giving accurate preference to severe apps and lastly a accurate management of resources are seen with centralized view of wireless deployments with exhaustive kind of reporting. This is all the bliss you can enjoy with the help of virtual private network. So what more any mobile or smartphone user would aspire now, they can carry out any business operation safe and sound.