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"Teachers around the world are gearing up for the new school year -- but the experience is going to be vastly different for new teachers. Where an experienced teacher has the knowledge of what worked and what didn't, a new teacher is going to be bombarded with tons of new info and the need to process it! Not to mention, they will be preparing for the most important piece of all: their classroom instruction. In no way, do I want to add to the burden of the already-filled-to-the-brim, new teacher stress bucket. I do however, want to share just 20 tidbits which I hope will help ease new teachers into a fun, successful school year. Some of these will be in the form of social media tools, which I think are awesome, and wish I had had as a newbie. And each little tidbit is linked to a resource which I hope you will find supportive. "

Some tips for beginning teachers from Edutopia

"However, the current focus on initial teacher education as the be-all and end-all of teacher education ignores the importance of ongoing professional development. This should take place not only in the first years of teaching, but throughout teachers' careers. As a comparison, medicine graduates study at university for five or six years, then still need to undertake an internship of one year before being allowed to register for general practice. Most go on to undertake a further two to three years of residency before beginning specialist training. Perhaps we should be taking our cue from medicine, and treating our graduate teachers in a similar manner to medical interns and residents. Learning to teach is a process that begins at universities, but continues for an entire career."

"Older teachers, who tend to have more experience in the classroom, are more likely to say they feel ready to make use of the reams of data available through digital learning tools, according to a new survey. Younger teachers rate themselves as less ready. More broadly, teachers of all ages report feeling inadequately prepared to use technology to enhance teaching and learning, according to a survey from the Software and Information Industry Association that was released Tuesday at the conference."

"Get your hashtags ready: Twitter is a far more effective source of CPD than more traditional approaches, research has found. Indeed, teachers believe they derive more from the 140 characters of a tweet than they do from several hours of seminars or lectures. Academics from two US universities surveyed 755 members of school staff about Twitter. They found that the most popular use of the social media website was for CPD, with many praising Twitter's advantages over more traditional methods. Twitter, many teachers told researchers, allowed them to create a virtual staffroom, filled entirely with their own choice of colleagues. Indeed, a middle school English teacher explained: "I have learned so much from other teachers. It has transformed my teaching. And this is my 18th year [in the profession].""

"Teachers and educators in the present fast-paced, ever evolving world of communication are presented with a plethora of options which might sometimes be overwhelming. To reduce the efforts of teachers in learning a new form of communication, we give you some of the most effective ways of using the most modern form of communication, Twitter. The 26 Effective Ways to use Twitter for Teachers and Educators Infographic is aimed at educators interested in utilizing Twitter as a communication and collaborative tool, for educators who like telling a story and effectively reaching out to an audience who they normally can't! Check out the 26 effective ways to do that."

"The idea of co-constructing knowledge with students can be a scary thing for many of us teachers. The age-old role of teacher as orator, director, sage has been handed down for centuries and most of us grew up as students looking to teachers in this way. It's hard to shake. Co-constructing knowledge means giving up the myself and them role of teacher and students and fully embracing the wonder and journey of us."

"At Forest Lake Elementary School, in Columbia, South Carolina, the student population grows more diverse by the day. Income levels, ethnicities, family structures, first languages, interests, and abilities now vary so much, that a traditional teaching approach, with a uniform lesson targeted to the average-level student, just doesn't cut it. (Sound familiar to you educators out there?) To challenge and support each child at his or her own level, the Forest Lake teachers and staff are deploying a powerful array of widely available digital-technology tools. Each classroom is equipped with an interactive whiteboard and a Tech Zone of eight Internet-enabled computers. Plus, teachers have access to gadgets including digital cameras, Flip cameras, remote-response clickers, and PDAs. More important than the gadgets themselves, of course, is how the teachers use them to create personalized lessons and a productive environment where each child is engaged. Here are Forest Lake teachers' top tips on how to do it."

Last month in this column, I listed seven stupid mistakes teachers make with technology. Easy marks, teachers. But to be fair, I see just as many -- or even more -- brilliant teacher uses of technology. Here are seven technology practices that just make me marvel and feel proud to be part of the profession:

"In 2009, we shared our favorite tools for teachers on Twitter, with 100 resources for managing feeds, finding followers, and tackling classroom groups on the social media site. Since then, many tools have been revamped, replaced, or simply aren't available anymore. Clearly, an update is in order, so we're proud to present a new list for 2012, featuring the very best tools available to Twittering teachers today."

