This past week, I watched fifth graders using Glogster to make their social studies reports come alive. One student was comparing her life to that of Jacob Kohler. Another student brought in antique clothing from his great grandmother. The clothing was fragile and gave students a sense of what it was like to dress at the turn of the 20th century. They were both excellent examples of student engagement but one was technology-based and the other was a real-life artifact.

In another classroom a teacher flawlessly used her iPad to take pictures of student work for their portfolios. She also needed to use some of the pictures for Evernote so she could keep a record of the great work that came out of her inquiry-based plan. When I got back to my office, it was time to mix technology and real-life.

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