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"So how will the Every Student Succeeds Act be different? "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme!" is a caution for us; we need to learn where we went wrong with NCLB and waivers. One key error was the development of well-intentioned policies without the benefit of practicing educators at the decision making table. National polling shows that only 2% of teachers feel their voices are heard at the national level. My colleague Justin Minkel calls it the "implementation gap" - the gulf between a policy's intended impact and its actual impact once it rolls out with real kids in real classrooms. When you don't have practicing educators assisting with the decision making, that gap is inevitable. ESSA provides new access points to teachers in three ways..."

"All great teachers do great work. And not only that, but they also do different work. Great teachers are always looking to improve practice, steal ideas and try new things -- all in order to meet the needs of their students. PBL teachers are no exception. Any teacher who is truly doing PBL would also agree that it's different. There is something about being a PBL teacher that requires different work, and work that is especially capitalized when implementing a PBL project. Because I work with so many PBL teachers, I feel there are some things that PBL teachers should specifically be proud of. I present them in these six affirmations. "

"he Someday/Monday dichotomy captures one of the core challenges in teacher professional development around education technology. On the one hand, deep integration of new learning technologies into classrooms requires substantially rethinking pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, and teacher practice (someday). For technology to make a real difference in student learning, it can't just be an add-on. On the other hand, teachers need to start somewhere (Monday), and one of the easiest ways for teachers to get experience with emerging tools is to play and experiment in lightweight ways: to use technology as an add-on. Teachers need to imagine a new future-to build towards Someday-and teachers also need new activities and strategies to try out on Monday. Both pathways are important to teacher growth and meaningful, sustained changes in teaching and learning."

"As I wrote in my last column, the traditional skill we have valued in teachers when paper was the dominant media-the ability to transfer knowledge of a subject-is becoming less important. Increasingly, a teacher's knowledge can be found online and in various learning styles. As the internet drives down the value of a teacher's knowledge, their ability to personalize learning with resources from around the world will increase. We will have more data generated about our students as we build out our online communities. We will need teachers who understand how to make meaning of this data to personalize learning for every student from a vast digital library of learning resources. Also, of increasing value is their ability to teach students to be self-disciplined about how "to learn to learn." Rather than losing overall value, teachers will be more important than ever. The big change is not adding technology to the current design of the classroom, but changing the culture of teaching and learning and fundamentally changing the job descriptions of teachers and learners. I offer seven questions we typically ask of teachers in the interview process, along with corresponding questions I think are geared to align with how the internet will force the redefinition of a teacher's added value..."

"If you had a chance to read "Twitter for Teachers: A Beginner's Guide" from last week, then you understand a few of the basics. Now, you might be looking for the Twitter magic: the cool and invaluable tools you always hear people talking about. Twitter chats are one great way to engage with educators around the world. You can find chats of every size, topic, and speed to grow your Personal Learning Network (PLN). There aren't titles and rank on Twitter; everyone is there to learn and share. It's an incredibly valuable tool for boosting your teacher morale and finding great classroom solutions!"

"It seems a waste. Millions of educational apps, millions of lesson plans available online, millions of laptops in the hands of students. Yet only a small segment of teachers nationwide find ways to infuse technology into their lessons. "There's a real hunger out there, about how do I get better at my craft?" said Jeff Liberty, the senior director of teacher development initiatives at BetterLesson, which trains teachers to use technology in class. 'But there aren't clear mechanisms for that to occur in a dependable way.'"

"This week's question is How would you define "teacher leadership" and what does it look like in practice? In Part One, Regie Routman, Aubrie Rojee, Megan M. Allen, Shane Safir, Sean Slade, and Barnett Berry shared their thoughts on teacher leadership. You can also listen to a ten-minute conversation I had with Suzie and Ken on my BAM! Radio Show. You can find a list of, and links to, previous shows here. Today, Laura Robb, Kylene Beers, Susan Chenelle, ReLeah Cossett Lent, Christopher Lehman, Matt Townsley, Anthony Cody, Patricia O'Grady contribute their ideas. I've also included comments from readers."

"Talk to technology people at school districts, and nearly everyone wants to take their community in the same direction. The most progressive districts today are moving away from teacher-focused education and toward student-centric learning." "Teachers really need to understand this instructional shift," she says. "They must become 21st-century learners before they can be 21st-century teachers."

"How do new teachers grow professionally their first year on the job? The answer might astonish you -- because everything needed to improve their craft is right on their device. That's right! Simply take out your smartphone or tablet and learn away. Web applications like Instagram, Feedly, Google Classroom, Twitter, and LinkedIn can do wonders for an educator's professional growth. Of course, I know it's not all about technology, which is why fostering collaborative relationships with colleagues is critical for staying on top of best practices. Let's look at the various ways that technology, coupled with a willingness to learn from others, can put first-year teachers on the right track."