All K-12 and Higher Ed Teachers, Administrators, IT Directors, and Tech Coordinators! Have you heard about the New Zealand Summit? Are you interested in how Google Apps in Education can promote student learning and motivation? The program features Google Certified Teachers, Google Apps for Education Certified Trainers, practicing administrators, solution providers, Google engineers, and representatives from the Google Apps for Education team. Register now to send teachers, administrators, tech directors, library media specialists, tech support staff, CTOs, and anyone who is interested in finding out more about leveraging Google Apps for Education to support student learning.

Teachers and students can use Gooru to search for rich collections of multimedia resources, digital textbooks, videos, games and quizzes created by educators in the Gooru community. Gooru is free (of cost and ads) and developed by a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to honor the human right to education. Search for the best multimedia resources on the web. Customize your favorite resources, collections and quizzes. Study from collections of resources created by teachers. Interact with the Gooru community of teachers and students. Practice with enhanced quizzes that provide instant feedback. Share your knowledge about topics you are passionate about.

"Wikipedia can be a nightmare for a teacher, or it can be their best friend. For those teachers that have papers handed to them by students that are clearly copied from another source, Wikipedia tends to turn up early in the search and show that the students have indeed, been checking out what Wikipedia has to say. It's no wonder that teachers often have questions about what is good about the tool and how it might benefit their students. Today, we're taking a look at some more general facts and figures about one of the world's largest free, collaboratively written encyclopedia. Which is a pretty awesome concept, if you ask us. The handy infographic below will let you in on some interesting facts that you probably weren't privy to - and some of the numbers are pretty staggering! Keep reading to learn more!"

"A new era of personalized professional development is sweeping into schools. We've created this guide to capture the extraordinary changes in PD tools and in the cycle of learning. We look here at tools that support how teachers engage with colleagues; that help teachers learn or find support for implementing fresh strategies and approaches; and that measure how that learning impacts practice in the classroom."

"For teachers, blogging can be the difference between mediocre and exceptional. Taking the time to reflect on pedagogy and problem solve publicly can enhance the learning for the teacher and the students by proxy. There are many ways that educators can use blogs to enhance classroom learning."

"A survey by George Lucas-funded teaching website Edutopia found that Pinterest was one of teachers' five favorite professional development websites. That year, Pinterest launched a new hub, "Teachers on Pinterest" to grow their education community even more, starting with a lineup of "star teachers" curating ideas about elementary school math education, classroom management in middle schools, and homeschooling."

"As the school doors swing open to welcome the start of another year, both teachers and students will have goals: to inspire a class, to learn new things, to get good grades. What probably won't be on that list is to make a mistake -- in fact many. But it should be. Why? Because we're raising a generation of children -- primarily in affluent, high-achieving districts -- who are terrified of blundering. Of failing. Of even sitting with the discomfort of not knowing something for a few minutes. If students are afraid of mistakes, then they're afraid of trying something new, of being creative, of thinking in a different way. They're scared to raise their hands when they don't know the answer and their response to a difficult problem is to ask the teacher rather than try different solutions that might, gasp, be wrong. They're as one teacher told me, "victims of excellence." "

"Last month, 16 teachers from across the country got together at Google's Seattle office for the YouTube Teachers Studio - a sort of bootcamp to learn how to best use YouTube in the classroom. Jon Corippo, a Google Certified Teacher and Apple Distinguished Educator, was among the group, and came back with ideas about what YouTube was great for."

"This guide is specifically for teachers who are interested in finding out more about Twitter and even jumping in to the Twittersphere themselves. It is made up of a series of videos from teachers who use Twitter all the time, so it was 'crowd sourced.' Meaning people in the crowd each added a little until there was a whole. Pretty cool stuff really. You can hit the About page to find out who is responsible for all of this... :-)"

"Of course, it can be a challenge to incorporate social media into lessons. There are many grey areas for teachers to navigate, like setting guidelines for instance. But to help teachers navigate this ever-changing landscape of social media tools, here are some of the best guides on the web for four popular networks -- Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest."

"Without a doubt the connections and learning that is possible within Twitter is simply second to none. However even with all of the amazing benefits many teachers new to Twitter sign up, tweet once or twice, miss the benefit and let their accounts fade to oblivion. So to assist with the goal of helping teachers unlock the potential, I have designed a 14 day twitter challenge. Follow it and reap the benefits of powerful connections."