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"As teachers and educators, we are constantly required to review, evaluate and renew our teaching strategies to align them with  the cultural, technological and pedagogical ethos of the era we are living in. In today's era, the digital component is at the foreground which obviously calls for a new mindset, a novel conceptual framework that views technology not as an end itself but solely a mean to an educational end. It is a truism that digitally has opened a new horizon of unprecedented learning opportunities and experiences  but we can only tap into its full educational potential when we equip ourselves with the proper mindset: a growth and open mindset that as much as it adapts it also disrupts the century-old orthodoxies underlying teaching and learning practice. Teaching is a dynamic concept which is constantly evolving and expanding and that is why teachers and educators are forever learners. Engaging in such a life-long learning journey entails that teachers develop a set of robust thinking habits that allow them to fit in the rapidly evolving educational landscape.These habits are, according to Reid Wilson, what make the profile of a modern educator. Below is an awesome visual created by Wilson featuring some of the characteristics of a modern teacher which I want to bring to your attention. Have a look and share with us what you think of it. Enjoy"

"Blended Learning: A Disruptive Innovation Blended learning is a disruptive innovation in education that can take many forms."

"Habits are unconscious patterns of behavior that are acquired with frequent repetition. This post will look at what habits exist among innovative educators. While the conditions in education are not ideal for our disruptive educators, there are individuals working hard from within the system to create change. Whether you are looking to join them, better understand them, or you are one of them, this post is for you."

"With each presidency come new reforms and initiatives aimed at enhancing education. The new policies, programs, and funding lay the foundation for various innovations and trends to build momentum and transform the way we teach and learn. Before you go back to school, get the skinny on seven big disruptors in education. These seven transformative tools are part of the growing movement to get students creating and problem-solving with technology, which has been supported by the Obama administration's Educate to Innovate initiative."

"If only everything could be simple.  Life is anything but an easy journey.  While this, for the most part, has been manageable in the past, the pandemic has upended professional and personal lives.  Just when there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, a new variant materializes.  For now, Omicron is the current curveball.  As I write this post on the first day of 2022, I can't help but reflect on the resilience educators showed the year before.  They stepped up to the plate every time for kids and each other because that is in their DNA.  As the curveballs kept coming, they hit them.  In the midst of immense adversity, they persevered.  What the future holds, no one can know for sure.  Many schools have or will be making the decision to revert back to some form of remote learning.  While this can be frustrating and challenging, educators have been here before.  The silver lining is that lessons learned in the past can be leveraged to make it a smoother process.  There were many successes when it comes to remote learning that have value now and will for years to come.  I made sure to capture these in chapter 6 of Disruptive Thinking in Our Classrooms.  Good teaching and leadership shine through no matter the circumstance.  If you are in need of remote learning resources I have you covered. Just click HERE. "

"Sometimes we focus on what an app can't do and forget to look at what it can. That's been the case with iBooks Author, Apple's e-book creation platform released nearly a year ago. Part of the problem was Apple's own hyperbolic statements about its "disruptive" nature to the textbook publishing industry. It failed to live up to the hype for a variety of well-documented reasons. But this post is about what it is, not what it isn't."

Perhaps the disruption of a global pandemic will prompt a rethinking of how education might be framed to best serve the needs of those who rely on it most? Perhaps now is the time to rethink the curriculum?

"If you're a teacher, you'd probably agree with the statement that most of the professional development you have taken suffered through over your career has been less than amazing. What is a shame-actually tragic-about this is that with all the research that is available on staff development and professional development, no teacher should have to feel this way. Professional development is an essential element in helping one grow as an educator. It should be an enjoyable experience that one looks forward to with anticipation and excitement. It should be viewed as an opportunity to innovate, experiment, and improve one's practice. Professional development should be based on what we know from the robust research that is available."

"In today's post we are sharing with you some very good iPad apps students can use to help them navigate the world in an easier and faster way. Using these apps will enable them to save time planning for trips, get the fastest routes to specific locations, avoid traffic disruptions, navigate the urban transit system  effectively, access offline transit maps and many more. We tried to include apps that work worldwide"

"We live in a stressful world, and the stress is heightened for students and educators when it's time to prepare for high-stakes tests. When test scores are tied to school funding, teacher evaluations, and students' future placement, the consequences of these stressors can be far-reaching. From a neurological perspective, high stress disrupts the brain's learning circuits and diminishes memory construction, storage, and retrieval. Neuroimaging research shows us that, when stresses are high, brains do not work optimally, resulting in decreased understanding and memory. In addition, stress reduces efficient retrieval of knowledge from the memory storage networks, so when under pressure students find it harder to access information previously studied and learned. Get the best of Edutopia in your inbox each week. Students (and their parents) often interpret suboptimal standardized test scores as a measure of the students' limitations in intelligence and potential. The consequence is a loss of confidence, further activating their brains' stress response, making it more difficult for them to employ their cognitive resources and knowledge during the tests themselves."