"But what was so different about how these women learned math in high school? How did their math teachers form bonds so strong that years later they were attending students' weddings in Mexico? The answer: Complex Instruction. This pedagogy is not specific to math and has been in the literature for decades, originally researched by Elizabeth Cohen and Rachel Lotan at Stanford University. Teachers at Railside High discovered the methodology when they were undergoing an accreditation review and were told they needed to drastically change something to improve their results. The ultimatum prompted teachers to try something different - heterogeneous classes, high expectations for all students and, above all, approaching math with an eye to students' strengths."

"For nearly 20 years, high school chemistry teacher Jonathan Bergmann would teach a lesson in class, help students after school and give them standard homework assignments. He was good enough to win a teacher award. But seven years ago, he and Aaron Sams, another teacher at Woodland Park High School in Colorado, decided to do something different."

"Editor's Note: Paul Bogdan was once an old-fashioned lecturing teacher centered secondary math teacher who left teaching for 14 years to build computer systems. He has come back and is reborn as a student-centered teacher trying to make a difference and trying to figure out what works in today's classroom."

"If you want to move learners forward, they've got to know where they're starting. It's a simple truth but not one we tend to follow when it comes to professional learning for teachers. The ways in which we assess these learning experiences for educators often fall short of the realities of their contexts. Take, for example, the common practice of ending a session with evaluation forms largely devoted to measuring teachers' level of happiness with a token question intended to gauge the likelihood of someone taking an idea from the workshop and using it next week. These vanity metrics for the professional learning providers give little indication of the impact of their work and at best communicate a very surface set of goals we're striving to achieve as a group learning together. Why are we even attempting to measure impact before we give educators an opportunity to implement what they've learned? "

"One of my favorite education books is The Courage to Teach. In that text, Parker Palmer explores teaching as a daily exercise in vulnerability. As teachers, we expose ourselves, and often the content we love, to an at-times unforgiving world. Difficult students, dud lessons, doubting colleagues, short-sighted initiatives, all exacerbated by the challenges of our lives outside the classroom, can eventually harden a teacher. And that skepticism can make it a lot harder to take the risks necessary to get better."

" People have so many different reasons to join the education field -- what inspired you to become an educator? Perhaps you feel a desire to give back to the community, or you relish the intellectual challenge, or perhaps the simple reward of seeing a student smile every day is your motivation. But I suspect that for many people, an encounter with an inspiring educator might have been the spark that led to this career path. Read on for more video profiles of inspiring teachers across the country and their stories."

"Annotating tools are a must have for every teacher. I personally can't imagine myself surfing online with no web tools to help me annotate, highlight, clip, and share parts or segments of the web content I find interesting. Most of the browsers nowadays particularly Chrome and Firefox have specific extensions for this purpose. All you need to do is install one of them and there you go, with one click you can master the information you read."

"It is time that teachers and administrators realize that public education has reached a dam in the river. We have gone about as far as we can go with isolated instruction and learning. While it may have served the purpose for the older generations, it does not meet the deeper learning needs of students today and tomorrow. Deeper learning can be accelerated by consolidating teacher efforts and combining relevant contents, in effect, opening new spillways of knowledge. "

"What is the best approach teachers can take towards homework? I think the guest responses today, along with numerous reader comments, provide a great perspective on the topic. If you'd like to read more research and discover additional ideas, you might want to explore my collection at The Best Resources For Learning About Homework Issues. Todays guests are educator/authors Dr. Cathy Vatterott and Bryan Harris. Reader suggestions follow their contributions."

"In its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, Facebook lists a minimum age requirement of 13, which means that more and more students in high school and college are signing up for the social network. As a teacher, what should you do if a student sends you a friend request? Does age play a factor? Should you be careful about what you post, even if it's from your private account? "

"Can creativity be taught? Absolutely. The real question is: "How do we teach it?" In school, instead of crossing subjects and classes, we teach them in a very rigid manner. Very rarely do you witness math and science teachers or English and history teachers collaborating with each other. Sticking in your silo, shell, and expertise is comfortable. Well, it's time to crack that shell. It's time to abolish silos and subjects. Joichi Ito, director of the M.I.T. Media Lab, told me that rather than interdisciplinary education, which merges two or more disciplines, we need anti-disciplinary education, a term coined by Sandy Pentland, head of the lab's Human Dynamics group."